Handy Tips

It's got to be getting to be flu season back in Canada...and there's probably a bit of Swine Flu Hysteria as well. The fear of "Swiney" here  in Australia has subsided somewhat since a mass vaccination campaign has begun. Until a mass vaccination campaign stops Swiney from spreading far and wide in BC, here's some handy tips I documented during the height of flu season here in Melbourne.

Security

I locked my keys in the flat earlier this week. Thankfully, I had left the window in the bathroom open. All I had to do was shimmy up the wall, take off the screen and lift myself through the window and into the bathroom. Easy! Too easy, actually.

See? Just enough room between the wall and the removalist's  bin to shimmy up to grab the window sill. As warm weather settles in, it will be necessary for me to get some security braces for the windows.

Congrats!

My parents celebrated 40 years of marriage this week. Congratulations, Mom and Dad! I love you and miss you! Hugs!

Taking a Drink Break

Met a friend for a drink this weekend at Misty Bar in Hosier Lane. This Melbourne laneway is popular with fashion and wedding photographers. These are some of my favourite bits.

Note to Self #21

Papers do not write themselves, as much as you would like them to! I sat down and forced myself to write two papers this weekend... and still managed to get out and enjoy the sunny spring weather for a bit. There is a certain freedom in not worrying about your assessment mark.
2 down. 2 to go.

Who knew...

Today I would be squatting in a closet to make theatre...?
It was a good day.

Go to that Happy Place

Reality Bites. 

"Why?" you ask.

• My housemate has just told me he's moving out next Tuesday and back to Sydney. I need to find someone to replace him ASAP.
• I have two major assignments due tomorrow. One is a group project and my partner hasn't answered my messages about arranging a meeting time. 
• I start teaching an Acting class on Thursday night and I haven't finished prepping for it. 
• I have a wicked head cold. 

Things I am thankful for:

• A great time in Hawaii with good friends. 
• A tan.
• General good health.
• I worked a full day yesterday at one of my favourite schools. 
• I've got good friends here in OZ. 
• I can still feel as if I'm moving on the waves when I close my eyes. (And NO, that isn't the cold medication! If you look back at my earlier posts, you'll remember I've learned not to take cold medication in Australia. It's like crack.)

So, yes... right now, I'm going to summon memories of the beach back in Maui, and that will keep me calm.

Do not attempt this at home

 Fire Dancer at the Luau.

The Luau

Good times were had and much yummy food and sweet cocktails were consumed at the Hyatt Regency Luau.

Our host was a suave Hawaiian with a Don Ho-like presence.

Not a lot of my shots of the hula show turned out all that well, but it was pretty impressive and the performers were all beautiful and fit!

Uncovering the Kahlua Pig...roasting underground for 8 hours!

Never Turn Your Back on the Ocean

Shore breaks on Maui can be mean and deadly. The ones on Kaanapili Beach were pretty tame, but they could sneak up on you and, at the very least, fill your swimmers up with sand if you allowed yourself to be lulled into that happy place by the warm waves.

Standing at a safe distance with a sleepy baby.

Child Care

The five of us adults managed to keep both babies well entertained during our stay at Kaanapili Beach.

Brad, Darcy and Katy at the Luau.

The Dawn, Ryan and Henry  at the Luau.

Darcy and I and a sleeping Katy on the beach.

Official Trip Photographer

Brad's camera at rest.

Check out his blog  and see some of his shots of the trip, then, follow the link on his blog to see some of his stock photos.

For a reasonable price, you too can own a Brad Calkins original... and you'll be subsidizing future trips to Maui!

The Whaler

Our condo tower in the morning. We were in a beautifully renovated suite on the ground floor...right around the corner from the pool!

Tropical Cocktails

Tropical Drinks in order of Tasty Goodness:

1.Sunburns
2.Blended POG and Coconut Rum (POG is Passionfruit and Guava Juice)
3.Mai Tais
4.Maui Cosmopolitans

Shave Ice

To find some relief from the heat during our day trip to Lahaina, we enjoyed a very Maui treat: Shave Ice. It's really basic.... a scoop of ice cream covered with packed shaved ice and drizzled with tropical  syrups. Very cold  and very good!

The Big Daddy is super yum!

I approve!

Maui Babe

We discovered the secret to a nut brown Maui tan... an all natural tan accelerator: this product has coffee bean extract! And yes, we used it... Darcy tanned and Dawn and I both burned... even with applications of 30 SPF sunscreen!! It is a demon lotion, but Darcy swears by it. That'd be right.

Read the Signs

Maui has some of Hawaii's best surfing. The water is warm and the waves are consistent! When the trade winds pick up in the afternoon, Maui is also  home to some world class windsurfing too!

Yesterday, we hopped a bus and travelled 15 minutes down the coast to Lahaina ("relentless sun" in Hawaiian) and wandered and shopped a bit, rented two malibus, and Ryan and I paddled out to a little reef break at the Lahaina breakwall.

Darcy and Dawn and the babies on the beach looking at the waves.

Considering we didn't have reef booties,  we did fairly well! The trick is to not fall off your board! We surfed until the waves started  to closeout and our odds of bailing off our boards increased.

Next time I visit, there will definitely be a car rental! We were only minutes away from 20 different breaks: beach and reef breaks! Amazing!

Some valuable signage on Maui beaches.

Meet Katy

This is Katy Lynne Elaine Calkins, the third child and only girl (so far!) in Brad and Darcy's little brood. She is super cute and a little bit sassy.

Food in HI

We are eating well here in Maui. Shrimps go on the barbie here as well as back home in Australia.

Ahi Tuna searing on the grill.

We're staying at The Whaler Condos at Ka'anapili Beach which is a gorgeous crescent beach lined with resort hotels like the Hyatt, the Sheraton and the Westin.

In addition to eating, we snorkelled with turtles, reef fish and mantra rays; sunbathed on the beach, burnt on the beach, swam in the pool and the ocean and drank POG and coconut rum.

The fun is endless in the relentless sun!

Arriving in Maui...

Hibiscus

    THINGS TO DO:

1. Meet friends at condo in stinking hot and humid Maui weather.
2. Swim in the pool and the Ocean.
3. Eat dinner near the beach.
4. Drink tropical cocktails.

 The view from the deck.

We had dinner at this restaurant with drinks named Maui Sunset and CocoLoco. (Or something like that anyway. I can't quite remember what they were called. They were VERY yummy though...whatever they were!)

People you meet whilst traveling:

I'm on my way to Maui to meet my wonderful friends Darcy and Brad and their newest little baby, Katy. It's been an uneventful trip, with the biggest glitch being that the In Flight Entertainment didn't work for the first two hours of the Qantas flight from Sydney. Big whoop! I had a great time meeting a number of interesting sets of people....

• My seat mates on the flight from Sydney to Honolulu: Sharon and Patti . Very large 60-something Elvis enthusiasts from Brisbane. They called me "lovey", "ducky", "honey", "chicken" and "darl".
• A retired couple from California in the lineup at the Hawaiian airlines check in: Phil and Cheyenne. They are both participating in the Hawaiian IronMan Race next weekend:  (Dead ringers for Katie and Henry Unger.)
• Seated beside me waiting for a flight to Maui: Susan and Steve. A dentist husband/wife team with beautiful white teeth from Wisconsin who are island hopping after spending the week at the National Dental Conference in Waikiki:

My conclusion: Time passes faster when you have little chats with random people. It's interesting and entertaining.... and it sure beats sitting behind your laptop giving the stink eye to some dude who has  a huge case of the sniffles because he won't just go blow his nose and you're convinced he has Swine Flu. 

(Extended periods of international travel leave me hypersensitive and prone to writing run-on sentences. Why can't people just blow their frickin noses?! God!