Kona snorkel

Maria made us cheese quesadillas today for breakfast. The Starretts and my mother drove in to Kona for the morning, with plans to meet up with everyone at the beach at lunchtime. We did some bargain shopping at Ross's and picked up $20 Nike soccer boots for Campbell as well as a few other deals. Then we made our way down to the beach. The water was a bit rough and there were a lot of rocks, but we managed to see a heap of different fish. A number of the beach visitors were clearly non swimmers, with adult floatation vests, rings, noodles and floats. There was a nice covered picnic table area where we ate our snacks for lunch. After a few hours we packed up and headed up the hill to find Walmart. This was a new experience for the Starretts, who have only seen "people of Walmart" photos on the Internet. It pretty much lived up to expectations. We then met up with the rest of the crew for a disorganised BBQ sunset dinner. Due to toilet stops and the food purchasing process, we missed the sunset and ended up eating back at the house.

Hello Hilo

The Starretts had a family only day today. We turned left instead of right at our road and drove East towards Hilo, the other large town on the Island. The landscape was completely different - very green, rainforest, trees - a complete contrast to the dry grass and lava on the Kona side. We stopped on the way at the Akaka falls for a look. I thought it was pretty spectacular - a 400 foot drop down to a pool, but the boys were unimpressed. Tough crowd. Hilo was about another 20 minutes down the road. It is small, quiet and old but we had a nice wander and lunch stop. The boys found a cute candy shop that sold bacon soda (by all reports disgusting, but I could not bring myself to try it) and peanut butter and jelly soda. I did try this one - not a good taste. 

Dinner was a pasta bake made by Maria and pumpkin pie made by Marilyn.

Family time

The Slatters headed out early this morning to Hilo. My cousin Maria arrived late last night, so team Starrett skipped the Hilo trip. Her oldest boy, Niko wandered out at about 7.00, said hi, met our boys and settled right in with them to watch TV. Once everyone was up we had a lazy morning, getting caught up on the past 20 years. We spent the afternoon at a small beach which was attached to one of the hotels. The boys used the ride on lawn mower in the afternoon, taking turns mowing Tony's property. This as a hilarious process, given the boys had no idea how to drive. Tony was an excellent instructor, getting them to do backwards figure eights on the road before getting onto the grass. Dinner was homemade pizza, with clever use of all the leftover bits and pieces from the past few days. 

Driving around the big island

We were slow starting today, and it was after 10 when we headed off. The Starretts and the Slatters split up for the day. We had my parents with us in the 7 seater van. Our original plan was to drive in to Kona, but a wrong turn saw us going North to Hawi. It was a very small, cute tourist town - much like a Hawaiian version of Morpeth. The boys had a ukulele lesson at one shop, Flynn bought a Kazoo, we picked up our obligatory holiday Christmas ornament, and we found some fabulous Hawaiian Go-Fish cards: "Do you have a humuhumu-nukunuku-a-pua'a? Go fish." We then turned left and drove along the coast to Kona. It was about an hour-long drive and by the time we reached Kona we were pretty hungry. We stopped at "Laverne's" - a burger bar that overlooked the water. The food was good although the portions were way too large. On the way back to the house, we took an inland road up to Waimea. From one vantage point you could look down and see where the lava had flowed down to the ocean. It was pretty spectacular. We made a quick stop at Long's drug store on the way home and managed to pick up more interesting food. We came home with Peanut-butter Oreos, root beer float cookies, and watermelon drink. American food shopping is always a highlight for Jason and the boys (if you can call it food......).

Dinner tonight was curry night - two simple curies with rice. The kids are snuggled up on their futons watching Tinkerbell (yep, Tinkerbell) and we are having some quiet time.

R

Shell Shock

We were up and out for today's adventure by about 9.30. We wandered around the shopping centre at Waimea, with a fun stop at the supermarket. We have a small bundle of "treats" to take home - watermelon jelly, dodgy sweet breakfast cereal etc etc. We had a very early lunch and then headed towards Kona for a beach visit. Tony had directed us to a special spot, down an unmarked dirt road to a little parking lot. We walked for about 20 minutes to a small protected lagoon. On the way we saw turtles poking their heads out of the water and then a live turtle resting on the sand. We bought itsa dead, and then it blinked and moved its flipper. In the lagoon we swam with many huge sea turtles. It was the most amazing thing. One came right up under my tummy and brushed by me. Josh grabbed onto one's shell and tried to ride along, but it brushed him off with a flipper. On the way back, the turtle on the sand decided we were a bit close, and scooted itself into the ocean. 

We made our way back to the house for a big dinner - ribs, BBQ corn, coleslaw and potatoes.

Aloha from the Biiiiiig Island

2015 brings a new adventure for the Starretts - a trip to Hawaii with an large family group. We have team Starrett, my sister Kate and her family, and my parents. Departure from home was a convenient mid-day  exit, allowing  a reprieve from the frantic washing, drying and fridge emptying that usually accompanies a holiday. We met up at Newcastle airport for the first flight leg to Brisbane. We have 11 seats on the plane and generate vaguely uneasy looks from people who clearly hope they are not sitting next to the rowdy crew. Qantas club in Brisbane was a huge hit with the boys- free food is always exciting for them and they polished off quite a bit of it. Jason enjoyed the Chivas Regal....

The flight to Honolulu was uneventful, but has convinced me not to go with Jetstar again for an international flight. I miss the full service of a normal airline (blankets, water, rubbish collection etc). I did get the chance to use my Christmas present - Bose noise cancelling headphones, which were well worth the price. I am amazed at how much of the airplane noise is cut out. 

We had quite a long wait at Honolulu airport and the shopping was minimal. The kids played a very giggly game of old maid to keep busy. We flew over all the islands on our way to the Big Island and I was lucky enough to have a window seat. 

Tony met us at a cute outdoor airport - wooden huts with thatched roofs, palm trees and lots of sun. Hawaii at last! The theme of this post is BIG. Everything on the Big Island is huge. Kate, Tony and I did a Costco run to get food to feed the hordes. Everything was packaged in bulk, so we have a 6 month supply of peanut butter on hand. While we shopped, the rest of the crew had a swim at a local beach. We picked them up on the way home and stopped for giant shaved ice treats. A small was the size of a rockmelon.

The Slatters and the Starrets are staying in a vacant house a few doors down from Tony's. Our mansion away from home is also a monster. Three bedrooms, all with R suites and living areas that our whole house would fit into. The kids are all on futons in one of the living areas and they looked very cute asleep in a row.

We BBQ'd burgers for dinner and crashed for a much needed night's sleep.