Hawaii

Monday 28 November 2005

Our last day. We walked into the city centre and had a late breakfast. We did necessary things like mail, phone calls and that last of our sight seeing. Spent the rest of the day and the evening on our beach at Waikiki. Beautiful. We catch the plane to NZ at midnight tonight and then wait in transit for our flight to Fiji. We will lose a day due to our crossing the international date line.


Sunday 27 November 2005

Spent most of today at the Honolulu Zoo. It was only $6 to get in and it is opposite the back packers and looks like a green patchy park from the outside so we were expecting to see a few local birds etc. We were very surprised to find the full range of animals found in most top class world zoos. It was a great day and we saw some very interesting local flora and fauna as well. In the early evening we went to see a modern musical called RENT which we had noticed being advertised all over New York. It is set in 1989 and is all about the street people in down town NY before the big clean up in the late nineties. The music and singing was absolutely fantastic and we came out feeling very glad that we had not missed this sensational show.

Flamingoes at Honolulu Zoo

Saturday 26 November 2005

Made a leisurely start. Walked along Kulia to a very good value for money breakfast before posting two shirts to David and sundry postcards. Then a five hour trip to the north of the island to Sunset Beach where the professional surfers play - good wind and big waves today! A quiet evening strolling along the beach.

Diamond Head

Friday 25 November 2005

We walked along the beach and then went into the city centre and looked at all the shops and stalls. We saw the movie "Walk the Line" and we thought it was excellent. Joaquin Phoenix (River Phoenix's brother) did such a good job portraying Johnny Cash that we think he will be nominated for an oscar.

Waikiki Hotels

Thursday 24 November 2005

We walked up, up up and up from our hostel to the volcano crater Diamond Head. It took four hours and it was tough going but one feels so virtuous once one is at the top looking down on the whole island! Going down was fun because it was down hill all the way. Had a take away salad and Hawaiian fruit meal on a bench on the beach. Hawaii is truly as beautiful and romantic as one imagines it to be.

Honolulu Hill Suburbs

View from Diamond Head Crater

Wednesday 23 November 2005

Arrived at LA airport early (in case traffic held us up) and we found that we could get on an earlier flight and flew through the gate just in the nick of time so arrived in Honolulu 4 hours ahead of our scheduled time. This gave us daylight to get to our backpackers (no penthouse this time - just a room for two off a dormitory and a shared bathroom - but central and close to the fabulous beach) and time to plan and what we would like to explore here. Had a walk on the beach and looked at the shops and buildings and generally soaked up the evening holiday atmosphere. It is humid and pleasantly warm here.

Our beach at Waikiki, Honolulu