SMACK back to REALITY!
6 plane rides, 4 different cities, 2 countries and 3 weeks later, we are back in the comfort of our home (however messy it may be), in our own beds with the air-con on full blast..dayum it's hot! Not that I'm complaining or anything, I'd rather take the warm weather over the freezing cold in Auckland and Melbourne any day!
So our trip started out with a 9hr flight from Honolulu to Auckland. It was my brother's birthday the next day and I wanted to spend his birthday with him since I only see the guy once every 6years. YIKES! It was also the first time my babies got to meet their uncle for the first time.
I have to say, traveling with the boys now is so much easier than 2 years ago. They were making all sorts of friends on the plane and at one point, I heard Master Tai teaching an elderly lady in the back how to count in Samoan.
I, of course knocked out as soon as we took off. I'm not a big fan of aeroplanes or flying in general.
Auckland was just as I remember it from previous trips - cloudy, foggy etc etc. It just has a depressing feel to it for some reason. hahahaha... Of course, the next morning, we breakfast-ed on steak and cheese meat pies & weetbix washed down with good ol' L&P. Lunch over fish & chips and chicken nibbles. Dinner over lamb shanks etc at the Sky Tower. Gloomy feeling is gone. All is well in the world. Now get me a blanket ua gula le magava.
2 days later, we flew off to Sydney where we spent 3 days catching up with our families and friends exploring the city, doing the touristy thing!
We stayed at the Wyndham smack in the middle of the city, so we were able to mostly walk everywhere and caught the FREE tram when our kids got tired or when we were tired from taking turns lugging Master Taui around (who seemed to have fallen asleep) throughout most of the days.
This is my 3rd time in Sydney and it's even more chaotic than the last.
Other than that, we had a good time, exploring. The boys loved chasing after the birds at the Opera House, Riding the boat out to Manly beach, riding the train for the first time (to Liverpool area, where their daddy spent 2 years of his life serving a mission) and my favorite part was the devouring the yummy pancakes from Pancakes on the Rocks at Darling Harbour.
Now if you're visiting Sydney, Pancakes on the Rocks is the place to be for breakfast.
Oh! and let me just put it out there that the meat pies in Australia, do not come close to the meat pies in NZ ;)
3 days later, we caught our flight out to Melbourne so we could attend one of our uncle's baptism. If you didn't know already, we are members of the LDS church.
This uncle of ours, was NOT a member of the church. His wife and his children are LDS members, and his son was serving a full time mission in Melbourne. After 30 years and after prayers and scripture readings, this uncle made the choice to be baptized. He was his son's LAST baptism before he got released from his mission.
It was a heart warming feeling and there was an over flow of people who flew in from Samoa, Utah, NZ, Hawaii and all over Australia for this event.
There was an outpour of LOVE that day. He was truly a much loved uncle and truly one of inspiration and courage. It was a treasured event and surely a memorable day for baptism 'boy' :)
After a whole day of baptism celebrations (breakfast, lunch and dinner), we had to take half a day to recover, before we ventured out on the trams to explore the city of Melbourne. I like Melbourne, I just don't like it's WINTER! we visited the Queen Victoria Market where some of us (not naming any names here) went crazy with the shopping.
At this point in the vacation, I was sure I had vertigo! My head was spinning, and everytime I got up, I was off balance. So the last day in Melbourne, I decided to relax. Got a full body massage from a Thai place right next door to our Hotel, took a long hot bath, and slept until we had to get ready to fly out to Brisbane the next day.
Now out of the 3 cities we visited in Australia, Brisbane is my favorite. Not too cold, not too hot and definitely NOT chaotic. Just right!
We spent a week in the Gold Coast. We rented a vacation home at Mermaid Waters where we our children made so many memories with their cousins and the whole shibang. We spent our days breakfasting at different eateries, shopping (at this point, my clothes that I packed don't fit my ever voluptuous figuration - so i had to buy a whole new wardrobe to last me a week and a half left of vacationing), sightseeing, catching up with families, lunching, visiting chocolate bars,FREE dinners, laser tagging, rock climbing and we even snuck in a movie date.
The view was beautiful, people were very friendly and the atmosphere was very RELAXED! Shops were closed at 5pm. That's how relaxed it was in the Gold Coast and I LOVED IT!
A week FLEW by wayyyy too FAST! Next thing you know, we were having our last family BBQ and siva and saying our goodbyes to our families, and saying our last goodbyes to the hubby's grandparents who we probably WON'T get to see again. :( :(
We flew back to Auckland on a cold Monday morning to spend a week with my brother, his wife and my lil diva of a niece. We flew on Emirates double decker which was a first time for all of us. We absolutely love the leg room, the fancy entertainment and I love them even more for giving out gifts for the children. Emirates is my new favorite airline!
We caught up with so many friends and relatives and may I just mention that all these catching up sessions are all over, breakfasts, lunches and dinners and some MENA shopping.
Great times, great food, wonderful company, TONS of memories for the books and a 20lbs excess hanging off my sides and my ass to attest to a FABULOUS vacation!
Of course like any other trip, our last day was chaotic. People wanting to do photoshoots on my last day, while I wanted to pack and make sure my meat pies and my chocolates are taped away safely in a foam cooler. People dropping in to say goodbye bringing us more meat pies and more chocolates. Thank you all so much for your hospitality and for spending money on pies or chocolates.
We got more than enough to feed a whole village.
Thank you, Mahalo and Faafetai tele lava!
Now we are on our 2nd week of being back home.
My 3 boys are on staycation until school starts and until work starts for some..lol
And I...faithfully reported back to work 1 day after we arrived.
It's safe to say I'm still hanging from vacation, given I've only had 1 day off since being back.
Other than that, it was a great vacation. I had a great time, my children had so much fun and definitely $$$ well spent. Now time to give our broken souvenir of a bank account some lovin' before we can think about planning another vacation.
#BlogChallenge #ABlogADay #Day2
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| Master Taui ready for the long haul to Auckland |
I have to say, traveling with the boys now is so much easier than 2 years ago. They were making all sorts of friends on the plane and at one point, I heard Master Tai teaching an elderly lady in the back how to count in Samoan.
I, of course knocked out as soon as we took off. I'm not a big fan of aeroplanes or flying in general.
 |
| Goodwood Heights, View from brother's house |
Auckland was just as I remember it from previous trips - cloudy, foggy etc etc. It just has a depressing feel to it for some reason. hahahaha... Of course, the next morning, we breakfast-ed on steak and cheese meat pies & weetbix washed down with good ol' L&P. Lunch over fish & chips and chicken nibbles. Dinner over lamb shanks etc at the Sky Tower. Gloomy feeling is gone. All is well in the world. Now get me a blanket ua gula le magava.
2 days later, we flew off to Sydney where we spent 3 days catching up with our families and friends exploring the city, doing the touristy thing!
We stayed at the Wyndham smack in the middle of the city, so we were able to mostly walk everywhere and caught the FREE tram when our kids got tired or when we were tired from taking turns lugging Master Taui around (who seemed to have fallen asleep) throughout most of the days.
This is my 3rd time in Sydney and it's even more chaotic than the last.
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| Opera House from boat ride to Manly beach |
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| Darling Harbor on wide lense |
Now if you're visiting Sydney, Pancakes on the Rocks is the place to be for breakfast.
Oh! and let me just put it out there that the meat pies in Australia, do not come close to the meat pies in NZ ;)
 |
| shebang waiting for free tram after shopping at Queen Victoria Markets |
3 days later, we caught our flight out to Melbourne so we could attend one of our uncle's baptism. If you didn't know already, we are members of the LDS church.
This uncle of ours, was NOT a member of the church. His wife and his children are LDS members, and his son was serving a full time mission in Melbourne. After 30 years and after prayers and scripture readings, this uncle made the choice to be baptized. He was his son's LAST baptism before he got released from his mission.It was a heart warming feeling and there was an over flow of people who flew in from Samoa, Utah, NZ, Hawaii and all over Australia for this event.
There was an outpour of LOVE that day. He was truly a much loved uncle and truly one of inspiration and courage. It was a treasured event and surely a memorable day for baptism 'boy' :)
After a whole day of baptism celebrations (breakfast, lunch and dinner), we had to take half a day to recover, before we ventured out on the trams to explore the city of Melbourne. I like Melbourne, I just don't like it's WINTER! we visited the Queen Victoria Market where some of us (not naming any names here) went crazy with the shopping.
At this point in the vacation, I was sure I had vertigo! My head was spinning, and everytime I got up, I was off balance. So the last day in Melbourne, I decided to relax. Got a full body massage from a Thai place right next door to our Hotel, took a long hot bath, and slept until we had to get ready to fly out to Brisbane the next day.
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| backyard at Mermaid Waters House early morning |
Now out of the 3 cities we visited in Australia, Brisbane is my favorite. Not too cold, not too hot and definitely NOT chaotic. Just right!
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| posted at Max Brenner Chocolate Bar |
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| backyard Mermaid Waters sunset |
A week FLEW by wayyyy too FAST! Next thing you know, we were having our last family BBQ and siva and saying our goodbyes to our families, and saying our last goodbyes to the hubby's grandparents who we probably WON'T get to see again. :( :(
We flew back to Auckland on a cold Monday morning to spend a week with my brother, his wife and my lil diva of a niece. We flew on Emirates double decker which was a first time for all of us. We absolutely love the leg room, the fancy entertainment and I love them even more for giving out gifts for the children. Emirates is my new favorite airline!
 |
| City of Sails - View of Auckland city from Kelly Tarltons |
We caught up with so many friends and relatives and may I just mention that all these catching up sessions are all over, breakfasts, lunches and dinners and some MENA shopping.
Great times, great food, wonderful company, TONS of memories for the books and a 20lbs excess hanging off my sides and my ass to attest to a FABULOUS vacation!
Of course like any other trip, our last day was chaotic. People wanting to do photoshoots on my last day, while I wanted to pack and make sure my meat pies and my chocolates are taped away safely in a foam cooler. People dropping in to say goodbye bringing us more meat pies and more chocolates. Thank you all so much for your hospitality and for spending money on pies or chocolates.
We got more than enough to feed a whole village.
Thank you, Mahalo and Faafetai tele lava!
Now we are on our 2nd week of being back home.
My 3 boys are on staycation until school starts and until work starts for some..lol
And I...faithfully reported back to work 1 day after we arrived.
It's safe to say I'm still hanging from vacation, given I've only had 1 day off since being back.
Other than that, it was a great vacation. I had a great time, my children had so much fun and definitely $$$ well spent. Now time to give our broken souvenir of a bank account some lovin' before we can think about planning another vacation.
#BlogChallenge #ABlogADay #Day2
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