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Hawaii was the lifesaving holiday I needed to have that came at the most perfect time in my life! During my first year of teaching with the heavy work load and travel requirements it saved my life. Actually my wonderful boyfriend (Dan) and his family saved my life because they took me with them on their familiy holiday! So I say Thankyou! Thankyou! to them. |
It was the middle of the year, the middle of the school year and the middle of winter for us here in Australia. The holiday took me out of normal stressful and cold living to a week in paradise.
A week in warm summer and beautiful warm swimming water! A week of relaxing and not worrying about anything. Not to mention getting to know Dan's family alot better! It was perfect.
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I can safely say we didn't do a great deal on the trip. Of course we had 'things' that we did do
but we were not rushed and took it all in our stride. The hire car we had for the week made it very
easy to get around despite learning how to drive on the other side of the road again! Basically we did a lot of laying
around on the beach, took walks at sunset on the beach, swam in the water and relaxed
at the Resort we stayed at. Following are some of the other things we did as well.
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A vist up to the Haelekala Crater was certainly an experience. It is the hightest point on Maui and from sea level we made the
ascent in 61km (38 miles) up to the height of 3,055m (10,023 feet). As we drove up the vegetation became
much less and at the top there was more-or-less no vegetation. The air was extremely thin and the fact that there
was much less oxygen was quite evident. You couldn't run very far without feeling the effects. Actually, you
couldn't even walk fast without feeling breathless!
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We also drove the road to Hana. Well... attempted to anyway! We never made it all the way around to Hana because
it would have taken us way too long on the hair-bend stretch of road. We mainly did the drive for the scenic
side of it. Being able to see so many waterfalls, walk in tropical rainforest areas, see the awesome colours
that Hawaii/Maui had to offer and the gorgeous landscapes that had been carved over time. It was truly spectacular.
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Toward the end of the trip we decided we would take a cruise on the water. The boat was rather nice actually!
They took us out, fed us a late lunch and allowed us to snorkel in the water. What an experience! It was my absolute
first time snorkelling and we all had a ball. Even when we visited the WhitSunday's I didn't go snorkelling (mainly because
I was stung on my leg and in box jelly-fish season I didn't want to risk it then!). Dan and I stuck pretty close
together in the water and we swam around looking at the coral formations and the fish. We were even lucky enough
to see a turtle swimming close by. That was very cool, an experience I will never forget.
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Now, you can't go to Hawaii and not go to a Luau. Even if it is a commerical one. It's definitely worth having a taste of
the culture. The weather was excellent for our Luau photo and we got to see how they cooked the pig in an
underground oven. We ate poi, learned some native Hawaiian words and saw an excellent show of Hawaiian dancers dancing
many items as well as the Hula. Fire dancers and breathers were also a specticle and so were the pineapple drinks. They were a real hit!
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Our last day on the Hawaiian Islands was spent on the main island (O'ahu). We were able to visit Pearl Harbour
and the memorial they have there for the sailors who perished when The Arizona and other ships were bombed and sunken.
It was a moving visit so see the history presented on video and then by voice as we were shuttled out on a boat
to the Arizona Memorial site. Following our visit there we did some looking about in shops and had a visit to Waikiki beach.
It is quite strange though, that the sand on the most famous beach is shipped in from Australia!
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