For anyone who wants to see more photo's of our holiday you can see them here :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dollzilla/
Friday, November 5, 2010
Lots of photo's
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Sydakneeee
The last few days in Hawaii we had lots of trouble getting the wifi connection for some reason so didn't do much blogging.
Our sunset cruise was great, it was something different (though VERY cheesy) and we enjoyed it.
We were up bright & early the next day to get our flight back to Australia. Now originally I had booked us on a connecting flight back to Brisbane on the same night we arrived from Hawaii, but 2 weeks ago I changed my mind and booked a hotel & got a early flight the next day.
Must have been my physic ability coming through :p because sure enough our Hawaiian flight was delayed a hour & half and we arrived on Sydney at the same time we were supposed to leave Sydney !
Our airport hotel was so dodgy last night! I was paranoid of catching something from the bed!
The flight home from Hawaii was far less painful for me being a day flight. Tony was awake to cuddle & keep me company!
Well that about concludes our Hawaii travel blog! I will update with a link of more photos soon :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Sydney
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
:(
This is our last blog from Hawaii. Last night's dinner cruise was lovely. The view was unbelievable & we saw a amazing sunset. We ate Maine lobster ! We both agree though that morten bay bugs are better :p
We have had a beautiful trip & are sad to say goodbye to this beautiful place & it's people.
Maholo Hawaii :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Aloha means Hello and Goodbye !
Aloha friends :)
The last 2 days haven't been that eventful due to my back. So I don't have a lot of adventuring to write about.
Saturday was a pretty quiet day. We had breakfast at the Cheesecake Factory then we wondered around Waikiki and then I had to rest in the afternoon because of my back. While I rested Tony went next door to the Military Museum which used to be a ammo bunker. Apparently they tried to knock it down to build a hotel but being a ammo bunker the wrecking ball couldn't get into the wall so they made it into a museum. They have amazing Tiki's out the front of it too. Tony enjoyed all the guns & tanks etc. Glad he got to go cause I hate that stuff & would have been bored.
Yesterday morning started with a BEAUTIFUL Lava Rock full body couples massage for Tony & I. It was so nice! The hot rocks were great in soothing my back pain! Neither of us have ever had a hot rock massage before & it won't be our last!!!
We went to the Diamond Head Art Gallery yesterday which has AMAZING artwork! We wanted to buy it all! Dylan this stuff would BLOW YOUR MIND!
We bought the most amazing piece of art there. We don't normally spend a large amount on artwork but this one was worth it. The framing alone if a piece of art! They are shipping it to us back home. I will include a photo of it when I put some photo's up.
We then wondered around a little (in a daze :P) and went to downtown Honolulu again. Went to Brookstone and bought myself a anti snorning pillow. Tony has one at home that Mum gave him that works WONDERS! So I wanted to get one too! Mum that clock from Brookstone is discontinued sorry :( We picked up a few things from Old Navy (love that store everything is in my size !) and had a Dole Pineapple whip...again. I could eat that stuff forever ! While at the Ala Moana shopping centre we noticed that more & more people were arriving in costumes. They got NUTS here for Halloween. People were going into the shops to Trick or Treat! When then came back to the hotel & packed some stuff. We set out for dinner late and wholy moly the streets were redonkulous! People EVERYWHERE in costumes! Half naked women running around, guys in cow costumes, HEAPS of star wars costumes! There was not many cheap witch costumes, everyone seemed to go to great efforts for Halloween here!
Today we had a sleep in for the first time since we have been here! Was good, I feel very rested. My back is still playing up, if it wasn't for Advil I wouldn't be doing anything at all atm. This morning after breakfast we went on a mission to explore the Pink Palace :) More commonly known at The Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Google it, it's BEAUTIFUL! I think next time we will stay there for a few nights :)
Tonight we are doing something special for our last night. We are going on a sunset dinner cruise :) We're pretty excited to get out on the water & see the amazing Hawaiian sunset on the sea :)
We fly out tomorrow morning and arrive in Sydney around dinner time. We are staying the night in Sydney as we won't be able to make the last flight back to Brisbane due to going through custom's & immigration as there are normally always delays. We will be back in Birkdale on Thursday.
I actually miss our little fur kids Lain & Zazz. But they have been in good hands with the wonderful Kerri house sitting for us. There was a incident at the house while we were away btw. Some dick head rammed his work truck into the power pole in our front yard & it snapped in half and landed in the lower neighbors front yard. Obviously that meant no power to the house. Thanks again to Kerri & Ben for sorting all that out :) Power is now back on & we will have to go over what happened when we get back. I hope the police caught the driver!
Will up date when we get back home :)
Aloha
Bec
xx
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Waikiki
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Pineapples, Taro and surf..OH MY !
Aloooooha !
Today we were up early to get our bus to the Dole Plantation & Island circle tour. On the way to the pick up point at a hotel across the street I slipped in their driveway on their polished stone floors & landed on a odd angle. For the rest of the day I had bad back pain :( Not a good way to start the day. But I soldiered on regardless (having left my paracetamol in our hotel room)
The tour was lots of fun, we got a tour of the NorthShore beaches & various points of interest along the way. We stopped at a amazing beach called Rock Pile, the waves were crazy!
We went to the Dole Pineapple plantation which was good. The train ride was a bit boring but the maze was good & the gift shop was also good :)
So many pineapple things !
We also went to a Macadamia farm. The bus driver/Tour guide was funny & knew so much about the area !
We came back to our hotel in time for a rest before we had to go & meet another tour bus to go out to Germaine's Luau. The luau was great. SO much food & booze and polynesian dancing. It was fun :) First time I had seen traditional Samoan dancing, was nice :) We sat at the table with a nice couple from Atlanta, Georgia. I felt a little weird when they grabbed my hands to pray before eating dinner. I didn't have the heart to tell them I don't do that, so I just went with it. Luckily I didn't have to say anything :)
The bus ride home was interesting so many drunk aussies on the bus...including my husband !
Well I am thoroughly exhausted so that's all folks!
Bec
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Waikiki
Aloha from Tony
Message from Tony
I've yet to really post on this blog but i've been there the hole time. As a geek i love the frequency in witch free wi-fi appears, from hotel rooms,restaurant's to Starbucks, making these posts possible on the go. Waikiki is an amazing place for those who don't want to rough it, everything from high end fashion to market stall trinkets, Apple to ABC stores, it's the hub of Oahu Hawaii. Oahu is also the place of the Dole Plantation where most of the worlds pineapples use to come from other than Australia's Golden Circle that is. The Hawaiian's are amazing, they know tourism is the main industry and help you out when ever possible, a little tip never goes astray.
As far as drinking goes, i'm a bourbon guy, but i think Hawaii may have turned me into a tequila and Rum Guy. To Quote my wife, "Soo many cocktails soo little time" (they even have breakfast cocktails here).
Other than the superficial Waikiki, Oahu has been a great Hawaiian experience, from food and people, parrots and TIKI carvers.
I also recommend attending a Luau. As an Aussie a believe the bar closed too early. But a had a great time at Germaine's Luau. Plenty of Island Dancing, and fire twirling etc.
HAwaii So far has been an experience i recommend to those who want to get away, because you can choose the level at which you get away too.
Till next time Aloha from me to you.
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Friday, October 29, 2010
Weather
PS!
The weather here is amazing! It's hot, like 28 - 29deg but you never feel the heat. It has this amazing never ending breeze here, just beautiful!
Oh Mum I got some crystal skull vodka tonight !
You know its the coolest thing, I really fit in here! Everyone admires & comments on my tattoos. I guess because of the polynesian culture it's quite normal for women to have so many tattoo's.
I like it :)
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No I'm not sunburnt, just drunk ....
Aloha :)
Saying that never gets old !
After breakfast this morning Tony had his photo taken on the beach with a whole bunch of birds! 2 Macaws, 2 Eclectics & 2 different types on Cockatoo's! He loved it :)
Then we shopped! We went to the Ala Moana shopping centre in Honolulu and went to various places and looked around. We then set off to find Wallmart, which we did. Man that place is HUUUGE! They had everything from souvenirs to fabric! We got lots of useful stuff there. Andy & Dylan I hate to make your guys jealous but we bought Dickie's shorts today for $21! Tony has 4 new pairs of shorts now! Can you believe we got 4 pairs here for the price of 1 pair in AUST !
We had lunch at a place called Bubba Gump, we have been to one of these before in Hong Kong. We drank waaaay to many cocktails with lunch. NEW RULE... no more than 1 cocktail for me at lunch time. Doing anything drunk in the day time ...in the sun...in Hawaii isn't good for me ! Tony on the other hand became much more willing to shop after 5 cocktails :P
We caught the pink trolley car line there & back, the drivers are funny & give a running commentary as you drive along.
Once back to the hotel we got ready for dinner & headed out again. We walked to the end of the very long main street of Waikiki to go to a place called Tiki's Grill & bar. Dylan & Amanda you would LOVE the decor in this place. The food there is nice :) Tony had the most amazing Guava glazed ribs, I stole one to try ! We are going back there on Sunday for their special Halloween themed night.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped into a Elements shop & I bought Tony his anniversary pressie. A beautiful new sector 9 longboard :) He was so cute & proud walking the streets of Waikiki with his longboard under his arm! They are SO CHEAP here compared to home. Less that half the price we have to pay in stores! It's crazy!
Tomorrow will be a long update as we are heading to the Dole Pineapple plantation..... YAAAAAAAAY !!! Then we are back in time to head off to Germaine's Luau which will be fun :)
Mahalo for reading our Blog !
Bec
x
PS. Shari I said hi to Wallmart for you, it said it misses you & asked when will you come to visit again :P
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Honolulu
ALOHA
Today was our first day in the 50th state if the USA (Hawaii 50)!
We had a very long day of travel from Brisbane to Sydney then a bit of a wait in Sydney then on to Honolulu. As usual I didn't sleep at all on the flight and for some reason the plane was SUPER cold! More than other OS flights we have taken.
When we arrived at Honolulu airport it was like half of Japan had also decided to come to Hawaii for a holiday and the immigration queue took well over a hour to get through! When we got outside we met up with our greeter who forgot to give us our lei greeting and took us to the shuttle bus.
We arrived at our beautiful hotel, the Outrigger Reef on the Beach. It was recommended to us by our dear friends Cat & Kyle who stayed here last year. It is a really lovely hotel & the room is HUGE and has everything we need :)
As our room wasn't ready for a early check in we went to get some lunch :) First place we went to ..... The Cheesecake Factory! Was so good but I forgot how HUGE the servings are in the USA! I was very happy that I got my strawberry lemonade :)
Second stop...the Apple store in Waikiki. Tony was served by a Apple employee wearing beige cargo shorts & thongs! We thought it was pretty funny!
Went back to our hotel & thankfully our room was ready as jet lag had set in & I was not in a good way. Once we were in our room we slept for about 4 hrs. That always fixes my jet lag, just a short 4 hr sleep & I am good to go in any time zone!
Next stop...Sephora where I was once again overwhelmed by choice and how cheap thing are there! I'll skip the part where I tell you how much I bought there shall I?
We found a market place that had lots of interesting (and crappy) stuff for sale. We found a family of Tiki carvers and bought our very first Hawaiian tiki :) He even engraved it for us.
There is another tiki stand where a sister & brother team sell and make tiki's where we are going to buy 2 masks to hang on the patio wall. I am going to have to put my "Jan's haggling" hat on to strike a deal with this lady! I also found a giant Pineapple at a stand where they make you a pineapple drink INSIDE a pineapple! We are going back there to get one this week!
You would not believe how much pineapple stuff there is here ! I am in Pineapple heaven! Even our bed head at the hotel has pineapples on it !
After the markets we had a late dinner & I had my first ever Pastrami Rueben sandwich. It was goooood! I discovered I actually don't mind sauerkraut :) We also got our cocktail on !
Its been a long day so for now we say Aloha & goodnight :)
Oh PS, Mum my new kindness attitude is working out great so far. Especially with waitstaff, no one seems to ask them how they are !
Bec
xx
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Hawaii here we come!
Today we fly to Hawaii !
In honor of this I would like to share this video with you all :)
We will be updating this blog, hopefully with photo's (via ipad) while we are over there.
Bec
Kind of a Travel Experience?
I guess this counts as "travel" :P
Last Sunday Tony & I did the Brisbane Zombie Walk with our friend Kerri. It was our first Zombie Walk but it won't be our last ! We had a ball & it was so much fun to be silly in a huge group of zombies!
Tony was a happy zombie :) Not concerned with finding brains AT ALL! Me on the other hand, I was trying to be freaky :P
Me, Tony & Kerri being scary
One hungry zombie & one sleepy zombie!
Melbourne Visit to see the Tim Burton Exhibition
Well we went to Melbourne in September for a little over 24hrs. We were there just to see the Tim Burton exhibition at the acmi before it closed & moved on to another country.
It was everything we had hoped for & MORE !
You weren't allowed to take photo's inside which was a bummer but it was the most amazing exhibition I have ever seen, and I have seen some big ones...Dali, Van Gogh, Man Ray, Warhol, Picasso. Probably because I am so emotionally invested in Tim Burton's work. His stories and characters really speak to me, being an "outsider" myself I can relate. They had the original Edward Sizzorhands costume which was AMAZING! Every single film he has ever done was represented. Some of my favorite movie props there were the Alice in Wonderland Matter Hatter costume, Mars Attacks props, Nightmare Before Christmas props, the Headless Horseman costume from Sleepy Hollow and the Batman masks.
The thing I liked most was that he included his personal note books, sketchpads and rejection letters. It gave you a small insight into the world and mind of Tim Burton which is something that none of us have had the opportunity to delve into. We all know it & I'm gonna say it anyway, the man is a genius! When you look at his oldest work you can see how beyond that moment in time his work really was. On some strange level I feel a connection to Tim Burton's work. As if my own struggles, insecurities and triumphs were being played out via his creations. I guess it just goes to show that we all do go through the same crap!
It really was a opportunity of a lifetime to go to this exhibition. An experience I will share with my children & grandchildren I am sure.
Bec
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Melbourne here we come !
We are heading off to Melbourne today to see the Tim Burton Exhibition :)
Tim Burton Exhibition
Not long until Hawaii !!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Honeymoon in Japan October/November 2005
So as I mentioned previously I will be moving some of our travel journals over to this blog. We were late bloomers when it came to travel & had our first overseas trip in 2005 for our honeymoon :) Below are the entries of our journal.
26th October 2005
Helloooo everyone!!!
We're here.
It's so amazing & beautiful and scary all at the same time :)
Our flight was longer than it was supposed to be so we took off at 9:10am and landed at Narita at 5:30pm. We didn't get on the bus to Tokyo till 6pm and arrived at the Hotel at around 7:30ish. Such a long day considering we were up at 4am!
The hotel here is AWESOME! It's better than the Hilton in Brisbane!
Our room is soooo good! The bathroom is bigger than our bathroom at home and it has a bath! The room it's self is HUGE and it's a corner room & we have a nice view of some of the Imperial Gardens/Palace & part of the moat that surrounds it. Our bed is HUGE, I think it's a king size :)
We can't get any service for our mobiles here, something is not right as we were told it would be fine >:(
For some stupid reason I woke up at 4:45am (tokyo time) today :P
We just had b'fast and they have the strangest things to eat here. of course there is the normal bacon, eggs, pastries. But they have grilled salmon, seafood pasta, of course fried rice and a few different odd soups. Also a salad bar....for b'fast!
We are off today to have a look at the Imperial gardens and shopping at the Ginza district. Ohhhh yeah I can't wait for the shopping!!
We will probably update everyday so keep watching!
Ok gtg paying for the net.
26th October 2005
OMG
We went to Ginza at about 10:30am this morning. That place ROCKS!
Can you believe that we successfully navigated around. I am very proud of Tony's map reading skills :)
First we went to the Sony Building, which was great & fun. Then we headed off to find the Volks doll supply store to have a look. Then came the fun. Hakuhinkan Toy Park...OHHH YEAH!
We spent about 2.5hrs there on all 6 floors. Oh man...it was GREAT!
We will be going back cause there is more stuff I want to get...plus we have discount vouchers.
The sales clerk noticed my jack tattoo & well all the Nightmare stuff I was getting & told me that Tim Burton was at the store last week. AHHHHHHHHHH!! He brought lots too :)
Oh in my last post I forgot to tell you about the toilets here. It's true. They have weird electric loo's here! Our toilet in the hotel has a heated seat according to room temperature, it has a bum drying feature, a beady and a bum washer. Plus when you flush it everything inside it swirls like a whirlpool.
Which is cool & odd :P
Oh I had the best Waffles today! I know it's weird eating waffles in Japan :P But they were cheap & warm.
We got caught in the rain today & I to find a shop that sold umbrella's. It was a chemist that had about 50 people in it also buying umbrella's. It was funny cause everyone was chucking money around & yelling.
Oh girls I got some of those cute wooden dolls we saw in the valley the other weekend. They're so cute & cheap here!
Anyway I had better go. Tomorrow we're spending more time at the Imperial Gardens (it's across the road) and then going for a afternoon tour. At night we will be hanging out at the Electronic/Anime district.
Man I am so bloody tired!
But I our Japanese is getting better! I can say 3 things really well now.
Sumimasen ( excuse me)
Arigato Gozamos ( thank you )
Wakurimasen ( I don't understand)
Kudasai ( please )
29th October 2005
So where did I leave off last time?
Oh yeah Thursday morning we went back to Ginza to get something from the Volks store, then back to the Toy park for 30mins. We jumped back on the free shuttle bus back to the hotel.
We then got picked up for our afternoon tour.
After everyone meeting at the bus we went to a pearl store. They had a presentation & as you went in and took your seat they asked you to select a number in a basket. Then they had a presentation on how natural pearls grow & how they make cultured pearls. We already knew but it was interesting anyway. They had some cultured oysters there from their farm & in one of them was a "lucky" pearl & who ever got the random number this little machine thing said won the pearl.
Tony won it! So we have a beautiful cultured Japanese pearl. On the way back to the bus we could look around the shop. I brought a pair of silver Japanese pearl earrings. They're so nice!
Then we went to the port to get on a boat for our river cruise. That was interesting. They dropped us off at a Buddhist temple (I don't remember the name) we got to go in & pray and the guide told us the story behind the temple. The we got to wonder around the MANY shops there. We then all got back on the bus & drove back through the city. Tony and I got dropped off at Akihabara which is nicknamed "electronic town" oh man...that place is AWESOME! We wondered around there for a while & then decided to brave the rail system and catch the train back to Maranuchi (the suburb we are staying in). It's actually not that hard, as long as you don't have to change trains etc it's pretty easy. Most everything is in English.
Friday:
TOKYO DISNEY!
We didn't manage all day there but we were there from 11:30am till 7:30am. A good effort I think. We went on the Pirate of the Caribbean ride. We had to get fast pass tickets for space mountain and haunted mansion. We had to wait a LONG time to use them so we just basically wandered around till then. OMG space mountain in the scariest bloody roller coaster I have ever been on! Think Starlight Express from expo '88 meets Cyclone from Dreamworld & make it 10 times faster. OMG it was freaking great! Then we watched the afternoon Halloween parade, which was ok. The haunted mansion...Nightmare before Christmas style! OMG I was in PURE HEAVEN! Oh man....we taped the whole ride!!!
Today we are headed to Ueno and maybe back to Akihabara.
There is no point in trying to get an early start on your shopping here. Nothing opens till 10-11am. They're all open till about 8-10pm though. Also if you catch the trains before 10am or before 7pm you are likely to be a sardine.
I will never get used to the smoking in restaurants!
Right I had better go back upstairs & get ready for today!
30th October 2005
Man the Japanese are SERIOUS smokers. They all smoke!
The weird thing is that they can smoke in restaurants, bars, hotel lobby, train station etc. But on the street in Ginza & Maranouchi ( where we are staying) and probably other suburbs there are special "smoking" corners on the street. Go figure! They are only JUST introducing a smoking/non smoking sections of restaurants now.
Also we were told that only 2 years ago the police started to crack down on drink drivers....2 YEARS AGO! I guess it's better late than never!
Yesterday we went to Ueno shopping district. There is a awesome 6 level toy store there. We went on an adventure through some side streets....that was interesting. There were a few adult stores & we decided to go into one. It was really funny, like being in a 7/11 because there were lots of people there just browsing & testing the merchandise..in a non rude way :P
There was so many clothing side market shops there too! Then we came back to the hotel cause I was still stuffed from the day before. We decided it was time to try & sort out our purchases & see if we need to get another bag to take it home in. We're still in the middle of it :P
We attempted to go out for dinner last night late around 9pm. It was the start of a bad night. The first restaurant around the corner we went to was closed. It's in a area where there are lots of fountains & these little shallow man made rivers running across the ground from the fountains. So as we were coming back from the restaurant to go to one near the hotel we turned a corner where there were about 7-8 Japanese teenagers hanging out. Sure enough we walked straight into one of the shallow rivers. Which came half way up our shins. So back to the hotel to change clothes & shoes by the time we had done that all the restaurants had closed. GAH!
Today we are sorting out our packing and going to Harajuku.
1st November 2005
Sunday.
We spent this morning packing up our bags to see if we need to buy another one while we were out. Turns out we did need one :)
Then off we went to Harajuku which was not so good shopping wise. But as it was Sunday afternoon + Halloween there were SO MANY cosplay & gothic lolita & punk etc etc out on the bridge. It was awesome!
We then went back to Akihabara to buy another bag to bring home & to have 1 last look around.
Monday we left Japan :( We got back this morning at 7:00am. Neither of us slept at all which sucked, But we just got up from a nap & I am not so tired.
So that was our trip to Tokyo! We didn't want to leave :P
We are currently sorting out all our photo's and video so you might be receiving some soon!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Previous Travelling Adventires
So as I mentioned in my last post I am going to revisit previous adventures we have had and ad to this blog. So very soon you will be seeing blog entries about Japan, Fiji, USA, Hong Kong, Sydney & Melbourne just to name a few.
Hope you enjoy :)
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Look honey we have a travel blog
Hi, Bec here. I suspect I will be doing most of the writing as my husband Tony doesn't want to make time for this stuff. He has too many podcasts & vodcasts to watch apparently. *shakes fist at interwebs*
So this blog has been set up just to share our travel experiences & so we have a record of something when we are old and can remind ourselves of the awesome adventures we have had.
I might go back & blog about past holidays we have had because we never really wrote about them so it would be nice to revisit them I think :)
We are preparing for a holiday in Hawaii atm. Neither of us have been before so we are very excited. I am obsessed with Pineapples so I am looking forward to going to the Dole Plantation and Tony being the Geology/science nerd that he is can't wait to go rummage around some volcanos.
We are staying in Wakiki because we want to enjoy the tacky/kitchy Honolulu that my Grandparents enjoyed in the 80's :)
Right well that's about it for now ! Aloha !
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