Venice Beach, Ocean Front Walk

We always look forward to a stroll along the Venice Beach promenade. It's alive with people of all ages, with separate pathways for walkers and people on wheels (bikes, skates, skate boards). There are lots of eateries, and shops selling souvenirs, original paintings, t-shirts, hats, sunglasses and jewelry.

Dual pathways on the Venice Beach 'Boardwalk'

A nice surprise is the Small World Books store at 1407 Ocean Front Walk (a few blocks up from the Skate Park). It stocks a wide range of books from major and small presses. If you are looking for books by Californian authors (fiction and non-fiction) you will not be disappointed. It's where I discovered T. Jefferson Parker's "California Girl", Anna Stothard's debut novel "The Pink Hotel" and Joan Didion's "Play It As It Lays". 

Venice Beach Skate Park

Another favourite shop is Native American World at 1207 Ocean Front Walk. Old folks like us can do with a bit of bling to make us sparkle so we always visit this store to add to our growing collection of jewelry. This is where I bought my favourite earrings - little spiders (spiders are symbolic of creative energy due to their stunning web weaving skills).  

Native American Spider Jewelry

It's also the place to find the perfect light-weight, travel-friendly gift for friends and family. I chose a variety of beaded earrings and beaded medicine pouches for my young granddaughters. Here's a sample of them.

Native American beaded turtle jewelry

Native American medicine pouch necklace

When we get hungry we head toward the Venice Ale House on the corner of Ocean Front Walk and Rose Street. The food is nourishing and the people watching is free. 

Venice Ale House, Rose Street Santa Monica

From Rose Street we exit the beachfront promenade and walk along Main Street. First stop is Angel City Books and Records on Pier Avenue (a small side street to the right). This is a treasure trove of rare and hard-to-find books, CDs and vinyl records where it's easy to lose track of time while browsing.

Continuing down Main, Dolcenero Gelato at #2400 is a must for icecream addicts. My choice is the exceptional Ricotta and Fig.

By now we are nearly at Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, and we have one more stop before ubering back to our hotel on the marina. El Texate is a Oaxacan restaurant at 316 Pico blvd - one we return to each time we visit LA because it has the best moles imaginable and two of the best Californian hosts. Here we are, enjoying a beer and sangria. 

 

El Texate Oaxacan Restaurant, 316 Pico Blvd

Marina Del Rey, northern Summer 2022

Marina Del Rey Hotel is expensive these days. It had a makeover a few years ago - the shell of the buildings remain much the same with renovations focusing on the interior. But we had to go for old times sake. 

A marina, especially one the size of Marina Del Rey, produces glorious sunrises and sunsets.

Sunrise, Marina Del Rey Hotel

Sunset over a cloudy day, Marina Del Rey Hotel

Sunlit masts as daylight wanes on a cloudy day

The Warehouse Restaurant is a short walk from the hotel, located on the edge of the marina.

Waterside view of the Warehouse Restaurant

And you can dine in or outside. 

Great beers

The Warehouse Decor

Great wines

The food is delicious and the service is excellent.

Crab-stuffed salmon

Seafood salad

If you want to make your own lunch or get picnic supplies, Ralphs and Trader Joes are very close by.

Kaua'i to O'ahu

Deck 11 stern - gathering place

Once the anchor is raised we always meet up with our travel buddies on Deck 11, stern. It's the best place to view the stunning natural beauty of the Hawaiian Islands. And it's the best place for photos. Here we are on Deck 11, settling in for happy hour.

Knox and Julz

David and Jenny

 A special experience, exclusive to Pride of America passengers, awaits as we leave Nawiliwili, Kaua'i. 

Kaua'i - The Garden Isle - view from Deck 11

We don't immediately head for Honolulu, because first we take a whole-cruise excursion to the stunningly beautiful, stunningly rugged, Na Pali coast.

Na Pali Coast - erosion creates a valley

Na Pali Coast - rugged volcanic landform

Na Pali Coast - narrow sandy beaches

Na Pali Coast - endpoint (headland)

One more sleep and we will wake up to the coast of O'ahu. The timing is no accident.

Diamond Head at sunrise

Early risers will be treated to the iconic, sunlit silhouette of O'ahu's volcanic crater, Diamond Head.

Honolulu, O'ahu

Packed and ready to disembark, there is time to enjoy our last breakfast at the outdoors section of the Aloha Cafe on Deck 11, stern.

Deck 11, stern (American flag)

Hawai'i the "Big Island" - Kīlauea volcano and Kona sunshine

One of the most active volcanoes in the world, Kīlauea recently made many dramatic changes to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park with its destructive eruptions (since 2018), closing some areas and activities. Volcano eruptions can be hazardous - fumes and fallout (like cinder, ash, and Pele's legendary hair) can irritate lungs and eyes. Pele is the Goddess of this volcano on the Big Island. We took a bus tour from Hilo. The summit is 4,000 feet above sea level, which explains the cool climate.

Kīlauea caldera - steam

Intensely hot steam vents dotted the landscape, with the more accessible vents being fenced off for public safety. The major steam vent was in the crater.

A windy, chilly summit at 4,000 feet (1,220 m)

Pele the Hawaiian Fire Goddess resides here and her wrath is insatiable.

Kīlauea's  dramatic landscape

The museum had a lot of structural damage and remains unstable and is fenced off from the public. 

Kīlauea's damaged Museum

Kīlauea's threat potential is VERY HIGH.

Panoramic view of Kīlauea's caldera - Home of Pele

Pretty wild orchids swaying in the wind gave a pop of colour to this otherwise desolate landform. 

Wild orchid on Kīlauea

We were lucky with the weather - the north side of the Big Island gets its fair share of rainy days.

Next stop Kona, the sunny-side of the island.  Too shallow for a cruise ship to berth, Kona could only be visited by tenders - small boats ferried passengers back and forth until it was time to pull up anchor.

Kona - sand and sunshine

Tender boat arriving Kona - close  up

Maui – Haleakalā Crater

We have just returned from a nostalgic trip to our favourite states of America, Hawaii and California, thanks to Hawaiian Airlines and The Pride of America cruise ship. We had a charmed travel experience: no flight delays, no missing baggage, and negative covid tests prior to the cruise. The weather was beautiful, in contrast to the heat waves across UK and Europe.

Fascinated by the online images of Kilauea's latest eruption activity on The Big Island, we wanted to visit Hawaii's volcanic landscapes as soon as borders reopened.  First stop was the Haleakalā Crater on the island of Maui (Pride of America's first port of call).

View of Maui from Pride of America

Cinder cones on the crater surface

A small bus transported us to the summit of the Haleakalā Crater, at an altitude of 10,000 ft/3055 m. The road was a little scary as it snaked and twisted through green ranchland, but the driver calmed us with his entertaining tales and knowledge of the area. There were very few guard rails, so it would not be for the feint-hearted to hire a car and do it independently. 

Visitors Center at the summit

Panoramic view of Haleakalā Crater

In Hawaiian language, Haleakalā means "house of sun".  According to the legend, the demigod Maui slowed the descending path of the sun by lassoing it to make the day longer.

Unlike Kilauea on The Big Island, Haleakalā is currently dormant (with a moderate threat potential). It started growing about 2 million years ago, and in the past 1000 years at least ten eruptions have been recorded. https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/haleakalā

The fragile Silversword plant is very beautiful; it will die if touched by a human hand. We saw many of these plants and admired them from afar.

Silversword plant, Haleakalā summit

Looking back to the coast of Maui, the view from the summit was stunning.

Looking toward the coast where Pride of  America was docked

Lockdown 2020

Our trip to Hawaii had to be postponed indefinitely. 4 days in Kona, 4 days in Lihue and 10 in Waikiki were cancelled. April would find us hunkered down in the inner Brisbane suburb of New Farm marking time while the world focused on finding remedies for the Covid-19 virus that is relentlessly, stealthily sucking the life out of unsuspecting humans.

The world was not ready for a pandemic. Vaccines take time. Governments were thrown in to crisis mode.  As my mother often quoted “The situation doesn’t make a person, it reveals that person”, and  Covid-19 is revealing the true leaders of our nations. The smoke and mirrors that may have worked for some in the past are no match for Covid-19.  

Fortunately, lockdown in April has not been harsh in Brisbane with autumn temperatures ranging 27-30 C (low 80s F). Exercise outside was always allowed. The local grocery stores eventually found their groove and are providing safer shopping experiences. The Brisbane City Council maintains a bevy of beautiful parklands and most of the inner Brisbane suburbs have easy access to the Brisbane River with its scenic walkways and bike paths. Holidaying at home with our music collections, craft collections and internet has been rather fun.

Here's a snapshot of our month in Lockdown.

Early morning walks at sunrise set the tone of the day.

Brisbane River, near Merthyr bowls club

It's autumn here, so while the abundance of the rose gardens in New Farm Park had passed

Rose gardens, New Farm Park

the brilliance and beauty of late bloomers cheered the soul

Pink Rose, New Farm Park

The downstream outlook from the jetty near the Sugar Refinery Apartments is a go-to view of the river that fills my cup and invigorates my mind.

Teneriffe river walk, Brisbane River

Upstream has a pretty nice view too. During WWII the government decided that sugar was an essential commodity that had to be reserved. Output at this refinery was doubled 1940-1945.

Sugar Refinery Apartments, Teneriffe

It was always good to see the city cats operating on the river. With plenty of outdoor seating they would appear to be the safest form of public transport at the moment.

City Cat near Sydney Street, New Farm

Scenes of dogs on leashes and kids cycling with their parents helped you feel connected to the rest of the community.

River walkway near Sydney Street City Cat Stop

Sewing fabric face masks for the people I cherish helped me feel connected to my family. My darling 4 year old grand daughter wore her mask to the Covid-19 testing clinic. She was required to have a test because she presented with a sore, inflamed throat (the test was negative thankfully). And grandpa wears his mask to the fruit and vegetable market.

Homemade face masks - using free online patterns 

Guessing in late March that hair salons would be closed because physical distancing while having a hair cut would be almost impossible, I ordered hair clippers online so we could do it ourselves. I  YouTubed how to trim a 7.5 cm (3 inch) undercut, encouraged my husband to watch the video too (kind of like homeschooling) and last week he did it for me. He did a superb job. It blends in beautifully with the rest of the 'do'.

Undercut trim at home

It was also fun to buy a ukulele online for my grand daughter who is turning 6 very soon. It has already arrived at her home address and she loves it. We are lucky her big cousin already knows how to play the ukulele because she can teach her how to do the island strum. The simple chords for Happy Birthday will be a good start.

Simple chords from Ukulele PuaPua, Waikiki

As of 3^rd May confirmed Covid-19 cases in Queensland, Australia total 1,034; with 113,601 patients tested. So far six people have died. For Australia as a whole there have been 6,801 confirmed cases since late January, with 95 deaths.

Queensland's collective isolation efforts to “flatten the curve” are now being rewarded with the lifting of certain restrictions. We can break out from our house arrest and go on a picnic or shop for non-essentials. But wait, there are three golden rules that must be followed:

1) Hygiene and social distancing (1.5 metres) still applies; 2) Stay within 50 kilometres from home; and 3) only household members, or yourself and one other person can attend that picnic

Schools are still open for children of essential workers or vulnerable students. This will be revised on May 15. Playgrounds remain closed. Queensland’s borders remain closed.

More updates can be found at Health.gov.au