'Onwards and upwards' so they say, and after our return to Tahiti, we were headed for a new destination - the top of the Polynesian triangle and the ilsands of Hawaii.
We left Faa'a Airport at one in the morning and emerged bleary eyed in Honolulu at 6.30 local time after precious little sleep. There was a cheap bus from the airport to Waikiki but we reckoned it would be far better to get a taxi.
We waited in the taxi queue and were surprised to see a stretch limo roll up to the curb when we got to the front. So we duely arrived in fine style... at the Waikiki International Youth hostel! We hurredly grabbed our packs and sneaked in hoping noone would see us and blow our newly acquired 'hostelling backpacker' status.
Our room wouldn't be ready until midday so we left our packs and made for the famous Waikiki Beach where we stretched out on the sand and tried to catch up on some sleep, which proved to be impossible. Our initial impression was that the history books were wrong and the Japanese did in fact win the war as an occupying force were everywhere, armed with the latest gadgets and hovering around the ubiquitous ABC stores which seemed to be on every corner.
Back at the hostel, A Fish Called Wanda was on TV (the first time we'd seen images of Blighty for quite some time) and I felt distinctly old when the majority of the hostel's younger guests began to stair as lunchtime approached.
Our first stay on Oahu was intended to be an organisational one, booking accommodation and transport for the neighbour islands (Hawaii and Maui). Once this was out of the way, we spant the time wandering around the multitude of stores as we wallowed in our first taste of western consumerism (magazines in English!) in quite some time.
We almost needed a wheelbarrow to cart our undeveloped films to the processors', but, once again, the results we're fantastic, particularly the shots of the South Pacific... note to friends and relatives, you have been warned!
After dining at the super airconn'd Denny's one night, we bumped into Frazzie who was nursing a salad outside Subway. Entertaining as ever, she quickly got us up to speed with her latest adventures and had some juicy gossip about a mutual former landlady on Rarotonga.
Denny's Diner was now a regular feature and we ate there again when we met up with Frazzie a couple of days later. We ended up in Moose McGillycuddy's where Alex was complimented on her hairstyle and we had such a swell time we even broke the curfew back at the hotel... rock 'n' roll!
The double room at the hostel was clean and cosy but there was barely time to get used to it (and the tremendous racket that is Waikiki waking) before we were on our way to the airport bound for the Kona coast of the Big Island (Hawai'i).
charlie
|
