Well today we were out of bed at 5.30am to get ready for our bus trip to Pearl Harbour - the buses leave early because there can be five or six thousand people visit each day and there is no pre sale of entry tickets. These early starts have been pretty common and I am hoping that Sue may get used to them and actually enjoy mornings!!!! Doubt it though!
We only had to wait for about 45 minutes and then were assigned a time to be taken out to the spot where the USS Arizona lies. A 25 minute film before we left was a sobering and emotional reminder of that fateful day that changed history. Just like Ground Zero it was quite spooky to be actually there were so many lives were lost and so much damage done to the US Pacific Fleet. The wreck is clearly visible and there is fuel oil still seeping up to the surface even after all this time, and apparently the Navy are not going to remove the remainder of the oil until the last survivor passes away. There were two survivors on hand to autograph things and judging by how sprightly they were (88 and 92 years old) the oil will be bubbling up for quite a while!!
          

          
 
                                                    
Following that we took a guided tour over the USS Missouri which was the vessel on which the peace treaty with Japan was signed as well as being the last of the battleships to be built ( she actually played a big role in the first Gulf War before being mothballed). We saw the dents in the side were a Kamikaze pilot flew his plane into the ship and stood where the signing of the treaty took place - an old sailor guided us through and gave a fascinating story of the day!!!! The old battleship is huge with 16 inch guns and armour plated steel 14 inches thick in places!!!
                          
From there we went to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific where an old Hawaiian guy gave us a fantastic tour of the place including a series of huge murals depicting the way the Japanese were defeated in the Pacific and how the war was fought on all the various islands. It was just so interesting! The cemetery is housed in the crater of an extinct volcano and the views out over Honolulu from the look out were sensational - it is such a pretty place with lots of trees, gardens and beautiful blue ocean. The old guide was about 12 when the bombing of Pearl Harbour happened and he also had some great tales to tell.
          
On the way back to our hotel we toured through the central business district which because Honolulu is 3 hours behind the west coast of the USA closes up at 3pm, after opening around 6am. Kind of makes a mockery of our whinging businessmen at home complaining that we need daylight saving!!!!!!
Saw the Hawaiian Royal Palace (they still have sovereignty) and learnt about some of their long history - it was a most enjoyable day!
                                      
Well, that's just about it for the Travel Blog - hopefully I will get a summary done on the flight home - just hope that everyone has enjoyed following our travels. I am sure the Blog will be a great reminder for us in future.
We fly out of Honolulu at 9.15am, but because of the traffic and airport security our shuttle bus is collecting us at 6.15am!!! The flight to Sydney is with Jetstar (Qantas don't fly from Honolulu to Australia) and it a non-service flight so we have to buy stuff for a 10 hour flight!!! We have a two hour wait in Sydney and then 5 hours on Qantas to Perth!!!!!!!!!! Bloody long day...