Newly-Weds on Honeymoon (Part 1)

Prelude: Trust my dear hubby to post about our honeymoon - and start
right smack in the middle of the trip! Sigh. And me being the anal person that I am can't take it :) So here, in as bite-sized a portion as I can manage, is our holiday...

Symptoms of being a newly-wed on honeymoon:

1. When airline personnel/immigration ask you if you're married,
   your husband enthusiastically says "YES!" with a big smile.
2. You happily show your husband the "how many family members are travelling together with you" box in the customs form and enthusiastically put "1".
3. You get a kick out of people referring to you as Mrs.
4. You merrily sign off with your newly acquired surname and gleefully show your husband.
5. People smile at you indulgently and ask if you're on honeymoon on a regular basis.
6. You keep track of how many days you've been married and celebrate on every occasion.
7. You love to slow dance.
8. You can spend hours with each other on the beach, in the car, sitting around airports, doing nothing in particular, and still have an amazing time.
9. ...

The list goes on... :) Needless to say, we had a wonderful honeymoon.
And I'm now sitting here wondering how to condense 2 weeks in beautiful sun-drenched Hawaii into a decent-sized post!

This was one activity packed honeymoon. The main aim was to do nothing, but anyone who has travelled with us would know that it's rather difficult for us to not try and see as much as we can while on holiday, and since it was the honeymoon, we indulged in activities which we wouldn't usually try because they cost... :P Oops!

So anyhow, here's a snippet of our Hawaiian adventure - a kinda "things-
we-did list"(in not quite chronological order):

[By the way, I haven't edited any of these shots and we're really pretty amateurish photographers, so please excuse the quality :)]

One: Bike down Haleakala Volcano

This was really fun, but for the 2.45am pick-up, which left us with hardly any sleep from the night before. Guess it does take quite a while to drive 10,000 feet up a volcano! But how often do you get to catch the sunrise above the clouds?

Pre-dawn lights & Sunrise


The amazing moonscape of the crater in the early morning light


What we didn't realise was how COLD it would be at the summit in the morning. We were told that it would be in the high 40s Fahrenheit, which meant nothing to us who only understand degrees Celsius. Well, it turned out to be about 8-10 degrees C. Ack. Check out the guy next to us all wrapped up in a blanket! Thank goodness for our riding outfits.

After the sun came up, it was time to start whizzing down to volcano, which was great fun because there was virtually no need to pedal at all - 38 miles of riding with minimal work :) I was busy "wheee-ing" around corners all the way down, so much that our ride leader John told DD that "your wife rides like the wind"... Oops! Unfortunately riding meant we didn't have the opportunity to take many pics, just a couple during our stops...

Horsing around with the glorious view behind

Two: Snorkel at Molokini Crater & Five Caves in Maui

The bonus of visiting a tropical destination? The water isn't freezing cold, so it's at least possible to get in! So snorkeling was on the list, at Molokini Crater, an extinct volcano now designated as a State Marine Life and Bird Conservation District.

It was nice I guess - clear waters with a large variety of fish, but honestly, I told DD it wasn't too different from Tioman! Plus the water got a little choppy and I started to feel a little unwell after a while. I get seasick real easily, you see.

Here I am, huddled in my towel, not feeling so good after bobbing around on the boat for a bit... DD had to persuade me to get in the water at our next destination cos I was rather reluctant, esp after having gotten dry. But I'm glad I did cos we got to swim with turtles at Five Caves.

There were turtles everywhere, which got our whole boat excited. And we actually got incredibly lucky. After snorkeling for about 45mins, we were heading back towards the boat when we noticed a group of people swimming towards us, excited yelling "turtle!". Popped our heads underwater and lo and behold! A turtle came swimming right under me. And to top it off, it headed towards DD about 3 metres away from me and surfaced right beside him! DD was so excited he was pointing it out to whoever could see. That was the highlight of his trip :)

Three: Stay at nice places, well sometimes!

Remember the mystery pics DD sent me? Turned out to the the incredibly lovely Huelo Point Flower Farm our own little "kampong retreat" (cos it was really far down an ulu road!) But it was sooooo nice. And the place actually turned out exactly like the pics :)



[Us in the hall, at the head of the bed, and in the upstairs TV area respectively]








The bed was this amazing structure that literally "floated" out above the bottom storey.

And we had a little open kitchen, so I got down to work making our first home-cooked meal - an unhealthy meal to sausages, hash browns, fish fingers, eggs and pancakes! I have to say though, it was pretty satisfying :)



And did I mention the outdoor jacuzzi?


And the amazing view?


No wonder that this is now one of my FAVOURITE places to stay!

Four:Check out the surfers at Hoopika Beach Maui

Here's where we got to catch some "north shore" action. Not the famed North Shore of Oahu, but the waves are pretty similar. Apparently this is the start of the season and the waves get even bigger in Dec when surfing season really take off... Man, watching those guys really put the itch in us to try to surf!

The beach and the surrounding area was lovely too - more photo opportunities!


[To be continued...]