Kapolei, HI
Dec 24th
For some reason I was up early. Earlier than usual but I captured the most amazing moon setting over the water that I’d ever seen. My iPhone couldn’t do this justice and Mark’s camera chose not to work. So, it was just me and one of those moments when you find yourself in the presence of amazing wonder and beauty. What a great way to start the day.
The others eventually rose and I struggled with conveying what a spectacular moment I had witnessed and how they’d missed seeing the most beautiful, huge blood-orange moon setting over the water and right in front of our condo. They all suggested to try catching it the next day.
The morning walk resulted in being just Mark and myself. But, maybe not for much longer. Mark had taken to his usual commentary, as he often does when we’re away and after a couple of mornings along the same route, with ‘it’s not as nice as Bondi’. I would then respond with my usual ‘it’s just different’ but this never seems to stop him. One thing was for sure. He wouldn’t be joining me on my walk tomorrow. My Spotify playlist had preference over him!
We then continued on and joined up with the others at the cafe for our, now regular, morning coffee. The plan for the day was simple…… there was no plan…..just to laze by the pool. We’d been on the go for a number of days now and we all needed the rest and some space from each other. Mark, Annabelle and Matt went to Costco to buy some supplies for Christmas lunch and then we all spent time by the pool. Mark then decided he was bored and went with Tom and Matt up the coast, about a 10 min drive away, to try some snorkeling at a beach purported to be worthwhile for the sea life and turtle potential. They struck gold on both fronts and enjoyed some Go-Pro ‘turtle’ moments capturing all of this on film. Maybe a date with Neville????
Dinner was a quiet affair with another home BBQ and a relatively early night.
Dec 25th
We all rose early in an effort to capture the moon setting but it ended up setting much later today and was far less spectacular than the day before. Mark, Ali, AB and I then headed out to walk and the plan was that Matt would start preparing the Christmas roast before waking Tom so that they’d both meet up with us at the cafe. That all went to plan and we then headed back to the condo to exchange KK gifts and to have some more pool time. Our family friends, Laurie and Carroll, were flying into Oahu that morning and were joining us for a late lunch. Mark and I collected them from their Waikiki hotel and we all had a lovely afternoon together. They caught a taxi back to their hotel at around 7.30pm and the rest of us cleaned up and some even drank more beer and watched cricket! Guess who??? This was our last night together as Matt and Annabelle were flying back to Sydney the next morning whilst the four of us, Mark, Tom, Ali and myself, were flying on to Maui. This Ko Olina condo had been a great find and was a wonderful venue for our week together. Here’s hoping the rest of the accommodation proves as comfortable.
