THEY SAY ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY! With apologies to Lennon/McCartney

It’s Saturday over here and tomorrow is Wendy’s birthday. There is also a festival in town which makes booking restaurants problematic, but we have managed to book a nice one, P F Chang’s, for her special day. The girls should be relaxed after their “mother daughter” massage (a gift from Nick and Erin) at the Park Hyatt, around the corner from us.

After our “intense” double Wednesday, we had a chill out Thursday (shopping, swimming, relaxing) and were all set for our Waikele outlet shops/golf visit. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but Mike was musing (after we dropped the girls at the shops and drove 100 metres around the corner to the beautiful, manicured, tropical course) …..was it excellent, inspired planning ….or just dumb luck? I mean a golf course next to shopping outlets….genius!

Waikele golf course is magnificent! We played nine holes and weren’t disgraced by any means. Long manicured fairways, no rough and generous, true greens. Heaven! Could have easily played 18 but time was a factor.

Waikiki is renowned for sand, sun, surf and fun but also its food. Anyone who has visited the US knows that servings are, well….generous. It is a tourist town and the selections of eateries is vast but there is the problem of crowds, so lining up is a “thing” much of the time. Wendy A and I both vote to go back to Lulus during our stay, as much for the food and atmosphere, as for the view. And what a scene it is as the tropical sun slowly sinks behind the palms into the Pacific. Speccy!!! 

Speaking of which, cocktails and a cheese platter at Rumfire in the Sheraton down the road and overlooking Waikiki beach as the sunset glows is pretty fine also.

The sunset view from Lulu’s. It was a more traditional, open air establishment with great food, atmosphere…and that view!

“ Our traditional 5pm staff meeting” this time at the Rumfire. The view, the drinks and the service….outstanding!

We have planned to make our “activity” days in the middle of the trip so yesterday it was a drive to the North Shore around the top of the island to check out the more rural and scenic aspects of Hawaii.

The Dole pineapple plantation was a stop along the way, as was a small rustic coffee plantation…not quite as commercialised as the Dole, but still popular. We stopped a couple of times at beaches in the Waimea Bay area, and lunched at the touristy Kualoa Ranch (of Jurassic Park fame) which has also become much more commercialised since we last visited in 2010. The scenery however, has not. The local area, the little townships and the roads are much busier now, but the beautiful turquoise water, the crashing surf on the cliffs and reefs, and the towering, jagged lush green peaks of this northern part of the island are still  quintessentially Hawaii.

The craggy, volcanic peaks behind the Kualoa ranch. Impressive!

The North Shore is renowned for its huge waves of 6 metres and more in December and January when the “Big Wave” competitions are held. Waimea Bay and the Bonsai Pipeline are names that are big in the surfing culture vernacular and many Australian surfers have been successful here.

Spots like this are common and there were lots and lots of locals out picnicking and fishing on their weekend.