Oahu

So here we are in Oahu - our last Hawaiian island for this trip.  We started out by taking in some of the sights towards the south of the island but this was mainly coastal stuff like we've seen elsewhere and to be honest we were more interested in the North Shore fun and games.

As you may (or may not) know, Hawaii, and Oahu in particular is famous for surfing.  Oahu's North Shore is home to some of the fiercest surfing waves in the world and is a mecca for surf loonies trying to catch the  ultimate 'break'.  So we decided we had to take in some of the action, see if anyone came a cropper and maybe it would encourage us (well put us off probably) to give it a go as well.

Well there were some big waves (like the ones you see on TV) with quite a few people trying to surf them.  It was pretty entertaining just to sit and watch, and we couldn't believe that some people could actually stand on the board and ride the wave - they were so massive at times.  Some of the surfers wiping out and falling off their boards was pretty spectacular too - how there's not more wearing neck braces is beyond me!

Rob had talked about wanting to give surfing a go since we headed to Australia.  He finally decided to do it here - what better place to try than in the home of surfing?!  That said, after seeing the north shore waves he decided for the first time he needed somewhere a tad calmer, so we booked a lesson with the Hawaiian fire crew who teach surfing as well as fight fires.

I (Lisa) decided that surfing wasn't for me (I struggle with my balance at the best of times, so a plank on the water probably wouldn't be any better!).  So I took my seat on the beach, Rob kitted me out with the camera gear and I couldn't help but cheer him on - it was so exciting (for me anyway!).  He did really well and was standing on the board in no time - don't get me wrong he didn't stand all of the time and some of his 'wipeouts' did make me chuckle!

He's suited up and ready for surfing!

A land practice first

And he's off!

His first wipeout!

And he's standing - hooray!!

He did enjoy it but is not sure it's something he wants to do on a regular basis - apparently it was a huge amount of effort for the reward and he ached in places he never knew he had places.  I ached too, but mine was from laughter!

Shattered!

One of the things I wanted to do was go to a Luau - I thought it would be like it was in the film Grease but sadly Danny  and Sandy weren't there!  Seriously though it was good, we were entertained, had a buffet dinner and a Hawaiian story called 'Breath of Life' which had lots of singing, Hawaiian dancing and fire displays.  Sadly we weren't allowed to take photos of the show, but our memories are good ones.

Honolulu sounds very exotic, but in reality is pretty much a concrete jungle with beaches.  It has very good shopping and apparently that's exactly what a lot of people go there for.  We did some shopping on my birthday, watched the sunset on Waikiki beach and then off for a meal in the evening.  Nice way to celebrate being 32!

Other things we did in Oahu... Went to Pearl Harbour, watched a massive monk seal just lazing on the beach, saw green turtles (Honu) on Turtle Beach, visited a Hawaiian botanical garden, had to buy a new laptop as our one broke (damn you Samsung), took a drive to see over Honolulu... The list goes on!

Pearl Harbour

Hawaiian green turtle (Honu)

Mr lazy monk seal

A tree with big balls at the Botanical garden!

A view of Honolulu from Tantalus drive

So before we knew it our time was up in Oahu.  It kind of crept up on us and to be honest we could have done with a little bit longer as there were still a few things we wanted to do that we didn't have time for - but that's always a reason to return. 

In short, Hawaii has been great.  We have met some really lovely people, learnt a lot about the Hawaiian culture and seen & experienced some amazing things.  A great time was had by both of us and we'll look forward to going back some day.

Me and my fresh coconut

For now it's onwards to Japan, something we're not really prepared for!  We have no idea what we are going to do or where we are going to go, we have a flight booked and 3 nights accommodation - best we sort it when we get there!