19-Jun-09
Departing Perth
Collect kids from school. I am tired before I even start! Get to the airport @1430. We cannot check the bags in until 1630. No problem, we go to have coffee and drinks in the cafe (at highly inflated prices! We realize that we have left Zach head gear at home. He needs it, not spending all this money on his teeth for the fun of it. Dad to the rescue. He goes back home to collect it for us.
By the time he arrives back, after telling us he was waiting on the plumber??? To disconnect the kitchen sink so that we have everything. Trust Dad to give us a stress attack!! We also had a mild panic attack, I had not printed out the visa waivers we needed to have to get into the US. Fortunately after some checking online we were in the system and cleared to land in America. No one told me that we needed hard copies of those. I need a Valium!!
Our flight is late coming in and we are not due to depart now until 8pm. Mind you with this stormy I am not really surprised. The kids are so nervous, worried about flying. Me personally, I have had ½ a Valium for the nerves.
We say good bye to Dad and go through the gate into the departure lounge. It is about now that Sarah starts crying for Rosie. So we find Sarah a new friend, her name is Matilda. (The name tag says Howard!!) The time for boarding gets pushed back even further, I have given up watching the clock, Zach has not, and he is getting more worried.
When we eventually board the plan we receive an announcement from the pilot that our flight will be further delayed due to formation of ice on the wings of the plane due to the cold weather, An unusual occurrence indeed, especially in Perth. Should we scrape off the ice? Under advisement of our NZ technicians no we may damage the wings. Ice is melted with the use of fuel increasing the temperature to 1°C. Yep I will have the other half now.
2130, over 2 hrs after we were supposed to depart we start to taxi. I will eventually get circulation back into my fingers from Zach holding my hand. Dave is enjoying the same with Sarah. As a result of our delayed departure from Perth we land in NZ closer to 830 on the 20/6 instead of the 6 am. This works out good for us as it means less time waiting for our connecting flight onto Hawaii at 11 am. We stop and have a shower, well Sarah and I do, we then have breakfast, well the others do, I could not face food. Just give me a cup of tea.
We board @ 1030 and then we are on our way to Hawaii. 8 1/2 hrs later we land. It is @1030pm on the 19th of June and the temperature is 25°C!! The humidity hits us.
Immigration and the kids are so tired now, we are not much better. The floor keeps threatening to hit me in the face. I hate it when I am so tired that I feel dizzy. We clear immigration, collect our luggage and, YES we are officially in Hawaii and on holiday. We are greeted with a lei and a hug.
We get to the hotel about 1130 and it is so busy in the streets, people everywhere just walking about and looking at the shops, which are open!! 1 Am the kids are hungry so we head out and get an ice cream at a mini mart near our hotel.
Saturday 20th June
I woke at 730 still tired but...............open the curtains to our room, what a view, a panorama all the way to the mountains, palm trees every where and birds singing.
A beautiful small bird perches on the railing with the most vivid red crest and 2 smaller plain birds actually come into the room. I just want my family to wake up now, I want to shop and sight see!!
End up bouncing on the bed to wake up Dave and Sarah, she ended up sleeping with us, nothing unusual in that. Go down for breakfast around 930, have a coffee and a cinnamon bagel. My first attempt at US coffee does not leave me impressed. Finally get the whole family motivated, sort of. I have confirmed both of our tours for Sunday and Monday plus our transfer back to the airport on Tuesday. Pick up for the tours is at the Hyatt hotel. We go for a walk to find out the location for the pick up. Ends up being less than 5 mins. From our hotel across the road to the right past KFC and Burger King which we can see diagonally across the road from our room (3rd floor corner room)
We walk down and about and end up at the beach. The water is so blue. A larger than life statue stands on the beach arms open out and palms facing up in open offering to the Gods. Leis are placed at his feet and on his arms as offerings. The kids and I paddle and swim in the water it is so beautiful and warm.
We head back to the room, the salt water irritates Sarah’s eczema rubbing between her legs. The kids freshen up. We head back out and jump on the pink trolley line. End up at the Ala Moana Centre. A huge shopping complex with Macy’s, Sears, Tiffany & Co .... Mmmm Tiffany’s. Go into Tiffany’s, the cheapest thing a key ring at $250; I don’t think I will be getting a souvenir from there.
They have a “Bubba Gump” tourist shop and restaurant. Zach falls in love with a camo t-shirt, his first souvenir. We sit and have lunch with the distant view of the ocean. There are fish pond through the whole shopping centre, and large ones at that. The ponds are full of Koi, some easily ½ metre in length.
Departing Perth
Collect kids from school. I am tired before I even start! Get to the airport @1430. We cannot check the bags in until 1630. No problem, we go to have coffee and drinks in the cafe (at highly inflated prices! We realize that we have left Zach head gear at home. He needs it, not spending all this money on his teeth for the fun of it. Dad to the rescue. He goes back home to collect it for us.
By the time he arrives back, after telling us he was waiting on the plumber??? To disconnect the kitchen sink so that we have everything. Trust Dad to give us a stress attack!! We also had a mild panic attack, I had not printed out the visa waivers we needed to have to get into the US. Fortunately after some checking online we were in the system and cleared to land in America. No one told me that we needed hard copies of those. I need a Valium!!
Our flight is late coming in and we are not due to depart now until 8pm. Mind you with this stormy I am not really surprised. The kids are so nervous, worried about flying. Me personally, I have had ½ a Valium for the nerves.
We say good bye to Dad and go through the gate into the departure lounge. It is about now that Sarah starts crying for Rosie. So we find Sarah a new friend, her name is Matilda. (The name tag says Howard!!) The time for boarding gets pushed back even further, I have given up watching the clock, Zach has not, and he is getting more worried.
When we eventually board the plan we receive an announcement from the pilot that our flight will be further delayed due to formation of ice on the wings of the plane due to the cold weather, An unusual occurrence indeed, especially in Perth. Should we scrape off the ice? Under advisement of our NZ technicians no we may damage the wings. Ice is melted with the use of fuel increasing the temperature to 1°C. Yep I will have the other half now.
2130, over 2 hrs after we were supposed to depart we start to taxi. I will eventually get circulation back into my fingers from Zach holding my hand. Dave is enjoying the same with Sarah. As a result of our delayed departure from Perth we land in NZ closer to 830 on the 20/6 instead of the 6 am. This works out good for us as it means less time waiting for our connecting flight onto Hawaii at 11 am. We stop and have a shower, well Sarah and I do, we then have breakfast, well the others do, I could not face food. Just give me a cup of tea.
We board @ 1030 and then we are on our way to Hawaii. 8 1/2 hrs later we land. It is @1030pm on the 19th of June and the temperature is 25°C!! The humidity hits us.
Immigration and the kids are so tired now, we are not much better. The floor keeps threatening to hit me in the face. I hate it when I am so tired that I feel dizzy. We clear immigration, collect our luggage and, YES we are officially in Hawaii and on holiday. We are greeted with a lei and a hug.
We get to the hotel about 1130 and it is so busy in the streets, people everywhere just walking about and looking at the shops, which are open!! 1 Am the kids are hungry so we head out and get an ice cream at a mini mart near our hotel.
Saturday 20th June
I woke at 730 still tired but...............open the curtains to our room, what a view, a panorama all the way to the mountains, palm trees every where and birds singing.
A beautiful small bird perches on the railing with the most vivid red crest and 2 smaller plain birds actually come into the room. I just want my family to wake up now, I want to shop and sight see!!
End up bouncing on the bed to wake up Dave and Sarah, she ended up sleeping with us, nothing unusual in that. Go down for breakfast around 930, have a coffee and a cinnamon bagel. My first attempt at US coffee does not leave me impressed. Finally get the whole family motivated, sort of. I have confirmed both of our tours for Sunday and Monday plus our transfer back to the airport on Tuesday. Pick up for the tours is at the Hyatt hotel. We go for a walk to find out the location for the pick up. Ends up being less than 5 mins. From our hotel across the road to the right past KFC and Burger King which we can see diagonally across the road from our room (3rd floor corner room)
We walk down and about and end up at the beach. The water is so blue. A larger than life statue stands on the beach arms open out and palms facing up in open offering to the Gods. Leis are placed at his feet and on his arms as offerings. The kids and I paddle and swim in the water it is so beautiful and warm.
We head back to the room, the salt water irritates Sarah’s eczema rubbing between her legs. The kids freshen up. We head back out and jump on the pink trolley line. End up at the Ala Moana Centre. A huge shopping complex with Macy’s, Sears, Tiffany & Co .... Mmmm Tiffany’s. Go into Tiffany’s, the cheapest thing a key ring at $250; I don’t think I will be getting a souvenir from there.
They have a “Bubba Gump” tourist shop and restaurant. Zach falls in love with a camo t-shirt, his first souvenir. We sit and have lunch with the distant view of the ocean. There are fish pond through the whole shopping centre, and large ones at that. The ponds are full of Koi, some easily ½ metre in length.
Lots of walking, we end up at the international market place, and get suckered into choosing an oyster. Zach first, he gets a silver grey pearl that is mounted onto a whale tail. Sarah next she gets a black pearl. Sarah being Sarah wins the heart of the sales lady and gets another go, twins, pink. By this stage the lady had already given Sarah a pink pearl that is already on a setting, so Sarah now has 4 pearls. Zach who is a little put out by the attention that Sarah is getting also gets to have another go, this time it is twin black pearls for our little man. The sales people try to keep doing their job, but we have already spent over $200...time to leave people.
We go back to the hotel to rest, David sleeps and the kids and I go up to the pool. While the kids swim I sit in the spa and end up talking to a lovely family from North Carolina, the James’. We spend ages comparing accents and the different inflictions on words and laughing at each other at how we sound saying them.
End up at Denny’s for dinner, Dave’s burger pattie is big enough to feed all of us I think. The kids and I share an Oreo Sunday, mmm chocolate fix. We walk down the main street, every thing is open, there are people every where. Head off to bed around 10pm, tomorrow is Pearl Harbour and USS Missouri.
