South Pacific Trip 2012/2013: Nov 30, 2012

Well we went to an awesome Luau two nights ago. It was a wedding gift from good friends (thanks Cathy & Mel) so we went to the swankiest, most expensive one we could find. It was called Feast at Lele (lay-lay) in Lahaina and was a 5 course meal with cultural dances, each of the first 4 courses had 3 dishes from each island represented; Hawaii, New Zealand, Tahiti and Samoa. The last course was a delicious dessert and concluded with a samoan fire dance. It was also an open bar and Richard did me the favour of being the designated driver. I tried the mai tai (too strong), blue hawaiian (not the same as the blue hawaiians we get in the Dominican Republic) and then a banana madness (just right). Actually Richard ordered a banana madness first and it was like a delicious milkshake so of course I had switch. Every party has a table just to themselves and is waited on by an appropriately nearly naked exotic beefy guy or hot girl. We had Evan (no complaints on my part) serving us and an oddly white guy named Mike. All the tables are outside with a beautiful view of the sunset and on our night, a departing cruise ship that was all lit up. The luau takes place on a site where the Hawaiian royalty used to entertain and it was a gorgeous setting.

The next day we got up early at went on a Road to Hana tour. After stopping in Hana for lunch, the tour continues on to the seven sacred pools and then around the "back side" of the smaller nw/2 of the island. The vegetation went from rain forest to American SW desert to rolling hills of Ireland type landscapes, it was quite remarkable. We also stopped at a vineyard but it was so crowded we decided not to try a tasting. Went to Stella Blue's in Kihei for dinner but it was our least favorite restaurant so far. Not bad, but the menu and atmosphere didn't compare to other places we've had dinner.

Today was kind of a catch up on rest day, we feel like we have been going hard. We have so much luggage and are so close to our weight maximums that we decided to mail a few things that we picked up in Hawaii back home. We drove down to Wailea and were quite impressed at how swanky that area is. We stopped at the Shops at Wailea and saw some beautiful things. I saw a cool type of jewelry that looks like blue waves made out of glass (I assume), asked how much the earrings were, over $1000. Um, no thanks. Then I asked about some gold plumeria style earrings with tiny diamonds, $1800. Um, I think we should try some other stores! Richard saw a frog figurine for around $500. I told him he needed that like a hole in the head. But I realize I have to stop using that expression as without a hole in his head he might have died from the subdural hematoma. Now that expression means the opposite of what I mean. I'm hoping his ADD kicks in and he forgets he ever saw that frog, otherwise he's threatening to buy it if he doesn't find something he likes better in NZ or AU.

We decided to have dinner while we were at the outdoor mall and noticed that Longhi's, a very nice restaurant, had a fixed price dinner. We got appetizer pizza breads, a salad, pasta, and then an entree (jumbo shrimp for me and a NY steak for R) and dessert for a very reasonable price! We continued shopping after dinner and found even more high end stores that we were to afraid to go into. Then we found an ABC store, which is kind of a touristy shop where you can get inexpensive things - finally a place to spend a few dollars! Then Richard let me drive home. I tell you, I should have been driving this car the whole time we were on Maui! It's so much fun to drive a convertible with a 70's radio station blaring on a warm Hawaiian night. Unfortunately we're heading to Oahu tomorrow and won't have a car there as we should be able to take buses everywhere we want to go. We've kind of botched up our last day on Maui. We have to check out at 11:00 a.m., we can't store our luggage anywhere at the condo. The trunk fits one large suitcase and our carry-ons, the backseat fits 2 large suitcases with the top down, the front seat fits both of us and our carry-on with wheels. Needless to say we can't go anywhere with the car without having everything stolen. And on top of that, our travel agent set it up so we have to drop the car off at noon so even if we went to the airport and checked our luggage early we wouldn't have a car to go anywhere. I can only imagine how bored Richard is going to be from noon to when our flight departs at 4:30. I pray the free wifi is working at the airport tomorrow!

Side note to ourselves and anyone planning on staying in Kihei, the fabulous Italian restaurant/bakery was called Fabiani's.

Rainbow Eucalyptus