Reality Bites!

Good Morning Bloggettes (you know who you are).

It's 6.30am Thursday (that's 2.30am Friday back in Oz) and we're sitting in the Qantas Club Lounge at Honolulu International Airport waiting for our flight in just under 2 hours.

Hope you have enjoyed the blogs as much as we have enjoyed the trip (though unlikely!).

As sad as we are to be leaving Hawaii, it will be great to see you all soon.

Aloha and Mahalo

Ben and Brad

Kaua'i

A short 30 minute flight took us to Kaua'i, the northern most island in the Hawaiian chain for a two day stay. Kaua'i is the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands and is known as the Garden Isle. The landscape here is varied with beaches, rain forest, desert, mountains and plains.

On arrival we picked up our hire car (a shiny red Mazda 3) and headed to the west. After passing through Waimea (the first place in Hawaii visited by Captain James Cook in 1778), we ascended 3,400 feet to the Waimea Canyon Lookout.

Waimea Canyon is a spectacular canyon, approximately 16 kilometres (10 miles) long and up to 900 metres (3,000 feet) deep in places and is called the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". It was formed from the Waimea River fed by the high rainfall on the island's central peak, Mount Wai'ale'ale.

Mount Wai'ale'ale (1,569 metres/5,148 feet) is one of the wettest places on Earth with an annual average rainfall of 11,700mm (460 inches to you old-timers)!

Continuing north we reached the end of the road at the Pu'u o Kila Lookout. Out trusty guidebook said it offered "one of the greatest views of the Pacific". We got clouds.

Reading on the guidebook said to wait a while and the clouds will clear, and they did. The Kalalau Valley opened up below us bordered by the steep green cliffs of Na Pali.

Inspired by the scenery we decided to tackle the 1.6 kilometre (1 mile) trek to the Pihea Vista. Things started easy but conditions quickly deteriorated to a steep muddy, slippery trail. Great views on the way but to be honest, the views at the end were a little disappointing. We somehow managed not to fall over (others were not so lucky) but ended up a little muddy.

Overnight we stayed in Wailua, the traditional home of Kaua'i' royalty.

An early(ish) start and our first stop was the picturesque Opaeka'a Falls before we headed towards the north shore. The east and north coast are peppered with gorgeous beaches all the way. Stopping at few of them on the trip north, we followed the road to it's end at Ke'e Beach.

It was a little busy here so we headed back to the Kilauea Lighthouse which is perched on a bluff that is the northernmost point of the main Hawaiian Islands.

Time for a swim, while looking for a beach we did a quick side trip to Wailua Falls before heading back to Secret Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches we've seen. It's a little hard to find (hence the name - thanks again guidebook!) and the steep climb up and down are a bitch but it's worth it.

Feeling refreshed and relaxed we headed south towards the airport at Lihue stopping in Kapa'a for a quick drink.

Another ridiculously quick flight saw us back to Honolulu. Tomorrow is our last full day.....has it really been 4 weeks?!

Hawai'i 2: The Sequel

Leaving sunny San Francisco (still no fog!) and the US mainland this morning, we headed back to Honolulu on the ever reliable Hawaiian Airlines (back where we belong in First Class).




The time difference (Hawai'i is 3 hours behind the West Coast) had us back in Waikiki before lunch. Just in time to collect our hire car, a pretty shiny blue Mini!!! Woohoo!!!




Over the next three days we hurtled around every part of Oahu racking up 450 kms (280 miles), not a bad effort considering we're on an island.


Day 1: Circled the island including the East Coast, North Shore


Day 2: Laundry (boring!), West Coast (scary!)


Day 3: Outlet Shopping, Pali Highway, Like Like Highway, Aloha Tower Marketplace, Punchbowl




After not being too impressed with the Mini at the start, when the sad time came to hand him back...we wanted one. Add it to the list.

San Francisco Sights

Another warm and sunny day signals our last day full day in San Francisco, where is the fog? Time to check off the last few sights. First up the Civic Center with the grand City Hall building which was modelled after St. Peter's Bascilica in Rome and features a large "Beaux-Arts" dome. Marilyn Munroe and Joe DiMaggio were married here in 1954.

Continuing on to the Western Addition district we stopped at Alamo Square Park, home to the "Painted Ladies", a row of seven beautifully maintained Victorian houses.

Time for some more excercise, entering the Haight district, we climbed the steeps paths of Buena Vista Park to the 175 metre (575 feet) summit for some great views of the city and surrounds. Buena Vista Park is the oldest offical park in San Francisco and covers 150,000 m² (37 acres).

After recovering we continued along Haight Street to the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets. The Haight district is famous for being the centre of the Hippie movement in the 1960s. Although now mostly gentrified is still offers an eclectic mix of shops, restaurants and people.

Catching a couple of Muni metro/streetcars, we headed to the burbs to the Lake Merced area to refresh our shopping skills at the Stonestown Galleria. Heading back into the city, we had a few farewell drinks in the Castro before returning to the hotel to pack our bags for Hawaii.

Sunny Sausalito

Another glorious day greeted us today as we made the 30 minute ferry ride across the bay to Sausalito, a picturesque artist enclave.



After climbing a steep staircase (man we're out of shape!) to look a some of the beautiful houses that cover the hillside we browsed through a few of the quirky shops before catching the ferry to Pier 41 in the Fisherman's Wharf area.



A quick look through the tourist trap which is Pier 39 including the noisy, smelly sea lions before catching the Powell-Hyde cable car up Russian Hill. We got off at Lombard Street, the "crookedest street", for a few photos and decided to walk the rest of the way home taking in the scenic views of San Francisco.

Official Day of Rest

We need a break!

The Rock

For something different we took the night tour of Alcatraz. The boat departed just on sunset for beautiful views of the city, bay and the rock. The night tour adds atmosphere although restricts access to some areas.

Bay City Rollers

3 hour segway tour of the Marina, North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf area......awesome!!



Two words.....WANT ONE!

Golden Gate and Beyond

A bit a good detective work by Ben uncovered a handy Muni bus that crosses the Golden Gate Bridge, climbs the Marin Headlands to Marin Beach.....and back again (but only on a Sunday). Marin Beach wasn't the nicest beach we'd been to so we stayed on the bus as it looped back around and climbed the hills that make up the Marin Headlands. We jumped off the bus at a scenic point for some awesome views of the bridge with Alcatraz and San Francisco in the background.

From there it was an easy downhill walk to Battery Spencer before walking under the bridge to Vista Point for views back the other way.

Continuing on we walked the 2737 metres (8981 feet) of the bridge named not for it's colour but because it crosses the Golden Gate, the strait that is the mouth of San Francisco Bay. The bridge's colour is actually International Orange.

Sunny San Francisco

Courtesy of Alaskan Airlines we headed north to San Francisco. Our hotel is centrally located one block from Union Square and the cable car line. Our first full day took us down Market Street to the Ferry Building. Lots of markets to peruse if that's your thing but as it's not ours we continued on to the Financial District. After strolling through the Embarcadero Center we got up close and personal with San Francisco's tallest building, the Transamerica Building. Unfortunately the general public aren't allowed inside but it still looks pretty from ground level.


Onwards and upwards to Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower. The art deco tower was built in 1933 at the bequest of Lillian Coit to beautify the city. The top of the 64 metre (210 feet) concrete tower offers great views of San Francisco and the Bay Area.

After all that hill climbing we craved sustenance so we headed to Chinatown via the Italian enclave of North Beach for yummy dim sum (we know it as yum cha). After that we craved a nap.

Post nap we jumped on the historic F line trolley to the Castro, the centre of the gay universe. Despite reading otherwise, it still seems to have retained it's gayness (gaiety??) and we browsed through a few shops before having a few drinks at a couple of the local bars, The Bar and Badlands. Not as scary as they may sound.