Aloha. Better late than never.

We are on the flight to New York after a fabulous four nights in the tropical paradise of Honolulu. It has been hard to get this blog underway, with one thing and another, the day one jet lag being one thing and the excitement of the Mai Tais and the 8.5 percent local ale at the conveniently located Brewery being another.
The flight from Sydney was a bit of a drag, really. It was pretty much impossible to get any shut eye and the in house entertainment was a bit skinny, but the end result was Waikiki and that’s not a bad result.
Day One was dinner at our hotel, The Outrigger, after a lazy beach day. The meal was terrific. The payment of the bill is the greatest challenge. The gratuity system is complicated for us poor Aussies used to just ignoring the rude waitress and walking out of the establishment vowing to never go there again. The service is annoyingly perfect, accompanied by toothy smiles and “for your convenience, sir and ma’am” to encourage you towards the maximum “recommended gratuity” on the check. We got into the groove soon enough, although the system is slightly different in different places.
Waikiki was great. It is packed, of course, so queueing for tables was par for the course, but that’s ok.

On Day Two John, Marty and me sampled the local brewery’s wares and then all six of us caught the last catamaran for a Sunset Cruise. It was pretty spesh out in the harbour watching the big red bugger drop out of the sky, with soaking shoes and a bellyful of hops.

While J, D, M and M took a hire car for a spin on Day Three, Mich and I did some damage to the Visa Card and I ended up with some new threads. Then beachside. The water is milky warm, sky blue and clean. Wonderful.

A few lazy Mai Tais and a dessert you would kill for later, we hit the sack.

Our last day was the real tourist trip. Pearl Harbour. Really interesting. We did the right thing by not going for the whole nine yards - a six hour tour. We sampled what was there in out own time, cheaper and better, apart from the $2.50 90 minute bus ride, stopping at every stop. That was a bit of a mistake, but we got to see the seedy side of the city, including two correctional centres and schools that looked like correctional centres, but with more barbed wire. Pearl Harbour is very Roger Ramjet glorification of war, but a great insight into the way the military pervades society here. They love it. Gee whillikers, they do.
Saw inside a submarine and outside a ballistic missile. It was designed for soft targets the woman in my headset told me. “Like cities” she added, with impeccable comic timing.

Big farewell dinner in matching Hawaiian shirts and beads, excellent.

Roll on The Big Apple.