Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 18/5/07

2007-07-18T05:27:00.000+08:00

Just to fill you in. I've been saving Qantas Frequent Flyer points for close to eight years to earn a reward flight for the three of us to go someone and enjoy. We chose Hawaii because I've been there before and thought that there were plenty of wonderful things to show my son and wife. It was about as far as we could travel on the points that I had and seemed like pretty good value. On to the trip.

After getting to bed at 11pm last night I was up at 5am to go to work early just to get a couple of extra hours in. I worked from 6-12 and tidied up quite a few loose ends. Set the phone to take messages and email to auto respond that I'm on leave.

Rang home to tell them that I was on the way. Miky was having a shower so couldn't take the call I was told by the boy. On the drive home Miky rang. I pulled over and rang her back. She wanted me to take some library books back - 1 1/2 hours before leaving for the airport! Once home I called the library to extend the borrowing period. Miky made sushi for lunch and to have on the plane as we were flying Virgin Blue and they don't serve free meals.

Caught the taxi after much rushing around packing, storing items in the shed, washing the dishes, taking out the rubbish, getting Yu-Jin to write a letter to the next door neighbour to collect our mail, turning off unwanted power and locking the windows and doors. Lot to do in a limited time. We were ready for our taxi with four minutes to spare.

Upon arrival at the airport we were informed that our plane would be late in arriving as its departure had been delayed. That added an extra 40 minutes to our waiting time.

Miky waiting at Perth Airport.
Mark and Yu-Jin waiting at Perth Airport.

I feel that the windows in the plane are made for little people as I have to stoop to see out of them. During the flight there was a screaming baby only two rows behind us. It drove Miky to go and find another seat. It was one hour into our flight before the flight attendant asked me if I would like to purchase something and my reply was, "Something to shut up the baby."

I would rather be at work with ringing phones, people and emails than put up with crying babies and noisy kids and parents.

Somebody got told off for walking around the with the seatbelt sign on - Miky.

After landing at Sydney's domestic terminal and collecting our luggage, where one guy took two different bags, including one of ours, and both turned out not to be his, we walked outside to be greeted with putrid cigarette smoke. Short wait for a taxi and a very quick ride to Hotel Ibis Sydney Airport.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 19/5/07

2007-07-18T05:26:00.002+08:00

The Hotel Ibis Sydney Airport is perhaps home to the world's noisiest toilet. The shower handpiece had a split in it, air filters were blocked with lint, the drain had broken off the basin and you could hear other guests moving about, but, the bed was comfortable. I'd still stay again though.

Busy day today. And we were lucky with the weather. The past few days in Sydney had seen major disruptions due to a pea soup fog. Walked down to Mascot train station and bought a day-trip ticket. Took the train to Circular Quay and walked to The Rocks to have breakfast at Löwenbräu - Aussie breakfast and rucola. Miky finished early and went for a walk to the markets and lost her camera bag. I waited for Yu-Jin to finish and then got a nasty surprise to see that they had rung up tips worth $4.10 without even asking. The cheek.

The Rocks in Sydney.

Breakfast view of Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Wandered around the markets for a while and then took photos of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Looked at Cadmans Cottage from 1816 and a gallery.

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Miky and Yu-Jin.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The Sydney Opera House.

Sydney Harbour Ferry.

Cadmans Cottage.

Had a quick snack at McDonalds before walking to the Sydney Opera House. Then caught the train to St James to see Sydney Tower. Miky only gave us 45 minutes before wanting to meet up and our ticket included OzTrek and the tower. OzTrek itself took all of our 45 minutes. Met Miky and had enough time to go back up to the tower. Fantastic view although the Opera House and the Bridge were partially obscured.

Sydney Tower.

Sydney Tower view of Sydney Harbour.

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House look small from up here.

Just tall enough to see.

Grabbed a spinach and ricotta pide for lunch. Yum. Caught the train back to the hotel. Free baggage storage and free phone for the taxi was a bonus. Taxi collected us within four minutes.

Arrived at Qantas check-in and lined up for 40 minutes before being served only to discover that we needed to go to the Jetstar check-in. Well, I was taking a Qantas frequent flyer rewards flight so how was I supposed to know? Had to line up for another 10-12 minutes and Miky spat the dummy. As we were checking in the guy left his post and we found out that it was to check Miky's visa requirement. It had seemed a tad strange that he just left us.

Miky bought a camera bag from the duty free shop. We split up after wandering through the duty free are and Yu-Jin and I went to the waiting lounge next to our gate. There was a random search area just before the gate and we were able to walk past. Miky, who came later, had her bag searched. A fifteen minute wait before boarding and a game a I-spy.

Our Jetstar flight and the Sydney skyline.

Unfortunately, even asking to be placed away from screaming babies we had two babies in the row in front of us. Oh no! Disaster looms. And on an overnight flight too.

A bit of crying was evident, more so than service. Jetstar appears more of a jet and less of a start. Very disappointed, I was, to say the least. We sat at the second o front row of economy and so were one of the last to be served at mealtime. By this stage there were no full meals left. I was informed that most of the meals had been pre-booked. The flight attendant would ring around when she finished to see if anyone else had meals left. The attendant on the other aisle wasn't doing well for meals either. Then I explained that I was a Qantas frequent flyer and had booked this flight in December and I hadn't been told about the service or pre-booking the meal. She looked at my boarding pass and then found three beef meals, although Miky wasn't happy with having beef. Add two drinks and it cost A$49.00!! And to top it off my beef and pasta had three slices of beef and almost all rubbery pasta. What rubbish. The salad wasn't nice at all either.

It was really interesting to land in Hawaii on Saturday morning after leaving Sydney on Saturday evening. Try explaining that to a seven year old. The wife found it a bit hard to understand too.

We had a Korean as our immigration officer and, after exchanging cash as I was unable to locate my travellers cheques in the suitcase (just one disaster after another), we then caught a taxi to our hotel and our driver was a Korean. He lives six months of the year in California, which has been his home for 32 years since completing his military service, and six months driving a taxi in Hawaii. There were a noticeable amount of Korean shops around Waikiki.

We arrived at Aqua Islands Colony at 9am only to find that check-in was 3pm and the hotel had been full the night before. But, the person who was in the room set aside for us had already checked out. Before we could store the baggage we were informed that the room had been cleaned and we could check in. Something starting to go right on the holiday.

All had a shower then went out for lunch at a Korean BBQ place. Had a look around Waikiki Shopping Plaza. Across the road was DFS in the Galleria centre which is a Japanese store where almost all of the assistants are Japanese, the public announcements are made in Japanese and everyone speaks to you in Japanese. And, to get to the duty free shopping is more onerous than entering into the United States through immigration. Spent a bit of time there but wasn't too interested in spending US$250-345 for a purse. Looked at more shops before Yu-Jin and I went to Waikiki Beach whilst Miky went to Waikiki International Market Place (WIMP).

We both visited WIMP before finding a supermarket - Food Pantry. Royal gala apples from New Zealand (can't get those in Australia due to quarantine restrictions) were US$1.69/lb, orange juice US$3.89 for 946mL, and bananas US$0.99/lb.

Back to the hotel for a sleep and then watched Heroes which was a few episodes in front of Australia. Played cards with Yu-Jin after tea then we headed down to Waikiki Beach for a wade - the water was nice but too rough for a swim at 7:30 when it became dark.

Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head.

Diamond Head up close.

Diamond Head again.

Waikiki by night.

Honolulu becomes busy in the night. From the hotel lobby I phoned a tour company for Hanauma Bay snorkelling tour and my 50c went very quickly. The guy at reception rang from the hotel phone for me. It was 8:45pm and I was still able to book for a 9:30am pick-up.

Yu-Jin had so much energy for someone who went to sleep on the plane after us and didn't have a sleep in the hotel before going back to the beach.

UPDATE
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A few weeks after returning home I provided feedback by way of email to Qantas Frequent Flyer relaying the message that I wasn’t happy with our treatment on the flight to Hawaii. I also explained that I had receipts for $72 for meals that I had been forced to purchase even though as a Qantas passenger I was entitled to.

All I received was an automated response thanking me for my feedback which said that not all emails were responded to. A couple of weeks past and I hadn’t heard anything. So, Friday last, I decided to send some more feedback. Just before doing so I thought that it required a phone call this time. I spoke to one guy who then put me through to a lady. This lady, his supervisor, listened and offered to refund the charges that I had receipts for. This resolution made me much happier.

The next night on the way home I dropped in at Harvey Norman as they were having a special of 15 cents for digital prints up to total of 200 photos. It’s not far from the post office so I wandered over there too. To my surprise there was a letter from Qantas. Surely they couldn’t have posted a letter the same day I had complained again? No, they hadn’t. It was a letter nearly two weeks previous apologising for the experience. Enclosed was a Qantas Gift Voucher for a total of $150 which I could utilise in the next 12 months.

One annoying part of the letter stated, “While I can appreciate your disappointment with the difference in service provided, all information about product and services is available online when you make your booking.” I failed to notice the terms and conditions that stated outbound flights wouldn’t be serving meals and inbound flights would be. They just had to have the last word – we’re apologising but we’re still right.

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Frugal Bastard's Hawaii 2007 Trip - 20/5/07

2007-07-18T05:26:00.001+08:00

Up just after 7am - last night was difficult to sleep because of jet lag. I went shopping for breakfast and bought some healthy stuff followed by two pancakes, two strips of bacon and two scrambled eggs for US$3.65. Not too healthy. I am on holidays.

We managed to get read for Nelson's Hanauma Bay Best Snorkeling our (tel 391-4300 or 306-8068) for US$12 ea. It came to US$38 including tax. This included a 45 minutes ride for the collection of other people. Our van ended up with 14 passengers, the driver and her friend. Hanauma Bay is a national park. Admission is US$5 for adults and kids under 14 are free. Everybody has to view an eco-movie for nine minutes which explains how to interact safely with the reef and the wildlife for your safety and their protection. Then there is the steep walk down to the beach.

Hanauma Bay from the parking area.

It took a while for Yu-Jin and Miky to get the hang of snorkelling but they really enjoyed it. I saw some large blue fish 50-60cm, the humuhumunukunukuapua'a (State fish), convict fish with their black and white stripes, wrasse and several other species of fish. It's amazing how close you could get to them and you could even hear them biting the coral.

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a - Hawaii's State Fish.

Colourful wrasse.

A bigger fish.

Another fish.

Gosh the sand on the beach was hot. You had to wear flippers so that you wouldn't get burnt. What an excellent day of fun. We just managed to get cleaned up and walk up the top to catch our van back to the hotel. I regret not having bought a 27-shot underwater camera for $US10 before going to the bay. Could've taken some lovely pictures of the fish underwater. As it was the pictures above were taken close to the beach.

Hanauma Bay reef.

Hanauma Bay beach.

Couple of showers later we caught the #8 bus to Ala Moana Center for lunch - it was four o'clock when we arrived. Finally found the restaurant area, on the 4th floor, and visited Ruby Tuesday. Not cheap but very nice food. US$11.99 for a Premium Burger, which I expected to be huge in a country known for gluttony, but it was just a normal-sized burger. Paying 15 bucks for a burger is a bit rich but it did taste great.

We shopped at Sears for some Levis jeans and bumped into two Aussies from Sydney. They were shopping for jeans also because of how cheap they are in this country. The Disney Store had some attractive bargains. To go shopping until 7pm on a Sunday night was great. We caught the bus back to Waikiki, on our free transfer, and did some grocery shopping.

R2D2 UPS post box.

Back at the hotel and Yu-Jin had a lot of writing to do for his diary which is his homework whilst he is on holiday.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii 2007 Trip - 21/5/07

2007-07-18T05:25:00.001+08:00

Bit slow to get going this morning as we had to pack ready to fly to Kauai. Stored our luggage downstairs and caught TheBus to Ala Moana Center for Miky to go shopping and Yu-Jin and I continued on to Pearl Harbor. Purchased Explorer's Tour tickets for the USS Missouri as the Captain's Tour, which I had a discount voucher for, was too late in the day and we would have missed our flight. No backpacks, fanny packs, handbags, bags, etc are allowed and these items had to be checked in. Then you get taken over by bus to the USS Missouri. And guess who we sat next to on the bus - the Australian couple we had bumped into in Sears yesterday. It's a small world.

USS Arizona Memorial.

She's a big ship. Josh, our tour guide, was a Hawaiian who also took Japanese tours. There are 16" guns onboard and a group photo was taken in front of them. The 16" guns can fire a shell a distance of 23 miles (37 kms) with pinpoint accuracy and they required some 1800 pounds (850 kgs) of explosives to launch. We viewed the officers' mess (also known as the wardroom - so called because the big tables were used as an operating ward as they were centrally located on the ship), sleeping quarters, control room, deck where a kamikaze pilot struck the ship, inside No. 3 turret (where 110 men worked), the Truman line (so called because President Truman lined up with the men instead of pulling rank) for the canteen for ice cream and on deck where the Japanese surrendered. Fabulous tour.

USS Missouri's big bombs

USS Missouri's 16 inch gusn.

USS Missouri's upper decks.

USS Missouri's 16 inch guns up close.

USS Missouri's gun on deck.

USS Arizona Memorial from the deck of the USS Missouri.

Chief Engineer's room.

Wardroom operating table.

USS Missouri's sleeping quarters.

Even the vending machine has a theme.

Kamikaze pilot's damage.

Million dollar Tomahawk cruise missile.

Radio and comms room.

More of the radio and comms room.

USS Missouri's control room equipment.

The guy in control of the USS Missouri's control room.

USS Missouri's war decorations.

Site of the Japanese surrender in World War Two.

The kamikaze pilot was given a full military honours funeral even though the crewmen just wanted to dump his body overboard. Reason being was that the pilot had done his job and successfully evaded all the men onboard whose job it was to shoot him down. Although his bomb had fallen off as the plane struck the ship it went in the other direction and didn't explode.

When the Japanese surrendered the USS Missouri was anchored in Tokyo Bay - enemy territory. The guns were all aimed at Tokyo as nobody knew if the Japanese would really surrender and they had to have a bargaining chip so that the Japanese upheld their part of the deal.

Caught the bus back to the USS Bowfin to collect our checked baggage and just started eating an apple when TheBus arrived. Although I knew that it went to the airport and added 20 minutes to the journey I didn't want to wait for a #42 bus and so took it, the #20 that is. One and a half hours later we arrived at the hotel and only 10 minutes before Miky did. I was glad to see that she had bought something for tea as we hadn't managed to have lunch.

Grabbed our belongings and went to hail a taxi. I was unable to do so and asked the hotel and they called one for me. Our Vietnamese driver had better English skills than most Vietnamese in Australia. It was peak hour and the road to the airport was really busy. Our driver went in the on-ramp lanes, down a side street, did a three-point turn instead of a U-turn (bloke in front of us did a U-turn and got pulled over by the police to receive a US$100 fine, one demerit point and a day in court) to get back onto the highway. Man, it was busy. But our driver got us to the airport in time. I gave him US$50 for the US$34 fare and he gave me US$10 change. I couldn't argue about the US$6 tip considering how he got us there.

Quick flight to Lihue, Kauai. Yu-Jin was enjoying playing and didn't appreciate the disruption of us coming in to land. He wanted a longer flight. There was nobody at the Dollar car rental but the courtesy driver said to come with him if I wanted to hire a car. I'd had a look on the Internet before leaving Australia and a compact car would set me back US$26 or I could get it as low as US$24.61. Hadn't booked it before arriving however.

There was nothing small available to rent for less than US$92/day but they had lots of minivans for US$60/day which we had to settle for. Then we you put the loss damage waiver insurance of US$19.99/day , the supplemental liability insurance of US$12.99/day, the general excise tax of 4.166%, the ConPermit(?) fee of 8.1%, the rental vehicle surcharge (applicable to non-residents, I think) of US$3/day and the vehicle license fee of US$0.31/day you arrive at US$319.01 in charges for three days car hire. Not bad, eh? Considering that it would be impossible to get around Kauai without a car I wasn't left with a great deal of choice. I was thinking that I should have taken up our hotel's package offer to include a car for an extra US$30/day.

Our hotel, the Aloha Beach Hotel Kauai, was easy to find. We drove to a restaurant area nearby but couldn't find anything that we liked, even the shop/market staff were very unhelpful and lacking in goods, so we drove into Lihue and a found a 7Eleven and bought some food. Had ourselves a meal back at the hotel.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 22/5/07

2007-07-18T05:24:00.000+08:00

Up reasonably early today to get ready for our Jack Harter Helicopter ride. We were a bit early so Yu-Jin played on a rusted out truck and chased a rooster around. Kauai is known for its feral chickens and they are everywhere. Every person taking a flight has to be weighed and your seating allocation is based on the weight. Cornell, his first day on the job, drove us to the heliport and provide us with a life jacket. FAA rules stipulate if you are flying over water you must wear a life jacket. At least in a helicopter. Our fellow travellers were Sandy from North Carolina and Bruce and Pamela from Cleveland.

The tour was brilliant. There was an abundance of beautiful waterfalls. We journeyed through the Waimea Canyon, up the Na Pali Coast (not as spectacular as I expected because of a lack of perspective, size-wise), the north shore, Mt Wai'ale'ale (perhaps the wettest place on earth) - where it started raining incidentally and Wailua Falls before returning to the heliport.

Jack Harter Helicopters Office

Life jackets make me look sexy

Our Jack Harter helicopter

A boy in a helicopter

Marriot Resort on Kauai

Kauai countryside

Cascading waterfalls

Waimea Canyon

Waimea Canyon 2

Waimea Canyon waterfall

Waimea Canyon 3

Flight control over the Waimea Canyon

Striking photo of Waimea Canyon

Waimea Canyon 4

Weathered rock of the Waimea Canyon

Classic photo of Na Pali coast

Secluded beach on the Na Pali coast 2

Kauai coastline of the Na Pali

Secluded beach on the Na Pali coast

Arch on the Na Pali coast

Verdent coastline of Na Pali coast

Striking coastline of the Na Pali coast

Four thousand feet high cliffs

Grotto on the coast

Na Pali coast

Jagged coastline of Na Pali

Valley on north side of Kauai

One of the seven rivers eminating from Mt Wai'ale'ale

Waterfalls near Mt Wai'ale'ale

Wailua Falls

Three satisfied customers

Grabbed something for lunch and headed to Port Allen to eat when Miky chucked a spaz. Wasn't happy about doing more than one activity for the day as I planned to drive to the Waimea Canyon. Had lunch at the port next to a rubbish bin, under a shady tree mind, before visiting all of the catamaran/snorkelling tour companies. Not much available for two days time - except at 6:15am on Thursday. I don't even know what day it is. I like the fact that Hawaiians don't have daylight savings but just bring their tours forward by an hour for the summer season. Booked the Thursday morning cruise. Drove back to the hotel for a short rest.

Then we hired a snorkelling set for US$5 from the hotel before heading down to Kauai's only enclosed swim/snorkel cove at Kamalani Playground in Lydgate Park. Great to sea fish up close. Spent probably 1 1/2 hrs there.

After showering we went to Pizza Hut for tea. Cost US$20.49 for a medium pizza (14") but just US$7.50 for an additional pizza of the same size so we bought two. Couldn't quite finish both of them. Cherry Pepsi wasn't particularly nice tasting. The super supreme pizza was great and the pepperoni pizza was probably better than back home.

Hot rod pizza

Grocery shopping at Big Save before shopping at Walmart (they have a Walmart on Kauai?) - sold out of Linkin Park's latest CD - Minutes to Midnight. Nice to shop there - paint shop, auto parts, etc.

Returned to hotel and did the washing. Booked a hotel in Hilo - most hotels didn't have rooms available. The first one I found was US$211/night but I found one for US$119/night. Hired cars from Dollar for US$42.78/day on Hawaii and US$18.90/day on Maui. For the same model, would you believe?

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 23/5/07

2007-07-18T05:23:00.002+08:00

Lazy morning. Visited nearby Wailua Falls. Impressive little twin waterfall. Probably really gets going during the rainy season.

Wailua Falls - up close

Wild chicken on Kauai at Wailua Falls. They were all over the place.

Drove to Hanalei and had lunch at Bubba's - Bill Clinton has eaten there. Waited 10 minutes to order and about 15 minutes to pick up - the place is that popular. The food was nothing special. Walked around the shops and bumped into Sandy from the helicopter ride.

Hanalei with a lovely backdrop

The tourist information center was more interested in selling us a tour than giving help about attractions in the area. Drove to Ke'e Beach, as there was no parking at Tunnels Beach where we were planning to snorkel, and it is about as far north as you can drive. The road to get there is very narrow and there are several one-way bridges on the way.

So many cars at Ke'e Beach. I had to go a fair way off road, with my don't-take-this-vehicle-off-paved-roads hire car, to get a parking spot. Can't believe how far off road I went. In a front-wheel drive too.

Beach sand was very hot under foot. Quite a few people at the beach and the snorkelling was good as there was an extensive reef. Interesting to see little fish pop their heads out of the holes in the reef to look at you and then dart back in again. Spent two hours there and the scenery - volcanic rocks, coconut trees, beach, trees with spindly roots, towering cliffs, etc, was breathtaking.

Lush vegetation on the way to Ke'e Beach

Single lane bridge of which there were several

Ke'e Beach

Warning signs at Ke'e Beach

Trees will grow anywhere in this tropical paradise

Banyan tree roots

Crazy Vines

Vines everywhere - it's a wonder the trees weren't strangled

Our hire car on Kauai

Volcanic rocks near Ke'e Beach

Peaks above Ke'e Beach

Beautiful Kaui countryside

Managed to get the hire car out but only because a car next to a big rock in the middle of the road was about to move. Would've done some serious damage to the hire car otherwise. Lucky as we could have been stuck for hours. The drive home, about 25-30 miles, took one hour and twenty minutes. Had tea at the resort's restaurant which was quite reasonable affordability-wise and the food was nice. Early night and booked a wakeup call for 4:45am.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 24/5/07

2007-07-18T05:23:00.001+08:00

Four forty five am. Mad panic. Alarm went off, wake up call, second alarm. I didn't want to sleep in and miss the boat trip. Luckily we didn't rely on the alarm clock as there was a power outage during the night.

Checked our baggage with reception at 5:10 and drove down to Port Allen to join Holo Holo Charters for our cruise/snorkelling tour. Had 10 minutes to spare for our 6am check-in. Cost was $135/adult and $95 for the kid plus taxes. Only 27 people turned up out of the 37 expected so there will be a few disappointed people who've blown a lot of money. They did receive a phone call from a group of four who became lost on the drive to town and they didn't make it. Too bad if they turned up late as they still had to pay up. Glad I scoped it out a few days ago.

Miky didn't feel too well early on although she'd taken a seasickness tablet. Our crew was Jeff the captain, Jeff (cousin of Andy Irons), Felia and David (both native Hawaiians).

Motored out to the Na Pali coast. Saw spinner dolphins but they weren't very excited. Not half as excited as the people on board were to see them. Next came a larger pod of dolphins and a group of honu (turtles). Had a close-up look as some arches and sea caves with wild goats and waterfalls to see also. Then we took off from the coast to do some sailing and got up a fair rate of knots.

It's not often the boy gets Coke for breakfast

Dolphins

More dolphins

Natural arch on Na Pali coast

Waterfall on Na Pali coast

Ancient burial ground on secluded beach on Na Pali coast

Jagged coastline

Contrasting beach and cliffs on Na Pali coast

Ahoy there cap'n

Picture postcard Na Pali

Back down the coast a bit and we pulled up for snorkelling. In the water was a man-of-war and sea lice and little creatures that stung us. Yu-Jin hopped in and had to get out to put his flippers on. As soon as he got in he wanted to get out again because he had been stung. Miky isn't a strong swimmer so she required a noodle.

Hammy snorkelling with Jeff Irons in the background

There wasn't a lot of fish or colourful coral to see. I took a dive and after coming up I noticed that there were only three of us left in the water. I was wondering if something dangerous had been spotted but it was most likely to have been due to the stingers. Bunch of wusses.

Before all of this we had a continental breakfast - bread and fruit - although Captain Jeff had warned us that eating fruit was not good for our stomachs. Later I noticed that Captain Jeff was tucking into lots of fruit and challenged him that there was nothing wrong with eating the fruit and it was just that he wanted it all for himself. He motioned "shh" to me. Man, the Americans on board were wasting. They would grab heaps of food and end up throwing half of it away. Pretty disgusting really. The other Jeff sarcastically thanked everybody for leaving so much food because they had a Japanese man who cleaned the bins and fed the leftovers to his dog who would be very happy.

The water was a little more choppy on the return leg but Yu-Jin stayed at the top at the front for the whole journey, getting wet in the process. The coastline was fabulous and deckhand Jeff had lots of great stories. The dolphins were a little more active on the way back. Lunch was a fabulous array of meats, cheeses and fruit.

As we pulled into the harbour Jeff told us that he gave a prize to the best passenger, a handmade basket, and that Yu-Jin would be the recipient. I was concerned that we wouldn't get it past quarantine in Australia but was grateful to accept it. We arrived back just after 12. Certainly worth the early start to the day.

Jeff Irons

Holo Holo Charters' Leila - our boat

Bit of window shopping before going through the McDonalds drive-thru for a $1.34 coffee. Drove back to Lydgate Park so that Yu-Jin could play on the big playground. We were all a bit pooped by then. Picked up our luggage from the resort and drove into town to fill up the car with fuel before returning it.

Filling up the car was an exercise in itself. There was a choice of self- or full-service bowsers. Once I was able to park next to a bowser I couldn't find the petrol cap release. Fumbled around for about a minute and then got out of the car, popped the cap manually and found that there was no locking mechanism. Strange for a new car I thought. Also, you couldn't open the back door when the petrol cap was open. Nice idea that. Put my credit card into the bowser and then it asked me to lift the nozzle and then the lever. I lifted the nozzle but didn't know what lever it was talking about. Finally worked out that the lever was situated underneath where the nozzle sits. Even then I had to try twice to get the petrol pumping. Must have looked like a right twit. We did 220 miles on 12.1 US gallons. Petrol was US$3.591/US gallon.

Back to the car rental at the airport and the guy read the mileage via an electronic device. Cool. Didn't have to pay anything extra for all of the dirt that we had deposited in the back. Our rental car was an 8-seater Dodge Grand Caravan with four-on-the-tree. In and out of the car rental within two minutes and then a courtesy bus just for us to go to the terminal.

Had to go through airport security again and Miky hadn't brought a clear ziplock bag for toiletries in carry-on luggage. And the security people weren't overly helpful. In Australia they had these bags available. Such a hassle. It sucks to be a woman.

Our flight was delayed by some 36 minutes due to it arriving late and then having a computer fault which required the computer to be rebooted. Missed our original flight to Hilo and left Honolulu after we should have arrived in Hilo (had an interconnecting flight to make). We sat apart even though a woman behind us wanted to change seats so that Yu-Jin could sit with me. Call me a bad parent but I was happy for him to sit away from me as he has to behave himself and he can talk his head off to the person sitting next to him.

Originally we were to be sitting apart on the Hilo flight but our rescheduled flight had us sitting right at the rear of the plane together. Yu-Jin had the window seat but no window. We were unable to put the seats back either.

After arriving at the airport over an hour late we walked to the car rental. Little bit of trouble issuing the correct insurance and then when we went to load up the car because I couldn't locate the boot release. It turns out that the boot release, as there is also no key lock on the boot, is a double-click of the unlock button.

Found Uncle Billy's Hilo Bay Hotel ok but there is only street parking available. It's a very busy place. The time was 8:30 before we headed down for tea at Uncle Billy's Steakhouse and they had some guy playing a ukulele and singing. He was almost as bad as a runner-up to William Hung. The meal was a nice size, the water service was excellent and it was nice when the entertainment stopped so I paid a 10% tip.

Note to self - don't let wife do holiday shopping before you check into a hotel for a third floor room which has no elevator access.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 25/5/07

2007-07-18T05:22:00.001+08:00

This morning we needed to go to the supermarket. There were three shopping centres nearby on the map but I asked a delivery guy for directions and he showed me how to get to SackNSave. Drove around town a bit before finding it. The bill for three days groceries came to US$80 and that included US$13 of savings for picking up a makai'i card (type of loyalty card) which offered significant savings.

I tried to pay with travellers cheques and the checkout machine wouldn't input the cheque number. This created a wait for close to 15 minutes for the transaction to take place before receiving my receipt.

We had a large turkey and ham roll for lunch and it was nearly all meat. Can't believe what people will eat in this country. Miky wanted to stay in the hotel so Yu-Jin and I took the car to the volcano.

Weird banyan tree in Hilo

We visited the steam vents (very hot), the Jaggar Museum, a few craters (Yu-Jin almost lost his hat down one and had to crawl under a fence to retrieve it), Thurston Lava Tube and Kilauea Iki before driving another 20-25 miles down the coast to see the lava. From the car park it was about a four mile hike and we didn't have a torch or enough water so didn't attempt it.

Steam vents

Steam vents sign

Kilauea Caldera

The Steaming bluff (Akanikolea) at Kilauea Caldera looks like it's on fire

Earthquake reading from Hilo yesterday

Kilauea Caldera is desolate - the spot where Yu-Jin nearly lost his hat

Thurston Lava Tube - big, cool and wet

Kilauea Iki

Lava flow from in the 1970s - just missed my car

Active lava flow - this bit is dead though

Pahoehoe lava - very much like rope

Surreal lava

It was 8 o'clock before I got back to the visitor centre and I rang Miky to tell her that we would be late. Arrived home at 9pm after stopping at Taco Bell for some tacos, of all things.

As we left Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park we were greeted with a road block. The ranger asked me if I had been visiting the park and told me that they were checking for drink-drivers. Had I been drinking tonight? No. I even mentioned that, "I don't even drink," and the ranger said bewilderedly, "Don't even drink?"

Miky had cooked tuna as part of tea and it was delicious. Can't buy tuna like that back home.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 26/5/07

2007-07-18T05:21:00.000+08:00

Drove into Hilo this morning and wandered around for an hour or so. Had a shave ice, they are advertised everywhere and I thought they must be a local delicacy, which was far too much sugary syrup for our liking, although the boy liked it. The farmers' markets were being held and we had a look at the somewhat poor quality produce for sale. Did a little bit more shopping at SackNSave.

Miky and Yu-Jin had a swim in the hotel pool while I cooked fish for lunch. We watched telly for a while then drove up to Volcanoes National Park together. Showed Miky the steam vents and the crater before heading down Craters Rim Drive. They both slept pretty much all the way.

The sign at the end of the road indicated a 4 mile hike due to take 4-6 hours in the daylight to get to the lava flow. When we arrived at walking marker no. 5 we asked everybody returning if they had seen the lava and how long did it take. Everyone had a different story - 4 1/2 hours, 2 hours there and 2 hours back, go to the 6th marker then walk 45 minutes. Other people said 2 1/2 hours past the 6th marker and hadn't seen anything. We had left the car park at 5pm and stopped at 10 to 7. Then two girls came and said that they had left the lava at 6:05, therefore, it was only 45 minutes away. We decided that I would go on alone and Miky and Yu-Jin would head back.

Impressive lava flow

Miles of lava

Warning Marker No.2

After 20 minutes of very quick walking I decided to turn back. Way in the distance. I had seen something orange but thought that it might be 1-1/2 hours away and wasn't worth the bother. Besides, it was getting quite dark and difficult to see. Time for the torch. Decided to turn back at 7:20. Thought that Miky would be cursing me anyway.

Caught up with them, after asking everyone that I came across if they had seen them, at 8:30. Miky had been really enjoying the serenity and solitude although Yu-Jin was a bit concerned. We arrived at the car park at 9pm. Having the wind at your back certainly made life easier but it seemed that the lava crumbled under your feet so much easier in the dark.

Temperature at sea level was about 73 degrees Fahrenheit after having been about 78 all day long and up at the visitors centre, at 4000 feet above sea level, it had dropped to 55. Arrived home about 10:10pm. My legs acted as though I was on uneven ground still. Had a hot bath to try to counteract the inevitable aches and pains. Dead tired.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 27/5/07

2007-07-18T05:20:00.000+08:00

Woke up at 8 this morning, rather surprisingly. Had brekkie and then went shopping for lunch and tea. Bought some more seafood as Hilo has some nice stuff on offer. Back to the hotel to cook the food and then checkout.

Pick-up truck

Huge banyan tree

Old Hilo buildings - Hilo isn't well known for modern architecture

Every town has a Palace Theatre

Headed off for a scenic drive along the coast, overlooking the bay, followed by a visit to the Rainbow Falls before heading back to the Japanese garden near our hotel to have lunch. Yu-Jin saw some boys catching fish and wanted to join them. We encouraged him to talk to them and see if he could borrow a net. The boys were friendly and he had great fun with them. He caught six fish and they had crabs and what looked like a baby barracuda.

Rainbow Falls

Another banyan tree

The banyan trees grow strangely

Japanese Garden in Hilo

Kids fishing

Following lunch we headed to the petrol station where I had difficulty using the credit card and then replacing the nozzle when I had finished. Three different octanes are efed from the same hose and nozzle. That's different. We did 256 miles on US8.176 gallons. Petrol was US$3.409/US gallon. If you wanted the Full Service it cost US$0.50/US gallon extra. Bugger that. Short drive to the airport. Miky's carry-on luggage was searched by security, probably because of the food in it.

In the waiting lounge we sat next to a couple who had had their 1pm flight delayed and were "bumped", therefore they couldn't get a flight until 5pm. There was a passenger on their earlier flight who had a 5:30 wedding to attend in Honolulu who was going to miss the wedding. Bummer.

None of us were seated together. Yu-Jin was in row 21, Miky in row 19 and I was in row 10. At least it gives Yu-Jin the opportunity to talk to someone else and make him a little more responsible for himself. Heading to Maui (Kahalui airport) via Honolulu.

Just my luck. I'm sitting up near the front so that I could disembark quickly and our plane was the one ongoing to Maui so I didn't even have to get off. Still had to wait for all disembarking passengers before I could change seats. Bummer.

Miky and I were seated together for the second flight. Taxied out to the runway then the pilot did the pre-flight checks and an electrical fault was detected with the flight computer. Therefore, we had to turn back to the terminal. When we stopped Miky wanted me to get an apple from her carry-on luggage. I wanted to wait until the seat belt sign was switched off and so she chucked a spaz, again. She dropped the bag on my head. This woman has no patience. And as soon as she stood up the seat belt sign went off so she wouldn't have had to wait any longer anyway.

The electrical problem meant that one of the black boxes has to be replaced, facilitating a 20-25 minutes delay. Some people on this flight were due to take a later flight but boarded this earlier one and were contemplating changing planes. They were a little dismayed to hear that the other plane was delayed and we were still due to leave earlier than it. The flight crew announced that you were welcome to leave the plane but had to take your carry-on luggage with you but that the plane would leave without you if you didn't re-board in time. It made me wonder what they would do about the luggage in the hold if this was the case, what with terrorists and the like.

Hawaiian Airlines, known for having the best on-time record, is in disarray. Service is still not as poor as Jetstar though which left a worse aftertaste. We haven't had much luck with Hawaiian Airlines yet but it was a good idea to pre-book all of our inter-island flights. This is supposed to be the low season but the flights have been full, in general. Hotels are busy too. Last night, whilst waiting to return the torches to the front desk, I heard the receptionist say that only one room, an ocean view kitchenette, was available at the price of US$154.

Yesterday arvo I had to ring five hotels in Maui and only three of them had rooms - $135, $165 and $195. Hawaii is busy.

Observations -
Not a lot of people indicate to change lanes.
Nearly everybody drives about 10 mph above the speed limit.
People have no qualms about talking on their mobiles whilst driving.
Helmets on bikes and motorbikes are not compulsory and I've only seen one girl wearing a helmet whilst riding her bike.
Not a lot of rain so far on our trip. A little bit fell on the drive down the mountain last night and a bit whilst driving around today.
Local calls from a pay phone cost 50 cents but inter-island calls cost 25 cents for the first minute and then US$4 for four minutes, if you wish to continue, no part payments of $4 accepted.

Was disappointed to learn, as we were leaving, that we were entitled to a complimentary Aloha Breakfast during our stay at Hilo Seaside Hotel Uncle Billy's. Having a kitchenette we made our own meals. Having someone else make breakfast would have been appreciated.

Quite a few Aussies on the trip to Maui. Uneventful flight. Picked up a silver Dodge Caliber from Dollar Car Rental. This car rental mob provided me with their version of a pre-inspection report on dents, paint nicks, etc which I had to sign. Then I carried out my own inspection and the first thing to note was that somebody had been smoking inside.

I asked for, and was given, directions for Best Western Pioneer Inn in Lahaina. Drove to Lahaina, went down the local strip where walking is almost as fast as driving. Didn't find the Best Western Pioneer Inn and so stopped to look at a map. Miky asked some guy on the street for directions. He pointed it out and it was about one block from where we had turned initially. No parking was available and the lady had told me that there was lots of parking available when I had booked. Went inside, after asking for directions as the hotel part wasn't too obvious, and there was no reservation under my name. It was then that I discovered I had driven to the wrong hotel. We were booked for the Makai Inn. Stupid me. A feeling of horror ran through my body as it had taken about 45 minutes to get here, it was late, and my missus would be very annoyed if that was the case.

It turns out that the Makai Inn was only 10 minutes away. The directions given included, "Half a block past the Cannery Mall." Now, half a block, in my book at least, does not equate to half a mile. Found it ok. The we did some shopping as we were worried about the Memorial Day holiday which was due the next day.

No tv at the inn. No smoking or loud noise allowed either. Could be interesting. I'm so glad that the hotel, after our 45 minutes drive, wasn't located back in Kahalui. That would have been more than a little interesting.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 28/5/07

2007-07-18T05:19:00.000+08:00

The Makai Inn was right on the sea and so you could hear the waves all night. Rather pleasant.

Dawn at the rear of Makai Inn

Miky was up really early. In fact she was up before sunrise and she was really please about what she saw. The early morning at the beach was worth getting out of bed for. Whilst Yu-Jin had breakfast we did some shopping at Safeway and I booked a luau.

D. T. Fleming Beach

When we finally got going we headed towards the north coast, through Ka'anapali and up to Honolua Bay. From the scenic lookout above, after viewing a sandy beach (D. T. Fleming Beach) from a golf course previously, we spotted Honolua Bay and thought that it would be a good spot to snorkel. There were already a couple of commercial catamarans in the bay with day-trippers. I double-parked in the parking bay so that Miky and Yu-Jin could get changed. Then I found a parking spot and got directions from a local on how to reach the beach.

Overlooking Honolua Bay with catamaran

Honolua Bay - no sand on this side of the beach

Honolua Bay - no sand on the other side either

Interesting bird at Honolua Bay

Yu-Jin wasn't happy about the fact that there was no sand and that we were going snorkelling again. The beach was quite busy and some people even brought SCUBA gear. At one stage Yu-Jin was about 40-50m out and halfway to the boats. I swam out to get him which wasn't a bad idea as his goggles filled up with a bit of water and then he got a mouthful on the way back to shore.

There were lots of sea urchins, parrotfish, wrasse, colourful coral, a 4 ft long thin fish with a strange beak and one large school of silver fish - much like a scene out of Finding Nemo. It was very enjoyable. Even Yu-Jin had a good time. Had our lunch when finished. Miky insisted on having a shower so we drove back to D.T. Fleming Beach, voted best beach in America 2006 (I don't know why, personally), and used the showers.

Drove into Napili region and bought ice creams and looked at a craft fair. Few nice local photos on display and for sale. But you expect that being in Hawaii and surrounded by beauty.

Headed south to Lahaina to watch some surfers and ended up at Launiupoko Wayside Park. Not very many waves but quite a few surfers. Spent an hour there and then it was time to pick up the tickets for the luau, no parking to be found in the vicinity (of course), then quickly home to shower and get changed.

Launiupoko Wayside Park surfers

The luau was hosted at Royal Lahaina Resort which was about six miles down the road. We arrived just before 5pm but had to form part of a long queue. My tickets said we had to check-in by 5pm to obtain our front row seating. I'd paid an extra three dollars for those seats. Paid US$62.99 for the seats and Yu-Jin was free. Saved about US$20/head for the tickets.

Luau queue

Lots of people at the luau

After waiting for about 40 minutes in the line we entered and had our photo taken as a family. We were about to be seated near the sun but three seats were available right in front of the stage. Brilliant. We had to change to the other side of the table when three VIPs came but that was ok.

I thought that the review was going to be a bit cheesy with a big lady on stage singing Hawaiian songs. She was funny, entertaining and could really shake her tush. Anyone who wished to hula was invited on stage. Only two guys did so.

Hula dancers and our hostess

Then the pig was unearthed from the imu and displayed on stage.

Hawaiian oven - imu

Luau pig

Little bit more singing and then we were taken to the buffet centre. Some people, out of the 500 or so in attendance, filled two plates with an enormous amount of food. Later, much of the food was wasted. It is difficult to accept how wasteful the, mainly American, attendees were.

The kahalua pork and turkey were nice, poi was ok, coleslaw, macaroni, hot dogs, chicken nuggets (lots of traditional Hawaiian food here, notice), Hawaiian sweet potato which was purple and cakes were included. You could go for seconds, which I did, but I don't think that too many others did.

The dancing by the men and women was very good and Dwight, good friend of one of the VIPs at our table, was great. Fire dancing was good too. A very good night out which finished at 8:15pm. Nothing on my plate was wasted.

Four ladies dancing - they changed costumes a lot

Hawaiian sunset on Maui

Funny man Dwight in the review

Hubba-hubba or hula-hula?

Fire breathing and fire dancing

Fire dancing extraordinaire

Went back to the Inn so that Miky could change and we dropped her off in town so that she could check out the galleries. I put Yu-Jin to bed and went to pay for the accommodation. Ended up talking to Susie, the proprietor, about travel for the next hour. Went to pick Miky up and do a bit of shopping myself, just prior as I was a bit early.

As it was Memorial Day the shops closed a bit earlier than usual. Closed at 10pm instead of 11. Caught up with her in one of the shops. Bought some knick-knacks before we went out for a drink.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 29/5/07

2007-07-18T05:18:00.002+08:00

Packing up and washing day. Only trouble was the washer took 33 minutes but the dryer about an hour. Did two loads of washing and whilst waiting for the second drying sequence we checked out and did some shopping in Lahaina.

Downtown Lahaina

After shopping, the temperature was 100F if you believe it, we folded up our clothes and spent 1 1/2 hours driving to Pai'a heading for Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center - some art house that Miky had seen in an art magazine. It certainly was not worth the trouble as they were renovating and there was almost nothing to see. We ate our lunch in the post office car park as there weren't too many places to park in the town of Pai'a.

Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center

Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center building

Totem pole at Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center

Returned to Kahalui and went shopping at Big KMart. What a disappointment. The guy in the electronic department didn't understand English too well and wasn't interested in serving me. I asked about a top 20 album chart and he told me that only Walmart did that. I don't understand how KMart expect to sell anything, especially if a Dolly Parton album is about the latest offering. Hair colouring was cheap though. Miky found some Kelloggs classic style mugs, bowls and plates to buy.

Filled up the car with fuel, damned expensive on Maui, and found the airport easily enough. Checked in and whilst going through carry-on screening Miky got picked on again for her cosmetics. They didn't say anything about the 236mL of sunscreen that was in my bag.

Yu-Jin had to sit in the row behind us so he had no-one to talk to as the passenger next to him was Korean. Only arrived at the gate 15 minutes before boarding time.

Hotel, Aqua Coconut Plaza, in Honolulu is ok with only a king size bed. Kitchen utensils are a little lacking. Two and a half stars is about right.

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 30/5/07

2007-07-18T05:18:00.001+08:00

Miky spent the day shopping. Yu-Jin and I caught #52 bus up to Pupukea Beach (meaning "white shell") after reading about the great snorkelling there. It was a 1 hr 45 minutes ride from the Ala Moana Center. The beach wasn't that impressive but there were quite a few people there, including many Texans. Few fish to see but a great many sea urchins. I was too scared to put my feet down. At one stage I counted 16 sea urchins on one rock on the side that I could see. Yu-Jin didn't want to snorkel but did a lot of swimming.

Pupukea Beach

Click it or ticket - I love Hawaii's seat belt slogan

After having a shower and getting changed I asked one guy with SCUBA equipment if there was a place to eat nearby. He thought that the nearest place was five miles away in Waimea.

We walked about a minute and came across a grill. Whilst waiting for our burger and fries one guy sitting next to us was feeding the chickens that surrounded us. He even fed them a piece of chicken. Just as we finished our meal we made our way to the bus stop - which was located across the road from a Foodland supermarket.

Two hours later we arrived at the Ala Moana Center. Looked around for a Linkin Park CD and bought a pineapple ice cream. Back to the hotel where I had a short nap. After tea I went to my mate Wayne's house and didn't return until nearly 2:30am. Good to catch up with him - we travelled around Japan and Seoul together in 1996.

Coconut Plaza Hotel balcony view

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 1-2/6/07

2007-07-18T05:16:00.000+08:00

Up at 5:40am to have breakfast and to the rest of the packing. Caught a taxi just before 7am and the driver helped himself to the continental breakfast that was on offer.

At the security screening at the airport we were chosen, as a family, for an additional pat-down search. It must be the wife. She has to be jinxed.

Gate 33 was a long walk and after Miky chucked a spaz about water, followed by me purchasing 1L for US$3.65, Yu-Jin and I caught a small shuttle for half of the walk.

At the gate there was more paperwork to fill out. This time it was a questionnaire relating to how much money you spent, where you stayed and how long you stayed for.

Eleven hours on the plane back to Melbourne. Uneventful. Played card games with Yu-Jin and read him a book that we bought. Wasn't interested in watching the movie and got about an hours sleep. We had breakfast before leaving and brought our lunch with us. I asked a stewardess what were Qantas passengers entitle to in the way of onboard services. She said that we were entitled to meals and unlimited drinks. After what happened on our flight over to Hawaii we weren't going to be caught out again and it sure left a bitter taste in our mouths. It made my blood boil seeing as we had missed out on one meal and had to pay for them on the flight across.

We arrived in Melbourne about 10 minutes early. Lots of people couldn't wait to alight the plane but the ground staff were unable to line-up the platform to disembark. Everybody had to sit down while they moved the plane forward. So much for the early landing.

Had quite a bit to declare to Customs - shells, food and plant material. All ok though. Had to fill in an entry form for immigration for Yu-Jin although I was sure that on the plane they said it was one per family. My mistake probably.

There were three hours to kill and we found some half decent and reasonably priced food at the airport! Yu-Jin fell asleep just before boarding time. He'd been awake for 18 hours. The flight to Perth with Virgin Blue was eventful. There were a group of three boisterous, and probably slightly pissed, guys yelling out "Tazza" every minute or so in front of us. Obviously went to the footy recently. We had asked for a seat closer to the middle of the plane to escape screaming babies and were put in row 23 instead of our intended row of 28. Thank goodness for that as there was a screaming, crying kid around row 28. Mind you, we had a drunk behind us who kept headbutting our seats as he fell forward and grabbing the seats every time he wanted to move as he wasn't too steady on his feet.

It was so cold that I couldn't get to sleep and there were no blankets available. Long four hours that. Did kip for about an hour after Miky slept with her legs on me which warmed me up a bit.

Quick ride home in the taxi and I'm glad to see that the new overpass on Leach Highway has been opened.

Honolulu petrol prices on 1st of May 2007

Frugal Bastard's Hawaii Trip 2007 - 31/5/07

2007-07-18T05:15:00.000+08:00

Spent the day at Ala Moana Center buying clothes. Lunch - Yu-Jin had a McDonalds cheeseburger Happy Meal (TM) which I purchased with a travellers cheque. Miky had Japanese food I had tacos from Taco Bell.

Yu-Jin and I went to Office Max so that I could check out some 4GB flash drives. They had the Internet available so I set up some games online for Yu-Jin. Bit surprised to find the cheapest 4GB flash drive was US$89.90. I checked on the Net back home and could pick up something similar for A$54. Very disappointed in the prices available. Caught a couple of buses to return to the hotel.

We had a swim in the very cold hotel pool. After tea we went t-shirt and leather goods shopping. Bought a few shirts, a wallet and a handbag (not all for me). Bit of a late night with Miky packing most items which, quite surprisingly, fitted reasonably well into our luggage.