customising life

… was awesome!

Part 7 Going home 8/7 - 9/7

Well we gained a day when we came to Hawaii, so conservation dictates that we would lose one when coming back.

Not much to speak about this day.  Got up early feeling very shitty, my cold was running out of control.  Had a very quick breakfast, and nearly caused my parents another heart attack, as I was busy buying some water and gum, when the bus was trying to leave.

And after all the fuss from the US Immigration upon arrival, finger printing and photos, they didn’t even give two craps about us leaving.

Again the Tylenol came to my rescue on the flight and I got several hours of sleep on the way back.

So Hawaii was a pretty good trip overall.  And now that I’ve ‘done’ a lot of things there, if I ever go back I can just lounge on the beach, or go surfing, or go to another island.

… was awesome!

Part 6 - Submarine adventure 7/7

We had yet another early start to the day, and were wolfing down breakfast under the nervous watch of our parents, who didn’t want to be alte for our bus.

Turned out the tickets we had were mis-printed, and told us to meet for the bus two hours earlier. I could have told them that. Why would we need to meet up at 11am to get to a 1pm submarine ride, when it is just down the beach!

So finally we had some free time to lounge by the pool, and get some sun. With my fair skin, not too much. Nyssa showed us up, with her ridiculous tan, after only a very small time in the sun.

The bus took us to the Hilton hotel at the end of Waikiki beach, and onto a wharf where we waited for the shuttle boat to the submarine site. These submarines are able to hold over 60 people and take them down to a depth of almost 150ft. They could probably go deeper, but the US Coastguard sets that limit.

We had to wait for a while, until we spotted the first submarine breach the surface of the water. From there the first 60 people jumped on and disappeared below the surface. After that we raced to the second site, where the other submarine would shortly surface.

We were able to spot its shape beneath the water, and I got a picture or two of it surfacing. Once on board we were treated to a great view through massive portholes, made of 3in glass.

Once everyone was in the submarine, we dived to about 40ft, to check out some artificial reefs and the marine life around them. We then dived to 80ft to check out some pyramidal reefs, placed by the University of Hawaii. There was quite a bit of activity around these reefs, quite a lot of tropical fish. At 80ft beneath the surface, the light coming from the sun is heavily filtered, removing pretty much all traces of the colour red. It was quite unique to look around and see that everyone had become bluish! We also passed a plane wreck, put there on purpose, not a real one!

We made our deepest descent to 120ft, where even the yellow on Andrew’s shirt and turned pretty much blue. Here we saw a shipwreck (artificial again) and plenty of fish, even a turtle or two. Finally after about 20 minutes we surface to the top. I didn’t even notice any change in the pressure, which was very welcome as I was getting progressively sicker at this stage.

It was a really cool experience to be down that deep in a submarine, but overall the marine life wasn’t very impressive. I’ll take snorkelling off the coast of Australia any day.

Back at the beach we had some food then headed to the Ala Moana shopping centre. It is apparently very big, and has lots of designer outlets. Nyssa was drooling at the prospect. I wasn’t entirely unimpressed, it’s certainly much bigger than crappy Westfields in Sydney, but once again, I’ve seen bigger in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Andrew always gets annoyed when I compare things to China, but it’s true. It wasn’t that big. I ended up leaving quite early as I began to feel dizzy and very crap. I did however pick up some Tylenol PM (Extra Strength) to knock me out once I got back to the hotel.

For dinner we went to a steakhouse, and I finally was treated to a big meal. I had a 450gram steak and prawns. I was very satisfied after that meal!

A couple of Tylenol later and I was sleeping like a baby.

… was awesome!

Part 5 - Snorkelling Day 6/7

Another early start, and we drove all the way around to the east coast of Oahu, where we met with a small boat for our snorkelling trip.

Our first port of call was a sand reef about 15 minutes from shore, where those new to snorkelling could get familiar, and play some volleyball and get wet.

We also had a fairly decent BBQ lunch, cooked off the side of the boat.  I tried some American beer; Budweiser, it was pretty crap.  I’d rate it even below our Aussie beer (there are exceptions of course).  It wasn’t as nasty bitter as ours, but was pretty weak.  I’ll stick to my import favourites.

After lunch we drove (boats can ‘drive’ right?) on towards our final destination; a small reef somewhere off the coast.  It turned out to be not all that far away, yet it seemed quite far.  The snorkelling here was prety ordinary I must say.  There were lots of fish, yet the reef was kinda dead.

Had some fun getting away from the masses of bodies swimming around, and tried some deep diving.  The herald of woe for the next weeks was a serious pressure headache, even a few feet below the surface, so I gave up on the diving very quickly.

Getting back to the boat I nearly avoided an unpleasant surprise; an aqua-terd.  Obviously the rules of using the original W.C. were not observed and the offending person did not take into account the prevailing winds and swell.  This sucker floated right up to the ladder where you get on the boat, causing quite an upset.

We went out to dinner to celebrate Dad’s birthday in a very nice restaurant overlooking Waikiki beach.  After dinner though, I started feeling quite tired and sick.

… was awesome

Part 4 - Pearl Harbour, Sunset Cruise and SOS 5/7

On Wednesday we arose very early to catch a bus to Pearl Harbour, where we would line up for tickets into the USS Arizona Memorial. The US Navy only allows 4,500 visitors each day, and apparently they can run out quick. Plus we don’t want to waste the day, so we were there as the gates opened at 7:30. We made it into group 9 out of 30 available groups.

While we waited for our trip to the Memorial we got to browse through the museum to get a feel for the events that took place on the 7th of December 1941. There was some very interesting exhibits on display, including a mis-fired airplane-dropped torpedo, which buried itself on the harbour floor for 50 years until it was found in dredging operations in 1991. In a famous picture of the day, you can actually see the torpedo’s motor frothing the surface as it was stuck on the bottom.

At 9:45 we got our turn to visit the USS Arizona. We piled on a Navy launch that took us from the Memorial Centre to the Memorial itself, located right on top of the Arizona, as it sits half-buried in the silty bottom of Pearl Harbour. It was an eerie feeling knowing that we were approaching the effective tombs for almost 1,200 men.

Part of the Arizona is still above the water’s surface, and most of the ship is visible from the Memorial itself. The ship was sunk after an enormous explosion from a torpedo that ripped through the ammunition magazines in the forward deck. The ship sank within nine minutes taking 1,177 men to their deaths. The ship still leaks a small amount of oil to this day, something that survivors say will continue until the last survivor passes.

The Shrine room contains a wall listing all the names of those who died on the ship, and I was surprised to learn that survivors of the attack had been laid to rest with their comrades on the ship.

After visiting the memorial, we split up from Mum and Nyssa and went across to Ford Island and to the Battleship Missouri. We got to climb all over and inside this ship, which was very impressive. The main guns are just enormous. They are capable of firing a 16in shell, weighing over one tonne, at a target 37 kilometers away! The rounds can penetrate almost 10m of reinforced concrete! That is just mind-boggling. The guns have almost half a meter of armour plating and weigh over 1700 tonnes!

Ahhh, military hardware!

While on the superstructure we saw a frigate and the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln leaving Pearl Harbour for training exercises we assumed.

After the totally fun Missouri, we got back to the Memorial centre to board the USS Bowfin, a WWII submarine. If the Missouri was cramped, the Bowfin was a coffin. Still not as bad as I would have thought. The submarine was interesting, but not as cool as the Missouri.

It took a long time to get back from Pearl Harbour to Waikiki than I thought. Partially because Dad freaked out about the time, and got the first bus that was going that way. The long bus, the stops all stops bus. We made it back in time to go on our …

… sunset cruise.

This was pretty ok, we had a bit of a tool as our tour guide. You know the one, where they go to the bus ‘Aloha!” and the bus gives a subdued one back. So they go ‘I said Alooo-ha’, and we give a pretty decent one back. That’s okay, but it didn’t stop there. It took several ‘Aloha’s’ and much screaming before he would move on the next order of business.

The cruise was pretty nice, we had some good food again, and met some Aussies from Newcastle, who were gay and my Mum really took to. We also got to see some more Polynesian dance, this time up close and personal. I’ll never get how they do that hip thing, bit I’ll tell you it’s hypnotic.

Phwoar.

Afterwards we continued a long day with a variety show called Society of Seven. They are sevenvery talented Hawaiian guys, who play a multitude of instruments and sing favourite songs by famous performers. They did songs from the 30’s right until today, and were just fantastic and very funny too. Some of my favourites were James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and the Rat Pack.

They finished with some typical American songs, including their national anthem in amazing 7-part harmony and America the Beautiful. As much as Aussies like to pay out the Americans for their flags and their God Bless America’s, I’ll give them one thing; I love their patriotic songs. Their anthem is just so much better than Advance Australia Fair, and with these guys doing the seven voice makeover, even I was cheering when they finished.

The night ended quite early, which was good. We really looked forward to sleeping each night.

… was awesome!

Part 3 - Island Tour and Magic Show! - 4/7

Today we really struggled to rouse ourselves, and were taking what should have been minor jet-lag to new levels. After a quick buffet breakfast, we made it to our bus for a round trip of the island of Oahu.

Our driver was a pretty crazy but cool Hawaiian, Patty. Patty likes to talk about herself in the third person alot. Liam found this very annoying sometimes, at other times he found this hilarious.

We started by leaving Waikiki, along with an ABC joke from Patty….

… maybe some background. In Hawaii there are these convenience/general shops called ABC shops. There are lots of them. Like I mean lots. Every tour guide we had always made the same jokes about them…

… and drove along the beach towards Diamond head, past some expensive houses. We drove along some beautiful coastline and eventually made our way to Hanauma Bay, renowed for it’s fantastic snorkelling. The bay is quite small and protected and houses quite a lot of reefs, that attract many people. We would have loved to gotten around to going there, but our week was planned to the max.

After a very quick stop; the lady at the park hands out fines to buses that stay longer than the 15 allowed minutes; ‘Patty prays that one day she might run over that lady’, we continued around the island past a blowhole, the beach where ‘From Here to Eternity’ was shot and Sandy Beach, a bodysurfer’s paradise and a insurer’s nightmare. The number of neck and spine injuries sustained at that beach is reportedly very high.

We saw Rabbit Island, the prison island for the main island’s pests, it looked decidedly brown compared to neighbouring islands, past the place where Magnum PI was shot and eventually to Nu’uanu Lookout. Here the first king of Hawaii, King Kamehameha, in his quest for dominion over the Hawaiian chain of islands, forced many of his enemies over the cliffs. Was this place ever windy. It was insanely strong.

We then headed through the middle of the island alongone of the main highways, sometimes cuttings through the mountains using long tunnels. The mountains in the middle of Oahu are amazing, they are so steep and are always covered with clouds, while the flat edges of the island are always sunny. The mountains are carved with hundreds of grooves that Patty said become waterfalls during the wets times. That would look stunning, mountains with hundreds of waterfalls.

Next stop was the Dole pineapple plantation for lunch. We were amused to learn that of Hawaii’s three big exports; pineapples, coffee and macadamia nuts, all of them came to Hawaii from Australia.

I decided to give the world’s biggest maze a go. You work you’re way around finding checkpoints, and sketching on your ticket, the shape that can be found at each point. I was fairly confident as I found four of the six checkpoints before too long. However soon it was clear that I was struggling and time was not on my side. The bus was waiting. After coming to the entrance to check my time, I saw Dad frantically waving and so I had to give up with only five checkpoints found.

On the bus I made that I finished the maze, to save some face at making them all wait. After revealing to Andrew that I missed one checkpoint, he said that another couple finished the maze in 10 minutes. I struggled for over half an hour and still didn’t finish. He then said, ‘Couldn’t you read the map?’

Map?

To my shame, on the reverse of my ticket, where I had sketched the patterns, I saw the map, showing the maze and the locations of the checkpoints.

After the plantation, we drove up to Oahu’s famous North Shore, where some of the best known surf beaches are. Waimea Bay, Sunset, Banzai Pipleline, in winter these places go off with some monster waves. In summer the sea is glass. The beaches looked like the edges of a lake. It was eeiry.

Next place on the agenda was a Japanese Buddhist temple. It was quite a nice temple, like many Buddhist temples. This one had the unique distincition of being in a cemetary. A cemetary that charges an entry fee! It was really quite nice though.

That night we went and saw the ‘Magic of Polynesia’ starring the illusionist Keith Kabasawa. It was an awesome show. I still am not sure how some of the tricks were done. It was a great feeling, knowing that you were being fooled, and understanding that but still not being able to work out just how it was done. I really enjoyed that.

My favourite illusions, where one where one of his assistants got in box, which was locked, and Keith stood on top of the box. He then pulled up a curtain, and then pulled it down and the assistant was there. Then she pulled it up and down, then he was there again.

The best one was when he was tied to a big ‘X’ in a cage. At the other end was an array of long spears that fall down and puncture the big X. He started the trick by being tied up on the X and a curtain drawn around him. We could see his sillouette struggling to get free, when the spears came down and smash through the X. Then there was no-one there, until we looked behind us, and he was standing next to some of the tables.

I just can’t work out how he did that. I know it’s not real, but that’s what makes it magic.