Happy New Year

New Year's Eve we invited friends round to see the new year in with a BBQ and then watching the city fireworks from our rooftop.  It was good chance to spend a lovely evening with the close friends that we've made since we've been in Melbourne, despite missing everyone back home.

Christmas 2012

Christmas was fun, but as always it went too quickly!

Christmas day we went to Hampton Beach, and were practically the only ones there!  It was a nice day, around 25 degrees, but it was a bit windy for the beach.  Still, Mark, Mabel, Kieran and I had our obligatory Christmas Day swim, followed by a bottle of bubble before heading back to ours for Christmas lunch.

For lunch we had a hybrid English/Aussie Christmas lunch - cold ham and turkey with roast potatoes, veggies and salads, with trifles for pudding!!

Smiles all round.....

Boxing Day was spent at the MCG for the 4th year in a row!

Baby sitting between Christmas and New Year - Sing Star and Football - who had the most fun?!

Hawaii 40

For Darren's 40th birthday we decided to go somewhere special to celebrate - so we decided to go to Waikiki, Hawaii.  The posts will mainly be photos because they describe it better than I could!

After a long night of travelling, it was great to arrive at the Sharaton in Waikiki!  The hotel is massive with 32 floors and 11 lifts!  The turtle sculptures in the foyer hinted that we would be able to see turtles from the hotel!

Our room was on the 10th floor - we knew we were getting a city view, but we could also see the sea!

Just arrived - still wearing the lei I received on arrival to the country

Baskin Robbins in the hotel meant two scoop sundaes every day!

Floating bean-bags in the infinity pool (the edge)

Looking for turtles!

Coffee and a parfait for breakfast

Japanese neighbour enjoying the sun!

Cheers!

Diamond Head (volcano)

Sheraton

'Over the Edge' - people Rapelling off the top of the building!

Ala Moana Shopping centre - the biggest open air shopping centre in the world!

 The Hawaiian sunsets were amazing.........

The only organised daytrip that we did was to visit Pearl Harbour.

After seeing a short film about the attack on O'ahu, we caught a boat that took us out to the USS Arizona memorial.  The USS Arizona Memorial is built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, the final resting place for many of the 1,777 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941 when their ship was bombed by Japanese Naval Forces.

Universal symbol of the interconnectedness of all life on earth

Battleship Missouri

Signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signalling the end of the second world war:

Captain's Quarters

Missiles!

One of Hawaii’s most famous legends is built around naupaka, a shrub found in the mountains or near the beach. The flower’s unique appearance—it resembles a half-flower, with petals missing—caused early Hawaiians to believe it was the incarnation of an ancient native separated from her lover. 
Legend has it that there was a beautiful Hawaiian princess known as Naupaka who fell in love with a commoner, Kaui.  Distressed they climbed a mountain and as they had their last embrace the rain fell.  Naupaka gave Kaui a flower from behind her ear and she tore it in half.  She then went to live by the beach, and he in the mountains

As the two lovers separated, the naupaka plants that grew nearby saw how sad they were. The very next day, they began to bloom in only half flowers.

This is why married women wear a flower behind their left ear (unmarried women behind their right). 

When the two flowers are put together they form a whole