North Shore

Away from the tourist nightmare of Honolulu & Waikiki, there is actually a good part of Oahu. We did the island circuit bus trip that runs up through the centre of the island (past the pineapple plantations) up to the North shore town of Haleiwa, along the water front and big name surf breaks such as Waimea bay, Three Tables, the Banzi Pipeline & Sunset Beach. (Three Tables pictured below). The bus continues along the shoreline to Windward. The final leg cuts straight over the mountain range to Honolulu. It's a really pretty journey & well worth the 4 hours on the bus. Unfortunately we didn't get much chance to hop off the bus & take photos. (Mental note: Next time hire a car to sight see.)

We broke up the 4 hr bus trip with a snorkel at Sharks Cove and Three Tables near Waimea Bay. Not a good place to snorkel in winter when the swell is running at 5m plus, but in summer, it's like a mill pond. Sharks Cove is a marine park and the fish life is therefore excellent. There are similar species to those I have seen on the Barrier Reef back in Oz. Many are slightly different and pretty variants. The only down side was the large number of people snorkeling. I think we arrived early enough to beat the main crowds.

I took about 35 photos with a disposable underwater camera while I was snorkeling at Sharks Cove. The results aren't brilliant because of the low resolution and the fact that colour disappears the deeper you get under water. Red goes first and Green last.

This is one of my better shots. It is a member of the Surgeonfish family, but I don't know which one exactly.

Most of the Trevally in Australia are pretty much silver with little other colour other than black spots, or the odd bit of yellow. In the true Hawaiian style of flashy colours, the Blue Finned Trevally found around the Hawaiian islands are covered in iridescent Blue markings & a spattering of yellow strips. I saw a few while I was snorkeling at Sharks Cove & Three Tables (not little ones either).

Windward

Across the range from Honolulu is the town of Windward. It has a much better feel to it than the tourist strip on the other side of the island. The scenery is such a contrast to that of Waikiki. The mountains are high & shear, and the vegetation is incredibly green. They seem to get heaps more rain on the eastern side of the island due to the prevailing wind & the steepness of the range. Unfortunately the Windward shopping centre got in the road of a great photo, but it was the best I could do.

Diamond Head

Diamond head rises above Waikiki & you can walk up it an about 45 minutes. It isn't an arduous climb, but it takes some doing. The crater of the extinct volcano (above) is the start point of the climb.

 The view from the top of Diamond head is pretty spectacular. That is Gotham city (Waikiki) in the background & Pearl harbour is in the distance behind.

Pearl Harbour & Dole Plantation

Hawaii is very touristy, to say the least, & the Pearl Harbour Memorial is the epitome of just that. The folks from the US of A lap it up. But I was very unimpressed.

First you watch a half hour film about the Pearl Harbour attack. It didn't tell me anything that I hadn't already seen on the History Channel. Then they take you out to the wreck of the USS Arizona, where there is a memorial to those who died that day. The memorial itself is actually quite ugly, to be honest (below). They tell you that the oil droplets on the surface under the memorial are from the ship's fuel stores, but rumour has it that the yanks leak it intentionally for the tourists.

Lucky it was free, because I would have felt cheated otherwise.

While we were waiting for the memorial, we went next door to the USS Bowfin, a WWII submarine. It was much more interesting than the memorial. They give out a headset that gives you a self guided audio tour of the vessel.

The highlight was the active amphibious assault ship (AAS) coming into port at the time. (see left of picture below). They look a bit like an aircraft carrier but only accommodate helicopters, Osprey and other S.T.O.L. aircraft, not jets.
The battleship USS Missouri was pretty impressive. Battleships have given way to Carrier groups these days.

Dole Pineapple Plantation

This is the most touristy thing on Oahu. The Dole Plantation. It was OK, but was seriously corny! For those who have been to the Big Pineapple in Queensland, the train was like that, except the narration was corny and the plantation was a bit unkempt. We do these things to tick the box and say we've done it. Having said that, the pineapple sorbet in the waffle cones were awesome!

The new room doesn't have the view, but it is heaps quieter and the view at night is better.

Flight to Hawaii

Our trip from Christchurch to Hawaii started pretty well. Kerri, her Nanna and me, all boarded the trusty 737 for the short flight up to Auckland. We even arrived on time (more or less).

After a fairly brisk maneuver from Auckland domestic airport to the international terminal, we just cleared customs in time to get on the flight. We even taxied and powered up to take off. We got about 100m before the pilot shut the engines down and headed back to the terminal. Four hours later the plane was fixed and we were off again.

This is about the only highlight of our horrible travel day. The photo below was taken as we were flying past Fiji.

We finally arrived in Honolulu at about 1.30am instead of the 9.30pm as originally planned. To make things worse, the customs officials in trying to speed things up, shafted us big time! We were about mid pack in the line and ended up being the last through the customs gate. Our suit cases were already off the carousel and being looked at as abandoned baggage. It was 3.30am before we turned the light out at the hotel.
We didn't surface until 9.30am and this is the view from our hotel room. It overlooks the entire Waikiki strip.

Unfortunately we had to let it go. The wall next to our heads backed onto the lift well. It meant that we thought there were road works in progress down on the street. We figured that we weren't going to be in the hotel much and a good night sleep was more important than the view.

Hamner Springs

In with the Relatives

It pays to be on your best behaviour when spending time with your partner's family. I didn't really follow my own theory much at all & still managed to get in the good books.

Check my form with a monster piece of Kerri's Mum's Pavlova. It was a good one too! Not as good as my own mother's Pavs of course! Gee it was a good one though.

Here is a nice family portrait, but it isn't my family (yet)! Pictured left to right:- back row - Yours truly, Pat Barrott (Kerri's Dad); front row - Kerri, Iris Stevenson (Kerri's grandmother), Jeanette Barrott (Kerri's Mum).

A spot of mini golf before heading back to Christchurch.

This photo is of Frog Rock (can you see it?) You see it along on the road to Hanmer Springs. The rock even has its own railway station!

Hamner Springs

Kerri's parents took us up to Hanmer Springs for two nights. Hanmer Springs is about an hour and a half's drive north of Christchurch. Apparently it has become a bit touristy these days (it has a bit of a Queenstown feel to it).
Geothermal activity brings hot water to the surface from the water table. They filter it and pipe it into man made pools.

There are about a dozen pools of varying temperatures. The coldest are about 28 deg C & the hottest are 39. You can go pool hopping or just stay there & turn into a prune. It is really quite nice on a cold day (or night).

Hanmer Springs sits at the foot of conical hill. It's not a huge mountain, but it takes about 45 mins casual walk to get up there. The view's not bad.

This bridge/ravine is the focus of yet another NZ adrenaline sports centre. You can Bungee jump, jet boat, white water raft, quad bike or off road go cart. The river in picture is the Hanmer River.

Noah (below) is Kerri's Mum's dog. He's the dog you have when you don't really have a dog. I have copped a bunch of abuse for taking the piss out of the mop, but it has been so worth it!

Ashburton

We spent 2 days (well 2 half days) down at Ashburton visiting Kerri's Grandmother. Ashburton is about an hour's drive from Christchurch. It's a farming hub for the mid Canterbury region. I also met a few more of Kerri's relatives.

Below is the Ashburton Domain. It's a big public park & is really quite pretty in autumn.

Rakaia

Rakaia is a small town a short drive north of Ashburton. It appears to be a big time fishing hub. Check out the 20 ft salmon.

Christchurch Gondola and Scarborough

Christchurch Gondola

Today was all about a ride in the gondola up to the top of the same hill we had driven up the night before. Great views, but it was blowing a gale at the top. I managed to take a few nice shots.

Kerri's Mum, Jeanette, came up with us.

I quite like the photo below. It has a whole bunch of different features. Note the sun reflection on the other gondola, the road below us, the ridge running across the shot & the landscape in the background.

Lyttleton Harbour

This was one side of the view from the top of the gondola. I stitched two pictures together for this one. Christchurch was actually started from this harbour until it became too big for itself & city was founded on the other side of the ridge.

The photo below was taken on the other side of the ridge to the one above. It is by no means all of Christchurch, but it is the prettier part by the ocean. The other shots just didn't come out too well because of the haze.

Scarborough Beach

This is one of the other Scarborough beaches around the world. Not a nice as the Perth version as far as beach goes, but quite nice all the same.

There is a clock tower at the beach for some reason. Interesting with the cliffs & houses in the backdrop.

Christchurch City Tour

Today we did a little sight seeing tour of Christchurch. There wasn't a huge amount to see, but we kept ourselves amused for the day. The most noticeable thing was the lack of high rise buildings. It must be the only CBD I've seen that doesn't have a bunch of sky scrapers. I think it's a good thing.

We bought a hop on hop off tram ticket for the day and Kerri did the tour guide thing around the city. The trams only run a loop around the city. They were phased out way back.

The most interesting thing was the little café area (above) that is covered where the tram actually drives through the building. (Well I thought it was interesting anyway.) Notice the egg above the tram.

On the ½ hour the egg opens like a cuckoo clock & has odd little animated scenes with Moa birds, Maori hunters, rugby players and bungee jumpers. There is also a voice over with music.

A very strange tourist attraction, but worth a giggle.

They really love their rugby over here!

This is a talking point around Christchurch for all the wrong reasons (See left of the picture above). It is meant to be a chalice representing something to do with the native flora. Unfortunately the leaves all look like wacky weed & the chalice looks like a cone. No wonder everyone thinks the city of Christchurch is on drugs!

One of the places we did go was to the Museum. It was OK. There seemed to be a big emphasis on the Moa bird and the New Zealand Antarctic mission. There was also a Penny Farthing bicycle that you could hop on (above).

After dinner, Kerri's dad, Pat, drove us up into the the hills above the city. Cities always look better at night. The view was great, but the wind was howling & it was very cold. We tended to stay inside the car as much as possible.

The cold wind that had been at it all day kept us rugged up and huddled together during our sightseeing tour.