Diamond Head

---

Sadly our final day in Hawaii is here. On recommendation from our own personal trip advisor Ali (who always seems to know a good place to eat) we went for breakfast at a cafe bar called Lulus which was just a couple of blocks away from our hotel, by Honolulu Zoo, and on the way to our destination for today: Diamond Head Crater. It was named so by the sailors back in the day, who mistook the sparkle in the sun for Diamonds as they approached Waikiki. It sits pretty much at the end of the beach, and one of the places on our list to visit (and in my book bought by Dinah & Bailey as one of the 500 Natural Places to visit in the world).

Breakfast at Lulus was great, and set us up for the mornings hike. It was about a 1.5 mile round trip once you got to the state park, so we decided to walk there and back to add a bit more on as it wasn't far.

The rain of last night had cleared the air and already we could feel the heat of the morning sun. On our way we passed a street gym although why anyone would want to randomly start pressing a huge chunk of metal that was burning hot and burned your ass to sit on is beyond me. Although not too beyond as we decided to randomly stop, take pictures of us on it getting our ass burned by the sun-idiots!

Entrance to Diamond Head was only $1 if arriving on foot, and we stopped off to stock up on water as by now the heat was quite cheeky. Just as we set out on the trail we heard a 'Hey I know you guys,' and when we looked, we saw Stephan, a friendly Italian guy who had stayed at Banana Bungalow in Maui and was on some of the day trips with us. We shook hands and exchanged stories, caught up on our travels and recommended some places in North Shore as Stephan had only just arrived in Oahu the night before.

He told us of the Swiss boy also staying at the banana bungalow, who had decided to sleep on the beach one night only to wake up and find everything but his camera had been stolen. Such a shame as he also was a really nice lad and Daryl had chatted to him a bit about his travels and learned he was due back at Uni as he was studying Physics, so was making the most of his holidays. I guess he just wanted a bit of an adventure and the freedom of sleeping under the stars. A harsh and heartbreaking way to learn that not everything in Hawaii is beautiful. We exchanged details to swap photos, and wished each other well as we continued our hike of Diamond Head. It was a straightforward route that although steep in places was quite simple (apart from the burning sun!)

When our friends Gaz and Ali (who have been to Hawaii so many times they should have citizenship) showed us their holiday snaps of this place, they had so many photos of WW2 bunkers from the various Islands, I'd jokingly referred to their holiday as a 'Big Gaz Bunker Tour'. As the bunkers around Diamond Head were the first we'd visited on our holiday, I made my own little sign written on a napkin, reading 'Big Gaz Bunker Tours ➡️' and had a photo at every opportunity to let Big Gaz and Ali know the Bunkers are still going strong!

At the top, we enjoyed the fresh breeze and marvelled at the panoramic views of Waikiki, neighbouring Koko head crater and the beautiful waters of the Pacific, before heading back down to catch the last of the days sun.

I left Daryl at the beach and went to do some souvenir shopping, so much so I got offered a loyalty card in the ABC Store (family I apologise in advance) mainly a couple of bits our Mams will like and the obligatory magnet for our friend sarah who collects them on her fridge. I stopped short of buying myself a coconut bra, fearing it won't have quite the same effect on Barry beach when we get home, and may ruin the memory of the Tahitian Girls behind Daryls tinted sunglasses!

We chilled out by the pool for a while before getting ready to go out for the last supper. We liked Lulus so much we decided to head back there, but there was a 40 minute wait, so we passed the time at the bar with more Mai Tais and watched the surf competition on the TV.

To go off on a bit of a tangent here, when you visit London as a tourist, you want to speak to Cockneys and think everyone should be walking about singing like Nancy from Oliver, dressed like Pearly Kings and Queens selling jellied eels. The reality is you're more likely to find a needle in a Haystack these days due to the huge ethnic mix of London Town.

Hawaii is very similar, in that the people we've met despite having lived her for years have mostly come from Mainland USA: Boston, San Diego, Arizona, all different parts of California, Colorado-yawn, and the population of Honolulu seemed to be largely made up of Japanese, So I had to do a double take when our waiter in Lulus told us he was from Hawaii, yes Hawaii, born on Big Island. I don't know if it was too much sun or the strength of the Mai Tais, or just my sheer excitement at meeting my first Hawaiian person, but I threw my arms around him and gave him a big kiss on his cheek (which Daryl later reminded me was quite sweaty) he was my Hawaiian Pearly King serving Jellied Eels (ok it was Fajitas in this instance but don't let the truth get in the way of a story.)



After food and more Mai Tais, i felt I couldn't leave Hawaii without having a go at surfing, so I joined the statue on the beach and managed to hold quite a good stance on that surfboard. I'm pleased to say we also saw a rat, scuttling around by the fountains-let me explain: when we'd Skyped Reuben on Daryls birthday, knowing how much he loves Ninja Turles, we couldn't wait to tell him we'd actually been swimming with them in the sea-how cool was that? He didn't seem to excited by this at all, and instead asked us if we'd seen the rat (as in splinter the rat from the Ninja Turtles cartoon) way to take us down a peg or two eh?! So I'm happy to report that as well as seeing the turtles, we did indeed finally also see the rat.



We collected some flowers and walked down the pier for the tradition of throwing them in the sea. Story has it if they return to the shore, then you too will return to Hawaii,but if they are taken out to sea, it looks like Daryl will get his way, and the best I can hope for next year is Scotland. It was then that Daryl found a mobile phone left on the side, and as we scrolled through recent calls and recent messages to see who the best point of contact was, we didn't see which way our flowers went, but as we walked along the shore paddling our feet in the still lovely warm water, I told myself our two little white flowers would find their way back to the beach, and one day we too would find our way back to beautiful Hawaii.

---