Raiders of the Lost Ark and the best Ahi Tuna dish on the PLANET

Thursday... I can't believe we've been in Hawaii for over a week now but the thoughts of New York and the hustle and bustle are still a million of miles away. I woke up this morning with the sound of the ocean crashing on the beach and the smell of macadamia nut coffee brewing in the mini-machine in the corner of our room. Bliss.

Unlike on O'ahu, here in Kauai we being forced to relax more because the pace of life just seems slower (even slower!) on this island. We spent the morning kicking around the hotel room and the hotel grounds. We did some blogging, we watched some TV, I went for a run along the beach.

Botanical Garden - Lana
Ruthie wanted to check out a botanical garden on the north western shore of the island, right where the road ends and the famous Amalfi cliffs along western coast line begins. It was like being in an episode of Lost crossed with the open scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Mountains and the jungle canopy above our heads and water rushing through the trees headed down from the top of the valley through the gardens and into the ocean.

We followed the path up one side of the valley, over the water, around, across and back down in 30 mins despite being told it was a 3 hour tour but then we didn't stop to inspect all of the 100 or so plants that were highlighted along the route. We had more to see and were getting hungry...!

On our way back east traveling along the northern shore we spotted a beautiful beach with some HUGE waves crashing down right on the shore. We stopped to investigate... needless to say, like pretty much all of the other beaches on the island, there were 'danger - you will die if you try' signs all over the place. Not wanting to prove them right, we decided NOT to go into the water but instead took a snaps and moved on... :o)

We stopped in Hanalei, where we had taken our surfing lessons the day before, to take a look around and check in on a beautiful old church by the side of the road. It backed onto palm trees surrounded by spectacular mountains - this would get me out of bed on a Sunday...

Still trying to find some food but getting distracted by all of the scenery, coming out of Hanalei and driving past the Princeville resort there is a place to pull in to take photos of yet another gorgeous view of the valleys and the mountains... naturally, we had to check it out...

Almost ready for lunch we checked out the lighthouse near Anahola on the eastern shore, another attraction on the route back around towards our hotel on the east coast... We couldn't get close unfortunately but iPhone cameras were zoomed to the MAX!

Getting even hungrier we stopped in a small market square, which is apparently hundreds of years old. We split a slice of coconut cake (YUM!), had a coffee and then trying to talk parrot for a while before giving up and going home...

Come the evening we decided to eat at the Hukilau Lanai at the resort next door to us. This place had some incredible food (and naturally, it was all washed down with some cocktails... :). There was one dish which we have since tried to recreate at home - Ahi Poke Nachos - seared ahi tuna, diced, served on a bed of wonton chips, soy sauce, wasabi cream and covered in tobiko (the large red fish eggs that come with sushi rolls). Sooooooo amazing.

We ate, we drank, we laughed, we walked home along the beach until the light of the moon and the stars.

Surf's Up! Hang 10! It's a Wednesday in Kauai!

Friends! It's our first full day in Kauai! We went surfing! 

James had scheduled this for us MONTHS in advance. We even bought special surfing shirts in O'ahu with great anticipation of this surfing event!

Snorkel Depot was our starting point - we met our instructor Daniel who looked like your typical surfer dude. I was slightly scared for my life (I told him that I was having visions of sharks ripping my board and my legs in half...) and he said "Don't worry. We see you nervous New York-types here all the time and I haven't lost one yet!"

A quick pic before we were off to the beach for a morning of surfing in the famous Hanalei Bay! I was so proud of myself! I got up on my board! I even did a right turn - what a rush! I just wish we had a video!

Here's a fancy pic of James with his GIANT 12 foot surf board!  And then one of us!

I look like a real surfer girl here - but the part that you can't see is my rump.  It was burnt to a crisp. I had put sun lotion everywhere except for my behind - region. It didn't start hurting until 2 hours later - when it tingled and then burned and then... well, let's say James and I spent another night watching HG-TV (I laid on my stomach and watched while the aloe vera did its job!).

After surfing we had worked up an appetite!  We went to eat at the Taro Stand - where all the food is made with the local Taro root! (lots of Poi - where the taro is mashed into a paste!)

Here's some of the food we had: Pulled pork, poi, rice, taro macaroni salad and the AWESOME Taro Mochi dessert bread!  (It looks gross, but tastes delicious!)

There were roosters and chickens everywhere when we had lunch - this guy in the pic below kept on walking around looking for scraps. I think he should take lessons from Crumpet on how to look cute and cuddly so people will give you food. Clearly he doesn't have that technique mastered, as he looks a little cocky. (Pun intended.)

Then a quick drive along the Kuhio Highway to the Hanalei Center. I'm so happy James is driving this trip. It's nice to be carted around!

We got coffee at Java Kai - a little local joint. My favorite was how they named the size drinks (no Starbucks tall, grande, verde.) They had Iki, Naki and Tsunami! Love it!

This was my coconut latte. Yum. (and super strong - I was practically doing cartwheels on our way back to the car!)

We went back to the hotel, unloaded our surfing stuff and headed out for dinner at the sushi joint that was recommended to us by the girl at the surf shop AND the guy at the car rental place! (a local favorite - we had to try it!)

I had this amazing sushi roll - Bali Hai Bomb Roll!  James had the Rock and Roll as he likes eel...

This was our joint sashimi - Yellow Tail and Tuna!  I let the Ginger eat all the ginger, as it's not my favorite...

Back to the hotel to watch more House Hunters International - James loves to sing the "theme song" which consists of 4 notes going up and down in a scale format.

We also had a couple of home made cocktails while I nursed my sunburn.  Here's to Advil and Rum!  Another fun day in Hawaii!

Kauai Tuesday!

Leave for Kauai day!

James woke up bright and early - which is good because he worked out AND brought me Starbucks! I packed - took a long time packing. I'm a girl, we do such things...

After I finished packing it was off to the International Marketplace - where I got the earrings of my dreams! Yea!

We went to Dukes for early lunch - both of us had opa fish, grilled with citrus fruit glaze and basil macaroni salad. Yum.  (However, we did not have any fruity cocktails with umbrellas in them, despite the face that we love them - it was before noon, after all!  We need to keep our standards!)

As our lunch was settling in our tummies we said "goodbye" to the Waikiki Parc hotel, hopped in Lola and went to airport to wait for our flight to Kauai.

Managed to get on a flight an hour and a half earlier - thank goodness!  James is a smart fella - he got us on standby with our little Island Hopper airlines...

Landed in Kauai at 2pm - got our new mustang rental car (who we named Rooster - because he's red and he's got a lot of attitude.  Not to mention the shocking number of cockerels that we saw at the airport. And leaving the airport. And on the way to the hotel.)  Here's a picture of Rooster & Ginger:

And below is our hotel courtyard - complete with pool bar!

Arrived at the Aston Islander on the Beach - found our room to be charming and cute!  There's two double beds - so we abandoned our kind-size ways to each enjoy spreading out like a starfish in our own bed.  And has a little kitchenette - so we were determined to get our own groceries for morning breakfasts in the room.

We went out to see the little beach in front of our hotel.  Looks safe and lovely, right?

Wrong. Warnings galore. I will not be swimming at our beach by the hotel.

But there were Charming little shops all around our hotel - we popped into a few!

At Whalers General Store we picked up some mixers for our Malibu.  (And some macadamia nuts.  Oh, who am I kidding?  LOTS of macadamia nuts!)

Then we went to eat at Lemon Grass Grill. Was close to our hotel  - we split the Mandarin salad and the fish satay. Both were delicious. James tried one of the local brews...

Got food at Safeway - along with their COUPON CARD (this made me very happy) - and came back to hotel.

Full cable at this hotel - we had a recession special night! Mixed our own cocktails at the hotel, got to watch loads of HGTV (House Hunters International was on and we watched one on moving to Oxford, England! Too bad there's no Minnesota State Fair there...)

All in all a great travel day! Aloha!

Monday filled with pancakes, poi and Disney!

James here...

Like most mornings (and not only like most here in Hawaii) we started off with a grande skinny half-caff you-know-what...

As the caffeine surged through our veins and kicked us out of our post-cocktails from the night before daze, we figured it was time for breakfast. 

Anna Miller's 24 Hr Diner over near Pearl City was a restaurant we visited the first time we came to O'ahu. 

Conveniently situated in the middle of the southern coast close by the one freeway that spans from east to west, it was the perfect place to stop for a couple of people hungry for a feed on their way out to explore the island for the day. 

Ruthie had the semi-healthy breakfast with an egg white omelet while I went full-evil and mashed a plate of pancakes topped with macadamia nuts and syrup. BOOM.

Actually, I ordered an omelet too but it wasn't cooked properly so I skipped the healthy living impulse pretty quickly and got hold of the pancakes you can see above... (which I am now hungry for again as I write up this blog post!).

I lost Ruthie for a few minutes but then found her playing the lucky-dip machine outside the entrance to the diner, surrounding by kids who were eagerly awaiting their turn... Ruthie won the Ray Stantz Ghostbuster... but she couldn't get the Marshmallow Man! Haha - this was one of the highlights of the week for me, Ruthie was REALLY into the game!! 

Onwards... besides laying on the beach, which is the BEST thing to after your stomach balloons up from a morning feed, the SECOND best thing to do is to go shopping... the North Shore Market Place is, interestingly, on the north shore of the island. The small shopping area on the side of the only main road that goes across the northern coast line looks like a mining town from a wild west movie. 

Ruthie has been after some local jewelry for a while and at last she found something she liked... pineapples! I think they look really good! 

Ready for a dip in the ocean and some time on the beach we jumped in the car and took a drive over to the south eastern side of the island where the new Disney resort opened up the week before we arrived. I was expecting to see a gaudy looking hotel on the side of the beach that looked like Mickey Mouse had thrown up all over it, with Disney characters all over the place, Buzz Lightyear toys on sale in the lobby and kiosks selling junk food for $10 a pop... surprisingly, the place looked really classy and not a pair of mouse ears in sight!

The lobby and the four buildings that make up the Disney resort are set around and in between some beautiful pools and lagoons. They have some for kids with water features, some for adults only with a swim-up bar and family pools. There was also a pool filled with tropical fish where you can learn to scuba dive, looks amazing and for over $500 a night - so it should!

We wandered around for a short while to take in the sights and see the various amenities before hitting the beach. Ruthie was quite excited to go snorkeling, as you can see below! I just paddled around... I could hear muffled "MMMM!" and "HHH!!! MMM!!!!" coming from under the water at various spots around the lagoon as Ruthie tried to tell me about the crabs and tropical fish she was seeing... haha! 

Ruthie decided to get some pampering at the spa, getting herself a manicure, while I did what McGrath's do best on a lazy afternoon... I took advantage and extreme delight in a good sit-off on the beach! :)

We dined at one of the resort's restaurants - all you can eat for $40 and let me tell you, when someone charges us $40 for a buffet - we ate ALL we could eat... it was pretty good though, loads of fresh fish and other seafood as well as loads of authentic Hawaiian dishes, my favourite being the poi - mashed tarot leaves with the consistency of wallpaper paste. Believe me though, it's great to dunk your BBQ pulled pork into. Oh, and of course we got involved in a cocktail or two...

To round off a day of complete and utter indulgence (Weight Watchers New York we'll be home soon enough) we went across the street from our hotel back in Waikiki for some world famous coconut pie and cocktails at the House Without a Key beach-side restaurant at the Halekulani Hotel across the street. Samantha Brown, anyone?

Full to the brim, we finished off the evening with a movie back the hotel. As rom-coms goes, it was pretty funny!