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Hawaii (31 August - 13 September 2013)

Ahhh Hawaii - the cliché island beach destination! And, given it's one of the 50 US states (the most recently added of the US states in fact), it's one of only three destinations I can actually travel to outside of mainland USA at the moment due to my pending application for permanent residency here, which will be voided if I leave the country. Convenient then that it's the perfect halfway point between New York and New Zealand for a much-needed family reunion!

The state of Hawaii encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian Island chain, comprising hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles. At the south-eastern end of the archipelago lay the eight main islands, of which four are prime travel destinations (plus a couple others further off the beaten tourist track): Kaua'i, O'ahu, Maui, and the island of Hawai'i - the largest and often called the "Big Island" to distinguish it from the state as a whole. The Hawaiian islands were (and continue to be) continuously formed from volcanic activity initiated at an undersea magma source. In other words, the islands are the tops of enormous volcanoes rising from the ocean floor. Currently the only active volcanoes are located on the Big Island. More on that later.

We all decided on a two week trip, and debated how many islands to include. In the end, we opted for all four: O'ahu, Maui, the Big Island, and Kaua'i in that order. An abundance of public beaches aside, all of the islands have something unique about them and no shortage of amazing stuff to see. This was going to be a busy trip!

Kristina and I flew out of New York early afternoon on Friday, and ten hours later (early evening Hawaii time) we got our first glimpse of the islands. I didn't realise it at the time but this is the infamous Na Pali coast of Kauai. More on that later too!		Flying over the equally-infamous Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head in Honolulu (Hawaii's state capital) on Oahu - our first stop of the trip.		And flying past Pearl Harbor, an active US naval base probably best-known for the attack by the Japanese in 1941 during World War II, which brought the US into the war.

Kristina, being a travel agent, was able to hook us up with some pretty sweet accommodations for the trip. This is the view from our bedroom on the 37th floor of our apartment hotel in Waikiki.		And the view from our living room looking towards Diamond Head. Not bad. Not bad :) Diamond Head is a volcanic tuff cone which can be driven into and climbed up for some great views over Waikiki. We never got time though unfortunately.
About three hours later the rabble arrived! From left-to-right: John (Mum's man), Mum, Jared (younger brother), and Madi (Jared's wo-man). And they brought with them tomorrow's newspaper hehe. New Zealand and Hawaii sit on opposite sides of the International Date Line, meaning they gained a day when they crossed it in the plane heading east. To put that into perspective, they flew out from New Zealand on Saturday morning local time, and arrived here Friday evening (i.e. the previous evening) Hawaii time. Trippy! The exact time difference is Hawaii is 22 hours behind New Zealand, or 23 hours behind - almost an entire day - when New Zealand goes into daylight saving (which Hawaii doesn't observe).

So then, day 1 of 14 - sunny and warm as usual! The average high temperature at sea-level in Hawaii is around 86 F (30 C) in summer and 79 F (26 C) in winter. Needless to say, the locals don't need a lot of variation in their wardrobe.		During the night we could hear some really weird noises coming from down below. It wasn't until daylight when we realised our hotel was opposite a zoo hehe.		Day 1 was all about checking out Honolulu's beachfront neighbourhood of Waikiki, and relaxing on the beach!

The island of Oahu has a population of about a million people, with just under half of them living in or around Honolulu on the southeast shore of the island. Honolulu is the gateway to Hawaii and a major tourist destination itself, primarily for Waikiki - home to one of the world's most famous beaches. There's no shortage of touristy shops along the main drag here!				Incidentally, this dude is Duke Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian competition swimmer way back in the day who is credited with spreading the sport of surfing to the international stage, particularly in Australia and California.

No shortage of palm trees either, and this monster of a banyan tree!

Waikiki Beach is a stunning white-sand beach about 500m long and overlooked by Diamond Head in the background there. The beach has had some problems with erosion over time and actually underwent a partial restoration just last year. Despite being a year-round destination, September is a fairly quiet time for Hawaii due to kids returning to school after summer break in the northern hemisphere which drives down the tourist numbers. I can imagine this beach is completely packed during other times of the year. The beach hosts many events throughout the year too, including surf competitions, outrigger canoe races, outdoor performances, and so on.				Not the best choice of footwear.

Waikiki was a retreat for Hawaiian royalty in the 1800s who enjoyed surfing here. A few small hotels started popping up around the 1880s, and subsequently it became a popular destination for tourists from the mainland. As you can see, the area is now filled with large resort hotels.

These bloody inflatable things we're laying on here became the source of much frustration. They're readily available throughout the islands but only about half of them manage to hold air. Kristina had to return hers three times before finally getting one that would stay inflated hahaha!				I've been to worse beaches :)

And that was our first day in a nutshell!

Interesting spot for a snooze. The next morning we collected a rental car (well, van) and hit the road!		We had some excursions booked for later but had some time to kill beforehand. We started by punishing the car up into the hills overlooking Honolulu.		Mama and her boyz.

Overlooking the Manoa Valley towards Diamond Head.

Seeing as we had an American with us on the trip (my wife :) we stopped in here for a bit - the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. It serves as a memorial to honour those men and women who served in the United States Armed Forces, and those who have given their lives in doing so.		A very scenic drive later we arrived at Kualoa Ranch on Oahu's central east coast. This place has been open since way back in the 1880s offering tourist activities.

The gals jumped on some gee gees for a two-hour jaunt, while us lads jumped on some quad bikes for a two-hour blat. Yeehaw!

Our tour took us along the Ka'a'awa Valley which has been the filming location for a myriad of movies and TV shows. The road on the left featured in 50 First Dates as the road Drew Barrymore's character would drive along every day. In the shot on the right, spot the three footprints in the earth left over from the 1998 filming of Godzilla.

Further up the valley are the left overs of Atlantis in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. I've never seen it, but it looks and sounds bloody stupid. Anyway, as with everything in Hollywood, looks are deceiving - this set was roughly constructed from nothing more than stone and Styrofoam.				This was also a filming location for Lost, as were many other places in Oahu. This here was the site of Hurley's golf course in the first season.

The Ka'a'awa Valley as a whole was known as the Mesa in Lost, and featured in several episodes. Other films produced here include Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbor, and even the original Karate Kid.

After all that fun our guide took us off the bikes and a short ways into the forest in search of these mountain apples. They didn't taste like much and we all got eaten by mosquitoes for the effort hehe.		After two hours on the bikes we weren't exactly looking our finest. The gals came back with a sore ass, and we came back with a dirty face.

Heading back inland towards Honolulu we stopped in at Nu'uanu Pali Lookout, perched on a mountainside cliff with panoramic views towards the east coast. As well as the stunning views (let down somewhat by the cloudy day), it's also known for the strong trade winds that blow through the pass. Well it didn't disappoint in that respect either - it was blowing strong! Just getting the individual shots of this panorama was a mission!

Day 3, and after a rousing breakfast of pineapple we hit the road again in search of beaches.

And beaches we did find!		Jared bought an ukelele in Waikiki on our way out and spent the rest of trip serenading us with it in the car.

We headed up to Oahu's North Shore and I split off from the group to check out the Waimea Valley here, an area of historic cultural significance for native Hawaiians. It's an easy 20-minute walk along the valley through amazing gardens and several historical structures including stone terraces and walls constructed during the time of the Hawaiian monarchy in the 19th century.				At the end of the trail is this waterfall and swimming hole. Not bad, but at $15 just to get in here it is a bit of a tourist trap.

Back to the northern beaches. While the waters were fairly calm today, during the winter months they're anything but calm. This area is home to the famous (if you're a surfer) Banzai Pipeline surf break. The Pipeline is often considered the world's deadliest wave, and numerous surfers and photographers alike have been killed here. Check out this YouTube video to see why. This is also not far up the road from the beach featured in Lost where they all crash-landed and subsequently resided.
Although fairly calm, Jared and I still went in and spent a good half hour getting pummelled by waves nonetheless. Not a bad way to end the day, and our time in Oahu :)
The next day we were back on a plane flying over Honolulu for the 20-something-minute flight to Maui.

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