North America

Sunday 28th August 2016 – Waking up we packed our bags ready to move into an eight dorm room to save a bit of money. Hawaii is incredibly expensive and having our own room was draining our resources…the dorms get booked up far in advance but we had an opening in a dorm for a night so decided to grasp it with both hands. Today we wanted to visit Pearl Harbour and immerse ourselves in American history. We jumped on the bus and headed first to the USS Arizona Memorial…a shrine over the sunken battleship…a mass grave for 1177 crew on board who went down with their beloved ship. It was dawn…7th December…1941…more than half of the United State’s Pacific Fleet…approximately 150 vessels and service craft were anchored or alongside piers in Pearl Harbour. By 10am the tranquil Sunday calm had been shattered at the hands of Japanese planes. 21 vessels lay sunk or damaged…the fighting backbone of the fleet apparently broken. Smoke from burning planes and hangers filled the sky…oil from sinking ships clogged the harbour…death was everywhere. More than 3,500 people were dead or wounded. An engaging, emotional film takes you through the lead up to the attack followed by a boat trip out to the memorial that guards and towers over the sunken ship…the crew’s final resting place…their names displayed on a sacred shrine…such an intense experience looking down upon that devastation. Aaron wanted to enjoy being on a real battleship so next we ventured onto Battleship Missouri Memorial which was the last US battleship ever built and where the eventual Japanese surrender occurred on September 2nd, 1945, signalling the end of the war…a ship that had survived Japanese kamikaze attacks and so much more…a mighty, powerful vessel built to endure and fight…and now she stands proudly overlooking her fallen sister ship…the USS Arizona. On returning to our hostel we met Tom…part of our 8 dorm room…he had been given the nickname ‘Wasted Tom’ by the workers at the hostel…you can imagine why…there he sat cross legged on the ground making mayonnaise sandwiches most of which squelched onto the floor! That evening, while Aaron tried to cook our dinner, Tom was also attempting to cook his…burnt spaghetti and many near scolding incidents later Tom ate his mayonnaise spaghetti with the added bonus of some cellophane mixed in instead of cheese…my word…what a great advert for the Brits!

Monday 29th August 2016 – Back in our private double room we had a giggle about ‘Wasted Tom’…he certainly wouldn’t be missed by me…we could only wonder at the mighty hangover he must be enduring at this moment in time! Sunbathing on Waikiki Beach we watched surfing life pass us by…then lunched, blogged and checked our beloved camera that had experienced everything that we had…our wonderful, faithful camera was now completely broken…it had endured so much and now it worked no longer…it would come home with us though as a relic of our travels. Watching the local news we looked on in awe as we listened to the weather forecast and the imminent approach of not one but two hurricanes on their way to Hawaii…plus the anticipated arrival of President Obama the very next day…life in Hawaii…fun and unpredictable.

Tuesday 30th August 2016 – Up at 5am sharp…today we were excited to travel to the North Shore to see other coastal areas and beaches of the island. Buses!!! What can I tell you about American buses? You wait around for ages for one to arrive…and even when it does arrive it stops so often…multiple stops is an understatement…that you think you’re never ever going to get to your intended destination. The upside…bus tickets are cheap as chips and on a budget it’s the only option for us. At the bus stop a homeless man was searching through the bins for any sign of a morsel or drink…I offered him my can of Coca Cola…he looked at me with sad but intelligent, bright blue eyes and offered me his only possession in return…a newspaper. I smiled a thank you and gave it back…so much homelessness in Hawaii…what his blue eyes had seen and endured I will never know…all I do know is that pain was etched into those eyes…pain and loneliness…his story…I’ll never know. The bus arrived, off we set…crinkly mountains like crushed velvet unfolded before us. On arrival at Turtle Bay we were somewhat underwhelmed by what greeted us. It was uninspiring and a little drab…the best thing about the beach was a gorgeous beach loving ginger Tom who rolled delightedly in the sand…purring loudly and happy with any attention we gave him. We left and caught the bus to Sharks Cove…it had started to drizzle by now…nevertheless we enjoyed some marine life spotting in and out of the rock pools…spying all manner of fish and crustaceans living their daily life. A little walk further on and we came across Three Table Bay…and then the heavens opened and torrential rain drenched us. Sheltering under the trees which were no match for the deluge…we waited…and waited…no bus in sight. Eventually one turned up…we got on and shivered in the ice cold air conditioning…our planned day of North Shore bliss hadn’t really turned out as we had hoped…c’est la vie…that’s the way it goes sometimes. Returning to Waikiki we tried to do a little sunbathing until we realised that the drizzle had followed us…beaten we ambled back to our guest house and with a nearly empty larder had rice and pineapple for dinner…the only food we had left!

Wednesday 31st August 2016 – Check out day…with our bags in the hostel’s storage we caught up with the advance of Hurricane Madeline on the news and sunbathed for an hour on the beach. Aaron even had a go at surfing…landing painfully on some rocks he decided to call it a day so we caught up with blogging and watched the world go by for a while. Before leaving for the airport we filled up on burger and chips (me minus the meat!) in anticipation of a long night waiting for our flight which left 7am the next day. Sitting at the bus stop at 10pm we shared our bench with another homeless person. An Australian man came up and gave him a pizza…apologising that it might be a little cold by now our bench companion happily and gently thanked him. Do you know the first thing he did…he offered us some of his pizza…tears prickled my eyes…all he had was a shopping trolley with a few possessions in it. He was hungry…yet before he even took a bite he offered his food to us…a lesson in kindness…a lesson in having a true giving heart…a lesson to us all of generosity and putting another human being first…all from a homeless man sitting on a bench. I vowed right there and then that when I got home I would do something to support and help people living their lives on the street. Our bus arrived…I said goodbye to our new friend…he wished us a safe journey and on we hopped leaving him behind…sometimes it’s so hard to say goodbye to someone who has touched me so deeply…but it was time to move on…and move on we did. At the airport we camped for the night in a designated spot with other travellers ready to move on like us.