Day 8: Going out with a bang

Such a surprise this morning - it was raining! The area is in severe drought so I guess it was a welcome relief for the locals. Did all its serious falling in the early hours of the morning and by 8 am it was clear skies and sunshine. Didn't  impact our trolley adventures at all.

Two of my favourite things @MindyMoo and Shaved Ice!

Started the day with a quick dash to pick up a parcel for @Mindy at the seamstress and then a sprint to meet up with @Mindy and @Ian at the start of the trolley route - well,  we walked briskly  they literally sprinted to arrive as the trolley was boarding. Perfect timing.

Trolley riders

We do love to do the local hop on hop off service and this company runs over 5 lines. Because we are such experts at using public transport amd have ventured to all the corners of the island most of the "major" stops on many of the lines had been covered. We opted for the Red Line - Heroes and Legends  and were joined by @Mindy and @Ian for our last full day before separating until August of next year.

Got to visit the Mueum of Art, Punchbowl Crater and Military Cemetery, the State Capitol, Iolani Palace, Chinatown, Salt Wall Art, Ala Moana and The Duke. This was a two hour circuit if you opted to complete with no stops. Once off, you were at the stop for one hour until the next trolley arrived. Needed to select a few favs.

The Pig and the Lady ... and @Mac devouring

 We chose to stay on board and ride out to Chinatown supposedly for some great shopping (probably only 1 out of 10 stores open) and some food. 

Settled on The Pig and the Lady - but they were booked out for their dine in option. Ordered their "take out" and rejoined the trolley (no eating or drinking on the trolley) to go a further two stops to set up and eat and then enjoy the wall murals that form part of the annual PowWow festival.

Loved the murals (some so so big,  all filled with colour and detail) and loved the browsing of the specialty shops. Every obscure doorway in Hawaii seems to open into another mall, or plaza or collection of outlets and eateries. @Mac scored a new Aloha shirt here courtesy of @Mindy and @Ian who had been determined to buy a genuine "Made in Hawaii " shirt... rather than a "Made in China" or "Designed in Hawaii, made in China" option. Very special.

 

PowWow murals- so big - spot @Mac under the carriage

Left the tour a little early and joined the uncharacteristically short line for my absolute new fav in Hawaii - shaved ice. Yes, just a snow cone ... but served on a plate with so many delicious options. So sad I have discovered it so late  ... but it will be a regular. The relentless heat makes this treat extra specially refreshing and there are "bubbles" included- little tiny balloons of juice that pop with taste. I think I probably need a hundred more to be able to describe the joy of eating this stuff.

Final stop for us was The Duke. He is everywhere on Honolulu - a revered amd iconic hero. Credited with introducing surfing to the world he was also an Olympic champion, a Honolulu Sheriff and is credited with performing a super human feat in rescuing 8 fisherman from a capsized vessel making repeated trips on his board to drag the sailors from the sea. 

For @Liz

Fried and exhausted after the trolley we  took up different recovery strategies - @Mac opted for a snooze in the air con and I found my chair in the pool and opened my book for the first time. 

That was 1 hour of recharge and then the evening session was underway,

It was the last rendezvous on the deck for sunset viewing - we had a wedding in the pool complex below and a hula show in the courtyard. 

Headed out at 7.30 to make our way nextdoor to the beach for the Hilton fireworks. Everyone was streaming in the same direction - a real party atmosphere with towels and mats covering the sand and couples and families taking up their favourite spot. The dinner cruises were also lined up in the water and even in the darkness swimmers were on their floaties bobbing around.

Right on the dot of 8 o'clock the sky exploded with colour accompanied by the whoops and screams of the crowd. It banged and cracked, sizzled and popped, offering sprays of colour across the sky which were reflected on the water. It only lasted for 5 minutes but it was a spectacle.

And what a great marketing ploy by the Hilton. Thousands of people drawn into their precinct who would now eat and drink and party the night away.

We had an 8.30 booking across the road at The Red Lobster - seemed a little "shellfish selfish" given that @Mindy and @Ian don't actually eat seafood - but there were steak and chicken options on the menu. Ordered up a storm and enjoyed their company cause this was our farewell dinner.

Great entertainment, great food, great company. The trifecta.

And now for a little behind the scenes truth telling. Had to uncap the poison pen this arvo. Felt we were definitely short-changed on the Red Line earlier today. Have fired off the email (rather than going public on social media) to let the trolley company know what a "fail" the commentary was! This was live commentary, not the pre-recorded headset suff. For 11 of the 13 stops in our lucky dip of drivers we had to endure a guy who according to @Mindy and @Ian thought he was rehearsing for his stand up comedy gig at one of the stations on the sidewalk later tonight. We were expecting factual, informative, insightful Heroes and Legends stuff - we were dished up a combo of "This is my life" and "The Comedy Club." Families around us were commenting that they didn't know what was fact or fiction and we were all looking for ear plugs to find solace from his laughs and guffaws at his own "so not funny" jokes. He did a segment on "tree puns" that would even have had @Gary cringing. In contrast, for just two of the stops, from Chinatown to Salt, we had a young woman who was AMAZING. She gave us more detail and insight in that 10 minutes than we had on the remaining hour fifty with the dude. Will see what they come back with - response pending.

On the domestic front, tried to tackle the laundry early this morning to freshen up precruise. Challenged on so many fronts. Challenge number 1 was finding the laundry but Google seemed to have the answer = Floor 8. So off I headed. Glad I have a habit of striking up conversation in the lift and with two bags emblazoned with "laundry" they were a good conversation starter. Mature fellow early risers set me straight. "Sure, there's a laundry on 8, but there is one on every floor, right across from the lift."

Even better.

Challenge number 2 was paying. Managed to fill the machine, select the wash and add the detergent but every attempt to pay by swiping all the card options in my plastic artillery left me with the same error message. Eventually noted that pay included an " insert card" option which worked a treat. Only to present Challenge 3. The cost of the load was now $8 not $3. By this time I didn't care - was happy to pay anything.

Set it in motion and went for a walk to find the "lounge chair pool" and came back to note a sign in font too small for me to read at a distance that basically said "Don't worry" - there was not really an $8 charge - all will be adjusted within 24 hours.

Challenge 4 - I now had a pre authorised card to start the dryer - but I had swiped so many to get to this point that I had  absolutely no idea which one in my arsenal was the "preauthorised" solution. Back to trial and error and eventual success. Oh well, a learning experience - it will all come out in the wash - eventually. Very keen to see how the transactions play out on our statement.

And now on to phase two of the Hawaii adventure ... tomorrow we join the cruise. Excited. 

Step Count: 15828

Weather: 30 - 25 - very early morning rain

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