Hi everyone,
It feels like ages since I wrote one of these but in reality it’s only been two weeks. I just wouldn’t have believed that my days could get any busier, but they have. These have quite possibly been the most manic two weeks out of my entire four months travelling so far. So here’s a warning and an apology about quite how long this one is.
So I left NZ very apprehensive about what Hawaii would hold. For a start it was the first time in a while I’d really been on my own and I had no organised trips like the kiwi bus to ensure I met people. Also Hawaii doesn’t have anything like the backpacking population of NZ or Oz so I really had no idea what to expect.
My flights to Honolulu were surprisingly easy even with a 7 hour stopover in Fiji. I left Auckland at 1pm Friday afternoon. It was not fun being in Fiji knowing so many of my friends were there I just couldn’t see them. But as 7 hour stopovers go it was fine and I did meet a guy who is working on Celebrity Love Island, which I’m told should mean something to those of you in the UK. Apparently he was just off to a party with Kelly Brookes. But I scammed some free internet time (I paid for 15mins but as the computer broke and I was signed in on the administrator logon, my time never ran out so I conveniently forgot to leave the computer for about an hour and a half. So that definitely helped pass the time. I slept through both of the actual flights and before I knew it was landing in Honolulu at 7am Friday morning.
Hawaii
I jumped onto a shuttle bus to Waikiki where my Hostel was booked. I got myself all checked in and headed out for a walk. I think most people have some preconceptions about Hawaii and Waikiki was really not what I had imagined. My impression was probably worsened coming from New Zealand straight into commercialism central. It’s all just a little too shiny for my liking and not at all the natural beauty of Hawaii I had imagined. I got back to my hostel where two of my roommates had appeared and started talking to them. They turned out to be Diane and Lydia from San Francisco and Michigan. Within about 5 minutes I’d been invited out to dinner and a club! We went out to China town and I struggled to stay awake through dinner as I was suffering from the kind of jet lag only possible where you’ve had some sleep, you’re just living the same day twice, having crossed the international date line. So I passed on the club and had an early night. I woke up the next morning to find 3 half naked French guys sweeping the carpet. Ah, that would be the cleaning team from the, pretty much, all French staff. It does make it a little difficult to ask complex bus transfer questions with the language difficulties.
The view from Diamond Point
After a brief panic of not having a clue what I was going to do with my day I jumped in on Lydia’s plan to hire bikes and ride to the movie theatre to see the new star wars movie. (Which we did, and it was really good) and then to pop by the biggest mall I’ve ever seen (yes, for those of you in Boulder, even bigger than Flat Iron Crossing). That was all really fun and my worries about being all alone were starting to disappear. When we got back our other roommate (Shelly from Vancouver) told us about a great place where you could get a giant bowl of fruit salad for $3.50 and so we made that our dinner plan. So very healthy.
Diane and Lydia had persuaded me to sign up for one of the activities with the hostel, a Sunday morning hike up Diamond Head – a large crater which used to be a military lookout. As it turned out Diane’s hangover kept her out of the hike but the rest of us went along. What we had expected to be a 45min stroll turned into a two hour hard hike ending in four giant flights of stairs to get to the lookout. I really though people were going to pass out. But to be fair, the view over Waikiki when we got to the top was pretty amazing, if only the spots in front of my eyes hadn’t blocked my vision. Needless to say, the rest of the day was a quiet and relaxed one and I finally got to the beach, having been in Hawaii for three days. The next day was similarly relaxing with a trip to see Monster in law at the movies and then more time spent at the beach.
The island of Oahu is only 30ish miles long and 40ish miles wide. This means a circuit of the whole island can be driven on about 2 hours. Outside of Waikiki it all becomes very different. For a start the beaches are real (not imported like Waikiki beach) and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. You know those brochures pictures with the ridiculously blue skies, the unreal colour of the sea and the laughably white sand? Well it’s all real, it actually looks like that. Right down to the palm tree bending over at just the right angle to frame your photo.
Heading out of Waikiki in our Jeep
We had decided to stay at the north shore, home of those famous waves such as pipeline, and had hired car to get up there and have the most flexibility to see everywhere when we got there. Naturally we’d asked for the cheapest car which normally would have been some kind of tiny compact car. As the lady was taking us to collect the car she looked at the keys and said “oh, you guys have hired a jeep” which of course we ferverently denied (not being able to afford a jeep) but she insisted that they must have made a mistake as we’d already paid and quick, lets get you in the car and out of here before they notice. So at $25 we got an $80 a day convertible jeep wrangler! Just picture three girls in bikinis in an open top jeep speeding along playing Britney Spears loudly with palm trees and beautiful beaches lining the side of the road. Well you’re probably right on target and that will be my lasting memory of our three days spent at north shore.
Our hostel there was laughably horrible. The kind they’d use in a movie if the guy messed up booking the holiday and ended up with the worst kind of accommodation. The bathroom door didn’t close, the entire bathroom was set on a whole bunch of different angles, so that if you set something by the sink, it would roll off onto the floor but once it got there would roll off in an entirely different direction. Probably out the open door. There was a sign on the door saying please make sure to close all windows before you leave, which we found laughable considering in our window frame there was no window. The kitchen was covered in ants which made you want to keep a close eye on everything in case it happened to be ca
Lydia on the North Shore
rried off.
As we arrived one of our roommates was eating his dinner out of the saucepan. What we put down to laziness turned out to be necessity as the cupboards only contained two saucepans. What may sound like a terrible experience was actually some of the most fun I’ve had on my trip. Everyone just got on with it. And of course liberal applications of beer helped a whole bunch to make everything that much funnier. While we were up at the north shore we went to every beach there including the famous sunset beach and Waimea bay. We also snorkelled at Turtle bay and Sharks cove. We did get to see a turtle. We went to a great little town called Haleiwa which was full of little independent shops selling anything from candles to sarongs to crushed ice. It was much more what I wanted from my Hawaii experience.
The first night we headed down to the beach with one of our new roommates, Shannon, where we had a midnight dip in the ocean and then had a bonfire on the beach and sat up talking politics for hours. The second night we met some guys at our hostel, two from England (Cambridge) and one American. Yet again we headed down to the beach where we were taught to play the ukulele. Our poor new roommates that night walked in to the three of us girls prancing around our dorm singing along very loudly to Girls just wanna have fun. On the way back from north shore we stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation where we got to go around the 2001 world’s largest maze. Where we succeeded in getting very lost but still coming out with a respectable time of 24 minutes. I had so much fun at north shore and its way up there with some of the best times I’ve had in my life.
Walking on a volcano
Diane and I were flying to the big island a few days later so in the meantime we all just relaxed and chilled out. Who am I kidding? On the first of those days we headed to Hanauma bay, one of the best snorkelling locations in the world and swam for hours looking at all the fish and the coral. I’m tempted to say it was better than the barrier reef, if for no reason other than as sheltered cove it was much easier to swim around. After that we went shopping. While we were waiting at the bus stop 3 or 4 police motorcycles pulled up and started as if to close the road. Another woman at the bus stop explained what was going on. Every year, in memory of anyone in the forces who’s died, all the police, fire brigade and army run around the city following all of the cars and fire engines with their sirens blazing. The woman at the bus stop knew this because her husband is in the fire brigade. It was quite amazing watching all these people run past us and her husband ran out to give their two boys a kiss before joining in the run again. For those of you who were worried we did make it to the shopping centre and collectively spent too much money, no surprise there then. The next relaxing day consisted of hiring surf boards with the guys from North Shore where Geordie (the American) taught us to surf. We managed to rent surf boards for the whole day for $15. It was hard work but so much fun and I did manage to stand up once! I’d love to have more time to properly give it a go. We watched the sunset on the beach which once more was unreal and stunningly beautiful. The next day I was in so much agony, not having done that much exercise, well… ever.
Diane and I said goodbye to Lydia (leaving her all on her won – although its a happy story really because she managed to meet a very nice Hawaiian guy and get him to take her out to dinner and although very unhappy to go home said she had the most fun of her entire trip on this holiday.) and got a shuttle to the airport with the English guys who coincidentally were flying out to Maui 5 minutes after our flight to the Big Island.
I spent four days in Hilo with Diane and they were certainly different to the rest. For a start the Big Island is nowhere near as touristy and very very quiet in comparison to Waikiki. But we had fun and there was a lot of hiking, including a 5 hour hike onto an active volcano where we could actually see the lava running into the ocean, cooling and creating a new coastline. That was also incredible but tiring. Our first two nights we slept at a gorgeous hostel but the last two were spent at Diane’s ex’s house. For some more proof of the randomness of travelling I found my self at Diane (who I only met a week ago)’s ex boyfriends, best friends (also her best friends ex-boyfriends)’s sister’s house for dinner. Where we were held captive and fed wonderful food. I also got to see an Umu (which will really only interest my mum and Jon who may remember the game at the Wellington museum) a way of cooking food by putting it over hot stones and burying it for hours and hours.
Diane bought me a real flower Lei at the airport the next day and then I left on my flight back to Honolulu. Since getting back I took one of the English guys shopping (which was quite fun really because I got to choose all the clothes for him and not have to spend any of the money)! and generally relaxed on the beach. I just have two more days here getting myself ready for my flight to LA where I will spend 3 days before heading up to stay with Heather (my aunt).
I can’t believe I’ve been away from home now for nearly 4 months! I really am having an amazing time. Well my hands are tired and you must be bored by now so I’ll let you all go.
Hope everyone’s well,
Sarah xxx
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