Aloha Brisbane! – Part III: Koala Day! (#AlohaBNE)

Part I | Part II | Part III 

 

As with all good things, our time in Brisbane had come to an end. With bags packed, we, however, had one final expedition left in us before saying goodbye to the Queensland city by the river.

We started our morning by hopping into the van of the family-owned and operated Mr. Day Tours for their half day tour package. Val, the owner and tour guide for the day navigated and narrated our course for the day.

Mr Day Tours brochure

Our first stop was the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the world’s first & largest koala sanctuary.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary sign

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary map

Me and da koala statue

Directions at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Our first koala sighting couldn’t have been any cuter. It was of this adorable little munchkin getting fed supplements. I just HAD to shoot a video of it!

 

Koala being fed supplements

 

As we continued, we saw many more, though mostly sleeping in awkward positions.

Sleeping koala

Another sleeping koala

Hey! One’s awake!

We saw a bunch of other animals/creatures along the way like wombats, dingoes, reptiles and birds, but let’s be honest… they were all overshadowed by “the moment” that most of us were looking forward to the entire trip… It was time to hold some koalas baby!

“The moment”! Koala holding time!

And here are the video clips of our various experiences:

 

Me and the koala

 

 

Catherine Toth with her koala

 

 

Melissa Chang with her koala

 

 

Hawaiian Airlines’ Jeremy Althof (frightened) with his koala

 

 

Hawaiian Airlines’ Jesse Starmer with his koala

 

Eventually, with feed in hand (purchased at the gift shop), we made our way over to the kangaroo section of the sanctuary, which was equally as exhilarating.

This kangaroo smells the feed in my hand. Whatchu t’ink?

Cute baby kangaroo just lounges around next to me

This one let me get close and pet away

Melissa feeds a baby kangaroo

This was quite an interesting scene. It appeared to be a baby kangaroo resting in his mommy’s pouch

And here’s a video of it.

 

Baby kangaroo rests in his mommy’s pouch

 

Group of kangaroos just kickin’ it. Kickin’ it… get it? 😛

Val then drove us up to the Brisbane Lookout at Mount Coot-tha, which offered a panoramic view of Moreton Bay.

Panoramic view atop Mount Coot-tha

Brisbane Lookout’s deck

Our group snapping away. Damn tourists!

Kaleo Lancaster (@islandtrails), me (@worldwideed), Melissa Chang (@Melissa808) and Catherine Toth (@thedailydish) at the Brisbane Lookout at Mount Coot-tha

We boarded up the van again and headed up to Kangaroo Point Lookout near the Cliffs Boardwalk.

The Cliff Boardwalk sign

The view from inside one of the lookout points

A nice look at the Brisbane River

With the grains of sand slowly vanishing from the top of the hourglass that was our tip, we had just enough time for one more stop: Lunch! The gastropub of choice? A place called The Shelter Bar, one of three restaurants at the Story Bridge Hotel, aptly named for its physical location, sheltered under the popular Story Bridge.

Outside the Shelter Bar

Melissa’s Prime Rib Fillet Burger with bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato, caramelized onion, ranch dressing and beer battered fries ($18)

Cat’s Braised Short Rib Parpadelle with baby peas, rich Napoli sauce and shaved parmesan ($22)

And my personal favorite (if I do say so myself! 😛 )…

My “Aussie Pizza” with double smoked ham, bacon, free range eggs and bbq sauce ($17.50)

With our tummies full, it was time to head to the airport for our 8-ish hour flight home. The Brisbane Airport is very clean and well kept, and Hawaiian Airlines‘ entrance into the market looks to have played a key part in all of it. Here are some sights from the airport.

Hawaiian Airlines flight number 444 (HA444) to Hawaii, although just two days old at the time, was already bustling!

The fancy entrance to the departure area downstairs

Hawaiian Airlines signage at Brisbane Airport

Directions at Brisbane Airport

Lounge areas (with FREE public WiFi! – which is hard to come by in Brisbane) outside the gates.

Neat sand sculpture with our Hawaiian Airlines plane in the background

Although it was a whirlwind 3 day, 2 night visit, we were able to get a lot squeezed into our tight timelines. If the adventures from any part in this series of articles interested you (part I, part II, & this part III), be sure to Fly Hawaiian when booking your flight: http://www.hawaiianairlines.com/Brisbane .

A HUGE Mahalo to Hawaiian Airlines (President and CEO Mark Dunkerley, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Ann Botticelli, Director of Advertising and Promotions Kevin Yim, Ross Saito from Product Development, and the social media team: Asiana Ponciano, Jeremy Althof, and Jesse Starmer, etc.) for the unbelievable opportunity to cover such an event. Mahalos also to my fellow social medialites Kaleo Lancaster, Catherine Toth and Melissa Chang, who made the trip super rad! Yeah, I just said rad. 😉

And with that, we say Aloha and goodbye to Brisbane. Until we meet again!

To view all of my photos from Brisbane Australia, click here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114302480978989244855/AlohaBrisbaneAlohaBNE

Melissa Chang’s #AlohaBNE blogs:
http://www.nonstophonolulu.com/?s=brisbane&searchsubmit=Go

Catherine Toth’s #AlohaBNE blogs:
http://www.thecatdish.com/?s=brisbane

Kaleo Lancaster’s #AlohaBNE blog:
http://kaleolancaster.blogspot.com/2012/12/brisbane-australia-hawaiian-airlines.html

My #AlohaBNE blogs/posts:
http://www.world-wide-ed.com/?s=brisbane

Instagram search results for #AlohaBNE:
http://web.stagram.com/tag/alohabne/

Twitter search results for #AlohaBNE:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AlohaBNE&src=typd

 

Part I | Part II | Part III 

 

 

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Where In (the) Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – January 16, 2013

Halfway through January folks. How’s da new year treating you? Good I hope! For me, it’s been shmall kine hectic, but always fun to interact with you guys here. Well, whoever is left these days at least. LOL! Much mahalos for continuing to read after all these years and being so supportive of everything! Here’s this week’s pics!

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Where in (the) Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – January 16, 2013

Photo 1) Wea Dis Stay? ________________________

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Where in (the) Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – January 16, 2013

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Where in (the) Hawaii is Edward Sugimoto? – January 16, 2013

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VH07V SPOTTED!

This week’s “Spotted” shot for VH07V is a random one of Bruddah Travis. Not quite sure what he’s doing, but all that matters is that he’s wearing his VH07V tee right? 😛

Travis Okimoto sporting his Black/Blue VH07V colorway

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Weekly VH07V Updates!

* HUGE re-fill order has been placed (the holidays wiped me out)! Hopefully it doesn’t take too long to get re-stocked.

* All order processing and fulfillment for online orders is now going completely through a professional fulfillment house. Thankful to get that load off my chest because I was getting a little burnt out from staying at storage til the wee hours of the night pulling orders. LOL!

* Also working on new styles like a wicker type polo, new styles for women, and new designs. I have at least two ready to go to print and a bunch of concepts in the works (see below).

* Here’s concept #1 of 9. What do y’all think?

VH07V design concept 1 of 9

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As always, a big mahalos to everyone for your support and for helping to spread the VH07V! 8)

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NEW AROUNDHAWAII ARTICLE

Forgot to mention that part 2 of my series on Brisbane Australia is live on AroundHawaii.com. Please check it out when you have some time:

Aloha Brisbane! – Part II: Exploring the City (#AlohaBNE)

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MISSING CAT!

Our friends’ cat Hachi is still missing! 😦 PLEASE HELP! He has been missing for 20 days now and I need your help finding him. Please Share this blog with all of your Mililani friends so that we can bring him safely home to his owners. Here’s a personal note from them:

Our cat Hachi, has been missing since December 27th. We recently moved back to the Mililani Uka area and we think that he might have gotten disoriented. He is 4 years old, black and white with a pink nose, and is medium/large (14 lbs) in size. His back is more black than white. If he is seen, please text or call 808-542-9385 or 808-469-6960.

Please help find Hachi in Mililani!

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Hawaii Self Storage Auction at Kapolei West

The folks at Hawaii Self Storage are back with another exciting storage auction, this time at their Kapolei West location (2009 Lauwiliwili Street). The action starts at 10am on Tuesday, January 22 with registration at 9am. For more information, please call 808-682-0333!

Hawaii Self Storage Auction at Kapolei West location

Aloha Brisbane! – Part II: Exploring the City (#AlohaBNE)

 

Part I |  Part II  | Part III

 

After a 10 hour flight and a long night of heavy and indulgent eating and drinking, a serious siesta in the plush, cloud-like hotel bed was just what the doctor ordered. With the exception of that psychopath Catherine Toth (who decided to wake up early to work out!), the rest of us bloggers headed up to the 30th floor at a reasonable hour the next morning for the Special Club breakfast (served from 6:30am-10am) at Club Sofitel, Australia's largest executive club lounge.

My (2nd helping) breakfast plate with Melissa Chang & Kaleo Lancaster doing their thang

On my plate, you'll notice a little container of Vegemite, a popular spread in Australia made from yeast extract (yes, I got brave). On paper, as a beer lover, I was supposed to enjoy it, but it was definitely something one needed to get used to. Here's Melissa and Cat's take on the Australian specialty:

 

Melissa Chang and Catherine Toth try Vegemite (via thedailydish's YouTube channel)

 

Refueled and ready, us four blogsketeers embarked on our journey to see Brisbane on the best mode of transportation on earth: foot. The stroll afforded us the opportunity to take in the scenery that Brisbane had to offer.

Going southwest through Queen Street Mall

Treasury Casino & Hotel

Art on Queen Street

Brisbane Square Library

Chanukah display at Brisbane Square

Crossing Victoria Bridge

Outside the Queensland Art Gallery

Queensland Museum & ScienceCentre

Cat navigating while Melissa and I document

We made it to the Queen Elizabeth II Park/Parklands area on the banks of the Brisbane River

Nice look back at the metropolitan city we just walked from

Cat, me and Melissa posing along the Brisbane River

As we made our way along the river on Clem Jones Promenade, we noticed that there were a fair amount of joggers and bicyclists getting their exercise on. Here's a site you don't often see in America (at least one that's not destroyed or vandalized): a Community Bike Station, complete with tools, a place to mount your bike for repairs, and even a tire pump!

Community Bike Repair Station along the Clem Jones Promenade

Along Clem Jones Promenade

Panoramic shot of the Brisbane River (click to enlarge)

And then we got to the South Bank Parklands area where we found nice picnic areas, pools, and even a manmade beach called Streets Beach.

Pool at the South Bank Parkland

Manmade beach called Streets Beach

The sights were good enough to get Kaleo, Melissa and Cat a snappin'

On the way back, we headed to the Queen Street Mall main stage to attend the Hawaiian Airlines Consumer Event. The locals got a total kick out of our folks from Hawaii spreading their Aloha with song and dance.

 

Hawaiian Airlines Consumer Event at the Queen Street Mall in Brisbane Australia

 

Shortly after returning to our hotel, some of Hawaiian Airlines' execs invited us to join them for an informal lunch in Fortitude Valley's Chinatown district, which was a short 15 minute stroll from our hotel. Twelve hungry Americans pounding "Hawaiian style"? Ouuuuraaaaiiii!

The sights along the way to Chinatown

The first signs of Chinatown

We landed at King of Kings (Chinese) Seafood Restaurant, which was a hit with a few of them on a previous visit.

King of Kings Seafood Restaurant in Brisbane Australia

It wasn't long before we found out why.

When in Chinatown…

King of Kings Roast Duck

Just getting started…

Custard Tarts off the Yum Cha menu

One of the highlights of the afternoon was watching Kaleo Lancaster go from blogger to "Dragon Slayer" as he took down the legendary "Dragon Drink", a series of three, increasingly potent drinks that King of Kings is known for. Here's a video I took of the momentous, yet painful looking event.

 

Kaleo Lancaster takes on the Dragon Drink from King of Kings Seafood Restaurant in Brisbane Australia

 

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to unwind before getting ready for another walk through South Bank and meal in Fortitude Valley. Part of the unwinding process naturally included Happy Hour at another visit to Club Sofitel.

Pre-gaming at Club Sofitel with some bubbly

And then, it was off – on foot again! – to South Bank, this time guided by Hawaiian Airlines staffers Jeremy Althof and Jesse Starmer. The sights and sounds of Brisbane at night give a totally different perspective to the scenic city. Highly recommended!

Remember the Treasury Casino & Hotel earlier today? Here's what it looked like at night.

Walking through Brisbane Square, we saw some filming going on, which appeared to be a TV news segment.

Getting reminiscent of Hawaii: here's a gecko sighting. I wonder if it has an Australian accent too? 8)

Here's a close-up of the famous Wheel of Brisbane.

And here's us in front of it (l to r: Kaleo Lancaster, Melissa Chang, me, Catherine Toth)

Moonlit Brisbane skyline from South Bank

With our restaurant reservation coming up, we jetted off via taxi to our dinner destination: Alfred & Constance, an eclectic collection of random, mini restaurants (sorta), serving food, drinks and desserts. Here's a description of each of them:

• The Vanguard Beer Garden & Restaurant: Booze, Beer and sharable feasts
• White Lightning Tiki Bar: Tropical drinks and a party that never stops
• Alfred's Café: Workday bites, salads, coffee and sweets
• Late-Night Dessert Café: Featuring alcoholic juice & boozy smoothy stations

Since Jeremy and Jesse knew the owner there, we had a table waiting for us at the Vanguard Beer Garden. Perfs!

Here's one of two Cocktail Jugs we ordered: Watermelon & Ginger Swizzle, which consisted of Gin & watermelon liqueur shaken with homemade rhubarb syrup & topped with soda. The other one we got was the Pimms & Lemonade jug: Pimms No. 1 & Fresh house made lemon syrup, swizzled down with fresh mint & topped with soda.

Watermelon & Ginger Swizzle (Gin & watermelon liqueur shaken with homemade rhubarb syrup & topped with soda).

Salt & Pepper Squid with Lemon & Sweet Paprika Mayo ($14.90)

Here, they are known for their free-range meats which are cooked whole in wood and charcoal ovens. We went with their popular roast pork with crackling.

250g of Roast Pork carved from the whole pig w/crackling ($29)

Oysters Kirkpatrick (6 for $24). Raw oysters, barbeque sauce and bacon. 'Nuff said.

Cat and Melissa opted for dessert from Alfred's Café. Melissa got the Baklava Muffin, while Cat got the Classic Crème Brulee.

Cat's Crème Brulee ($12)

And there's day 2 in the books. We've got just half a day left in Brisbane, but lots to see & do. Come back next month to witness koala and kangaroo petting, majestic views of Mount Coot-tha and grindz at The Shelter Bar.

To view more photos from the trip and get a sneak preview of what's to come:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114302480978989244855/AlohaBrisbaneAlohaBNE

Melissa Chang's #AlohaBNE blogs:
http://www.nonstophonolulu.com/?s=brisbane&searchsubmit=Go

Catherine Toth's #AlohaBNE blogs:
http://www.thecatdish.com/?s=brisbane

Kaleo Lancaster's #AlohaBNE blog:
http://kaleolancaster.blogspot.com/2012/12/brisbane-australia-hawaiian-airlines.html

My #AlohaBNE blogs/posts:
http://www.world-wide-ed.com/?s=brisbane

Instagram search results for #AlohaBNE:
http://web.stagram.com/tag/alohabne/

Twitter search results for #AlohaBNE:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AlohaBNE&src=typd

 

Part I |  Part II  | Part III

 

 

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Aloha Brisbane! – Part I: Hawaiian Airlines Launches Their Newest Route to Australia (#AlohaBNE)

 

 Part I  | Part II | Part III

 

Traveling to Australia has always been a dream of mine. I mean, let's face it, they've got so many interesting and unique things going for them…

• Their seasons are completely opposite from ours.
• They've got koalas and kangaroos to ogle over.
• They have cute sayings like "G'day Mate!", "Barbie" (BBQ), and "Oi (Oi Oi)!" (LOL!)
• Their toilet seats (supposedly) flush in the opposite direction.
• Regional Beers like Hahn, Tooheys and XXXX.
• And, uh, Vegemite… I guess.

So when the opportunity arose for me to join Hawaiian Airlines' inaugural flight to Brisbane, I could not say "Yer, mate" fast enough!

On Tuesday, November 27th, of 2012, Hawaiian Airlines launched its newest direct route to Australia's third most populous city: Brisbane. Like some of Hawaiian's previous inaugural flights (Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Seoul, New York City and Sapporo), they invited members of the (new) media to help document the journey, every step of the way. The recruits this time around were Melissa Chang (@Melissa808) of NonstopHonolulu.com, Catherine Toth (@thedailydish) of TheCatDish.com, Kaleo Lancaster (@islandtrails) of Island Trails, and myself (@worldwideed) of World-Wide-Ed.com.

 

Hawaiian Airlines Flies to Brisbane, Australia! (via HawaiianAirlines' YouTube channel)

 

It was a whirlwind 3 day, 2-night tour, but we definitely got to experience Brisbane the only way Hawaiian Airlines knows how: with Aloha. Here are some of the sights and sounds that we were fortunate enough to experience.

Hula dancers giving us a nice sendoff

HA443 departs Honolulu at 10:20am every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and arrives in Brisbane (BNE) at 4pm the following day.

Blessing by Kahu Richard Kamanu

The awesome Hawaiian Airlines crew for our HA443 flight to Brisbane

 

On the flight to Brisbane (via AlohaMelissa808's YouTube channel)

 

On the flight to Brisbane (via thedailydish's YouTube channel)

 

After about 10 hours in the air, we finally get to the beautiful city of Brisbane

These two (Melissa Chang and Catherine Toth) are happy to be on the ground

Our hale for the next few days was the French based luxury hotel chain called Sofitel Brisbane Central Hotel. Conveniently located in the middle of the city, it was in walking distance to quite a few key points during our trip, including ANZAC Square, which was literally across the street. Here's the view from my hotel room window!

Looking down at ANZAC Square from the Sofitel Brisbane Central Hotel

It wasn't long before we had to get dolled up (I wore a tie!) and head down to the Ballroom Le Grand for the official Welcome Gala.

Hawaiian Airlines Welcome Gala

It was a packed house filled with members of the local (Brisbane) media, tour industry professionals, airline executives, and local entertainers Sean Na`auao and Lehua Kalima (formerly of Na Leo), among others.

 

Lehua Kalima Sings "Waikiki" at the Hawaiian Airlines Welcome Gala

Hawaiian Airlines President and CEO Mark Dunkerley addresses the crowd

And of course, we can't forget about the food p0rn shots! 😉

Bomboocha wok of fried rice!

My serving of fried rice

Poke samplers

Chef Chai's popular Fried Kataifi Prawns

Following the gala, we decided to take a stroll around our neighborhood.

The Shrine of Remembrance at ANZAC Square

Possibly the best named street in all the land: Edward Street. 8)

Brisbane's cool CityCycle bike hire program

We decided to check out a popular local pub called the Pig 'N' Whistle on Queen Street.

Partial beer selection on tap

Since we weren't that hungry, we just got a side of "chips" (fries in the U.S.) to share.

Chunky Chips with Garlic Aioli ($8.90)

After all that eating and drinking, combined with our jetlag, it was time to call it a night. From the expressions on the ladies' faces, I think they agreed.

Cat and Melissa are either extremely drunk or jetlagged. You decide.

And that's it for our first night in Brisbane. I'll be back again soon to post more about our adventures including South Bank, King of Kings Seafood Yum Cha Restaurant in Chinatown, Alfred & Constance, koala and kangaroo sightings at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, The Shelter Bar, and our departure.

To view more photos from the trip and get a sneak preview of what's to come:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114302480978989244855/AlohaBrisbaneAlohaBNE

Melissa Chang's #AlohaBNE blogs:
http://www.nonstophonolulu.com/?s=brisbane&searchsubmit=Go

Catherine Toth's #AlohaBNE blogs:
http://www.thecatdish.com/?s=brisbane

Kaleo Lancaster's #AlohaBNE blog:
http://kaleolancaster.blogspot.com/2012/12/brisbane-australia-hawaiian-airlines.html

My #AlohaBNE blogs/posts:
http://www.world-wide-ed.com/?s=brisbane

Instagram search results for #AlohaBNE:
http://web.stagram.com/tag/alohabne/

Twitter search results for #AlohaBNE:
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AlohaBNE&src=typd

 

 Part I  | Part II | Part III

 

VH07V Gear The latest in Hawaii lifestyle apparel. Check it out!