Waikiki, Hi

Wrote some more blogs, saw another sunset...

Maybe these sunsets are getting a bit repetitive?

So at 8pm or so, we bundled ourselves off to the best sports bar in town (or Waikiki, at least) - Giovanni Pastrami - to watch the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final. All Blacks win, 8-7! The French put up a good fight, though - especially during the haka and coming back in the second half. Strangely, no mention of the Rainbow Warrior...

Waikiki, Hi

Surfboard frenzy! This is one of the local surf shops - the boards above the shop belong to the apartments. I've seen surfboards carried by bicycles, scooters, cars and people...

I took this shot from the local Tiki Bar (happy hour is from 2-5pm), which we highly recommend. Every night they have a special offer - my favourite was Tuesday - $2 tacos, the first 150 people get a free Longboard Beer, and Longboard is $3 all night!

The sun dropped lower in the sky, and my camera was hanging off the the handrail on the little GorillaPod we bought for the honeymoon (a very handy little urchase!). If it wasn't for the old guy down the end banging away on the handrail like it was a set of drums, the HD video I took would have been a lot smoother... but hey, at least he was having fun...

I think this is one of my favourite sunset shot so far - just about perfect.

Waikiki, Hi

Still looking for that perfect sunset...

Can you see the dog on the surfboard?

Wow, it was really orange for a while this evening!

I took a few photos of this couple before they held hands - speaking volumes for everyone else on the beach.

Sometimes, all the angles line up Kubrick-style - palm trees, hotels, clouds and sunset...

Waikiki, Hi

This is our lovely hotel - the Royal Grove Hotel. We've met people who have been coming here for 20 years - usually getting the same room each time. We really feel honoured and lucky to have found this Waikiki jewel. Don't tell anyone - it will get booked out for us next time!

Waikiki, Hi

It's the 5-0! The Hawaii 5-0!

I keep trying to take the perfect sunset photo - how am I doing?

Waikiki, Hi

October 16th is the Hawaiian Festival for the tragic Princess Ka'iulani. We happened to be passing this ceremony, and walked in to see the end. We thought she was a real princess, until we asked the bartender - he told us she died about 100 years ago. Turns out she was half-Scottish (her father was from Edinbugh, and the last Royal Governor of Oʻahu). She has become an "inspiration for young people today to stand up and speak for their beliefs, and to find their own truths by fully embracing their own heritage".

Another day in paradise...

...and another awesome sunset.

Waikiki, Hi

This is the view from our new balcony, at the Royal Grove Hotel - a great family-run place only one block from the beach, at the same price as some of the seedier hotels we've stayed at in the US mainland! I suppose we had about the same view of the Thames from our place in Staines...

This is the poolside table, where I've been writing these blogs from - beats most of the other offices I've worked in! Check out the clock made into a picture frame - now that's island time!