Pearl harbour

So 4 of us got up really really early and headed out to Pearl Harbour for the tour of the Arizona memorial.

We also toured the battle ship USS Missouri and the submarine USS Bowfin.

What a day one word......Awesome!

Quite an emotional day.

 

When we arrived at 7.45am I went straight to get the tickets for the Arizona, the first available tour was 11.30!!! So with 3 3/4 hrs to fill we decided to do the Missouri, Greg has already toured the Missouri, when it was in Sydney for the 150th(?) anniversary of the Australian navy in 1986. The ship has a mighty record and was very impressive. And to stand on the exact spot where the Japanese officially surrendered, ending the 2nd World War, was really interesting.

The USS Missouri - "Mighty Mo"

 

 

 

 

I

I thought this quite amusing when it's actually on a ship - a war ship at that!

 

The USS Arizona

The white marker indicates the stern of the sunken ship, now a tomb. The top left hand corner of the photo is where the first wave of Japanese planes attacked from.

 

 

 

The USS Bowfin

The Bowfin survived the War, the memorials are to 54 subs that did not. Subs were manned by 70 to 80 men in unbelievably tight conditions, traveling under the ocean for up to twenty hours to either hunt an enemy ship, or to run from one. Whilst they only made up two percent of the navy, they were responsible for over twenty five percent of the enemy 'kills'. But they suffered many losses. Took some courage to be a sub mariner.

 

An idiot sitting behind what was a very serious weapon.

Two idiots sitting behind what was a very serious weapon...

We have a stack of great photos of this memorial. Hard to do justice to how impressive this place is. There is no jingoism, no chest beating. Simply about a place where nearly two and a half thousand people died on one day and had no control over what happened.

 

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Three Mustangs

Hawaii is a pretty cool place. Sure, it can be the Gold Coast on steroids, but that can be cool too, right? So what to do to see the place AND be cool?? That's right, let's get three American Ford Mustang V8 muscle cars - and let's make 'em convertibles!

So with the tops down, and with the GPS up and running, we hit the highway in convoy and headed north. The wind in our hair (sorry Gibbo) and the sun on our backs we were flying. Ok, some directions were missed, I blamed the late call from the girl on the GPS with the accent, but we son hit the Pineapple plantation called Dole. The landscape was beautiful, rich volcanic soil and intimidating mountains. Breakfast was had in a place called Haleiwa at Bobs Pizza, so American....."Welcuum to Bobs".....thank you..."Your welcuum"...they just have to have the last say.....great breaky though!

We zipped out again and onto Turtle Cove. A great little surf break happening, crystal clear blue water and dirty big sea turtles everywhere just swimming about. Unbelievable spot!

Then onto the famous northcoast. Waimea Bay, Sunset Beach and the mighty Banzai Pipeline. Some of the most beautiful beaches I have see. Yellow sand crushed and dropped onto the shoreline by thousands of years of enormous swells....real local sand (unlike the sand on Waikiki Beach, which was imported from Wollongong, Australia!) Today it is hard to believe this place is pounded by waves four stories high, crashIng into where we had parked our cars and walked some sixty meters just to reach the beach. It must be incredible.

Then off to the hinterland. Through lush tropical rain forest we drove down to the Waimea Valley. A short walk got us to the falls where we were able to cool off in VERY refreshing water and climb under a pounding waterfall. This place is so different to what I expected.

Then back on the road and down along the north coast, through the shrimp shanty towns to some great lookouts. Even saw some whales! Amazing. Dinner at the Crouching Lion restaurant...."Welcuuum" ...thank you...."Your Welcuuum" arghhhhhhhhhhh

With time running out, the Mustangs were fired up again and the convoy headed back onwards home. We passed the island 'Chinamans Hat' and then entered the rat race traffic that is over here. Our GPS went nuts and we tried to follow either Gibbo or Garfield....didn't care which...the top still down, it was now dark, it started to rain and all we could do was to try to keep up as the two lead cars darted in and out of traffic...then they decided to go two different ways! Fantastic guys?

Finally made it back, what a day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset beach

 

 

 

Bansai pipeline

 

 

 

 

Strangling fig at weimea falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crouching lion

 

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