Halfway!

Hey there!

So I'm like, already half way through my time here in Hawaii and it's gone suuuuper fast!
My tan isn't even half way to where I want it to be.

But I'll make sure I seize all the days and have heaps more fun.

So this is what I've seen and done the last week or so!

I found a magical rainbow while out on a run:

I visited the Waikiki Aquarium and saw many wonderful creatures, like the turtle:

An octopus:

Lots of Dory's and Marlins trying to find Nemo:

Other super cool fish:

Jellyfush:

After the aquarium, Georgia and I wondered around Waikiki and I got Jamba Juice:

The next day we went on a hike to Maunawili Falls, where you can get leptospirosis.

We trekked through mud and bush and made it to the falls where people were swimming (with the leptospirosis nasties) and jumping off the rocks:

Some lush nature:

Georgia and I weren't too keen on getting in with the flesh eating bacteria, so we just chilled on some rocks and watched people jumping and stuff.

I went super hard core and powered through the mud, getting my shoes all diiiirty:

Shoe shot!

Went and chilled out on the beach, until it turned a little chilly and so we got hot chocolates!
Even got this cool keep cup for $1:

Then we were on a mission to Tiffany & Co. where Georgia had a wee birthday gift waiting for her:

Watched Breakfast at Tiffany's that night coz we were on the Tiffany's buzz and then another movie called As Above, So Below.

The next day it was Georgia's birthday so we had a day full of fun planned!
We rode in the back of a ute (not called utes here, they're just trucks) to go on a hike:

That's the Koko Head crater that I did that one time and it was super hard:

Another view from the way up:

From the top, you get a sweet as view of the east coast:

And a sweet as view of me:

The top of the hike is awesome, there's this concrete slab with "The Dead Man's Catwalk" written on it, which is what the hike's called:

Perfect for them photo opps:

After that, we refuelled with some yuuuuumm Jamba Juice bowls and headed to the beach for Georgia's birthday cruise!

It was so fun! We all just cruised around Waikiki and partied and stuff!

Somehow I got a cool lei, made from real flowers so it made me smell great:

Hung around the beach, watched the sun set, havin a great time before the Honolulu Festival Fireworks!

It was a suuuuper fun day and night, the fireworks were the bomb.

Almost as exciting was the delivery of my "Love with Food" box. I got the free trial and then cancelled my order lol. But got heaps of free yum stuff:

Yet another peanut butter jar run dry of its delicious creamy goodness:

The beginnings of a mean as curry I made:

Another day spent on Waikiki with a Jamba Juice bowl <3  :

And our 21st visit to the Honolulu Cookie company <3

This is the beautiful sight of the free sample station:

I did my scuba diving course last week, a few sessions in the pool, then out into the ocean!
It was so much fun, swum around with fish and turtles, saw  heaps of the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a which is the state fish of Hawaii.

Stood on some glass in the car park and took a picture of it once I got it out, it doesn't look too big but it hurt a bit!

I'd been getting the flu and the dives made it worse so I didn't go on the dives the next day :( 

Got some good lunch though, from Da Spot:

Plus a really good smoothie with berries, açai, and coconut sorbet!

After I'd had some good rest days, I was back into it, celebrating St Patrick's day in Chinatown!

It's a pretty blurry photo, but it's the only one I took, it was so fun!

Went on another venture out to Hanauma Bay for a snorkeling sesh!

It was the boooomb. 

I love Hanauma Bay.

On the way home, we got off the bus coz we saw a Lanikai Juice and I really wanted a Monkey Bowl, so we all got one!

Yum!

What a good time.

Yeah, so as of today I'm done with classes for the next 10 days!

Spring Break, woop woop!

This'll be my last post until after my trip to Maui, which is gonna be awesome!
I'll hopefully have a super good blog post after that :D

Catch ya later!

Madeleine

\m/

(if you squint, that looks like the shaka sign)

The Usual Week of Hawaiian Fun

Aloha tout le monde!

Last week was full of midterms so there were a few days that weren't suuuuuper exciting, but I still managed to have some excellent adventures! 

Peanut butter announcement: I finished off another jar. Such a sad moment. 

It comes around too fast every time.

As a post-class, pre-study break, I went to the coffee place next door and got a refreshing iced coffee coz it was hooootttt!

It looks like coke. But it's not.

It's iced coffee.

While sipping on that, I read a novel called Little Kahuna and Da Menehune.

It was so good, 10/10.

Da Menehune are little magical Hawaiian people who can run really fast and are super cute.

This is the coffee scene:

Georgia and I went to Bubbies for ice cream.

They're famous for their mochi ice cream (the balls on the left) which are balls of ice cream surrounded by like, a chewy sweet rice layer.

So you hold it and bite into it.

On the right is our scoops of ice cream + cones coz we get special treatment.

My ice cream flavours were coconut dream and strawberry cheesecake.

And my mochi flavours were red velvet:

Peanut butter and chocolate:

And then a passion fruit one in the background.

Très délicieux!!

On Friday I didn't have class so Richard and I went for a hike up Mt Tantalus which gives you a view of Honolulu and Pearl Harbour.

It was a very long, very bushy hike.

So much bush:

That's Pearl Harbour in the distance:

And this was the view of Honolulu:

It was real overcast so it looked a bit gloomy, but it meant we didn't get super hot on the hike!

Some pretty flowers growing along a power line:

On the way down we walked along the roads which were real narrow and surrounded by bamboo!

I was really hungry after that so I got the ginormous super jumbo Açai Primo bowl from Jamba Juice and it was the bomb.

Later on, we went to the French/chocolate food festival and I got a yum as cheesecake which I ate while we sat and listened to the live band:

On Saturday morning, we went kayaking to the Mokulua Islands.

It was pretty overcast still but it was a fun (and long!) kayak out there.

We got off on one of the islands and explored for a bit, and we found a "queen's bath" which is like, a super deep tide pool that you can jump into and swim around in.

It was pretty cool coz there were waves crashing around us and we were just chilling there in our tide pool.

Went on a trip to Wholefoods and got a few things.
Then after dinner, Georgia and I went on a late night Cheesecake Factory adventure, stopping only for Honolulu Cookie Company samples and to go into the Moana Surf Rider hotel: 

It was beeeeautiful on the inside.

Gonna make it our new hang out spot.

Then we made it to The Cheesecake Factory!!

We shared two cheesecakes, one was Oreo Dream:

And the other was Chocolate Chip Cookie dough:

And my goodness gracious, they were a.mazing.

Had a good sleep-in to get over our cheesecake comas then we hit Waikiki for some top tanning time!

Swum heaps, sun bathed heaps.

Got Jamba Juice bowls:

Then chilled out at the Modern hotel for a few hours.

Trying to suss out how we can stay in the penthouse.

They have their own private outdoor elevator up there! :O

Went to a bbq in Waikiki with a big group of friends after that which was swell.

When I got home I booked my flights and accommodation for a spring break trip to Maui!! 

I'm super excited.

After class on Monday I joined some of the frenchies to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

This was my view from the bus stop: 

Not bad.

Then the views got even better at Hanauma Bay:

That's the reef we snorkeled in:

It was so so hot, and the water was so refreshing.
Saw heeeeaps of amazing, beautiful fish.
And this time we saw a turtle!!
OMG it was awesome.
I was like, swimming right alongside it for ages.
Best experience.
He was super chill.

On Tuesday we went to Wholefoods for tacos which were delish!

And then because we like to take advantage of every opportunity presented to us, we caught the bus straight to IHOP to celebrate National Pancake Day!

Free pancakes for all!!

Holy moley there was a lot, but we got through it all!

What a lovely sight:

But it was fund raising for a children's hospital so we donated a bit of money as we left.

Mahalo IHOP!

After class today I went on a weeee bit of a shop in Waikiki and Ala Moana.

The new Walgreens is the boooomb.
They even have coconut bras:

And all sorts of good stuff for Easter:

I'll show you my shopping haul. It's all necessities, keep in mind.

A new bikini:

A pair of good old Levi's 501's:

A plain cropped singlet from Forever 21 (it was $4 and i decided it would go with lots of stuff I've got):

A shower jelly from Lush which smells like delicious lollies:

A plain, yet useful cropped t-shirt from Hollister (it goes well with my 501's and my Hollister polka dot shorts from the last post):

The over all haul:

Ok, so it doesn't seem that bad, but I felt like I'd gone crazy.

Maybe it's coz I tried on 10 times more than what I bought and it was super fun and super overwhelming.

Now I'm home and satisfied with my day's work.

I really do feel better after some good retail therapy.

I'll sleep well tonight!

Talk to ya later!

Madeleine

xoxoxoxox