A Respite At Aulani

 

Breakfast with a view

I will keep the posts brief from here on as it will hopefully be just lots of R&R for us. We spent the day onsite other than our brief visit to Monkeypod across the road for dinner. Somehow we still managed to rack up over 12,000 steps...and booked 3 shore excursions, train tickets and hotels for our upcoming trips! I guess there's some truth to the saying there's no rest for the wicked.

Beautiful views from our morning walk

Prime spot yeah!

Time for shave ice

We didn't manage to make it to any of the photo ops with real characters. This one will have to do

No visit is complete without a stop at the DVC desk for our freebies. Unfortunately there will be no representation on the cruise

My lemongrass and bitters mocktail

Fish sandwich. Very fresh and nicely flavoured. For once not super salty

Mushroom truffle pizza

A hot sauce that Mal had to try

The gigantic strawberry cream pie!

Thank you Aulani for a great 2 days! For those interested in our matching outfits....here is today's effort

Almost Sunrise & Almost Sunset

 

Fantastic view to end what was a fantastic day

The first planned activity of the day was to catch the sunrise on the summit of Diamond Head National Park. We made the reservation online as soon as it was available. We had set our alarm. We had bought our coffee. But somehow at 0557, we were still in an uber...We got off at 0610 and started the uphill hike at 0611. Sunrise was at 0626. Fortunately the temperature was still a cool 23 degrees and the incline was not as bad as we expected. Somehow, we got to top just after the sun had risen past the horizon. Oh well, close enough is good enough! We still blame the uber driver for circling around our hotel unnecessarily for 2 minutes...

Start of the trail. 0611. Let's go. Surely walking the hills of Pymble and Gordon is good preparation!?

Clouds changing colours...gotta hurry

We overtook many but had to slow down here...there was no way to pass!

Sunrise! Almost!

At this point, I have to admit that we overlooked crossing the international dateline. Like newbies, we assumed that an overnight flight from Japan on the 10th would see us arriving at our destination on the 11th. Well not if you were going east! Luckily this was picked up early enough to book a hotel hence our single night at Waikiki Beach. We had to return to the airport to pick up our rental car which we got for a bargain because we booked it so early (AUD115 for 2 day hire!) Surprise surprise out shuttle did not turn up. Fortunately we had learnt our lesson and contacted them after 15 minutes at which point they agreed to refund us and called us a cab. 

Our pick up at Hertz turned out to be Mal's highlight of the day. Being a gold member, we managed to skip the long lines and had our pick of cars! The red Dodge it was! It was off to Aulani for some spa time at Laniwai and fancy dining at the newly reopened Ama Ama. Laniwai was expensive...I initially had reservations but today's experience was just amazing. They had beautiful spaces and facilities that we could use pre and post treatment, including a sauna, steam room, and outdoor pools/rain showers. However, as we had the last time slot for the day, we did all our relaxing pre-massage. The massage bed (heated) was also the most comfortable we've ever been on! 

And thus we found ourselves late for...sunset. We had booked dinner at a time to catch the sunset but once again only just managed to get there after the sun had dipped below the horizon. The view was still magical and the food was amazing. The menu is now a four course price-fixe and we both enjoyed every dish. 

Breakfast at our balcony

Go faster red!

Disney's Aulani at Ko Olina

Our studio

The sight of this never gets old!

The most giant dole whip we've ever had and a poke bowl for lunch. It was enough to fill both of us

Seriously one of the best spa experiences we've had

Outdoor rain showers and hot tubs

Relaxing outdoor spaces

Inside waiting area and refreshment staiton

The showers and changerooms had everything that you needed, including bags for wet swimmers

Sunset...almost!

The view from our table

Venison tartare with black garlic and truffle. Superb

Octopus with miso and parmesan risotto. Surprisingly light!

Scallop and shrimp ravioli topped with lobster and yuzu cream

One of the more unusual and delicious dessert I've had recently. Passionfruit ganache, white chocolate pistachio crunch, kalamansi curd and gingersnap tuile. The last was super tasty!

Reliving the 10th

My Japan Airlines "breakfast"

Our overnight flight to Honolulu was uneventful but very short! We expected a flight time of 10 hours not 6 hours! By the time meal service, take off and landing were taken into account, sleep time was unacceptably short!!! Belinda + no sleep is never a good combination...

Fortunately immigration and luggage were super fast. Unfortunately our prebooked shuttle was super slow. We were not impressed with having to wait for an hour while they sorted out why our names were not on the list despite us having printed confirmation numbers. We got to the Hilton Waikiki Beach eventually and to our surprise our room was ready. By this stage, both of us were tired and the bed looked super inviting but we had already bought trolley tickets and we couldn't waste those! So off we went to Ala Moana Shopping mall to buy ultra important things such as a dry erase board...

Waikiki Beach deserved a quick visit (although most Australians undoubtedly will find it somewhat underwhelming) as did McDonald's. We had to try the haupia pie (Hawaiian coconut pudding). Our stamina completely died after this. Fortunately the hotel was only 100m away and we made it home somehow and crashed.

Bed...looked so comfy...so tired...

View of Waikiki Beach from our balcony

Let's be a good tourist and go on the pink trolley

We should know better. USA land of the big food and big drinks. You'd think we were noobs

we do love looking at unusual stores

Afternoon swim at Waikiki Beach

The haupia pie. Delicious!

Hawaii

Finally an overseas trip! We jumped at the flight sales to entice travellers back in the air, grabbing ourselves $370 return tickets to Honolulu! Pair that with an Aulani stay using DVC points and bam you get a girls trip. Our original group of 5 was unfortunately reduced to 4 with Su being diagnosed with breast cancer. 

The excitement of heading into the airport was palpable. The trip was short, intended for some R&R following a seemingly never ending pandemic. It was lovely to spend some time together as friends and at a sunny and warm destination! We survived our Jetstar flights and was even surprised by efficiency! In lieu of the normal blog posts, here is a link of our photos as a trial of the travel photo sharing app Find Penguin

Back To Honolulu

Unbelievably, the cruise had come to an end. We had our last breakfast at Cagney’s, savouring not having to prepare breakfast ourselves…We were not in a rush to disembark and thus strolled off the ship just after 9am. As we didn’t leave US territory, there was no immigration or customs. As soon as we got off, we found our luggage lined up in a big hall ready for us to pick up. Oma and Opa’s booked private transfer came and we said goodbye as they left for their flight home via Japan.

We took a taxi to our hotel at Waikiki Beach. We whiled away the hours at Waikiki waiting for our room to be ready and lunched at Marukame. The udon lived up to the hype and the food was inhaled! We took the opportunity to relax with the whole family depressed about having to return to reality the next day.

Last served breakfast. Sigh...

Time to shop!

Marukame udon. You choose the type of broth, then added toppings as desired

The children very happy to eat Japanese food

Come early because there are often LONG lines

The famous Waikiki Beach

View from our balcony

The children allowed to watch TV....