A relaxing day, no need to go anywhere in a hurry and our last day on Kailua. Our first stop was at Agnes Portuguese Bakery for masalades, (we’re really loving these), only one flaw with our plan, they are closed on Monday. Luckily we had eaten breakfast so weren’t going to fade away, instead we headed next door and bought a couple of decorations for the Christmas Tree.

Then a short drive to Byodo-In Temple at Valley of the Temples. This is a non practising Buddhist temple and one I was quite keen to visit. It is a beautiful space, a massive Buddha and a gorgeous bell that you can ring before entering the temple. Doing so will cleanse your mind and allow for a more peaceful meditation.

We both had a ring of the bell, it was beautiful, so melodious, quite loud (depending on how hard you hit it!) and the sound just went on and on. We were having a lovely time, so peaceful and quiet….and then….the family from hell arrived. A million kids, okay, maybe half a dozen, it was hard to keep track of them all, ranging in age from possibly 2-10, and a mother that yelled at them constantly. Actually yelling is probably too gentle a description – BELLOWING….is probably more apt!

Everywhere we turned there was mum, at least two of the kids and bellow, bellow, don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t get too close to the edge…ooops too late the kid has fallen into the pond, that was the 10 year old!

Then the two older boys found the bell and rung it, and rung it, and rung it, and rung it, and….well you get the idea. Quentin and I had to have a wee word with them, all about how this was a place for quiet peace and contemplation and they were not helping with this so quit hitting the bell!

From here we left to visit Ho’omalhuia Botanical Gardens, which was a little disappointed as there wasn’t many flowers it was mainly trees. The gardens were huge and to get between each area you could actually drive, which we took advantage of as it was another very very hot day!

Later in the afternoon we headed to Lanikai Beach for a swim, just up from Kailua this beach is named one of the top beaches in the world. It certainly is a lovely spot, but not sure about the label of top. It is in a very quiet neighbourhood, no beach parking or anything, you just park in the side streets trying not to encroach on peoples driveways, apparently the area is chaotic come the weekend. Certainly a lovely area and great views.

When we stopped to take some photos we saw a gaggle (is that the right term!) of seqways coming down the hill. It was a group on a seqway tour of the area, very interesting way to see the sights!

A quiet evening, dinner from yummy Whole Foods again and getting the bags packed for moving out on Tuesday.

Nothing to report for Tue or Wed as we will be shopping, shopping, shopping, oh and flying home!

Our Saturday morning started with us hitting the road at 8am to get to a dive shop Q wanted to go to which was about 30 mins drive away. He was in hog heaven, got a new mask and some other boring dive things. From here we headed to Target to get some things we had seen on the big island but decided to wait until we were here to get.

Then it was back to Kailua, 30 minutes or so at home before we headed down to Executive Chef in the town. I had bought a few things there the night before and the sales person told us they were having a 25% off sale the following morning from 9-12. How could I say no. This is an amazing store with anything and everything one would need (other than the actual stove) to cook.. I could have spent a small fortune here but had to think about weight for our luggage!

We finished just in time to go and meet my friend Per’s mum and step dad Moses for lunch. They have been living here in Kailua for the last few months but have found the heat too much and are heading back to Christchurch in March. They are just a couple of blocks away from where we are staying. They live in the only high raise in Kailua. Kailua actually isn’t allowed to have high rises, nothing higher than a palm tree, four stories. However the developer just started building and kept building until at 18 stories he was told to stop!

It was so lovely to catch up with them both. Nicky (Per’s mum) is an absolute hoot and kept us very entertained. We ate at their favourite Mexican here in Kailua and it was actually really yummy, much better than what we had on the big island.

We then headed off to Waikele Outlet shops for a spot of retail therapy. First stop Lowes, a very big store like Bunnings or Mitre 10 Mega. I like Q to feel like he has some input in what we are doing

The first 4 or 5 purchases where actually made by my husband, I was beginning to think I would never buy anything. Then we hit the sketchers store and four pairs of shoes later we left, 1 for him and 3 for me. I also saw a Guess hand bag that I loved but wasn’t sure that I needed it was $75US so really well priced for Guess, it would have been well over $200 at home, just as we were ready to leave I decided to go back and get it only to find that it was 50% off so got it and the matching wallet for less than $50. A bargain!

The total by the end of the night was something like 4 pairs of jeans, handbag, wallet, 2 tee shirts, 1 pair dress shoes, 3 pairs of sneakers, 2 pairs crocs, 1 pair capris, some other things we cant remember now, and of course some chocolate!

We headed back to Kailua for dinner and then a rest and relax before our next day of shopping.

Sunday was our first sleep in, we didn’t wake up until after 7! No hurry to start our day as shops don’t open until 10. A relaxed morning and then we went to the local mall about 15 minutes drive away. Nothing two big only a couple of stories and with a movie theatre. We didn’t buy too much and in the midst of our shopping went to the movies at 12.45. The movies here have masses of previews before the actual movie, so finally the movie started at 1.15, didn’t finish until 3.45 and we had yet to have lunch! We went to see Prisoners with Hugh Jackman it was an okay movie.

today was the first day I actually wore a short sleeve lightweight cardy, the mall was cold as was the movie theatre! Not too much purchased today, a dress down from $99 to $17, a shirt for $7, some makeup and a new collar for our Sunny cat. Given we didn’t have lunch until after 4pm we had no need for dinner!

A lovely relaxed day.

One must arrive everywhere early to ensure parking in limited areas.  When we arrived there was one other man snorkelling and some scuba divers coming in.  By the time we left at 11.30ish there was probably about 40 or more people in the water.

This spot was for the slightly more experienced snorkeler after Hanuama Bay yesterday, as there was quite a rocky entry and the water was quite a bit deeper.  The snorkelling was also very good, with big concentration of fish in certain areas.  The water however was the coldest we have had, made more so by a cooling breeze flying over the top of our heads and the sun behind clouds.  After 2 hours or so in the water I was ready to come out as was pretty chilly.

Quentin managed to find a cute wee rock lobster hiding in the….you guessed it….rocks!  Later on we saw an eel swimming around freely.  Actually it was trying to get away from a fish 10th of it’s size who was busy chasing it.  The first time I have ever actually seen a eel swimming, not just hiding in the rocks.

As we were starting to head back in we came across a turtle happily swimming around .  We blissfully swam with it for quite a while and I thought Quentin was busy getting video footage on his GoPro, only to discover when we got back to shore that his GoPro had frozen so he hadn’t been able to.  As I am typing this he is busy updating the software on it to ensure it doesn’t happen again!

 

On the drive back we stopped again at Teds Bakery to try their famous Chocolate Haupia  Pie, a layer of rich, smooth dark chocolate custard cream, filled with another layer of haupia (creamy coconut pudding); topped with whipped topping. Yummy.  Really nice and not at all too rich or sweet.  Damn if we didn’t share a slice

We had also planned to stop at Mikes Huli Huli Chicken for a plate lunch, chicken, rice, salad but when we got there he didn’t have any chicken and wouldn’t for an hour or so.  Say what, no chicken at lunch time on a Friday.  We couldn’t be bothered waiting so carried on back to Kailua (less than 8km away) and went to Teddy’s Bigger Burgers!  They were actually really nice burgers, I had the chicken teriyaki one, Quentin beef, but the bigger beef one which after he had finished it did suggest he probably didn’t need it to be quite that big!

Then home for showers and to wash down the dive gear before heading out to have a drive down to Kailua Beach to check it out.  We have been here since Sunday and still haven’t seen the local beach which is supposed to be one of the best on the island.  It was a beautiful beach, miles of white sand and with a nice trade breeze which cooled everything down.  With the wind there was also a lot of kite surfers on the bay, so made for some interesting watching.

On our way back we called into the Whole Foods supermarket, one of the  more up market supermarkets where everything is organic, sustainable produced etc etc.  Why stop there?  Easy they have an amazing pre prepared food section and we thought we would get something simple and easy for dinner.  We ended up with some very yummy looking beef kebabs or kebobs as they are known here, already threaded with big chunks of beef, onion and green peppers, and a citrus marinade.  Then we walked past the bakery and next thing we have a lemon, raspberry tart, and a fruit berry tart in our basket.  No idea how they jumped in, but would be rude not to eat them!

A quiet night at home tonight to prepare for a weekend of shopping.  Yippee.

First time that I can think of that I have had to pay to go to the beach.  Parking was just $1 but then it was $7.50 each to go to the beach, and before you can go down to the beach you must watch a 12 minute video all about the wildlife and water safety.  Once this is completed you are then heralded down to the beach by your own feet or a tram as it is a steep hill.

We arrived just after 8 and were provided tickets for the 8.30 movie, even at this time there was masses of people wondering around, and by the time we left at 11.30 the car park was already full.

As we had been advised to do we asked the life guard about conditions further out in the bay as we had been advised this was where some of the best snorkelling was.  While we were advised that the current would be strong as the tide was going out we were told just to be aware of it and it would be safe to do.

So of we went, swam out past the buoys to the right of where we had entered, saw very few fish but lots of rubbish in the water, not looking too good at this stage.  Q decided we would turn back and head to the left, still outside the buoys, we had been doing this for about 10 mins or so when I heard one of the life guards (there were 3 stations along the beach in all) yelling something over the loud speaker.  Q popped his head up, couldn’t understand what they were saying so just stuck his head down and carried on.  The words that I could make out where “two snorkelers outside of the buoy…strong current…make your way back to the white markers….rescue you…” so thought it was probably best for us to turn around and alerted Q to the fact!

Once heading back into the more protected part we did see quite a few more fish and a turtle.  I found this gorgeous baby fish, normally you see them about 8-10 inches long but this one was only 1-2.  Very very cute!

The only issue with being inside the buoys was that so was everyone else, and it was chaotic in places.  Because it is an attraction to see when in Honolulu every man and his dog was there, even ones that couldn’t swim.  You see these swarms of Asian tourists who have probably never set foot in the water let alone snorkel, arrive with every flotation device known to man kind, noodles, life jackets, rubber rings, and there they are in the water with snorkel, mask and fully clothed.  Floundering around like nobodies business, panicking when they cant work out how to use their mask and snorkel and using their fins to walk everywhere therefore  breaking all the coral.  In some parts the water was only 3 feet deep, so really no need to panic.  Like on land these tourists travel in packs, and if they want to go from point A to B they do it even if you are in the middle, it was like being swarmed by bees!

After that we headed home, showers, feet up before heading back out for some more masalades, yummy.  Then a few chores, post office, shopping etc before we went down to the Kailua Farmers market.   This was a great market with lots of food stalls.  We had dinner down here, so much to chose from, Q ended up with curry and me a chicken wrap.  Then we had to have a lemonade because we had seen everyone walking around with these preserving jars drinking lemonade out of them.  It was very very yummy lemonade, finished by ice-cream.  WE could have been adventurous and had seaweed flavoured, or asparagus but I settled for passionfruit and Q for lychee sorbet.

Another day done and dusted.

It was a very pretty drive along the coast route from Kailua to the surfing capital of the world Hale’iwa.  First stop along the way was at one of the state parks to take some pictures of the aptly named “Chinaman’s Hat” rock.

As we wended our way around the coast I provided an informative audio from my Lonely planet guide so Quentin would know what we were passing.

Our next photo opportunity was at La’ie Point where one can see the waves crashing against the lava arch.  Folk legend tells the story of the rocks being a giant lizard that a demi-god broke into pieces to save Ohau from being attacked!

Then on to the famous North Shore food trucks for Quentin to have garlic shrimps/prawns.  There are several of these scattered around the island with the highest concentration being on the North Shore.  We stopped at one called Giovannis which is supposed to be the original Shrimp Truck, that is until you get a little further down the road and see Fumi’s also saying they are the original Shrimp Truck.  Either way I had done my home work and it was either Giovannis or Fumis that we voted the best.

The truck itself is covered in comments written by people that have been there, there was a large shaded structure with seating leading up to the truck and it was covered.  There was also several other food trucks around, Thai, one selling New Zealand sausages, shave ice and smoothies.

The smell of garlic and fish was enough to make me throw up but I quietly sat there while Quentin scoffed his dozen or so prawns down, garlic butter dripping down his mouth, hands, everywhere!  It is quite a good set up because out the back there is also a tap where everyone can clean themselves off.

On the road again next stop was Ted’s Bakery, apparently they do the best Hula Pie which is a chocolate pie with coconut cream, this was the place I wanted to get my lunch from.  I had a bbq chicken sandwich, which was very yummy, the marinade is pineapple and passionfruit and very flavoursome.

We didn’t have Hula Pie as that morning we had discovered Agnes’s Bakery and stopped of to have some masalades, these are sugared donuts that are cooked fresh to order.  I don’t even really like donuts but these were very yummy.

Ted’s was very busy so I got mine as takeout and we headed down to the first spot that we could find shade and a few and ended up at ‘Ehukai Beach Park, a very lovely spot that also happens to be where the banzai pipeline is that provides the huge swells for surfing in the winter months.  While the swells weren’t as huge as they were for the surf events we did sit at our shaded table and watch a girl that was sitting on the edge of the sand looking down on the water (the sand was like a little dune so quite a drop down to the actual beach part) get drenched as a wave of several feet came up and drenched her!

After eating we headed down to the beach just to say we had been there and have a look around.  Then a little further down the coast, where we turned around and headed back home, once again via the coast.  While a longer drive, it is a much quieter drive than the freeways, and of course much prettier.

A quiet evening in and an early night so we can rise early for a trip to Hanauma Bay.