Honolulu, HI

Ahh…snorkelling. Who the hell thought that was ever a good idea? It goes like this: you put on funny shoes that prevent you from walking. Then you strap a whole bunch of silliness on to your head – a mask that slowly allows seawater to leak into your nose, and a snorkel that almost but not quite allows you to breathe, and makes cool Darth Vader noises, as you wonder why you’re not quite getting enough oxygen. So you gasp, and you struggle, and you trip over underwater, wondering which piece of coral is going to cut you to ribbons first … Then you look down, and suddenly as if out of nowhere, there’s a giant, beautiful Sea Turtle majestically swimming by less than a metre away… and for a fleeting moment all is forgiven, and it’s just incredible. I also had the good fortune to see many different kinds of colourful fish, and an eel of some sort that lived in a hole in the coral that was no wider than itself. According to google I learned two things – (a) it’s a “Magnificent Snake Eel” and (b) I was a bit lucky to have seen one in such shallow waters. This all took place at Hanauma Bay – a bay formed by a volcano some 30,000 years or so ago, which was then half erodes by the sea, forming a semicircular bay. Traditionally it was the private hunting ground of the King and Queen. Now however it is a protected environment, with no fishing or taking of coral allowed. It is also completely closed to visitors on Tuesdays to give the fish a break. As a result, it is positively teeming with marine wildlife that look upon humans basically as a curiosity, rather than a threat. One thing about snorkelling though – for the elite super-fit sportspersons among us it probably presents no challenge. But for our little party of marine adventurers … We were exhausted! After returning to the hotel around 1PM, Perry and I went out for a quick lunch … Then next thing you know a nanna-nap has taken me over ’til about 6PM! There were vague plans for a big night out, a chance to celebrate our time on this island with our friends, but after dinner we were nearly all “nah, too tired…” and all went back to the hotel to crash, and it wasn’t even 9PM. So that’s us, a bunch of crazy party animals for sure…

Honolulu, HI

Another day, another early start. Out of the hotel by 7:15 for a tour to Pearl Harbour. It was as interesting and poignant as it was on my last visit 21 years ago. This time I also had a look on board the USS Bowfin – which made it pretty clear much much fun it would not be to serve on a submarine. The tour also took us for a quick spin around some of the historical parts of town, to see Iolani palace, which was the residence of the final King and Queen of Hawaii. Lunch was some particularly delicious pizza at California Pizza Kitchen. Despite not being in California they still did an amazing job, and serves cider in 650ml bottles. The fact it was called (I kid you not) “ACE Perry Hard Cider” was beside the point. In the afternoon we all went for a swim in the ocean at Waikiki – yes I actually went in the water, don’t all faint at once 🙂 It was lovely, my sunscreen worked, and a good time was has by all. We swam in a semi-walled-off bathing pool section, but the surf was up, and it was cool watching the waves break over the wall as they rolled in to shore. Once we all rolled into shore as well, it was time for dinner at the hotel next door – the Aston Waikiki Tiki Bar and Grill, and to ensure we were all back on form, off we went to Hula’s for a beverage. Within minutes of getting back to the hotel, we hear this bang, and look outside… To see a massive fireworks show taking place at Waikiki, basically right in front of our hotel. Couldn’t have asked for a better location, really! I found out later it was to celebrate the 26th anniversary of a Japanese cosmetics company opening it’s doors in Waikiki. It went for a good ten to fifteen minutes, and was most impressive. A very fitting way to end the day, I’m sure!

Honolulu, HI

Again, not a big action-packed day, the only big plan we all had was to head out to Ala Moana for a bit of shopping. As luck would have it the “pink line” trolley stops right near our hotel. Ah, the trolleys. I haven’t seen this anywhere else in the world (yet), but Honolulu is full of these buses that masquerade as old-fashioned trolleys, quite similar to the old San Francisco cable cars. But instead of grabbing a cable that runs under the street, or connection to overhead wires like a tram or a trolley-bus, these are just regular old diesel buses with a trolley-shaped body. Weird, but I guess they must be popular with all us tourists. Most of them are run for he benefit of Japanese travel companies, but the pink line is open to anyone. As for Ala Moana itself… Well it seems to have lost a little of its sparkle since 2009. On my last visit I spent a good two and a half days there wandering around and taking it all in. This time, Perry and I were as good as done by lunchtime. Still, I managed to pick up a few t-shirts, and a ‘rashie’ shirt should I end up venturing into the water. I didn’t buy any watches which was a good achievement in itself… I’ve probably overdone it on that front already for this trip. 🙂 Once we returned to Waikiki we stopped by a tour place, and organised some activities for the next two days. And the day after that is … I can hardly bare to type it … our last day of holidays. Dinner was at Keoni’s – a mostly Thai restaurant with things on the menu like burgers and spag bol – but we all opted for the Thai food which was delicious. I’d had dinner there back in 2009, and it was just as good as I remembered. After a brief wander through the International Marketplace again for touristy stuff, that was it – time for bed, we have an early start for tomorrow’s tour!

Honolulu, HI

I really don’t have much to report today – this was very much a ‘holiday’ kind of day. After crepes for breakfast, we walked with Steve and Michael over to the Diamond Head Beach – about three kilometres each way, so I guess that counts as a bit of effort, especially when it’s about 30 degrees. It’s no wonder practically every shop her sells sunscreen – you go through so much of it, it’s a necessity. That trip was a bit exhausting, and the perfect opportunity for an extended nanna nap. For dinner we went to the Cheesecake Factory, via Duke’s Bar (nice cocktails!) and Jimmy Buffet’s bar (no service, not happy Jan!), while we waited for a table to become available. It took a little over an hour, but boy was it worth it. And the cheesecake? Yep, to die for. It was hard to choose from the 35 or so on offer, but I settled for white chocolate raspberry truffle. Every bit as good as it sounds. After dinner, shock horror, we didn’t go to Hula’s! We just waddled back to the hotel, full as googs, after that cheesecake. So that was it – a slow walk, to end a slow day.

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.

Honolulu, HI

Another beautifully sunny day, starting with a buffet breakfast at a nearby hotel, and a lovely chat with our server Florence. Florence greeted us all, poured our coffee and made us feel welcome. During the conversation she was telling us that, a while ago, she had a wonderful holiday through 11 different countries in Europe … It was a celebration for her 79th birthday! So good on her for still being up and at ’em! The main aim of today was shopping – the Waikele Outlet Centre. It was a little way out of town – not that anything is too far away on this little island, but I found a shuttle bus service that got us there for $10, instead of an estimated $50 taxi fare each way. So the bargains were rolling in even before we started shopping :). We all spent a good few hours there buying this and that – by this stage I may end up needing another suitcase to put it all in… After we returned and dumped the spoils of today’s outing back at the hotel, I took off for a wander around the main tourist drag of Waikiki. I found the hotel I stayed in on my first visit to Hawaii, some 21 years ago now! It’s actually looking better now than it did in 1992 – I guess it’s gone through quite a number of facelifts since then. Dinner tonight was at Chili’s, a chain restaurant that serves, of course, ridiculously sized portions – even after ordering one of the “lite choice” meals I was completely stuffed to the gills. The evening ended, just for a change, with a couple of drinks at Hula’s.

Honolulu, HI

I’m happy to report that Perry and I woke up alive and well this morning – no hangovers, so yay for something resembling a sensible approach to alcohol consumption. 🙂 Today, Steve and Michael arrived in the mid-morning so we dragged them around for a while to see the sights until their room was ready. We spent a bit of time at Waikiki beach – the water was so blue it looked like it had been photoshopped. It also felt like,someone had turned the sun up to ‘scorching’ – very warm out there but so far the sunscreen is holding up OK. In the afternoon Perry and I walked through the International Marketplace – I.e. a rabbit warren of little stalls designed to part tourists from their money. It’s all good fun though – we did end up getting an amazing pineapple juice though. The process they followed was basically as follows: They grabbed two pineapple from the shelf, cut the tops off, cored the inside, cut out the remaining pineapple flesh, and put it straight in a blender. Once done they poured the contents back into the pineapple, and added a straw. That’s it. You really couldn’t get much fresher than that. Sure enough, it tasted fantastic – cold pineapple on a hot day.. Very Hawaiian, I guess Dinner was at “Cheeseburger in Paradise”, proving yet again that even small servings are massive. Then after a brief wander through the shops it was back to Hula’s to enjoy a “Welcome to Hawaii” drink for Steve and Michael. I guess these daily entries will become shorter and shorter as we do less and less – but sometimes doing less and less is what a holiday is all about.

Honolulu, HI

I’m really not loving these 5am starts – still, it’s all for a good cause: Hawaii! The flights were fine – the first leg from San Francisco was on a little jet Perry could only just stand up in, but the second was on a proper-sized 737. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Alaska Air as I hadn’t heard of them before. They were pretty impressive, handing out Mimosas as soon as we boarded, and Mai Tais shortly before we landed, to get us in the right frame of mind for Honolulu I guess. One refreshing change about this visit to Hawaii is that we were of course a domestic flight not international – so within 15 minutes of landing we had our luggage, were out the door and in to a taxi. Our friends Craig and Jase flew in to Honolulu from Sydney just a few hours ahead of us. So we caught up with them as soon as we arrived and went for a wanted around Waikiki. It hasn’t changed all that much since my last visit in 2009 – though to my surprise it was raining… I didn’t know that happened in Waikiki 🙂 We settled on a late lunch/early dinner at The Chesecake Factory – a place many people said was a ‘must visit’. They were right – delicious food, we didn’t even have cheesecake. But should you want Chesecake they have about 35 different kinds on offer. Scary! To help walk of some of the food we wandered around the shops, next thing you know I has acquires a new cap. a pair of sneakers ($32 for Skechers, good grief!), and a some small gifts. A little late we headed out to Hula’s, one of Waikiki’s few gay bars, and enjoyed a couple of drinks. They seemed to have some difficulty with accurately measuring their spirits I think, but in a good way – all the drinks were certainly strong! It also helped that Smirnoff were doing a promotion for their new flavoured vodkas, so they had people delivering free shots as well. Who would have thought a flavoured vodka called “Iced cake” would actually taste like, well, an iced cake? We eventually walked or staggered (depending upon which member of our party you were looking at) out of Hula’s, and back to the hotel for sleep. It had been another long day for us – due to the 3 hour time change we effectively enjoyed a 27 hour day. Tomorrow, some more friends arrive – Steve and Michael, and Craig’s sister Kristi and her family.

San Francisco, CA

Today was a big tour, but fortunately we still had time for Jan at the Inn to cook us breakfast, he sure does a mean scrambled egg. Delicious. We choose another one of SF’s many transport options today to get to the start of our tour – we took the train. Much quicker than the streetcar, but without all the cool retro goings-on. The tour started by passing through the ‘tenderloin’ district – so named, would you believe, for the way policemen were paid their ‘hush money’ to forget about the bars that were serving alcohol during prohibition. It’s a bit of a rundown area with many homeless people about, mostly due to a large shelter and soup kitchen nearby. However gentrification is setting in and apparently the face of the tenderloin district is changing pretty rapidly. Our guide knew where the best vantage points in town were – alas he didn’t know how to control the weather and get rid of the fog, but that’s ok. I guess it’s an upside for a city that has such dramatic hills – it’s not hard to find high-up parts that have a great outlook. I was glad we visited the Haight-Ashbury district, the centre of the hippy movement back in the day. I guess times have moved on and there’s not so much evidence of it now, but it was still interesting to see where Jimi Hendrix had lived, and Janis Joplin. We also learnt about the painted ladies. No, it’s not a case of too much makeup, but basically an Edwardian or Victorian era house that has been painted with more than three colours. I guess that makes this here Inn on Castro a painted lady too. (As a side note it was interesting that the Americans describe their architecture in terms of English monarchs!). Once again it was amazing to see so many cute little houses in one city – walking or driving the streets just shows beautiful house after beautiful house after beautiful house… It really is a wonderful looking city, both up close, and from a distance. Thankfully we stopped at Alamo Square, the park that offers that great picture postcard shot of a row of houses on a gentle hill, seen many a time on TV and in the movies. And for once, it really is as pretty in real life as it is on the telly. (Take that, LA!) While passing through Pacific Heights, also known as millionaire’s row, we saw homes of the rich and famous, like Larry Ellison of Apple, and Sir Jony Ive of Apple. Lovely grand big old homes, but still with some killer sets if steps to get to them, like many of the houses in a city as hilly as this one. The weather was quite Melbourne-like, i.e. four seasons in one day. We stopped in a park renowned for its great views of the Golden Gate Bridge… Though when we visited we could barely even see the bottom of a short pier through the thick thick fog. Within fifteen minutes when were driving along the bridge itself (we got to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge! Yay!), the sunshine pouring in the bus windows was making things quite warm. Again our driver came good on his knowledge of quality vantage points. After crossing the bridge, and deftly wielding the tour bus up a series of steep and bendy roads, we had the chance to see nearly all the bridge, watching the fog ebb and flow to obscure and reveal the southern pylon – which happened surprisingly quickly. One minute it wold be there and literally the next minute the fog would envelop it again. We could also clearly hear the fog horns bellowing out their warning to anyone crazy enough to be trying to sail through all that. It was a breathtaking view of a bridge still standing proudly for 76 years. For a change of pace we then headed to Muir Woods – a national park that was lucky to get created. Fortunately a very rich Mr Muir had the foresight to buy the land when he saw just how much of the local redwood forests had been lost to logging. Legal wrangling from a water company, that wanted to flood the valley containing the trees, very nearly succeeded. The only way it was saved was for Mr Muir to donate the whole parcel of land to the federal government so it could immediately be declared a national monument. This is of course what happened and as a result these ancient redwoods are still there for us to enjoy. Considering all this action took place in 1905, John Muir was certainly way ahead of his time when it comes to the conservation movement in general. Thank goodness he succeeded – it was a such a beautiful and quiet place, hard to believe there is a major city so close by. Plenty of incredibly tall redwood trees, and an almost-rainforest feel as they almost completely block out the sunlight with the canopy they form. We didn’t spot any wildlife at all, except when we were done and back the visitor centre and cafe, out pop a couple of cheeky chipmunks to clean up the crumbs dropped by visitors. I must say, chipmunks and nearly as cute as New York squirrels – much more fidgety and difficult to photograph though! Also, much to my surprise, they don’t wear jumpers with their initial on them, and they didn’t sing a single song. Back over the bridge again into San Francisco proper, and the tour was over. But should you ever visit, I can heartily recommend taking a tour from”Dylan’s Tours”. For dinner we stayed local to the Castro and dined at “Little Orphan Andy’s” – a diner-style place serving ginormous meals for very little money. Epic meatloaf!! It’s a shame this is our last day in San Francisco – there’s so much more to see and do, I think we’ve barely scratched the surface. But, plans are plans, and move on we must. But we’ll definitely, absolutely be back again some time for a longer visit. I haven’t quite left my heart in San Francisco, but certainly leave with a great fondness for such a beautiful, liveable, relaxed and friendly place. Next… We’ll be up at 5am. Dammit!

San Francisco, CA

Another early start today, well, out of the hotel by 7am, if that counts as early. Perry had read on tripadvisor that, when going ton avatars, it’s best to be on the first boat if possible. Each boat can hold up to 600 tourists, and after a few boards arrive you can imagine things might get bit hectic. So, on to the F-Line streetcar once again which took us right down to Pier 33 from where we departed. It’s only abut a ten minute trip, as Alcatraz itself is only a mile and a half off the San Francisco coast. It’s an interesting place – former prison of course, but also a former point of occupation for the American Indians, who took over Alcatraz from 1969-1971, an event seen as a bit of a turning point for making more aware of the plight of the American Indian population. Apparently to get to the cell house at the top of island is equivalent to a 13 storey climb. Fortunately do to gentle slopes and plenty of places to stop and take pictures, it didn’t feel like that at all. There was long audio tour of the cellhouse itself, where everyone wandered around with headphones on being directed here and there – it was interesting to hear about the history, the conditions, and hearing how it all unfolded while standing I front of the very cells where prisoners were kept really helped give you a sense of what it mus have been like. Th exercise yard must have been doubly grim – not only was it freezing as the bitter winds swirled around, you could also see all of San Francisco laid out in from of you just a mile and a half away – a constant reminder to prisoners of what they were missing out on. And how do you escape from Alcatraz? Easy, just pop back on the boats that sails back to San Francisco every thirty minutes. We did just that, and headed back to the Pier 39 tourist Mecca for a bite to eat,and to spend more time watching the sea lions. I’m sure all the territorial squabbling is a big deal and serious business for them, but for us tourists, it’s and endless source of entertainment. Fortunately the restaurant we chose for lunch had views of the seals from where we were sitting – it really was a case of dinner and a show 🙂 After lunch a light rain had started to fall, so back on one of beautiful old streetcars of the F-Line, and back to the Inn. I didn’t previously know how close we were to the F-Line, and how close the F-Line is to everything in San Francisco – we couldn’t have chosen a better place if we tried. It also makes me think Sydney will have a lot to gain as the light rail system expands. It’s Memorial Day here in the US – a similar idea to Anzac Day at home, but treated in a very different way. It’s much more celebratory which seems a little strange – it’s tradition to have a big BBQ with friends, and all the shops are advertising big Memorial Day sales, and stay open for extended hours. Very different to the more sombre, reflective approach we have for Anzac Day. This afternoon was a great,opportunity to and fulfil a photo challenge – thanks Mum, hope you liked the pictures of houses. It made me realise just how much diversity there is in this neighbourhood, so many different styles of house just in the surrounding two or three streets. Cold damp weather demands hearty Italian food and crazy waiters, so we returned to The Sausage Factory for both of the above, and weren’t disappointed on either front. Alas, the creme brûlée trucks has moved on to other pastures, but luckily Hot Cookie is still nearby – a tiny little shop that sells delicious bickies and is always busy. And has a wall full of little photos of of customers posing in nothing but Hot Cookie undies, because… well who knows, and welcome to Castro! We are going on a tour tomorrow, so off to bed now to be for another early start. Goodnight!