Monday 13 May - Friday 17 May

Hawaii Five-Oh

We left Australia at 6pm on Monday, crossed the international date line and arrived in Oahu, Hawaii at 9am on the same Monday - bonus - we gained a day! Waikiki Beach in Honolulu is as beautiful as the pictures you see on postcards. We spent 2 days there - swimming, hiking up Diamond Head crater, stepping over tramps asleep on the sidewalk, I was even turned down when offering an apple to a tramp digging in a dustbin - I guess beggars can be choosers! We had an interesting conversation with a lady on the bus on our way to hike up Manoa Falls - she told us how she got arrested up there for trying to put out a bushfire and thrown into a mental institution for her trouble. Hmmm - thousands would believe you - time to hightail it off the bus. (Note to self - be wary of crazies on the bus). The hike up to Manoa Falls was more of a trail, where I was eaten alive by mozzies - after I had applied the bug repellant bought from the store at the base of the hike...it was more like a mozzie attractant! There were loads of people on the trail and it was seriously muddy, with people slipping and sliding this way and that...some had risked doing the trail in slipslops - schoolboy error - we chose to squeeze through the bamboo forests on the side of the trail rather than risk slipping in the muddy walkway. Gary was the only one who managed to keep his white sneakers mostly clean. We were then rewarded with a beautiful waterfall in the middle of the rainforest but a 'No Swimming' sign unfortunately - meh!

We then hired a car and headed north to world famous Waiamea Bay for 2 nights, I loved seeing all the quaint little towns along our drive, the gorgeous wooden houses and palm trees make you feel like you're living in a permanent holiday - unfortunately since it wasn't winter - there weren't any waves - not even a ripple at Waiamea Bay - so much for experiencing the world's best surfing beach. Luckily the swimming and snorkelling there was really good - the azure waters are the perfect temperature for cooling off and the gentle swells were a delight to float about on. Gary jumped off the Waiamea Rock whilst I filmed him - I had the fortune of capturing the girl before him in her Epic Fail back flip - G looked ever the professional as he dove off the cliff just after her. I also finally plucked up the courage to climb the rock and jump the 10m or so into the sea below - my legs were bicycle wheeling it below me as I hit the water, much to Gary's amusement. Whilst having sundowners on the beach that night we were able to witness a funeral ceremony Hawaii style. A whole bunch of surfers descended on the beach and all paddled out beyond the backline on their surfboards to form a circle and pay homage to their fallen friend. We later found out that their mate had been murdered on that beach for a large sum of cash he was carrying. Right, well, time to hightail it outta there Before the sun went down. No wonder the Hostel owner kept telling us to lock up everything and to not leave valuables in the car - luckily being Saffas, we generally do that in our daily lives anyway.

Our last stop was a bit of snorkelling in world famous Hanauma Bay, a picturesque setting in a volcanic crater which was open to the sea, but the rest was disappointing to say the least - you had to pay to enter the beach, watch an educational video for 10 mins and then be rewarded with thousands of tourists - who cant even swim, strong currents, bleached coral and no fish! We were bummed. Luckily we had snorkelled in other parts of the island (for free) and had seen and enjoyed loads there - Hanauma Bay was unfortunately an oversubscribed tourist trap. We didn't let that ruin our Hawaii experience, and I would recommend to anyone to go there for a holiday - its breathtakingly beautiful - we'll definitely go back and check out the other less inhabited islands.