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19/04/09 = A walk up Diamond Head
Had another really good nights sleep. Hawaii is shaping up to be the country of great sleeps. Snoozed until 9am then got up, met Deb and had breakfast. Got to watch morning TV whilst having breakfast (loving the TV here) and then got changed and ready for walk up Diamond Head Volcano. Set off at 10am for 45min walk. Was a boiling hot day, but a really nice walk. Came out of town, along beachfront and passed the zoo with all the wall art displayed outside. Sunday = market day in Waikiki, so lots of stalls and people wondering round; a happy, holiday atmosphere.
After 20mins walking out of town, came to a more residential area and didn’t really have a clue where we were going from that point on. The directions we had been given = walk straight out of town on the main street and don’t stop until you reach Diamond Head. Not the most inspiring, especially since Diamond Head is massive and within 10mins we were walking next to it. Where was the entrance? Finally came to a clearing and decided to try that as the entrance. Surely this
Walking up Diamond Head
So many people it looked like an ant farm.can’t be right? It was a semi-clearing of weed and desolate buildings with concrete ground that resembled a skate park. Walked along and battled through the weeds for a couple of minutes before decided we had definitely taken a wrong turn. Headed back to main road and continued following directions = straight on.
15mins later = joy. Saw big groups of people turning off as well as cars…this was the entrance. Had to walk along a road, through Kahala tunnel and emerged out into Diamond Head volcano crater = also the carpark and information centre. Diamond Head is a dormant volcano and doesn’t look at all like the traditional volcano you would imagine when someone says that word. It looks more like lots of giant, green hills with grass growing and concrete walkways threaded in between. Headed straight for the trail and our 0.8mile walk up one such concrete path.
Had some good hills and quite steep hills, not Mt Cook steep, but still hard work. Not of the trail was flat really and all of it was utterly packed with people; never seen so many people walking the same trail at the same time. 90% of them
were Americans on holiday. Wove up the trail which zig zagged up the volcano until we came to the first lookout. Was a nice view of the Ocean and some other towns/cities built on the right hand side, but it wasn’t as good as the view to come. Continued on up the hill until got to the stairs. 74 concrete steps with no breaks in between. Good exercise and legs did an excellent job of reminding me it was most exercise done in a long time. Puffed and panted achey legs up to top and into the dark tunnel. Some other…slightly larger people…found it tough too; they had the unnaturally red glow that can only come from intense exercise or putting your head in the oven. I think it was the former.
Walked through the tunnel and out into more steps; 99 of them this time. Can’t possibly understand why anyone would build 99 steps; that’s just annoying! Come to think of it, maybe that’s why they did it. These steps were steeper, longer and just generally much harder work. Lot of deep breathing by time got to top of these. Again, these led into another dark tunnel, which
in turn led into more steps…who built these paths? These steps - which were the last thankfully - were a spiral staircase = the worst of all. Could see that there wouldn’t be many and were nearly at top, but would rather walk 500 awful steep steps than 20 see-through spiral steps. Walked v.swiftly up these and came out into first part of lookout.
Funny little building really, a bit like an underground air raid shelter. Was a tiny space with lots of people crammed in and shuffling out into open air via a tiny gap in wall. Had to literally crawl to get out. Even 5ft2 me found it a squeeze, let alone the poor 6ft guy behind me. Was a great view when we did get out though; absolutely brilliant. Ocean looked beautiful. Crystal clear and could see all colours as they changed and faded into each other. On the beach below, could see all properties jutting out over sand and into the water. V.pretty, but got even better as walked round corner and onto top platform. The view there was unbelievable. Could see the whole coastline rolled out in front of us. Miles and miles of
ocean, beach and skyscrapers. Hate to admit it, but the skyscrapers looked amazing, all clumped together and sat next to the most beautiful coloured ocean.
Stood on observation deck for quite a while looking out, but as more and more people squashed on, we wriggled off and started the trek back down. Passed one poor lady on the way up the 99 steps who actually looked near death; never heard such deep breathing coming from a human. Then, 10mins later, passed a group of firemen quickly marching their way up, a rescue plane hovering above the observation deck and at bottom, an ambulance and Fire engine. Someone was obviously hurt…maybe the lady on the steps….she did sound pretty bad.
Had planned to go to the private beach nearby as the hostel man had said it was really good. However, he gave us similarly specific directions as he did on the way here = “Just walk down the volcano and you’ll find it”. Right…great. Asked at the information and ticket booth, but they didn’t have a clue what we were talking about, so gave up on that idea and walked back to Waikiki v.mad that had carried beach things
Land and water
View from half way up. all this way and even trailed them up Diamond Head.
Walk back was easy enough - since we knew where we were going - although it was v.hot. Had a sandwich snack and fruit for lunch whilst watching the O.C. and One Tree Hill - really loving the TV - then went to the beach for the last few hours of the day. Was 3pm and sun had cooled a little, but was still nice to sit and chill. Headed back at 5pm and got drawn to TV again…just such a novelty. Ended up watching film Tree Weeks Notice and being more productive by calling Mum and letting her know I was still alive - hadn’t spoken to her in a while.
Later in evening, got changed and headed out to find an internet shop. Got the names of a few from Phoebe (nicknamed after Phoebe from Friends because she was so loopy and odd) and checked them out. Like everything else, internet = mega expensive in Hawaii. Had a good look round though and stumbled on International Market which was really cool. Had loads and loads of jewellery stals and could have spent a fortune. Was a
Near the top
Amazing view massive place, with hundreds of stalls, but they all sold exactly the same thing. Was really just one stall multiplied by 100. Coming out of the market is where met JD and his friend = agents trying to sell a pub crawl to us. Had already head it all 2 nights before from a different guy. After giving us the usual schpiel and ‘special discount’ of $35, we decided to book it. Would be good to have a night out in Hawaii; did have lots of good bars.
So, hours later, several good bits of jewellery spotted - mental note to return if have money - pub crawl booked for Tuesday and no internet shop found - well, not cheap enough anyway. Headed back to hostel, watched even more TV, the went to bed to get even more sleep. Turned v.lazy in Hawaii, although I guess I wasn’t all that active in Fiji either really.
20/04/09 = A v.lazy beach day
Woke up sometimes after 9am but snoozed until 10. Wow, that may well have been one of the best sleeps ever. Love Hawaii. Did get woken up by the usual bin men at 7am
- they come at 7am everyday - but am well and truly used to that now 😊 Bumbled into room to watch TV and eat breakfast - just like being at home here…but with amazing weather and beaches - then phoned friend from home (that’s you Michelle). Had a good chat, sad to say goodbye and then at 11am, got changed and headed down to beach; just another day in Hawaii.
Beautiful sunshine when got down there. Rolled mat out in a good and tiny spot available and that was me for the day. Laid in that spot for 5 hrs, turning intermittently to even out tan, apply more cream and lounge in sea. This is the life. Beach slightly less crowded because was Monday and some ‘normal’ people back at work, but was still packed with holiday makers.
By the time 4pm came, were both totally sunned out. Headed back to hostel, wrote diary for a little catch up, then headed over to supermarket to buy dinner materials. Went for the safe old pasta dish…even splashed out on fresh vegetables, not just tinned. Didn’t get meat though…that would be one step too far! Meat today = no
Awesome view
Don't usually like skyscrapers, but that view was amazing. food tomorrow. Came back to hostel then and started dinner at 6pm. Turned out to be a giant dinner as ever. Used a whole bag of pasta that would usually cook the average person 4 meals - well, better than wasting it - and threw in everything else on top. Would definitely have done 3 greedy peoples dinners, we just didn’t have a third person. Was a painful experience cramming it all in didn’t even manage it, but did eat enough to feel ill and be completely immobile after it. Had to sit totally stationary in front of TV and wait for stomach to re-adjust. It’s not healthy is it?!
Went in search of an internet shop then after another crazy lady - not quite as crazy as Phoebe - found some more shops for us. Took a lot of trekking about and as usual, it was the last shop we tried, but did eventually find a slightly cheaper and more acceptable shop. Bought a 6hr time slot for $20 and then spent the next 2hrs tapping away on blog. *Warning* A blog is not to be embarked upon without serious consideration…once you start, there’s no turning back!
Back at hostel at 10pm and actually wide awake after being so lazy and inactive all day. Tried to read to tire me out, but at midnight, after an hour of trying to sleep, got out of bed fed up and did another hour on internet. Was still wide awake then even…couldn’t even force eyes to close…they just sprung back open. Don’t know when I fell to sleep then or how long for, but I definitely need to stop sleeping so much. You can have too much of a good thing!
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