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We have a half an hour flight back to Honolulu where we will meet Liam and Dani at the airport. As our flight is not until 5 in the afternoon we spent half of the day at our hostel watching the Shawshank Redemption. We arrived back in to Honolulu at about half 5 and went outside and met Ollie. We jumped into Liams van and quickly got checked into our hotel and went back down to Liams hotel to meet him. As we got into the reception side Liam and Ollie came out of the lift just as we seen Sue and Paul checking in, good timing or what! Everyone was jet lagged as they had either just got to Hawaii or had only been there for a few days so we headed down to a small cafe on the beachfront for tea and then just had an early night.
Next day we got a phone call from Dani saying that they were all heading to the shopping mall but we didnt fancy it so didnt bother joining them. Instead we decided to walk to WalMart as we have a small kitchen in our room. The walk was only about half an hour long but on the way we came across a massive shopping mall and headed in there to look for a laptop for me (the mall just so happened to be the same one everyone else had gone to!). We looked around for about an hour or so but didnt really see anything I liked so gave up and went to get some food. After WalMart though I fancied another look in the computer shop and found a cheapish Toshiba that I liked, luckily for me it had gone down from $650 to $500 and then as she was putting it through the till she noticed that it had again gone down from $500 to $400 on that very day! We were due to meet Sue, Paul, Liam and Dani at 3 in there lobby but the trolley we jumped on to get back took ages and we were about half an hour late, oops! We did eventually find them and met them in Starbucks. After some more food shopping for Sue and Paul Dani took us to a small local cafe on the outskirts of Honolulu called L and L. The cafe didn't look as if it was anything much but the food was well nice, by far the best meal we had have while we were here. We spent the rest of the night in Dani and Liams room drinking PG Tips (how we have missed decent coffee and tea!) and spent the rest of the night talking.
We met Sue and Paul at 10 in the morning and headed to Waikiki beach. They hadn't really seen the beach yet so they were all excited like we were when we first arrived. We spent most of the day down at the beach and just pretty much chilled out there for the day. The sea was crystal clear and all around us were small different fish swimming, it was quite smart to see. That night we met up with everyone for the first time and headed to the only place we knew would keep all 16 of us happy, a food court! It was nice catching up with everyone and hearing all the goss from back home and back at work, that place hasn't changed at all so thank God I am out of there!
As today was the last day before the wedding we had a stag do for Ollie. No one really knew what was going on so we all met at about 10 in one of the hotel lobbies. Liam organised the day and thought that the boat trip we were going on started at 11 but it turned out that it started at 1 so instead we went to a bar in a random hotel on the beachfront. We all had a couple of pints at the bar except Keong who got the most manliest drink he could find and ordered a non-alcoholic tropical juice drink! It came out in a big glass complete with an umbrella, pineapple and some little fancy decorations to make it look pretty for him. After a couple of drinks at the bar we headed down to the harbour and got on a catamaran. We spent a few hours on the boat going up and down the coast of Honolulu drinking and fed loads of fish and even saw a sea turtle, it was quite good but the only bad thing was that they advertised food and we never got any! After the boat we headed to a bar we found called the Red Lion. We got a big meal here and sat there for the rest of the afternoon drinking and playing pool. We all headed home at about 6 and by 9 I was throwing my guts up, got no idea what was up with me but I was sick 8 times when I got back to the hotel. I wouldn't have minded if I was drunk but I wasn't! Next day I found out that Ollie was sick for about 2 hours and Liam felt really sick too so maybe it was something we ate.
The wedding doesn't start till half 4 this afternoon so Jodie met up with Sue and Paul and headed down to the beach with them. I still felt like crap so stayed in bed to hopefully get rid of it before the wedding. By 12 my banging head had calmed down so I got ready and headed down to the beach to meet the other guys. Just as I found them they were getting ready to head back to the hotel and they then told me that there had been loads of fish in the water and that they had even seen flying fish, only day I didn't go down, typical! We all went our seperate days and headed back to our rooms to have a relax and get ready. We met up with Liam, Dani, Sue and Paul at there hotel and headed over to Ollie and Sophie's hotel as that was where the wedding was. We all looked quite smart and not being big headed or anything but I think me and Jodie scrubbed up pretty well for travellers! We met Ollie in the lobby and he led us to a Chinese themed room on the second floor where the ceremony was going to take place. We all got into place and waited for the Bride to come down. Abi was the flower girl and she walked in first in a little white dress with a big band of Hawaiin flowers in her hair, she looked well cute. Sophie then came in with her Dad and looked really nice in her dress. The ceremony didn't last too long but was more personal and didn't have any hymn songs which was really good. After the ceremony we went out onto the balcony which overlooked the beach, sea and city and got all our photos taken. When we finished having our photos taken we went downstairs to where we were having our meal while Ollie and Sophie went over to the park and got photos taken on their own with Diamond Head in the background. When they had finished they joined us in the room they had rented out for the night and we all had drinks. Before we got our food the speeches were done, Sophies dad went first and spoke about when she was younger going through the dirt looking for worms and how she hasn't changed. Ollie then went and thanked everyone for making an effort getting to Hawaii and even gave us a thanks for dressing smartly considering we were living out of a bag! Keong was the best man and had to do a speech but he only found out on the day of the wedding that he was best man so had to pretty much make up his speech on the spot. He was pretty nervous and kind of lost his way a little bit but he did well considering he had no preperation time! The dinner came out after all the speeches and they were so good, we had duck for starters then a big steak for main and then the cake and sorbet for dessert. We spent the rest of the night drinking away and having a laugh.
Next day we met up with Liam, Dani, Sue and Paul at there hotel and got in the car for a road drive. They took us to the North side of the island to a place called North Shore. This is where all the surfers go to as they get massive waves here and if there is a surfing competition in Hawaii then it is held here. The scenery as you leave Waikiki is brilliant, There are mountains and valleys everywhere. When we got to North Shore we had a good look round but the waves weren't too big while we were there. We then headed to a posh placed called Turtle Bay Resort which is where all the celebrities go and it has its own massive golf course. They have a couple of beaches either side of the resort where surfers also go to and the waves here were quite big. The resort was really nice, had great views of the beaches and mountains but it is so far away from anything that I think you would be bored after a few days. After we left Turtle Bay Dani took us to a place where locals only knew about until tour buses started bringing tourists up, the locals soon complained about this as the coaches had to drive through residential areas so it didn't last very long. After about 10 minutes of driving through housing estates we came to the ocean. In front of us were 5 small islands that just had a couple of trees on them. One of them was just a huge rock which had a massive hole in the middle which acted like a blow hole, it was ace. Over to our right you could see all the mountains all the way round to the East side of the island, the views were incredible. We stayed here for a while then headed home as it was getting late. They took us on the scenic drive home and it was amazing. All the way round the island you have clear torquise water to one side and then huge green mountains or valleys to your other side. The road took us up the side of one of the mountains and we could see all along the island bith ways, it was incredible. The island changes so much if you get out of Honolulu (especially Waikiki) and it is great that everything is so close.
We had planned on heading to Hanauma Bay which is a national park as the bay is a crater that has loads of coral and fish but as the weather was cloudy and not too warm then Sue and Paul wanted to walk the hike up to Diamond Head as it was probably the best day for it. We didn't really fancy doing it again so we just had the day to ourselves and headed to the beach for a while to relax and chill out. We met up with Sue and Paul later on and headed back to the local diner called L and L and had us some original Hawaiin food!
We were thinking of going to the waterpark on the Tuesday but it didn't really get organised in time so instead we spent another day at the beach. We expected to see more of Ollie, Sophie and Abi and spend days at the beach with them but it hasn't really turned out that way, we can't really get in touch with each other too easily so always end up missing each other and as there are 16 of us then it is quite hard to do something where everyone is happy. We met up with Liam and Dani that night and me, Liam, Dani and Paul took a walk through Waikiki to find a tattoo place for Dani. We did end up finding one in the posher part of Waikiki but it was down the most sleeziest street ever. It was right next to the Hugo Boss shop yet 2 metres away from the shop was a Japanese gentlemens club and a hardcore porno shop! Dani got booked in for a tattoo to remember her trip home to Hawaii for tomorrow so then we headed back to our hotels.
I was meant to be meeting Liam early next morning to go to the waterpark but he rung me early and told me that he was ill and wasn't coming so I ran down to Ollie's hotel to meet him before they left. Because Liam was no longer coming we had too many people for 1 car so had to try and find another way to get there. We were about to order a taxi there and just split the costs between all of us when Keong thought it would be a good idea to see what time the park opened. Good job he did because as we are in winter in Hawaii (just as hot as it is in summer, its crazy!) the park was only open from Thursday to Sunday, we would have been gutted to spend an hour and a half travelling up there to find out it was closed! We decided to head down to the private beach Ollie had at his hotel as I hadn't spent a day at the beach with those lot yet. We went down at about half 10 and I stayed there with them until about half 3 playing with Abi in the sea and building sand castles, felt like a right kid afterwards but it was ace. I headed back to the hotel afterwards as I was starting to burn and to meet up with Jodie as she didn't want to come to the waterpark. She had spent all day inside as I had passed on my chesty cough/cold to her (which I also passed on to everyone else, oops!) so we went out for some tea then had a night in.
The waterpark was actually open today so I headed to Ollie's hotel and got a lift up there with Kirsty and Keong. The waterpark was about $42 each but when we paid it was only $65 for the 3 of us, the guy behind the counter had given us the local rate! The park is not the biggest in the world but they have great rides. One of them was called the tornado and you sat in a ring for either 2,3 or 4 people then went down a big drop into a toilet bowl and went up and down the walls until you came through the hole. There was also a big blue ride that had big rings that fitted 3 to 5 people on. Me, Ollie, Sophie and Keong went down it and we all pushed and tugged the ring as much as we could to get speed, we ended up flying down the slide and hit one corner hard, the ring bent over it self and I ended up hanging from the top of it holding on for dear life! It was such a good laugh, as soon as we got to the bottom we went back up and done it again and this time it was Keong that ended up hanging on. They had a big ride called the Shaka which was a slide shaped like a boomerang. It was a 2 seater ring that went down a huge drop and went back and forth until it stopped, I shat myself! It was a quality day and well worth the discounted price we got! We all met later on and headed to an American diner and had dinner together.
The Friday was everyone else last day in Hawaii so we met them all to spend the day with them. We headed up to their hotel and spent the day on the beach with them while Ollie, Liam and Paul went out to do a father son quad bike ride at the north side of the island. We all stayed at the beach and took Abi in the sea and just spent the day talking before we all went our seperate ways. I was sunburnt from the previous 2 days and Kirsty was from the day before so we didnt spent that long on the beach today, only about 5 hours! That night we ate in and headed up to Ollie's hotel to see them off before they left the next morning. We stayed there for a hour or two, everyone was speaking to each other and saying there goodbyes as I was chasing Abi around the hotel lobby! I am such a big kid!
We are checking out of the hotel today and spending the next 6 nights at Dani's Dad's house in Pearl City. We are going to be a bit outside Waikiki but we have pretty much done everything there now so it will be good to see other parts of the island.
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