It’s OVER and BEGINNING all at ONCE...: The Flying Kiwi

Saturday 21st November, 2015

Aloha whānau,

Ok, so this morning we had planned and booked our ‘parasailing’ adventure - which is when you go on a speed boat and get attached to this parachute type thing and they drag you along for a few minutes - anyway, coz when Mum and I came last year - it was something I really wanted to do since Kura & Shaun told us about it when they came... So, we’re excited AS to go and do this.. but it wasn’t until lunch time - SO... we found our way to OLD NAVY - How convenient!! I really love their jeans - and what do you know 50% OFF all JEANs for that day ONLY...!!!! WHAAAAAATTT!!! YUSSSS!!!

So, I did... Hehehe...

After that we got ourselves nice and early to the meeting point and checked in for parasailing, the guy & lady are like ‘nice jade piece’ so then I go to explain about Maui fishing up, then the guy interrupts and goes - ‘Yeah, coz didn’t he like fish up Hawaii?’ (in a mocking way) - I said, well the legend is also that he fished up the north island of New Zealand too & he gave this little mocking chuckle as if Maui couldn’t do that.. I’m like ‘excuse me, he navigated these oceans’ FOR YOUR INFORMATION!! LoL.. Of course, it was said in a calm matter-of-fact tone... So, anyway, we’re waiting for 5minutes & it’s called OFF because of the wind.. So... YUP - we went make-up shopping...

SEPHORA & MAC...

Hania’s Shopping

Yeah - so, that happened... LoL!!

After that shopping buzz - we came home to get ready for REBEL SOULJAHZ...

We picked up Hania’s friends for the show and we were on our way - we get there and parking was like $15.. we were like, ‘kāore’!! We founds some free parking and we were off to the SHOW!! Before we left though, we had time to go down to this ‘dirrrrrty’ bar and have a cold coke.. then we picked them up and we were on our way..

It was an awesome show!! AND, we were able to get RIGHT up the front - I had left my camera in the car and Hania’s phone went flat - SO, the pictures are on Hania’s friends phone of us and Spawnbreezie.. THAT’S RIGHT... When he said to ME:

“DAMN GIRL, YOU SMELL GOOD”...

That was AWESOME!!... Definitely gonna buy that perfume with the money I get back from the car rental place... thank you CUSTOMS and DUTY FREE...

Spawnbreezie...

Some local talent guy - first act...

Spawnbreezie again...

So, another awesome night in Hawaii... YEAH!!! Afterwards we grabbed some kai and went to SLEEP!!

Sunday 22nd November, 2015

So, I got up pretty early to try and find church - I had the address and information from the the church site:

And off I went to one ward that was meant to start at 11am.. I get there.. LOCKED & raining.. there was a guy standing outside and I asked him about church and he was like ‘I’m not sure’ he was a visitor too, so I asked him if wanted a ride to the next possible location.. so, he jumped in FIRST person to ask ‘Are you from New Zealand?’ Yes, and NO not from Australia - turns out he just got home from his mission in Australia.. good times..

So, off we went FOUND church and turns out it was Stake Conference that had started at 10am, we walked in around 11.20am - so, he hung around for a little before he left and I stayed on - WORKING INTERNET, afterwards I called mum on Skype and came back to meet up with Hania.. we had some cereal and sandwiches for kai - then had a HUGE moe.. LoL! So nice especially after last night.. we woke up and had planned to go to a fireside - when I realised it was in Laie.. Yeah, on the other side of the island so OFF we went - got hungry and got some ‘coconut prawns’ YUMMY!!

Can I just say - the fireside was on BYUH campus, and THOSE stereotypes though - LOL!!! this fireside was like a ‘Mormon karaoke’ you get up & share a short testimony about a song/hymn you like and either sing it alone, get everyone to sing it, or play a piece on the piano - so, in theory it was lovely - this one guy gets up and mentions he reads his scriptures daily then says, “YES sisters.. I ready scriptures daily”... Laughable.. LoL!! Then this next 20-something year old Tongan guy gets up and starts talking about how hard it is to be single.. **Roll my eyes**.. LoL!!!

Met up with Sister Umi Jensen - she was there and it was cool to have a quick kōrero about life etc. Then, luckily before we left Waikiki - I had the bright idea of taking the kai for Kirby, Andrew and Angel - with love from the whānau in Nuhaka - we put them in the car on our way to Laie on Sunday evening - and we were able to meet up with Kirby afterwards - walked into ‘Hale 2’ and met her - wow, some of those rooms are small! And, so hot and muggy inside.. So, aroha to them in those hot living conditions.. So, I left Angels kai with Kirby too - and off we were back to Kuhio Ave - what a sabbath.. LoL!

Monday 23rd November, 2015

So, this morning we had re-scheduled parasailing... Yeah - wasn’t going to happen why?

Because the rain came tumbling down!

You might remember a post on FB:

"This rain is severely interfering with our vacation! Grrrr!

Parasailing - Cancelled for the SECOND time! And we’re hanging out in our room - wondering what the heck we can do to distract us from more ‘shopping’... LoL!! If the weather carries on like this, I’m going to need more money... LoL!!”

So, we went to the PALACE - Hania originally thought it was a koha (not a $20 fee - LoL)... NOPE - it was not.. so, we just did the ‘free’ walk around the gardens - I mean, the main point was to STOP spending money... So, although we didn’t go inside we did see some things.. :D

Queen Lily was locked in the suite - which is quite big...

But, of course we still end up shopping after this, at Ala Moana & went crazy shopping for make-up... Well, that was one of Hania’s main objectives for this holiday - me? I just went crazy.. LoL!! Now I’ve got to learn to use what I’ve bought.. LoL! Ok, actually I think I’ve already talked about that on the Saturday blog... Aue! Writing retrospectively is hard! LoL..

Afterwards, Hania and I went home and got ready to go to Waimanalo to the Hula Halau and do a culture share with the Whaea & Kōka there.. What a humbling experience, it was such an honour to be sitting amongst these wahine toa and sharing with them our experiences growing up Māori and the commitment that we both have to our culture, reo and tikanga - they were so warm and welcoming it was amazing!

Kumu Hoku - the kaiako ‘wahine toa’..

Oh, this was lunch at Eggs n Things... It’s in the wrong place...

There are more people in the Hula Halau - but this was a special hui just for us.. how humbling!

So, after the hui we were on our way back to Waikiki - which was roughly 30minutes away from Waimanalo, we get to this one intersection and BOOM - Hania goes ‘Ohana Karaoke’ so... off we went over to Ohana Karaoke.. LoL! Sat in the car for a moment before going in and I said ‘What if this place is the shady place?’... then we shrugged it off

As soon as we walked in there were some ‘locals’ as in tāngata whenua and Johanna was just smiling at us real friendly as! So, we just started talking and connected right away - they asked us what we were doing and we said looking for a karaoke place.. LoL! Turns out the lady was closing the bar soon and so, we couldn’t sing there - SO, we all piled into our cars and drove to Kailua for singing at the bowling alley club... Our new friends are Johanna, Manu, Kanale, Cornelius, ‘Uncle’ & Aina (the late comer)...

What an awesome bunch of new friends.. we just partied all night long - such fun! They really took care of us and wanted to show us a good time - it was so much fun! They really made our night - although singing at karaoke was a BLIMIN $1 PER SONG!! THE HECK!! They try doing that back home, no one would go to karaoke.. Thank you BREEZE INN - Gisborne...