Honolulu, HI

Today was “Honolulu Pride” – like Sydney’s Mardi Gras, but different. Very different. It was funny in a way seeing the Americans do something on a tiny scale compares to Australia. But considering the island we’re on has a total population of less than a million, the fact they have a pride parade at all is commendable in itself. As always with these things it’s the message not the medium, and the message is important as ever. But when it comes to the medium, what can I say, Sydney wins by a long shot! Regardless, it was good to he community out there showing it’s support, and good to see the city of Honolulu showing its support by closing the main drag (no pun intended!) of waikiki down for an hour or two so the parade could go ahead. Nice one. The other cause for celebration today was the 40th birthday of Craig’s sister Kristi. We all went off to a luau at Paradise Cove, where the food was plentiful, the entertainment entertaining, and the company wonderful. Just in case going to a luau wasn’t touristy enough, we also got our photo taken with real live genuine tropical birds ™, which was actually kinda cool, especially for the poor bird that kept trying to get some sleep. It laid back in Perry’s hand and a few seconds later its head was back and it was having a good old snooze. No need for Monty Python references, this was no dead parrot, it genuinely was just resting 🙂 We were among the last of the tourists getting pictures so I’m sure polly had a good old nap after that. The buffet food was nice – the pulled pork was excellent, regardless of whether it was cooked authentically in a hungi (or the Hawaiian version thereof) or not – who knows, what matters is it was delicious. The dancers really knew how to dance, and how to look pretty. One thing about the hula, as they said, is that it is primarily expressed through the hands. And it’s true – when done properly, it really is a graceful and elegant dance. After we returned from the Luau we decided to try something a bit crazy and different… Yep, over to Hula’s for a drink, before calling it a night.