Day 1 - Sydney & Hawaii

Murphy and Arthur wanted to come along - waiting for our ride to Penrith Station 20MAY13

We had a light sushi snack at a Pitt Street Sushi Train restaurant - in the city 20MAY13 (Sydney time)

Travelling along the Honolulu Airport to Waikiki, Oahu - it's six lanes across 20MAY13 (Hawaii time)

Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii 20MAY13

We made it to the airport without ado. Took the City Rail to Town Hall and wandered down Pitt Street. Had a small sushi snack at a Pitt St Japanese restaurant. Than caught a cab to Sydney Airport. We experienced a tad bit of Sydney winter weather and knowingly that it will be eight weeks or so before we feel the cold again after our forthcoming US summer experience. No problems checking in with Hawaiian Airlines, they are great. They gave us the Air New Zealand lounge access and we rested before our call. We did purchase a bottle of Brown Brothers wine to celebrate with when we settle down in Hawaii. We found that spirits and alcohol was cheap in the USA and thought it best not to buy any other unnecessary Duty Free BWS. We arrived in Honolulu a half hour early (had an excellent tail wind) and passed through US immigration without too much trouble. The US official keep asking us our complete itinerary and places we will be departing from. With the  terrible events of the past the US are wary of all visitors. Nonetheless we had our shuttle vehicle waiting for us and arrived at the Holiday Inn Waikiki hotel at 10:30 am. Unfortunately we could not check in until 2pm...so we visited Dukes Bar for a couple of lava-flows cocktails and hence did some shopping at Macy's We has limited our clothes and shoes to a minimum and therefore needed some urgent supplies. By the time we returned to our hotel we were "stuffed" and had a couple of hours sleep. Whether you are travelling cattle class or first class it still takes a bit out of you. Well after our nanna nap we had dinner at Dukes Bar and found our old friend Justin. Surprisingly, he remembered us, even our names. At the bar we had chatted with a couple of visitors to Hawaii - guess where they were from? Bloody Sydney! Tomorrow we are going to do some more shopping for clothes to keep us going and then headed off to the Palladium at Ala Wai Golf Club for some ballroom dancing. We were there last year and loved their huge floor and great people. That's it for today - it was actually 46 hour day today (Hawaii is 18 hours behind Sydney). Until next time bye.