Hawaii

We spent a fabulous 2 weeks in Hawaii.  1 week on Maui and 1 week on O'ahu.

Embarrassingly our first meal was at Burger King!  We had been travelling for 15 hours with 2 flights and had a 45 minute drive ahead of us.  It was the easiest place to stop!

 Virgin pina coladas on the balcony of our hotel room on the first day

There was a little shopping mall next to the hotel where we had a lot of meals.  It was also the place Tess lost her mobile phone on the second day - a completely disastrous start to our holiday.  We were very very lucky that it got handed into security and Tess was reunited with it 3 days later!  

Tess was happy again once she had her phone!

For Tess' birthday we went on a snorkelling boat which took us to a beautiful reef called Molokini where the kids and Jules tried snuba diving - exactly like scuba diving but the tanks are on floats up on the surface.  

After the reef we got taken to another place to find turtles.  Snorkelling with turtles has always been on my bucket list and I cried when I saw my first one - quite challenging when you're wearing a snorkel!

The activity pool at the hotel was closed for refurbishment.  At first we were a little disappointed but the blow up water slide was a hit and we got to use the SUPs and kayaks for free which saved us a small fortune.  

We stayed at the Grand Wailea which you can see in the background.  

 We went zip lining one day which was huge fun for all of us.  

After the zip line we went on a short bush walk to find Twin Falls and Tom had a quick dip as it was very hot.  

After a wonderful week on Maui we headed to Waikiki on O'ahu.  Below is the view from our hotel room.  

Tom is out there with all the surfers.  He had fun catching the very small waves and he positioned himself in a perfect spot to get as many waves as possible.  In fact, one of the surf instructors said to him "Dude, this isn't Pipeline, you don't have to catch every wave!

 We had dinner at an awesome roof top Mexican restaurant - our best meal in Hawaii.  

Afternoon drinks overlooking the beach at Moana Surfriders - we reckon this would be a good hotel to stay at.  

When I visited Hawaii back in the 80s I remember frozen yoghurt with lots of toppings was all the rage.  It's now shaved ice with flavoured syrups.  Tom and Tess managed about 1/4 of the one in the photo before feeling sick!  

We were a little disappointed with Waikiki.  It's very built up and commercial and there are thousands of people everywhere even though we were there during the quiet season.  After the first night we decided to book into a resort-style hotel on the North Shore regardless of cost as that is what we all seem to prefer.  We were very lucky that our hotel in Waikiki provided us with a refund which covered the cost of the other hotel.  

There was an amazing point break just by the swimming pool and Tom found 2 other boy surfers aged 10 and 12 so the 3 of them spent hours and hours surfing these perfect waves.  

One of the villages near the North Shore is a mormon village and we had lunch at this crazy restaurant with bible verses written all over the walls.  

Turtle Bay Resort - we loved it there.