Aloha Hawaii

From the 15th to the 24th of January this year I was in Hawaii! Which you would have seen if you've been following me on instagram. We flew straight from Sydney to Honolulu where we would spend our first two days, before hopping over to Maui for four days, and then back to Honolulu for the final two before flying home!
I'd never been to Hawaii before and it was interesting going on a kind of tropical island holiday where English is the main language, as Hawaii is a US state. I was really keen to do a bit of an explore around the islands, but mostly to just veg out by the beach or pool and get a tan. 
We were lucky enough to get upgraded to Business Class on our flight there as well, which was super nice and something I've never done before. It was great to have it on the flight there as it was overnight so we arrived reasonably well rested. 

Waikiki reminded me a lot of Surfers Paradise. A coastal city in Queensland, Australia known for tourism.  Walking along the main strip, on one side was the city and the other side was the beach. Crowded with sunbathers, pale sand and clear warm water. We didn't get much time at the beach, as when we returned here at the end of our trip the weather had taken a turn. 
It wasn't a shopping holiday but I enjoyed looking at a few places that we don't have in Australia. My favourites being Urban Outfitters & Anthropologie. At the very least these are always visually stunning stores. I never felt unsafe on the busy streets as I did in some other cities of the US.  Likely due to being constantly surrounded by other tourists going about their business. 
We visited the Zoo in Waikiki and it wasn't amazing but it was still good. Especially for the entrance fee of about $15 USD, compared to about $50 USD to enter the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. But the price accurately matches the experience so that's okay. 

Outside the Zoo in the big Banyan Tree

After exploring Waikiki for two days and mostly shopping to be honest we hopped on a plane to Maui! Once we finally got to the airport, and boarded the plane. The flight from Honolulu to Maui was only about 20 minutes. Then it was about a 50 minute drive to Kaanapali where all the resorts were.  Our resort was Aston Kaanpali Shores, a beautiful resort right on the ocean. 
We managed to get a great deal by booking a room through Airbnb which saved us a bunch of money, and allowed us to use all of the resorts great facilities. All of the resorts are super close together as well so you could pop into the resort next door and use their pool if you wanted to. You're probably not suppose to though. 

I was super keen to just sit by the pool every day in the sunshine. Which felt really hot for 30 degrees celsius. Which is saying something since we had just left 40 degree weather behind in Australia. We did one tour while we were in Maui called the Road to Hana.
 While it was pretty and filled with nice scenery. It was way too long. I can not be on a bus that long. Our tour guide gave us the option to get out at lot of stops or she would keep driving, and some of the other travellers would get out and stay for way too long at random locations. I would not recommend as it definitely wasn't my kind of tour, but if you love looking out the window, sitting on buses and stopping at waterfalls then you would probably enjoy it. 

A beach covered in Volcanic Rock. Also me in a swimmer top thinking the weather would be better.

 Our hotel in Maui was great as it was a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and two bathrooms. There was a grocery store a stones throw from the resort as well, so we bought a lot of breakfasts and lunches to have in the room as well as dinners. Because it was just easier and a lot more affordable. Toaster waffles for the win! They're not exactly a thing in a Australia so that makes them exciting. (Leggo my eggos).

A trip highlight for me. Lots of giant Elephant ear plants!

After four beautiful days in Maui, we hopped back on a plane for another two nights in Waikiki.  I found us a tour with Tour Guide Cliff which was a private tour with pick up and drop off right from our hotel. I picked it from all the amazing Trip Advisor reviews he had and they were all accurate! What a great and interesting guy Cliff is! The tour was awesome, with the first stop being a resort that has dolphins on site! Which kind of made us wish we had been staying there. 
He showed us some beautiful places that we would have never found on our own, as well as some yummy food spots we wouldn't have ever thought to try. Which is how you know it's a good tour, with a guide that truly knows his stuff. 

It was such a windy day for a tour, but it somehow only enhanced the awesome lookouts that you we went to during the day. There were some truly beautiful spots to explore!

On the edge at Spitting Cave Rock

Visiting a beautiful Temple

The tour put us all in high spirits and helped to end off our Hawaiian vacation on a truly positive note. We also had Shave Ice which is freakin amazing and something I had never had before. It's like  a snowcone, sort of. But the ice is softer and not as packed and with vanilla soft serve icecream. A delicious experience.

Joshua's creation

Hawaii was awesome. I haven't done a tropical holiday in a while and it was certainly lots of fun. If we were ever to go again I would love to get up close and personal with a volcano. The only active one around was on an island that we didn't get to visit. It was fun learning about their history and the kind of Hawaiian origin story as it was. My only regret is I wish I spent more time at the beach! But oh well I live right near the ocean anyway. 

Me being a photographer on the edge of the rocks.

Have you been to Hawaii or would you like to travel there one day? Let me know in the comments!



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