Aloha from Hawaii

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Arriving in Hawaii, we had the unusual experience of living our Thursday again, having crossed the date line in the air. Just as well really as we only arrived very late the night before, so could get up late without feeling guilty! Lovely house opposite the beach, and nice sunny weather which was a bit of a shock after the NZ winter. Did some shopping in town before hitting the beach for wave jumping and sandcastle building. Following day was similarly lazy, but on the third day we finally managed to get up early for a bus journey round the island of Oahu. Not great views from the bus but did stop at a beautiful beach on the North Shore for lunch before heading to Pearl Harbour. Interesting look around including a look at the SS Bowfin submarine which was amazingly small considering it housed 80 men, some of whom had to sleep with the torpedoes!

Sunday was Independence Day so "our" beach was much more crowded. Explored the rock pools and walked around the head before changing for the evening's entertainment. The fireworks were amazing - on a boat out at sea, making some great shapes including planets and faces! Our taxi driver the next day said they were the best he'd seen in 44 years (not sure us English should have been there though, considering they're celebrating being rid of us!) Oh well, they were rid of the four of us the next day when we caught our flight to LA...

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