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Published: July 13th 2009
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The day we left Australia to fly to Hawai’i was without question the longest day of my life. No, Dave wasn’t being especially annoying (during these past 8 months I’ve learnt to combat this little trait of his with a technique I like to call ‘not really listening most of the time’). Neither was the alarm set particularly early or the flight massively delayed. Nevertheless it was one of those days that just drags on and on. You know the ones where time seems to have stand completely still? A bit like you feel now for instance, reading this blog.
Well it was like that. But not only did time seem to stop, it actually went backwards. Dave and I boarded a plane on Friday 19 June at 7pm. We got off the plane, some 10 hours later, at 9.30am on Friday 19 June. We time travelled baby!!!!!! Or we crossed the International Date Line. You decide. But I know what I’ll be telling
the grandchildren.
Dutifully bullied by the immigration officials (would it hurt them so bad to be nice?) at the airport we used the shuttle to get to the hotel and were again bullied by the driver in an effort to coax a tip. It was like being back in Asia. Things improved though as we spent a few days relaxing in ‘Waikiki’. It’s the main touristy part of the island with lots of shopping, bars, restaurants, street artists and MILLIONS of people, but everyone there is on holiday so it’s a good atmosphere. There are five things I remember from our time in Waikiki. Watching UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships) in a bar full of Americans (recommended), going to see a speed eating contest involving Americans (recommended), eating cheesecake made by Americans (recommended), eating a HUGE cheeseburger in America (highly recommended) and hiking up to a viewpoint called ‘Diamond Head’ with Americans (special mention).
Diamond Head is a disused military base atop an extinct volcano. It is now a state park and for a small fee it’s possible to climb the kilometre or so to the summit for views across the island. When we arrived I noticed everybody else
doing the climb were kitted out in trainers or hiking boots. I was wearing flip-flops. What’s worse, I’d forfeited my right to whinge about any potential aches having thrown away my ‘smelly but sensible’ sandals the week prior. The walk wasn’t too challenging, thankfully, and the views were pretty special.
Now it’s at this part of the blog that I’d like to introduce a little something called ‘stereotypes about the US - true or false?’ There are many, many Americans who are fit and healthy. Much fitter and much healthier than me or Dave (but mostly me). However there are some Americans that aren’t. But on the way back down from the viewpoint these people were complaining so much that if I closed my eyes, ignored the 35-degree heat and the fact I was wearing flip-flops, we could have been descending Everest. “You just keep going honey, you stop anytime you need to and you watch where you put those little feet of yours” said one man to his wife. Or another guy that said to a friend who was waiting for him half-way: “well I think it’s just as well you didn’t go up there, it’s tough. Yep,
it’s real tough”. In all fairness I shouldn’t mock the people that had made the effort to waddle up and waddle down to the viewpoint. It’s the people that don’t leave the house, spending hours at their computer, looking at tat on the Internet, like facebook, my space and blogs. But anyway…
After our few days in Waikiki we took an internal flight to another of Hawaii’s islands - the biggest Island, named “Big Island”. We picked up the ugliest hire car in the world (which I wasn’t allowed to drive without incurring extra charges because I’m under 25) and after about 20 minutes sitting in the car park trying to get our heads round the fact we would need to drive in the right-hand lane, set off.
The island we first visited, named ‘Oa’hu’, is the one that attracts most tourists. It’s home to the capital, Honolulu, and the majority of Hawaii’s population. The Big Island on the other hand is not as developed and felt much more like the Hawaii we had both pictured. We visited several waterfalls on day one (something we seem to do wherever we go) and had booked up a snorkelling tour
at the Captain Cook Memorial for day two. The snorkelling itself wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but there were only five of us so it fun to chat with the three Americans and speed around in an insanely speedy boat looking at lava tubes and other volcanic features I learnt about in school but could remember nothing about.
During our 5 days on the Big Island we stayed in a hostel called the ‘Hola Hola In’. It was the cheapest option by far and we had a huge room with three beds and use of a kitchen with free coffee and Internet. What the hostel hadn’t advertised was the company of the owners’ half-Vietnamese, half-Japanese 3 year old daughter. Each and every morning over breakfast she was there, unfailingly starting her sentences with ‘hey {pause} wait a minute…’. Said in an American accent. It was like living in Sesame Street. We won her over to coco pops and she liked Dave’s T-shirt with monkeys on, so it was all good.
The last couple of days we spent in the Volcanoes National Park, about a mile from where we were staying. The first day it was awful weather
and we abandoned the walk we’d hoped to do after leaving the car for maybe 15-20 seconds. The next day was much better though and we hiked along a volcanic crater (how cool is that!), drove along a road until it became impassable with hardened lava and in the evening watched huge plumes of steam as real live lava rolled into the ocean from the erupting volcano.
Hawaii is incredible. Keep it on the list of possible honeymoon destinations.
Hope you enjoyed this blog - between updating your status on facebook and doing whatever it is you do with my space.
1080 words. Now stop complaining the blogs are too long. (Nick)
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Nick
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A Response
As I mentioned before, I never said your blogs were TOO long - I simply stated that they were quite long ;). You're right about your ugly hire car - it's a Crysler isn't it? Looks like a herse...