Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Welcome to Canada! Eh!

We flew into Vancouver at 4:45am on Monday morning and both cleared customs easily (phew!) and took a taxi into Downtown to our hotel.  We decided when in Hawaii that we had far too much luggage and spread out far too much to share with 6 others at a backpackers hostel.  The hotel also added the benefit of security, free wifi and tv.  Having dropped off our bags we had 5 hours to spend before checking in.  First stop Starbucks... sound familiar?!? We then walked across town to visit Roger Stadium.  For those of you who haven't heard of it, it is home of the Vancouver Canucks, the local ice hockey team.  Another visit to Starbucks... then checked into our hotel for an afternoon sleep.  That night we dined at the Steamworks Brewery Co in the harbour room, with a view over the harbour at night.

On Tuesday we slept in... sound familiar?!?!  Tuesday afternoon, AWESOME!  We bused in to Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park.  Absolutely beautiful!  Tall green trees, cliff faces, the Capilano river, Christmas decorations, tree houses and the suspension bridge.  This is exactly what I thought a typical Canadian forest would look like.  It was raining slightly in the area but that meant when we got half way up Grouse Mountain, it was SNOWING!!!!  After taking the cable car to the top, we arrived in a winter wonderland!  A beautiful log cabin including several restaurants, outfitters, gift shop, theatre, beautiful open fire and a decorated Christmas tree 2 storeys tall!  Outside included Santa's workshop with Santa and his Elves, two of his reindeer, ice skating on a frozen lake and the entry to the slopes.  Absolutely incredible (and freezing cold!)!

The Capilano River

Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park

Photo with Santa Billy at Santa's Workshop Grouse Mountain

Snowing at Grouse Mountain

Ice Skating on the frozen lake at Grouse Mountain

On Wednesday, we were back at Rogers Stadium for a guided tour.  As it turned out, a private tour of the stadium as we were the only ones booked in for that tour time. We even got to watch the Vancouver Canucks in training.  Great introduction to the NHL.  We also went to Canada Place right on the river for great views back across downtown and across the river to the snow capped mountains.  We also caught the bus over to visit Vancouver's Stanley Park.

Rogers Arena - Vancouver Canucks

View from Canada Place

Stanley Park

Thursday, we had another lazy day.  We spent another day sleeping in and sorting out and sending some mail.  In the afternoon we went to see 'My Week with Marilyn', a way to keep warm.  For dinner we went to Roxy's Burgers on Grandville and watched the Canucks game on the big screen.  I was secretly wearing my Montreal Canadiens shirt on underneath all my layers.

Friday morning we checked out of our hotel and taxied it to the airport for our transfer to Whistler.  Whistler to come next post!

Luv Always

Heather



PS I spent quite a bit of time attempting to track the location of the Fringe set (my favourite tv show) on twitter however the first confirmed location was on the day we were leaving for Whistler.  Plus the location was a long way from downtown, $100 each way via taxi.  Thus did not get to set this visit, I will stalk the set next time I'm in town!!

Aloha

Aloha!

Waikiki, Hawaii (where we are located) is very much a tourist base and more like a city centre than I had anticipated however the shopping and the food are so cheap!  Beyond the city however is just like I imagined it.  Since my last post we have ventured outside of the city and it is just beautiful.

On Tuesday, having planned to go to Pearl Harbour in the morning, we accidentally slept in till noon. As Pearl Harbor tickets sell out quick we decided to put it off till the next day.  We ended up deciding to hike up Diamond Head, Hawaii's state monument.  It took three hours for us to walk from Waikiki to the centre of the dormant volcano however the track to the peak was closed due to maintenance but walking into the centre of a volcano was very exciting.

Inside Diamond Head

That night we dined at Denny's, a flash back to dinners at the Grand Canyon when I was 11.  Followed by a trip to Hard Rock Cafe.  There were three Navy ships in at Pearl Harbor so the Navy boys were out in force.  We also met the lovely Amber and had a great night.

Wednesday morning we had planned to be out at Pearl Harbor at 8am to watch the Navy ships sail out however once again sleeping in (getting over jet lag was hard).  We caught a taxi out to Pearl Harbor and got there by 9:30am.  Having booked in to visit the USSArizona Memorial at the earliest time slot of 11:15am, we toured the the USS Bowfin Submarine.  11:15am saw us entering a theatre to see a 15min video on the history behind Pearl Harbor.  Not really knowing much about the details, other than from watching the movie, I found it very informative and impacting.  A ferry then took us out the memorial directly over the sunken ship.  The memorial was beautiful and seeing the ship just below the surface of the water was really surreal.  We took 'the BUS' back towards Waikiki but decided to stop off at Ala Moana once again for a spot of shopping.  That night we visited Chili's for dinner for Amy to get her Baby Back Ribs (a Big Bang Theory reference I believe).

USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor

Thursday, Thanksgiving, saw us bus it out to Hanauma Bay.  The $7.50 entry fee and the 45 minute wait was well worth it.  Hanauma Bay is a marine reserve, the beach is even closed every Tuesday for conservation purposes.  Entry also includes a mandatory video about the conservation project, the marine life and the do's and don't's of the beach.  Hanauma Bay is an ancient volcano on Oahu.  The bay was creating when the outside wall fell into the ocean and the water came in.  When we reached the beach we hired snorkels and spent about 5 hours sunbathing and snorkelling.  The reef and the fish we so beautiful.  We saw our first fish less than 1m into the water.  We saw all kinds of fish up to 1m in length.  It was an awesome experience!  Waiting for 'the BUS' to return to Waikiki we met two Aussie girls, Amanda and Amy, two nurses from Sydney.  It turned out that we were all staying at the same hotel and were both off to the Luau that night!  The Luau was a fantastic night.  Luau in the Hawaiian language means party and what a party it was.  It included a traditional Hawaiian buffet dinner and show.  We also witnessed a marriage proposal live on stage after the girl was announced as having 'won the door prize'.  Much fun was had doing the hula and experiencing 'Hawaii' with the girls.

Hanauma Bay

Luau - Beach at Sunset, West Coast, Hawaii

On Friday, Black Friday, we deliberately avoided the shops for fear of being trampled.  We ended up both having our hair done at the Diamond Head Hairdressing salon and spent the afternoon walking around the beaches of Waikiki.  That night we saw the anniversary of Pearl Harbor parade including some of the survivors from that day, December 7th, 1941.  The parade also featured marching bands and dancers from high schools all over the US and Canada as well as army and fire department vehicles of all vintages.  As the parade was on we just missed the fireworks out the front of the Hilton however we did get a night stroll along the beach.

Beaches of Waikiki

Saturday saw us on the grand island tour with Robert's Hawaii and 'cousin Ted' as our host and driver.  The stops included Hanauma bay, Halona Blow Hole, Nu'uanu Pali Lookout (the windiest spot we experienced on the island), Valley of the Temples including visiting a beautiful Japanese temple and seeing the Chinese tradition of leaving the persons favourite food and drink at the graves, a Black Coal jewellery store, Tropical Farms Macadamia Nut Outlet,  Kualoa Ranch, a place I woud like to go back to one day (they have movie tours here as many movies have been filmed on this property!!), we saw Chinaman's hat, visited the North Shore beaches and then visited the Dole Plantation (pineapple farm) where Amy bought me a beautiful Pearl ring (Thanks Amy!!).  That night we did the coin laundry thing for the first time... something I think we will become very used to over the next year.

Kualoa Ranch

Chinaman's Hat

Sunday we had booked in to go parasailing at 1000ft.  However after the first two Guinea pigs, I mean participants went up, it was cancelled due to the strong and dangerous winds.  We did end up with a free boat ride off the coast of Oahu, which was still very good.  We got back to the hotel, showered and finished the last of the packing and checked out by noon.  We ate lunch at the famous Cheese Cake Factory.  So yum!  I had a Reece's peanut butter cup cheesecake.  Loved it!  Well most of it... it defeated me and I could not finish it even though it was so yummy!

On the Parasailing boat

Before

After

Keeping dry and clean prior to our pick up and flight out of Hawaii we ended up going to the Ward Mall cinemas and saw the latest Twilight instalment, Breaking Dawn Part 1.

Aloha Hawaii!  A hui hou (till we meet again).  Canada here we come!

Luv Always

Heather

Points to note about Hawaii-

There are 76 ABC stores in the state of Hawaii.  There is literally at least one on each block in Waikiki.  Originally thinking it was a store based on the US tv network ABC, we were very disappointed to find it was a pharmacy/deli/tourist shop all rolled into one.  Despite our disappointment, the stores were useful on more than one occasion over the last week.

Starbucks was visited by us at least once a day and is also found pretty much on every block in Waikiki.

'the BUS' at $2.50 each trip can take you anywhere on the island!  Extremely useful!

And the travels begin...

So I finally did it!  Yesterday, well today (I have had two Monday 21st November this year), I flew out of Brisbane.  Of course with a few tear, a boat wasn't quite necessary, but saying goodbye to Mum, Tim, Leanne, Bailey and Lily was definitely hard.  The flight from Brisbane to Sydney seemed to fly by and with no trouble at all with the transfer from the Domestic to International, met up with Amy.

Leaving home

The flight to Hawaii was long and although I attempted to sleep for about 5 hours of it, I wasn't all that successful.  I think I was too excited!  We landed about 7am Hawaii time, after going through customs and collecting our baggage (40kg checked luggage each btw plus the slightly over weight carry on bags) we were greeted by two local Hawaiians and were each given a beautiful real frangipani lai.  The transfer to our hotel including a short guided tour between from the airport pointing out the local sights.

Arriving at the International Airport in Hawaii

This morning, first stop, Starbucks for coffee!  Followed by a morning of walking around Waikiki shops and the beach and breakfast on the verandah of a nice little place.  As we are beginning to become aware food is very cheap.  Breakfast this morning for me included scrambled eggs, 2 rashes of bacon and 2 x pancakes for $4.50!  Following breakfast despite our want to continue to continue exploring, we gave into sleep.

At about 4.30pm we continued our exploration around Waikiki.  Discovering the cheap and convenient transportation of 'the Bus' for $2.50 per trip anywhere on the island (which we plan to make the most of over the next week).  We made our way to Ala Moana the largest mall in Hawaii for a spot of shopping.  I bought a pair of jeans on clearance for $8.99!  We ate a late dinner at an Italian place at the food court of the mall, $6.50 for both of us!

Back at the hotel now, we are attempting to get our sleeping patterns into Hawaii time.  Lots planned for the rest of the week!  Very exciting!

Luv always

Heather