Toblerone's Hawaiian Vacation

Like National Lampoon's european vacation with more boobies and less Chevy Chase...

Published on June 4, 2006 By Toblerone In Vacations

Well here are the photos I've promise. For those of you trying to contact me on my mobile: I lost my mobile phone in Hawaii but it looks like it is being posted back to me by the hotel I lost it at so I might get it back sometime next week.

All about the Jacksons and Hamiltons. Me with my first American money at home before the trip. US money reminds me of monopoly money. In Australia our notes are made out of plastic and US money seems somewhat primative.

My first photo of Hawaii. This is the island of Oahu which is where Lost, Magnum p.i and Pearl Habour was filmed. We landed there first to get a connecting flight to the Big Island Hawaii.

Photo from the balcony of our room at the King Kamehameha hotel in Kona on the big island. Clouds constantly hung onto the mountain (ex-volcano) but it never rained the entire time we were there because we where in the rain shadow. The weird thing about the big island is that one side is practically dessert while the other side is rainforest.

The first thing we did on the big island was to take a flight over it.

This is the active volcano on the big island. This was a lot more spectacular in real life. You can see lava bubbling. There are parts where lava is going into the sea, unfortunately that day it wasn't visible through the clouds. This area has been active since 1983. Back then the lava was coming out in fountains.

Around one side of the island there are hundreds of waterfalls and beautiful valleys. Unfortunately though it was the probably the most beautiful part of the island it didn't make for very interesting photos. One part of this side of the island was used for a couple of scenes in Jurassic Park (most of it was film on the island Kawaii).

Same side of the island as above.

The next day Mum and I went up Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea is actually the worlds highest mountain if you measure it from base to tip. It also has the worlds biggest telescopes. The round buildings are Keck I and II which have a mirror diameter of 9.8 metres. The square building is the Subaru telescope which is the worlds most expensive. The mountain in the background is the island of Maui. You may notice that this is actually above the cloud layer which make it a great site for an observatory. This was probably the most beautiful sunset I've seen in my life. Note the snow in the foreground.

Phantom Mountain. This is not a mountain, this is Mauna Kea's shadow on the earth's upper atmosphere. In real life you would swear you were looking at another mountain in the distance.

Keck I and II again. After taking these sunset photos we were driven back down to 9000 feet (from almost 14000 feet) to do some stargazing. It was great fun.

After our short stay on the big island we went to Oahu. This is a picture from the balcony of the Marc Suite Waikiki hotel. The valley in the distance contains University of Hawaii where my mother did her Masters and PhD (mum and I visited the campus and had a look at her old flat).

No explanation needed.

Fun Fact #1: We were on the 7th floor. Fun Fact #2: Brandie is scared of heights. Fun Fact #3: Our balcony looked like it had previously fallen apart and been cemented back together several times.

Taken on our last day from the airport in Honolulu. The mountain in the background is called Diamond Head, so called because the British found crystals there that look a bit like diamonds.

Good times come at a price - all about the Washingtons...

Most of our shots of Oahu are on normal film and some haven't been developed yet, I'll put them up later. We saw Pearl Habour,the Arizona memorial (a ship sunk in the Pearl Habour attack) the USS Missouri (a the ship that the Japanese signed the surrender documents on). I also went SCUBA diving but I don't have any photos of that. Diving was great, I saw a turtle close up underwater, lots of pretty fish and played with an octopus. We also went on a glass bottom boat tour and saw some dolphins and turtles.

Well that is the short version of the story, I'm not in the mood for quality writing at the moment. I'm just getting over a 24 bug, mum and I have been throwing up. I'm getting a lot better now but mum still feels like 10 shades of crap. We suspect we got food posioning at Sydney airport. Perhaps I'll write the full story later on.

Comments (Page 2)

Bahu Virupaksha

on Jun 14, 2006

I just loved your pictures. I too went to the University of Hawaii, a programme in Sakamaki Hall. I graduated in 1987 from UH and have not been there since. Seeing your pictures brought back a flood of memories. I lived on a dorm on Dole Street and spent a lot of time at Ala Moana. I loved your pictures of the Big Island and Kauai.

Toblerone

on Jun 14, 2006

Reply By: Bahu VirupakshaPosted: Wednesday, June 14, 2006I just loved your pictures. I too went to the University of Hawaii, a programme in Sakamaki Hall. I graduated in 1987 from UH and have not been there since. Seeing your pictures brought back a flood of memories.

I'm glad I brought back some good memories for you.

I loved your pictures of the Big Island and Kauai.

I went to the big island and oahu, I never went to Kauai.

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