22- Hawaii

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Strange things happened to us on Wednesday 16th January. We woke up in Sydney for our last day in Australia and headed down to say goodbye to Bondi beach, we packed up and headed to the airport for our flight to Honolulu which left at 20.00 for our 10 hour flight. We arrived 10 hours later and strolled into Honolulu airport at 0830... on Wednesday 16th January! Another 16th January was then spent on a another famous beach, Waikiki Beach, 5064 miles away from Sydney but at the same time on the same day....


So now that we'd achieved another lifelong goal of ours of mastering time travel and gaining a day in our lives in was back to the grindstone of beach, tour, drink every day. We spent a few days around Honolulu before heading to the northern part of O'ahu (the island where we stayed) to check out the world famous surf beaches there. We even got to see a pretty competitive surf competition take place on some terrifying looking waves, glad we were sitting safely on the beach!


We decided that due to a spectacular lack of funds, a couple of fantastically heavy rucksacks and a general lazy attitude that we would spend all our time on O'ahu. This is the most commercialized island. Hawaii actually is made up of 5 islands, something we were not aware of at all until a few weeks beforehand when we began to plan our trip. In hindsight we probably should have left O'ahu and went in search of some paradise beach, hidden away in the trees. But we didn't and I would recommend to anyone who comes to Hawaii to stay only a few days here and then go check out the other islands, that is unless you want to spend your time in a place which, barr a few grand beaches could be absolutely anywhere in the USA. Don't get me wrong, the place is beautiful but definitely not the paradise islands one would imagine when they hear the words Hawaii, Honolulu and Ukelele roll off the tongue..


Now I will admit that we had been spoilt in South East Asia with the beaches, lifestyle and true wonder of some of the jungles and landscape, and perhaps coming straight from the streets of Navan to Honolulu people might think very differently to me but we felt a slight air of disappointment as we saw more and more of the island and still failed to find what we had come to find.


On the north part of the island we ilegally visited the set of Lost in the trees, the undergrowth and a very very different looking beach from the one you see on tv (Im sure young Leitrim Louise will be very excited to hear this news!) We also spent a day visiting and learning about the suprisingly interesting and moving stories of what happened at Pearl Harbour all those years ago on that now infamous morning (how many of ye knew Pearl Harbour was in Hawaii?? Dunno where i thought it was but didnt imagine it here!) Have to remember it is the middle of winter here in Hawaii now and although we had a few mins of rain most days and troublesome clouds the temperature was still hitting 25-30C each day which was appreciated by us both!


We still really enjoyed Hawaii (or the small part of it that we saw) and the amazing sunsets, the Hawaiian beer and cocktails and would dearly love to some day come back with fatter wallets and a fresher attitude towards travelling (5 months constantly on the road can be very exhausting though some of ye may laugh) But for now it is again time to move on for the year is nearing an end.....

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