Hawaii
I mainly stopped over at Hawaii just to break the long trip from Australia to mainland USA. There was also the attraction of Diamond Head world war 2 bunkers. Having visited the Australian snow fields the week end before I visited Hawaii I can say the lace was hot. I had to change my cloths and shower twice a day. The first order of business was buying souvenirs for my relos. Fortunately I had spotted the international market place on the bus in.
The international market Place - there were massive banyan trees all through it and fountains and water falls. The old fella on the left is feeding the gold fish in this pond.
Hawaiian shirts galore.
And more of them. Notice how cheap they were. 8 for $19. But the better ones cost more.
Stores and tourists. Mahalo is Hawaiian for thank you. There were often signs saying Mahalo for not smoking! or Tips are welcome Mahalo.
Me picking up birds.
Speaking of busses, on the way to the hostel I was directed towards a large older looking bus. Reasoning that it would be the cheapest I caught it. It turned out to be a mistake. The bus had no air conditioning and at $9, was the most expensive ride to the hostel. The small air conditioned busses were newer, faster, cheaper and more comfortable. I paid for a return ticket on the Roberts bus and booked my return trip to the air port a day early as requested. I was very specific about the location of the hostel as there are two youth hostels in Hawaii. I was told the bus would be around at 5pm. At 20 past 5 I rang the company and was told the bus had gone to the another hostel. I was told it would arrive in another 10 minutes. At 10 to 6 I spotted a bus from another company and caught that instead. When I rang to get a refund on my unused return ticket, Roberts wasn't interested giving me a refund. The youth hostel staff said they had problems with them too often in the past. I suggest you avoid them, the other companies are cheaper and better anyway.
After wandering around the market place I wandered around Waikiki beaches and ended up booking a spot at Germain's Luau for dinner. I had heard good things about that from people at work so I figured why not, I'm here as a tourist. Shortly after that I ran into a whole pile of Aussies staying at a hotel down town. Germaine's Luau was out of Honolulu on the west side of Hawaii. We were bussed out there with a bunch of Aussie sailors and US marines down the back of the bus. It was a heap of fun on the bus trip alone as there was a guide along the way to give us a bit of a run down on what was going to happen. When we got there everyone grabbed a table and a good many people wandered off to get drinks as the show started.
The show starts.
The local band called the Mai Ties. They were not bad.
Some initial slow paced hula dancing.
There was a lot of people there.
They served about 100 people. Even with all of us there was plenty to eat. Oh yeah, did I mention it was right by the ocean?
There was plenty of audience participation. Here the women are learning to do the Hula.
More Hula dancing.
The show carried on in to the night. This dance involved a lot of fast movement, that exposure was a fraction of a second, but see how the dancers are blurred from moving so fast.
More dancing
Teaching people another type of dance.
They had some traditional dancing from other Pacific cultures too. The one from New Zealand would probably make New Zealanders a bit embarrassed but it was an okay representation. The fire spinning dancing rocked! That guy was swirling batons all around. It was brilliant! He really could get those flames spinning. I video taped that, so I have no pictures of it.
The next day I decided to walk out to Diamond Head to explore the bunkers there. In hindsight it would have been better to catch a bus up there. I was sun burnt by the time I reached the crater and a bit dehydrated. But up I went. Bugger.
The beach on the way to Diamond Head with Diamond Head in the back ground.
A waterfall by the beach.
The Fort Ruger water supply tunnel I spotted on the way to Diamond Head.
An art display at the zoo on the way. This apparently happens every week end. The art was quite good. A pity none would fit in my bags.
The entrance to the Diamond Head crater was this massive tunnel through the crater wall.
It is bored through the rock and finished in concrete. Yep, you can walk through it.
Some nice military bunkers still in use in the crater.
Looking down from the first lookout back towards the tunnel entrance inside the crater.
This winch used to be used to haul building supplies and stores up to the bunkers.
So close but so far. Bunkers on other parts of Diamond Head. You can see the remains of trails up to them.
There are two tunnels on the way up to the lookout. This one was the stair case from hell. I had a loud woman on her mobile phone right behind me. When I politely asked for a little space because I didn't want to listen to her conversation she got very rude very fast. Then I remembered that I look a bit intimidating with my geeky T-shirt and long hair so I suggested that perhaps she would like me to throw her phone down the hill. She gave me a bit of a wide berth. I felt kind of bad about that but figured oh well, I was reasonable and polite and she was rude for no reason. At least I didn't have to listen to her and really enjoyed the rest of the walk up.
On the way down I was resting here and a woman with a really short skirt went up. I thought I should take a photo but I have ethics. I now regret not taking one. :)
The second tunnel.
The view from the top looking towards WaiKiki and Honolulu. This second bunker was maybe 30 metres away but there was just a mass of people there to see me. I should have just gone anyway. But I am a law abiding person really.
View down the hill to an old water tank.
Sunset at Germains Luau Hawaii.
