Tuesday 26 May 2015

Pearl Harbour - Pacific Aviation Museum - USS Missouri

Day 8 - Tuesday 26/5/15 - up at 6 am (was a struggle) to go on day long tour to the above places. I loved it all and found it fascinating and extremely sad. So many lost lives at Pearl Harbour .

That's a bed right next to the torpedo - not for the faint hearted

Submarine Bowfin

Lunch - was magnificent

Who knew they had nuclear warheads way back then?

Honour list for the dead from USS Arizona


After Pearl Harbour it was on to The Pacific Aviation Museum - this was really interesting and the planes were spectacular.




Bullet holes from Japanese aircraft :(



Next on to the USS Missouri and the Memorial site for the USS Oklahoma





20 storeys high and three football fields long!!!

This is where the surrender was signed 



Letters from Kamekazi pilots to their parents just before doing the deed



All in all it was a great day and I thoroughly reccommened it to everyone if they get the chance to go



Monday 25 May 2015

Day 7 Monday 25/5/15

Got up early...about 9am ....wahahahaha and headed off for Diamond Head. It was very hot and took about an hour to just get to the base and then THE CLIMB began. It started with a nice paved footpath which turned into a rugged windy upward path which turned into a TUNNEL and just when you thought it couldn't get any worse there were...THE STAIRS.....278 of them.

This is just some of them!!


Met a couple of nice guys whose names I couldn't pronounce so I called them Billy Bob and Jimbo. Very nice ..in every way. Hmmm maybe I should have called him Jumbo!

Billy Bob & Jimbo

Hmmm Nice view - scenery isn't bad either
Now getting back to THE CLIMB - talk about face your fears.....heights and tunnels!!!

This was the big tunnel - they others were much much smaller and claustrophobic




Was worth the climb - gorgeous
On the way back to the main area there were 2 Japanese boys - one on each side of the road like they were holding an invisible rope. It was so funny - nothing there but all the cars slowed down so they didnt hit it.



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This is a soft serve banana Ice Cream - for those who remember it tasted a bit like a banana Hi Top - but had a peppery taste. Was lovely


The round trip took 4 hours and was 15 kms so pretty well bushed by the time I got back.

Days 5 & 6 - Shopping Shopping Shopping

Saturday 23/5/15 & Sunday 24/5/15

Ala Moan


 Well a lot of shopping was done......not just because I am out of control but because I am still having back issues and am reluctant to do anything that might make it worse so no sky diving this trip. HOWEVER.....I've re visited Ala Moana and also taken a dodgy bus ride out to the outlet Shopping Centre at Waikele. The shops were worth the bus ride but the bus ride wasn't worth the shops. That even sounds strange to me but I know what I mean.

This is Memorial Day weekend and the place is fairly buzzing so I will put Pearl Harbour off till Tuesday and hopefully most of the tourists (I mean the OTHER tourists) will have gone home by then. Today I'm going to do Diamond Head. Some people I met went there a couple of days ago and said someone jumped :(   Very sad.

I've found the weather to be a lot more humid the last couple of days and we had a bit of rain. Hoping for a more temperate day today for my Diamond Head expedition as it will probably take and hour and a half walk each way.


Saturday 23 May 2015

Day 4 - Shopping. food and fireworks

Friday 22 May 2015 Yet another sleep in.....don't know why it is so conducive to sleep in over here....doesn't happen at home.

Caught the old pink line bus to IHOP (which I only recently found out stands for International House of Pancakes) and had a fabulous brunch. Totally yummy food and bottomless coffee....great way to start the day.

So called because IHOP-ped off the bus to go there....groan!

Holy Moly this was good!!

IHOP-ped back on the bus and did a few miles walking around Ala Moana but didn't buy anything. I haven't been to the outlet shops yet and I would be seriously irritated if I found I could get something a lot cheaper there. Will remedy this and go there tomorrow. Did make it to Walmart but was disappointed as it didn't have the range of things I remember from USA....however there is another one so I will check that one out too.


Finished today off with the regular Friday night fireworks over the lagoon. Great vantage point and luckily all completed before the rain set in.




Got another visit tomorrow to my favourite ever Chiropractor. My back isn't 100% better yet but it certainly is 90% better so I hope to be doing a few more energetic things once I have this next treatment.  All being well I'll head of to the outlets stores straight after.

Thursday 21 May 2015

Day 3 on Hawaii - Thursday - Crazy mixed up day

Thursday 21/5/15.  Woke up with back feeling better again but knowing it will deteriorate as the day progresses I finally made a Chiropractor appointment for 3.30. The timing meant I couldn't do anything major or I wouldn't get back in time so I hit the streets of Waikiki again. Today's restaurant of choice was The Cheese Factory and a wise decision that was. The menu is like a novel. I settled on Buffalo Wings (entree size which in Oz would have been main course size) and asked the waitress (no...not Penny) to bring me her favourite cheesecake. This turned out to be Mango Key Lime with Coconut Cream.....it was chockerblock full of yumiosity,
Cheesecake Factory


Buffalo wings before.............

............and after. If you think this is a mess you should have seen my face

Mango Key Lime Coconut Cream cheesecake......got fat just typing that!
Started walking again trying to track down the place I saw from the bus yesterday where they serve you drinks in a whole Pineapple...eventually found it after a long, hot walk but it was worth it.

Pineapple drink shop....for want of a better name

Now that is a drink!!

 After leaving the pineapple shop I saw this dude in the street........hmmmmmmmmm!



It was getting late by then so I headed off at a rate of knots so I could get back for a shower before "chiropractoring" and managed to trip over a raised paver.....result.......grazed arms and twisted back and bruised ego and even more reason to go to the Chiro.....I would have been seriously pissed off if it happened after I had just been. The Chiro guy was wonderful and had this magic couch that you lie down on for 15 minutes first and it massages your whole body. I want one!! As soon as he touched my back things started cracking and creaking but I started to feel a bit nauseous. I blamed it on my food intake for the day but when i got back to the hotel I was seriously sick and slept for 2 1/2 hours. Dr Google tells me this sometimes happens after going to a Chiro so....sorry for blaming you, Cheesecake Factory.

I walked another 12.5 kms today according to my Vivofit and as a result am three inches shorter and because of my food intake am three inches wider!!

Day Two in Hawaii - Could be Wednesday - May be Thursday

Wednesday 20 May (Aussie time)
These look like fun but I would probably get run over by the Pink Line Bus


. Now Paysmart peoples...... Last week on a Friday I flew to Adelaide for my brothers funeral and it was premature as I found out when I got off the plane that it wouldn't be held until the following Friday. Left me in a jam work wise because I couldn't afford to fly back to Brisbane and then back to Adelaide etc.......but I have the best boss (Please remember that Andrew) who let me off the hook. Well........as I was sitting on the plane....halfway to Hawaii...reading my Itinerary I had an OMFG moment. Please see below and see if you can spot it.

Your Itinerary  Note: This is not a Boarding PassWeb Check-in:    Print:  Print
Flight DetailsBooking Date: 27 Feb 2015Itinerary Issue Date27 Feb 2015
DateFlight NumberDepartingArriving
Tue 19 May 2015
Change Flight
JQ5Jetstar
Airbus A330
Starter
Flight Duration:  9hr 35min
Brisbane
Tue 19 May 2015
1755 hr / 5:55 pm
Brisbane International Terminal
Honolulu
Tue 19 May 2015
0730 hr / 7:30 am
Honolulu International Airport
Thu 28 May 2015
Change Flight
JQ6Jetstar
Airbus A330
Starter
Flight Duration:  9hr 45min
Honolulu
Thu 28 May 2015
1040 hr / 10:40 am
Honolulu International Airport
Brisbane
Fri 29 May 2015
1625 hr / 4:25 pm
Brisbane International Terminal
Note: Times are local times at the relevant airport.

Yes...it says I leave Australia on the Tuesday 19th May...and yes it says I leave Honolulu on Thursday 28 May in the morning arriving back at 4.25 pm as I thought. And as I told Andrew...yes I will be at work on Friday the 29th May  ..refreshed and ready to take calls from our lovely customers. BUT!!!...... Look at the right hand side - I don't arrive back until FRIDAY 4.25 pm. Now I'm sitting on the plane thinking this must be a typo....no plane can stay in the air that long......no stopovers........yes......definitely a typo. Then I looked up at the screen above me and saw that little dotted line on the map....The International Date Line. Where on this bloody ticket does it say anything about the International bloody Date Line!!!??? I knew the Pilot probably wouldn't turn around and go back so here I be.....with 2 Tuesdays and no Thursdays and once again stranded far away. Really nothing I can do....but if any of you want to explain to Andrew I would appreciate it. :(

I woke up after my 12 hour sleep this morning and realised I had missed breakfast so got ready and walked along the beach to my Pink Line Bus Stop. This bus goes to all the shopping centres and hotels and you can sit upstairs in the open air.....last time I did that was in London and I froze all my bits off but this was glorious. I got off at Ala Moana...holy moly....Take three Carindales and twelve Chermsides and put them inside and  you would still have room for Pacific Fair. Well I may exaggerate a bit but it is enormous. I had a list of things I wanted to do and see there but Starbucks was the first stop. Then T Mobile to get a US sim card for my phone and then to the Apple store because I love the Apple Store and I got a new phone (which wasn't on the list). It's a nice and big 6 Plus....my 4S went from being just right when I got it......to hard to read as my eyes fail...to my not having long enough arms to be able to read text messages. Love the 6!!!  I will return tomorrow and see the rest of Ala Moana

I had to cancel a chiropractors appointment last week as I was in Adelaide and am having a lot of trouble with my back. Maybe I can get a massage or chiro tomorow...will try. After walking another 9 kms today it is playing up and I had to come back to rest and therefore  didn't finish all ...my "chores" hehe

There seems to be a lot of homeless people here which is so sad...or maybe its just because they are in a smaller area. If you have to be homeless Hawaii is certainly a better environment for it. I just had to take a picture of this one camp which was under a bridge.

That thing on the left is a telescope - very odd but I guess if you are sleeping under the stars you might as well have a damn good look at them