Mia's Hawaii Trip 2007

Had a good old McDonalds breakfast this morning. They have wierd things on the menu here, like buritos & stuff...
I took a shuttle bus at 7:50 this morning & went to Hanauma Bay. It was raining to start off with, which was really annoying but the last 2 hours was beautiful weather. I went snorkelling here & saw the most massive fish I have ever seen. I also just sat on the beach & chilled for a while. I've been reading the book "Wicked", that this lady working at Arnotts Lodge gave me. It's about the story before the Wizard of Oz, & it is now a broadway show. I went back to the hostel in the afternoon. Johnny, the hostel manager, asked if I wanted to come to his show. So me & a few others from the hostel, went to this Hawaiian Night time talk show. It was really interesting to see what went on. It was filmed in the Sheraton hotel. Johnny was the one holding up the applause & laugh signs.. I didn't think they actually did that. I heard Neil Sadaka person, who I had never heard of before this evening, but he was an awesome performer. Bobby & I, after the filming of the show, went & had dinner & drinks at Dukes, after I had talked it up so much to him. They served me alcoholic drinks by accident, even though I asked for "virgin" ones. I wasn't complaining.
After dinner we went for icecream.

Today I pretty much just hung around Waikiki in the morning. I went to the beach at looked at all the shops. Didn't do much at all, which is kinda the idea of a holiday right?
At 2:15 I took an Oahu nature tour with a guy I had met at Diamond Head. He took our group to like 3 places & we learnt about different plants, animals, natural medicines & the art of surviving in the wild. We went into this part of the rainforest, which was quite near the city, & it had burial chambers of some important chiefs & some beautiful waterfalls. This was the place where Welcome to the Jungle was filmed. We also went to an awesome lookout & then to a very sacred place. It was an underground oven & just alot of stones. Apparently they have been carried one by one along a line to this one spot. Kinda random. Mitch the tour guide was so passionate about what he did & an amazing person.
I had dinner with one of the guys that I met on the tour. He was staying in one of the most expensive hotels in Waikiki. He shouted me my whole meal & cocktails. We went to a place called Duke's. Was a great place, & seemed like it was super popular. The guy, Jack, was super nice to do that for me.

Today I was off to Pearl Harbour. After my Maccas Breakfast early this morning I jumped on a bus at 6:13am. It took me over an hour to get there. I had to check my bag into storage as they don't allow bags inside. Once I got in I purchased an audio tour and walked around the museum. My number then got called to watch a movie on Pearl Harbour. They then took us out on the boat to the actual memorial. It was pouring rain here. In the memorial they had all the names of everyone that died on the USS Arizona. They had an american flag and a plaque showing what was underneath us. The oil was still spilling out. It was very sombering. I then explored the museum a bit more. Then bought a ticket to all three attractions. The first one I went to was the USS Bowfin and it's museum. The I caught the shuttle bus over to the Aviation museum. After that I headed to Uss Missouri. All of these were great. But at the Arizona memorial I met two survivors of Pearl Harbour and the author a book I bought. When I caught the bus back I decided to go walk around Waikiki.

Today I woke up and had breakfast in the hostel. I then walked to Diamond Head. It was quite a walk but I finally made it and hiked to the top. It was a quick hike with many stairs. The views were great though. I then came back and visited the zoo. It was pretty cool and I also visited the aquarium. Then I met Gino, a man I had met on my walk to Diamond Head, down at the beach. He then took me out for a surf lesson. I actually stood up a few times but fell off alot more. It was really aweosme. In the night I watched a small hula show in a shopping centre near the hostel.

Today I woke up, checked out of Arnotts Lodge and sat in the gazebo with Peter, Rob and the older lady that works in the hostel. We watched three movies, Hostel part 2, Ratatoille and almost finished the movie of 40 year old virgin. Hostel part 2 was the most digusting movie I have ever seen. It was good to pass the time though. Rob and I then caught a cab to the airport. I was chosen for a search. They patted me down and drug tested all of the stuff in my bag. It was pretty wierd. I then caught my flight on to Honolulu. The Seaside Hawaiian Hostel is a pretty cool place. I have my own room with TV. It's in a great location as well. I started to watch a movie in the main room but then left to get dinner. Waikiki is alot different to the other places I have stayed and is truly a big city.