DAY 190 TUESDAY 18th MARCH 2008

Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii (Miles to Date: 19400)

From San Diego we headed north to Los Angeles, where we picked up Laura for our trip to Hawaii. Unfortunately poor Laura’s flight is delayed by 3 hours so it is late when she gets in. The night before we flew we were all scrunched into a single hotel room, Jack sleeping on the floor on his bed roll – all these scout camp outs have been geared towards this moment. The next day it is an early rise for our 9:00 am flight out to Honolulu.

The 5 ½ flight to Honolulu is pleasantly uneventful and we are soon in our hire car travelling to drop our luggage at the Ilikai Hotel near to Waikiki. Once this is done we start to head east, our plan being to tour the island of Oahu. We take a quick drive into Diamond Head State Park, but having recently visited several craters created by volcanoes and meteor it was unfortunately a bit of a case of 'seen that ,done that 'once we had driven into the crater’s caldera. We journey further north along the rugged eastern shore of Oahu where the brisk Trade Winds are throwing up an impressive surf that crashes relentlessly into the black lave rock cliffs, white spray thrusting skywards before gravity takes hold , rudely dragging the escaping water droplets back into the boiling waves. Also along this stretch of the road is a blow hole, which gather the incoming waves and funnels them upwards in a fine spray somewhat reminiscent of Ol’ Faithful at Yellowstone. This is a wonderful introduction to the Hawaiian Islands. As we crest the northern eastern corner of Oahu we are clearly on the windward side, where rain clouds are created by moist air coming from the sea being forced toward the heavens by the steep faces of the interior mountains where the moisture condenses and falls incessantly. Annual rainfall on this side of the island can exceed 200 inches, but the effect is to create the type of lush rainforest that is associated with this island paradise.

The windward side of the island is sparsely populated in comparison to the Honolulu area, and although it rains here considerably more it feels more like the place we Hoblets like to spend our time. There are wonderful empty beaches populated only by the tents of life’s great unwashed (although these surf bums probably spend much of their time in the water). It is also very obvious that this is where many locals live, and life is quite tough in this part of paradise. Eventually we arrive at Waimea beach on the north shore where we decide to let Jack and Emily have a run out on the beach under the strict instruction to stay dry. Of course the huge waves crashing down on the beach was to hard too resist and of course they got soaked. By this time the day was slipping away so it was time to head back to our hotel.