So after our fantastic time in Fiji we flew onto a week in Hawaii!! :-)

As we are now nearing the end of trip we decided to save money and stay on the one island. We landed in Honolulu and caught a bus round to our hostel near Waikiki Beach. We spent our first couple of days on the beach, which was gorgeous but also very busy. It was strange to walk out of a big American city straight onto a tropical beach.

In order to escape the busy crowds, on the third day we decided to take a trip to Diamond head, which is the edge of a volcanic crater that towers high above Waikiki Beach. It was a very hot day and we had a long walk along the edge of the beach and through a park area. We eventually reached the start of the Diamond Head track, which is extremely steep with lots of steps, windy pathways and narrow dark tunnels. We slowly climbed up, stopping every now and again to appreciate the views over the sea and of the city and beach below. After 45 minutes of climbing we reached the top and were rewarded by amazing 360 degree views. After taking lots of photos we slowly made our way back down, refuelled with food and water and went to spend the rest of the day on the beach.

The next day we we took an early morning bus and made the 1 hour journey to Pearl Harbor. Our day at Pearl Harbor was quite moving and it was sad to stand on the memorial, which is built over where the Arizona ship still lies sunk in the water. It was also scary to think of all the men that were trapped and still lie entombed in the large ship. We peered over the edge of the memorial down to the ship, which was just visible below the surface of the water. We return to the main part of Pearl Harbor and walked around the museums and the other displays.

On our last day in Hawaii we visited the local craft and food markets. We bought a couple of souvenirs and enjoyed the local foods.

On the day we were leaving we got up at 3.45am in order to catch a shuttle to the airport at 4.15am. we checked-in, went through security and waited to board the plane to LAX!!