Farewell Hawaii....

Even the view from the runway on the plane was great!!

Farewell Hawaii - we had a fantastic holiday - and we will definitely be back!!

Day 10 - our last day....

So it is our last day...........
When we opened the curtains to our Lanai this morning this was the view....

It was raining a bit and there was the rainbow!


We decided to head to the beach for the morning for our last swim in the beautiful Waikiki waters....

Back to the hotel for some lunch to try to fit everything in our suitcases then we walked down to Waikiki for the last time....

 We wandered along the beach again and did some last minute shopping then headed to Dukes for dinner again. We really enjoyed it here on our first night so thought we would enjoy it here again on our last night! It is such a lovely location, the staff are sooooo friendly and the food is pretty good too!

I need some more Aloha!! - Day 9 - Polynesian Cultural Centre

 So today we headed over to the other side of the island to the Polynesian Cultural Centre. This centre is run by the Brigham Young University and most of the workers there are students from the university. Many of them come from other island in Polynesia (eg Samoa, Philippines etc) and are offered full scholarships at the university in exchange for them working at the Centre. Some of them work as tour guides, some in the many shows and displays, some as just hosts, and some in the service area. These  young staff were fantastic and so friendly and helpful. They could not do enough for you. 



So the coach picked us up from the hotel and we headed over to the other side of the island - here are some pics of the views.

We went on a guided tour this was the host of our small group - Jethro the Filipino!!

Here are some random pics from throughout the day. 

In the evening we went to the Luau for dinner - there were hundreds of people here but it ran like a well oiled machine! Just like this whole place - everything was so well organised. There was hawaiian entertainment while we had our dinner too. 

AFter dinner we went to the night show which is called Ha - Breath of Life - this was fantastic! Unfortunately they don not allow photography so you will just have to take my word for it LOL
We really enjoyed this day - a very long day though - we were picked up at 10am and got dropped back to the hotel about 10.30 but it was worth it. 

Day 8

Sorry for the break in posting but I have had a week away at our Yahoo group retreat! Yeah yeah I know, another holiday , but that is it now........well for a while LOL
Post for that on its way, but lets keep going with Hawaii!! Gee I miss it....


So today we were up reasonable early and off to Hanauma Bay to do some snorkelling. I have never snorkelled before but I really enjoyed it! Hanauma bay is a beautiful location and we had a great time here. 
The view from the top of the hill....

The view down on the beach....

This is all we have from the bay as we don't have a waterproof camera so you will just have to imagine all the fish we saw!!!
On the way back we hopped off the bus at Denny's for lunch - and were very good and had dipping veggies and chopped fruit with our chicken burgers....they were options if you didn't want fries - what a great idea! The waitress thought we were nuts though she couldn't believe we didn't what fries.........."honey...one can never have enough fraaahs!!!" *imagine very strong american accent*LOL

Back to the hotel for a clean up and a bit of a rest then we walked down to Waikiki for some more shopping and dinner. 
Here are some pics from the walk down to Waikiki.....
The torch lighter in the Hilton Hawaiian Village - 

Gardens at the Hilton - 

Fort De Russy Military museum - 

Sun starting to set - 

 Red Ginger Plant -

The only quilt store I visited! Not really my style but interesting to see the work that goes into the designs.

Before heading back to the hotel we shared a Nachos with Pulled POrk - very delish! We don't normally eat pork but this was really nice.