Luau…wow!
It was pack up day today at our beloved Turtle Cove. We had grown so fond of this house, it was like a second home! The washing machine and dryer were getting a good workout and we were in a tidying, packing frenzy, getting ready to depart by 10am. So, packed and loaded, we drove one last time to our favourite coffee shop in Haleiwa, The Coffee Gallery, for some morning coffees before setting out for Waikiki.
Now our check-in at the Embassy Suites (which will always still be “Embarrassing Suits” to us thanks to Emily!) wasn’t until 3pm so we had a few hours to kill. Just as well really because the GPS, Daniel, that we loved to hate, had one more shot at getting us lost and boy did he do a good job! Our hotel address was on “Beach Walk” and what we didn’t know when we typed it into the GPS was that there were actually two Beach Walks, both coming up as being in Honolulu, but as we soon discovered, are actually on opposite sides of the island! While we started off heading in the right direction, the Gallaghers following, we then took a very scenic but unnecessary detour, losing the Gallaghers (fortunately for them) and navigating the East Coast of the island. We were heading for the hills, so to speak, with huge green mountains on all sides of us and not a sign of the bustling city we were supposed to be closing in on. The road wound through the mountain range, with a huge tunnel going straight through the mountain. While it was incredibly beautiful and an area we hadn’t yet discovered we twigged that good old Daniel had done it again and we were LOST once more!
So scrapping the whole Beach Walk idea we just typed in “Waikiki Beach” and were directed to turn the car around and head back exactly the way we came, finally arriving at our desired destination, a lot later than we’d first hoped! At least we didn’t have as much time to kill until check-in. We were reunited with the Gallaghers who had used gut instincts to get them through, proving much more successful than the useless GPS! The friendly bell boys took our bags (all 15 of them! I think we’ll have to downsize before we get on the plane!) and we were given a complimentary guava juice, which was delicious, and a key to the pool area. Making our way to the pool area we were pleasantly surprised by the beautifully landscaped, banana chair-laden, tropical pool area and couldn’t wait to get wet.
Before we knew it, it was time to go to our rooms and get unpacked. Unfortunately there are 2 completely separate towers here in the hotel, the Gallaghers’ room in one tower and the Jones’ in the other. After living in such close quarters for the past two weeks, I think we’ll really miss each other! We’ll have withdrawal symptoms!
Ross and I were quite eager to get to a luau –the quintessential Hawaiian experience – while we were in Hawaii. The Gallaghers had been to one on their last visit and decided they didn’t need to go again so we bid them farewell for the night and walked the short distance down to the Sheraton Waikiki bus depot where we’d been directed to look for someone in a Hawaiian print shirt to get us onto the right bus. More easily said than done! Hawaiian shirts were aplenty, as usual. We were in Hawaii after all! The bus depot seemed to be wall-to-wall with Japanese tourists too, most of whom were decked out in –you guessed it – Hawaiian print shirts! It was relieving to be directed onto the right bus and to be speeding the 27 miles it was until we arrived at ‘Germaine’s Luau’. We were told it would take 15 “Hawaiian minutes”, in other words, you get there when you get there. Our “escort” for the night introduced herself as Cousin Kim and she made the bus trip almost as fun as the luau itself! She was able to memorise the names of all the passengers on the bus and then got us to link pinkies with the people sitting in front and behind us, introduce ourselves and sing a few funny songs. There was lots of fun and frivolity! She also explained in detail what we were to expect at the luau and asked for volunteers amongst the males onboard for special audience participation. Ross nominated Toby (although he only just got in before Toby was about to nominate himself). There was a huge cheer in the bus followed by a loud chant of: “TOBY! TOBY! TOBY! TOBY!…” There were two other guys chosen too and they were to be representatives of Bus 3 (the good looking bus full of the good looking cousins!). She told them to wait for their cue in the evening’s proceedings and the minute they heard it, jump up on their tables and dance like no-one was watching. Tobes, in true style, did just as she’d instructed and sprung up onto the table dancing his little heart out! There were 8 busloads of people, each of them with their own representatives and hundreds of people at the luau and yet Toby managed to get himself picked out, as one of three, to go up on stage! It’s so bizarre but he does get picked out of the crowd SO often! He did us proud, coming out with his other two rivals, in a lovely green grass skirt, coconut bra and fresh flower leis on his neck and head! He had to dance on stage and elicit enough cheers from the crowd to beat his fellow hula-skirted competition. There was ‘Mr Tangerine’, not surprisingly in an orange skirt, ‘Passionate Pink’ in his pink ensemble and Toby ‘the Green Machine’. Tobes was interviewed and asked if he was single, in the market for a new Wahine! When he announced he was from Sydney, Australia, the crowd cheered loudly and he lapped up the applause! The competition was fierce though and Toby was only narrowly edged out by the aptly named Mr Passionate who was just oozing passion (and also had come with about 50 of his loudly cheering closest friends). His hula dancing was magnificent none the less and we were all proud of him! Bad luck Toby. Better luck next time!
The luau was so well organised and ran like clockwork. The ‘Kalua Pig’ had been slow roasting in the ground since 5:30am that morning and we witnessed them lifting it out of the ground, wrapped in banana leaves in chicken wire, amongst the volcanic rocks. The smell was incredible and we couldn’t wait to taste it. We had a buffet (pronounced boofay here!) with an array of appertisers (pu-pu) salads, meats (pi-pi) and desserts. There was so much food! The pork was very tasty with a smoky flavour and it just melted in your mouth. The kids were quite excited about being able to go to the soda bar and order as many sodas as they liked. Toby may have overdone the rootbeers, having about 10! No wonder he had a bit of a tummy ache! We were allowed a complementary cocktail so I tried a Mai Tai. Not too bad at all.
The night went on with more beautiful South Pacific island music and dancing, including a fire twirler and some great hula displays. Just how do they get those hips moving like that!? It’s awesome! There was also lots more audience participation. Molly got to go up on stage, with a crowd of other Wahines and learnt to hula. She did an awesome job! Sam and I also had a shot later in the night, to represent our table in hula dancing but had to turn our backs on the audience so they had a rear view of us gyrating awkwardly! We got to know a friendly couple from Oregon, Phil and Katie, that were on our table. Phil got to go up and dance on his own with one of the hula dancers and we were cheering wildly for him. It was good fun!
The bus trip home was a hoot! As soon as Toby climbed aboard there were loud cheers and a thunderous rendition of “TOBY! TOBY! TOBY! There was a hilarious man onboard, admittedly a little under the weather, but he was cracking us all up! He was an elderly African American gentleman named Roland who was a barber back home. He was advertising cheap haircuts on the microphone and then giving advice for how to have a long marriage. He was so funny! Sam and I started up a chant on the bus for him “Roland! Roland! Roland!…”
Maisy was regaling the entire back half of the bus with stories of her broken bones and she had them all in stitches laughing! We sang (to the tune of Clementine) “I’m a palm tree, I’m a palm tree, I’m a palm tree through and through. I would rather be a palm tree than a coconut like you!” and many other similar verses. It was a riot and by the time we got back to Waikiki we felt like we knew everyone on the bus! If you ever come to Hawaii, we can thoroughly recommend the Germaine’s Luau!
The Gallaghers spent their night back at Ala Moana Shopping Mall, picking up a few more bargains and souvenirs to take home with them and finishing the night with a takeaway pizza and a quick look at the AFL Grand Final (we were all happy to hear that the Swans won!) They caught the trolley bus there and said their driver was lots of fun too.
