Day 191 - Waikiki, Hawaii, USA

Day 191 – 16th December 2005 -10:00 GMT Total Miles 36727

Keita met up with Jill and I in the morning and we had a wander into Waikiki town. We had a look around the DFS store and the International market place buying a few Christmas presents here and there. We then got some lunch at the mall and walked back to the hotel. Reece then met us and we headed to the beach, we found a nice spot and sun bathed for a bit, then I had a swim and sat back down and read my book.


Waikiki Beach


Waikiki Beach


Jill on Waikiki Beach

We headed back to the hotel just before sun set and showered and changed. Then we all met up again at 7pm and walked back to the beach as there is a fireworks display on the beach every Friday night. We sat and watched the fireworks which only lasted for about 5 minutes or so. We then walked along the whole length of the beach and stopped at Duke’s beach bar for a beer, we sat on the patio outside by the beach and then decided to have some food and a cocktail.


Me and Keita


Jill, Keita and Me


Jill and I

We sat and chatted for several hours then made our way back to the hotel walking along the beach and called it a night.


Jill and I on the Beach at Midnight


A Giant Centipede

Day 190 - Waikiki, Hawaii, USA

Day 190 – 15th December 2005 -10:00 GMT Total Miles 36724

Had a lie long in, when we eventually got up Jill and I made our way to Ala Moana for some lunch and a wander around. I went back to the hotel and met up with Reece and we caught the bus to Diamond Head, which is a dormant volcano.


Diamond Head Volcano from Waikiki Beach


Diamond Head

We paid our $1 entry and climbed to the top of the volcano for a spectacular view of Waikiki and Honolulu as well as the rest of the island. We managed to get from the bottom to the top in 12 minutes as we speed marched our way up.


Me at the Top of Diamond Head

We took a bit of time at the top to take in the view before coming back down.


View From Diamond Head


A Lighthouse


View of Waikiki and Honolulu from Diamond Head


Palm Trees by the Sea

We then caught the bus back to Waikiki and back to the hotel. Chilled out in the hotel for about an hour and then Jill and I walked along Ala Moana Boulevard to the cinema and watched King Kong with our mate Jack Black in it (see Day 104). The film was over 3hours long and was very good, we then walked back to our hotel and watched TV until I fell asleep.

Day 189 - Waikiki, Hawaii, USA

Day 189 – 14th December 2005 -10:00 GMT Total Miles 36717

Got up early and met up with Keita and Reece at 9am. I had to phone home quickly as to fix my parents internet access, then we headed out. We went to National Car Rentals and hired a car for the day so we can drive around the island.


Our Blue Chevrolet

We got given a Blue Chevrolet, Reece decided to drive as we had to pay more for an extra driver, so it was just Reece driving all day. We drove through Waikiki and passed Diamond Head Volcano and then we stopped at Hanauma Bay.



Me at Hanauma Bay


Hanauma Bay

Hanauma Bay is a lovely beach and has a coral reef, so the fish around it are fantastic, it is a great place to go snorkelling although you need to go a bit out in the water to see all the colourful fish as all the fish close to shore are black due to people feeding them bread. Fish keep there amazing colours due to eating the coral, and when they eat bread they lose there colour. Anyway we just stopped at Hanauma Bay and took some photo’s before carrying on. Next stop was Makapuu Point which gives a great view of the coastline.


Coastline at Makapuu Point


Coastline at Makapuu Point

We then drove all the way up the East coast of Oahu looking at the lovely bays. We passed Kualoa Ranch which is the site that many movies are filmed at, including Jurassic Park, Mighty Joe Young and Godzilla. We stopped here at Kualoa reginal park, but there were signs up saying no swimming contaminated water. So we carried on driving, we stopped near Laie and had some lunch at a café, then carried on to the North Shore where we stopped at Pipeline Beach. This is where the world surf championship is taking place. We sat on the beach but it was full of photographers and reporters, there were many surfers in the water and huge waves of over 20 feet.


Surfers at Pipeline


Surfers at Pipeline

We had a walk up and down the beach and then drove on to Waimea Beach. Here we sun bathed for a bit and I jumped in the water, you could not swim here as the waves were still about 8 ft and when the waves break it crushed and pushed you down onto the sea bed, everytime you stood up you got pushed down again. After 5 minutes I was so tired I had to get out of the water.


Waimea Beach


Waimea Beach

We sun bathed for a bit longer and then decided to find a quieter beach so drove on. We eventually arrived at Mokuleia Beach and this was deserted, we were the only ones there so we lay in the sand and had paddle for an hour or so.



Me in the water at Mokuleia Beach


Mokuleia Beach


Jill and I on Mokuleia Beach


Mokuleia Beach


Jill and me on an excellant adventure


Jill Drawing in the Sand


Jill's Drawing Destroyed..

We then drove back towards the centre of the island and visited Dole Pineapple Plantation, here they serve the best pineapple ice-cream, they also have the world’s largest maze. I had done the maze before so we did not bother this time.


Dole Pineapple Plantation


The World's Longest Maze

We had a look around and then we headed back to Honolulu, we hit rush hour traffic so it was quite slow going back. At 6:30pm we heard on the radio that the band Motley Crue were playing in Honolulu tonight, now we had 4th row tickets to see them in London, but we flew out a week before they played, then when we were in America they were at the opposite end of the country to us, and they were in Sydney when we were but they were sold out. Anyway we returned the car and rushed back to our hotel to look up where the venue was. We walked the two miles to the venue and managed to buy tickets, so we were seated in the arena at 8pm for the concert.


My Motley Crue Ticket

They played for 1hr 45 mins and it was fantastic, they played all the classics like, Girls, Girls, Girls, Dr.Feelgood, Shout At The Devil, Kickstart My Heart etc Jill and I had a fab time. We then walked back to the hotel and went to sleep.