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

A Big Circle

It had been so hot and humid that we left nice early for Pearl Harbour. Unfortunately for us, not early enough. Even though it was still before 8am, the heat had already become oppressive. We pushed on an explored the historic sites. The dock where the boats left for the USS Arizona memorial sank on the Saturday prior to our arrival and so was closed. We made do with the Pacific Aviation museum which took up most of our morning.

En route to the north shore, we stopped by Zippy's for lunch for some local fare. The rest of the afternoon consisted of many ticks off our to see list... Dole plantation, Waiamea Bay, and the many beaches along the famed north shore of Oahu. We kept driving around the East of the island back towards Waikiki. Our end destination was Ala Moana, where we wanted to check out the Shirokiya Village Walk, a Japanese foodcourt.

Upon our return to Aulani, it was well into the evening and everyone was exhausted. Plans to listen to the storytelling by the firepit was quickly abandoned as sleep became the preferred option!

Pearl Harbour

USS Missouri where the historic Japanese surrender occurred

Jonah reading his information handout intently

Stearman flown by George W Bush as an 18 year old who joined the war effort post the Pearl Harbour bombing

Adorable series of portraits of Japanese Americans

Family photo!

Zippy's famed loco moco

Chilli fries

A massive spam sushi

Waiamea Bay Beach

Ehukai Beach with the Banzai Pipeline breaking over the reef off it

Scenic mountain backdrop along the drive

No further need for a description...

Precious EVE

Time for dinner!

Inside the large Japanese foodcourt