Mr. Aloha, Dukes and Waikiki

Brudder Wayne

Skinny Santa

my search continues

Anyone who has spent time in Waikiki knows about Duke's...best location in town, best staff, best alcohol and greatest crowds...great place for for drinks, lunch, breakfast or dinner. The view from our seats was awesome...good to be back in Hawaii!

My old buddy Wayne Kami...when you visit Hawaii, if your lucky, you will meet someone like Wayne...he's the guy who will teach you the real spirit of Aloha...I had the pleasure and honor of working with Wayne for years...warm, funny and an all around ambassador for the Island's. We had a nice long lunch at Duke's. Walking back we stumbled into Santa, a little out of season, playing his violin for the tourist. The Tshirt explains my lifelong search.

Waikiki is such a great city to walk around in...so colorful and picturesque...the buildings are cool and have plenty of color to take good photos...parks are filled with flowers and the trees are magnificent. Enjoy!

always a goal

stairway to heaven

Waikiki beach

man, myth, legend

the boardroom

awesome city view from the park

lots of awesome trees

Honolulu Cultural Festival and Parade

One of the big events in Honolulu every year is the Cultural Festival...lots of diverse cultural presentations...the festivities include a huge parade down Kalakaua and then Fireworks off Waikiki Beach...very cool day.

Kailua and The Shack

pics of places and things on Oahu...we drove to Kailua for lunch at the Shack, this place has been around for over 20 years...awesome burgers...Dukes is my pick for cocktail.

Hawaii State Flower

Love these burgers...

Kailua was such a great place to live

Giovanni's "Scampi from Heaven"

mother earth

One of my favorite places

$13 gets you into "Scampi Heaven"

I don't think its the original truck...both my signatures are gone!

When we 1st came there was a small umbrella and 3 picnic tables....big time growth

we had 41 orders ahead of our...took about an hour.

same old dive...

the sign looks like the original...i Mean how could you duplicate this!

a hungry patron...

hey, how did her name get here!

GSM with old friends, visit to NaHoku headquarters and then...

a good day of driving and sight seeing...

Out to my favorite restaurant on the island...Giovanni's is an institution, I first visited and had their scampi in 1995. On our very 1st visit we meant Giovanni and Connie the owners, business wasn't as good then, in fact we were the only customers...thru the years we have been there many times...new owners have taken over and have kept it close to the same...taste is a little different but menu and prices have really stayed steady. If you go to Oahu this is a must...when we gave our order there were 41 orders ahead of ours...took about an hour...well worth the wait! Diner or Dive...definitely both...just an old truck!

A_L_O_H_A!!!

We arrived on the 1st with no luggage, it seems our bags had boarded a plane for Singapore...it finally got into town this afternoon...love being back in Hawaii, sweet days and warm nights. Last night we walked the boardwalk and did a little people watching, always fun. Tomorrow it's North Shore Shrimp...we are psyched!!

Ala Wai Canal

diner or dive??? both, but great food!

Waikiki is now very upscale...omly the best.

The new Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center...very cool.

March 1st...heading to Hawaii

     Our flight out of Auckland was delayed for about 3 hours and allowed only 45 minutes to change planes in Sydney...I was worried about our luggage making the transfer from one plane to another. We were flying JetStar on a long flight for the 1st time. Anyone not familiar with these guys let me catch you up...they are the cheap, cheap, cheap airlines out of OZ...of course we were not really aware of this when we made the reservation...no movies (unless you pay), no blankets (unless you pay)...a 10 hour flight and no food (unless you pay)...want coffee? $3 please, egg sandwich with chips and a soda ...$16 please. I have never flown an International Flight that has zero amenities...the price was not that much better than other airlines just the timing fit better...yikes...note to self, never fly JetStar again! Got into Honolulu on time (7am) but no luggage...finally received it 2 days later, it had decided to visit Singapore without us. No room available until 2pm so we did a little zombie walking around the city. Gateway Hotel is a good location and the room was much better than any tent we slept in...GSM at 7am on the 2nd...need sleep.

the Gateway Hotel

     PS...we left Sydney at 6pm on the 1st and got into Hawaii at 7am on the 1st...the day sucked....both times!

Mt Eden 02/28/12

lots of warnings

wonderful views of Auckland

the pinnacle

a dial that helps position all the important spots in the area

awesome pic of the crater

back in town

my next hair style...

     The last thing on our list for Auckland was climbing Mt. Eden, it is one of 40 Volcanoes that were formed here 30K-40K years ago. This mountain is the highest point in the Auckland area and provides an awesome 360 degree view...just past the village we found the track and made our way to the top. A visitors guide named Tom was extremely friendly and filled with information. After pictures, and scouting around the crater, Tom escorted us to the visitor center where we compared pictures from 130 years ago to the one's we took today...wow. It's always nice when you have someone that can answer every question you have.