Woke up today at around 8:00, about the same as yesterday.
We hung around the room for a little while, doing some stuff and watching TV.
We made our way down to the beach at around 9:45, and of course, it was pretty cloudy.
The day before, it had cleared up at around this time, but the sun didn’t seem to be making an appearance today.
We layed out and played “Are You Smarter Than A 5
th Grader,” noticing that we were surrounded by old people on the beach.
By around 11:00, we finally came to the realization that the sun would not be coming out and went into one of the hotel restaurants to eat lunch.
It was an outdoor restaurant that was right off the beach, but there were these pigeon-looking birds everywhere and they were not afraid of humans.
While we were eating some crazy Japanese woman at the table next to us started to feed one and soon about five more flocked, getting all over both her table and ours.
Other than that, though, the meal was good, and we then went back upstairs to get ready for the day.
We were supposed to be meeting at around 3:30 for the luau, so we still had some time to kill and went out to some shops.
Steph appropriately bought a see-through dress to wear that evening.
Dressed in our best Hawaiian attire, we boarded a bus to go to Paradise Cove a little before 4:00.
The bus had to stop at a few other hotels, and due to traffic and the fact that its location was on the other side of the island, we got there around 5:30.
When we arrived, we were greeted with a real flower lei and a Hawaiian guy playing a welcome song on the guitar.
Paradise Cove was a pretty nice place.
It had a lot of things to do before the dinner and show, including making your own flower lei, riding a canoe, and spear throwing.
But we didn’t have time to do any of those sweet-sounding activities.
We took some pictures when we first got there, then played a game called ‘ulu maika, which was basically an ancient Hawaiian form of bowling.
I obviously dominated Steph in our matchup.
Next, we went to the temporary tattoo station, where they would draw Polynesian body art on you.
The guy in front of me asked the worker to give him a tribal tattoo on his calf, and it just looked so awkward/uncomfortable for the drawer that I figured I had to ask for the same.
At this point, they closed down most of the activities in preparation for the imu ceremony, where they took a roasted pig out of an underground oven.
It was pretty cool to see.
The pig weighed between 150-200 lbs and would be eaten by everyone at dinner.
Following that, we went over to the other side of the compound to watch some hula dancing and an event where people tried to pull a fish net out of the water, moving to
the beat of island chats.
Next was dinner.
We were seated across from another newlywed couple on their honeymoon, who had been married 2 days before.
They looked a few years older than us and were nice and friendly, but also a little weird.
She didn’t say much of anything for the first half hour of the conversation, and we determined that they were probably Amish after piecing together a few clues he dropped.
But it was nice to talk to someone our own age, since aside from them, we were definitely some of the youngest people there (besides little kids).
Dinner was buffet-style, and the main entrees were the Kalua Pig, fried chicken, and fish.
I thought the dinner was good, and they had a bangin coconut cake for dessert.
The show was really cool.
At one point, they asked for volunteers to hula dance on stage, and Steph went up.
Hilarious.
There was also this really drunk guy who went up to hula dance, and tried to get back up again later when they asked for more volunteers, while wearing a coconut bra and grass skirt.
The rest of the show also consisted of singing, dancing, audience participation, fire throwing, and other performances like that.
The bus ride back was pretty uneventful, and we came back to the room determined to open the coconut we had bought on the first night.
We went to the front desk to see if they could help, and they were surprisingly accommodating.
The woman called housekeeping and had a worker come out with a knife and a straw so we could drink the milk inside.
It would have tasted great if it wasn’t so warm.
But knowing that we were really after the fruit inside, the woman at the desk called maintenance and said they would be up to our room soon.
A small Asian worker showed up with a hammer and came inside.
Realizing that they had not informed him as to why we needed the hammer, we tol
d him that we wanted to get the coconut cracked.
Standing where he was, approximately one step inside our room, he gave the coconut two hard smashes, breaking it in two and splattering coconut milk all over the floor and a little bit on Steph’s suitcase.
He then left, without saying a word.
After that, we attacked the coconut like the savage
beasts we had seen earlier that night at the luau, eating it as well as we could with our only utensil being a knife.
It was well worth all the effort.
Now, we are starting to pack up to head out tomorrow morning to be at the airport by 5:00 am for our international flight to
Sydney.
We leave
Hawaii at 8:00 am and get to
Sydney at around 4:00 pm the next day.
The 11 hour flight takes us almost a day and a half because of the time change.
Hawaii was an awesome vacation.
If I ever come back, I’ll make sure to plan for a few more days, because there was a lot more we could have done.
But I’m really happy we ended up stopping here on our way across the ocean.
We definitely had very busy days and got a lot done in the short time we were here.
Tomorrow, the next part of the trip begins, as we’re getting to
Australia.
On the morning of the 7
th, I’ll be leaving
Sydney for
Melbourne to go to
Monash University.
Looking forward to it, but not really sure what to expect.
the beat of island chats. Next was dinner. We were seated across from another newlywed couple on their honeymoon, who had been married 2 days before. They looked a few years older than us and were nice and friendly, but also a little weird. She didn’t say much of anything for the first half hour of the conversation, and we determined that they were probably Amish after piecing together a few clues he dropped. But it was nice to talk to someone our own age, since aside from them, we were definitely some of the youngest people there (besides little kids). Dinner was buffet-style, and the main entrees were the Kalua Pig, fried chicken, and fish. I thought the dinner was good, and they had a bangin coconut cake for dessert. The show was really cool. At one point, they asked for volunteers to hula dance on stage, and Steph went up. Hilarious.
There was also this really drunk guy who went up to hula dance, and tried to get back up again later when they asked for more volunteers, while wearing a coconut bra and grass skirt. 
The rest of the show also consisted of singing, dancing, audience participation, fire throwing, and other performances like that. The bus ride back was pretty uneventful, and we came back to the room determined to open the coconut we had bought on the first night. We went to the front desk to see if they could help, and they were surprisingly accommodating. The woman called housekeeping and had a worker come out with a knife and a straw so we could drink the milk inside. It would have tasted great if it wasn’t so warm. But knowing that we were really after the fruit inside, the woman at the desk called maintenance and said they would be up to our room soon. A small Asian worker showed up with a hammer and came inside. Realizing that they had not informed him as to why we needed the hammer, we tol
d him that we wanted to get the coconut cracked. Standing where he was, approximately one step inside our room, he gave the coconut two hard smashes, breaking it in two and splattering coconut milk all over the floor and a little bit on Steph’s suitcase. He then left, without saying a word. After that, we attacked the coconut like the savage 
beasts we had seen earlier that night at the luau, eating it as well as we could with our only utensil being a knife. It was well worth all the effort. Now, we are starting to pack up to head out tomorrow morning to be at the airport by 5:00 am for our international flight to 
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