Posting from Hawaii...

Plans are in motion on our end for mustering a celebration. Your job is to make it to the island if you can...and if you can, find yourself a place to settle in.

oahu's east side - Malaekahana is just up around that far point

Of course April 2nd is the day, but we will be in the house on Malaekahana beach from Wednesday March 30th till Tuesday April 5th. Clay’s parents have a place a few doors up the beach for the same dates.

The houses are exactly halfway between the two campgrounds we mentioned in the last post:

Friends of Malaekahana - http://www.malaekahana.net/default.asp?file=Home

These guys manage a private campground at the north end of the beach, about a 10 minute walk from our houses. They have pretty rustic cabins and a more upscale yurt.

It also appears that Friends of Malaekahana manage cabins for Malaekahana State Beach Park which is at the opposite end of the beach to the south

here’s the link: http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/fom/.

For those interested in pampering yourselves, here are some other options.

Turtle Bay Resort is a four-star hotel and golf resort nearby - its really the only “resort” on the northern half of Oahu. http://www.turtlebayresort.com/

It is a very short drive to where we’ll be at Malaekahana and close to all the famous beaches on the North Shore.

In addition to hotel rooms and suites in the hotel, there are also a number of condominiums in and around the resort. Some of these are rentals managed through the two agencies below:

Turtle Bay Condos

http://www.turtlebaycondos.com/index.html

The Estates at Turtle Bay

http://www.turtlebay-rentals.com/site/Home/PropertyID__15134/sd1__01-01-0001/sd2__01-01-0001/1910/default.aspx

Want more? How about house rentals on the beach? Many of these could work out affordably if families and friends want to share houses.

Here are some websites:

VRBO.com vacation rentals (but listing 43928 we already got for the wedding!)

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/hawaii/oahu/north-shore/malaekahana

Private listings:

1 - http://www.privatebeachcottage.com/

2 - http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p194446

3 - http://www.findrentals.com/vacation-rentals/malaekahana-bay-hawaii.html

As for our own travels...we’re here on Oahu until November 1st. Then its back to Tasmania until March 2011. We’ll have a couple busy weeks on island before our we settle in for the wedding. We'll be escaping for a couple days the week after the party to decompress - but no drastic departure/honeymoon plans - we'll already be in hawaii afterall.

Where is Malaekahana?

For all our friends and family coming from afar, we've put this together to help you make plans. Most folks living on-island (and many who've visited) know the beautiful little white sand beach of Malaekahana (pronounced Ma-LIE-kahana) nestled on the windward side of Oahu. But of course we don't expect everyone to know where we're talking about...

Oahu is pretty easy to figure out. The basic distinction is between "Town" - referring to Honolulu, the south part of the island with the airport and most of the people - and "Country"- which generally encompasses all the places out of town. You see the placemark which says "Malaekahana House" on the map above? That's where we're having our celebration, about as far from "town" as you can get. Of course the island's only about 30 miles north to south, so you're never really far from anything there.

The wedding will happen at a house that Talia's family has rented from March 30th - April 6th. Click here to check the place out - its beautiful. We're hoping family and friends coming in can stay as close as possible (or at least as close as you feel comfortable :)...) and spend the week (or more) with us.

Here's the address of the house:

56-207 Kamehameha Hwy, Kahuku, HI

Malaekahana is about an hour's drive from Honolulu and the closest hotel is Turtle Bay, 20 minutes to the north. There are other options closer-by, including several condos managed by Turtle Bay. But a google search for Malaekahana house rentals pulls up a bunch of vacation homes and often will provide the contact info of the owner. Anything that says Malaekahana should be somewhere on the beach either north or south of that little green point of land by the island in the image above. This is where we're hoping having the address of the house will help.

Don't worry - its not all fancy beach rentals. Another cool option for folks on a budget (and where we'd end up if left to our own devices) are two campgrounds just a stroll down the beach. Malaekahana State Park and the privately run campgrounds of Friends of Malaekahana are on that little green triangle on the image above, just south of the house. Both take reservations and offer tent camping as well as little cabins.

We hope that sets folks on the right path for now. We'll be using this site to keep you in the loop as plans develop in the coming months. Being close to so many of the people we love, little parties and adventures are certain to abound. We already have some ideas brewing and hope you'll share any you have as well.