Aloha!!!

Day 100

We got up and went straight to Auckland Airport to catch a flight back to Nadi, Fiji. We were then had to wait in Nadi airport for our connecting flight for 6 hours! For those who have ever been there it is a very small space with limited facilities to spend 6 hours. But after some reading, chatting and people watching our flight was finally called. We boarded the plane at 10pm on the 19th July. We were quite lucky as the flight was not full so we got 3 seats between us both so were able to stretch out a bit more.

The flight took 6 hours and then ground hog day happened as when we landed in Honolulu our body clock was on 4am 20th July but because we crossed the international date line techincally we landed before we took off (7am on the 19th July)- we travelled through time!

So we caught the shuttle to our hotel and then found out our room wouldn't be ready until 3pm! After not getting much sleep and travelling for about 20 hours we were not happy! We went out to get some breakfast - I now appreciate why Americans are have a serious obesity problem - the portions are huge! After breakfast we were planning to have a look around but the heat was picking up and we were hardly dressed for the occasion and were soon hot, tired and very irretable. So we went for plan b - to slob out in the hotel reception and look like zombies (which wasn't hard!) until they caved and gave us a room sooner. Well it worked but we were then naughty and slept all day, went out and got some dinner and then still managed to sleep the whole night!

Day 101-103

Well we were both shattered so we just followed the same routine - force ourselves to get up for the free breakfast then head to the beach, spend the lunchtime hours in the shade then back to the beach with an occaisonal dip in the sea to cool off before heading back at about 5pm. In the evenings we'd wander around Waikiki and have some dinner.

Since we have been here we have seen some crazy things - like the obession for the kept wives to have 5 tiny dogs, dress them up and put bows on them and then push them around in push chairs! However today really took the biscuit when we saw a lady with a rabbit in a push chair with its own parasol!

Waikiki clearly is a playground for the rich as there are some massive, very plush hotels all along the beachfront and instead of lots of tacky souvenir shops this place is lined with designer luxury - Prada, Louis Vuitton, Channel etc..... and more than one of each all with Japanese girls pouring out of them with shopping bags! Then to contrast that there are a lot of crazy homeless people everywhere which was a bit of a shock at first. The concierge girl had this very romantic view of them living off coconuts, mangoes and pineapples but the truth is they are all a bit nuts, very tanned and eat junk food out of the bins. I guess they have it easier than most as there are loads of toilets and showers on the beaches and it never gets cold here?? I am trying to make it sound positive but I guess its difficult being homeless anywhere.

Day 104

We decided to do one touristy thing and visit Pearl Harbour. The same concierge girl I mentioned earlier told us that Pearl Harbour was a two hour trip - In fact it took nearly the whole day. We used the public bus that seemed to stop every 100m and at every terminal in the airport so it took over an hour to get there.

We spent about two hours at Pearl Harbour. We had to get a bus to the first boat which was interesting as we drove through the Navy base which is still active today. We then went aboard the USS Missouri (Mightly Mo) a battle warship that was far more impressive than the one is Australia because of its size and the fact that the Japanese signed the surrender document on the ship - Me being a WWII geek thought it was great. Although I was a bit annoyed to hear that accoriding to the Americans WWII started with the bombing of Pearl Harbour on the 8th December 1941 - It had nothing to do with rest of Europe????

We then went back to the main part to watch a very moving film about the build up and attack on Pearl Harbour. This was followed by a boat ride out to the USS Arizona Memorial. The crew of the Arizona had been allowed a lie in on the morning of the attack as they had taken part in a band competition the night prior. This meant that when the Japaneese attacked they were totally unprepared and as a result a great many of the crew died and remain entombed there to this day. It is a very solemn sight with parts of the ship protruding from the water's surface and oil spots still rising to the surface. People often refer to the oil spots as black tears symbolising the sadness of what happened on that day.

This was then followed by a further hour and twenty minutes on the bus sat in front of some really funny Texans - the accent and Nicks impression makes it funnier as the dad was talking about the son cutting himslef on the reef and followed it by - "why do they have reef? Why don't they just get rid of it?" to which his wife responded "it's for the fish!" It might not sound that funny but just think about what he was saying!? This was a fully grown, respectable looking man who thought it would be appropriate to remove an entire reef to prevent boogie borders cutting themselves - crazy Americans!

Day 105 & 106

Pretty much followed the first few days - So I will not make you too jealous about all the sunbathing and constant sunshine!

Tomorrow we are heading to our final leg of the trip to the city of Angels!

So hope you are well and look forward now to seeing you all in the not too distant future!

Love Marta & Nick

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