Jason -

Lots to see indeed! Much of the tour seemed to be driving around while the driver said stuff like "If you were on the other side of that hill, you'd see..." or "If that mountain weren't shrouded in clouds, you'd see...". :P But, we did see a lot, all the same. We started out at a lookout overlooking a beach, with a memorial stone dedicated to Amelia Earhart.

Next we went to the Dole Pineapple plantation. We only had 15 minutes there, so we couldn't go through the pineapple maze, or take the tour, but we did see a variety of species of pineapple plants, have some pineapple non-dairy "icecream", and buy some fresh pineapple chunks. We also got rained on a bit.

I should point out that it seems very rare to find actual dairy products here. Restaurants have "Tasty Buttery Spread", and "Super Pasturized Non-Dairy Creamers" made from soy. Milk is expensive on the islands.

After the pineapple plantation, we drove to Waimea Falls, and took a short hike. Waimea Falls is essentially a giant garden, with plants taken from all over the world, with a 3/4 mile hike up to a waterfall into a swimming hole. We had to stop on the path to let a peacock cross. Not something you have to do too often in Ottawa. We also saw a variety of strange plants, although I'll wait until we post photos to elaborate there.

Next we stopped briefly at a large beach on the Banzai Pipeline, a part of the coast so named for its excellent surfing. Waves here get up to 30 feet tall, although it was quite calm while we were there.

At around noon we stopped at the Crouching Lion Inn for lunch, which is named after a local legend about a rock formation above the Inn, which looks sort of like a crouching lion. The legend basically says it is a god who was assigned to watch over the islands.

We next stopped briefly at a Macadamia Nut field, where we could try Macadamia Nut Coffee. Anne Marie and I declined.

Next was a trip to the Valley of the Temples to see a Byodo-In Temple, a replica of a 900 year old temple in Uji Japan, near Kyoto. To quote from the brochure; The replica was "constructed entirely without the use of nails. It was completed in 1986 in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the fist [sic] Japanese immigrants to the islands of Hawaii." The temple houses a 18 foot tall Budda, covered in cloth and gold lacquer, seated on a lotus flower. This is the largest Budda carved in over 900 years. The grounds of the temple had a variety of wildlife as well, including many carp in a surrounding stream, peacock, and ducks. The temple was very impressive.

The Valley of the Temples is essentially a huge graveyard, filled with both traditional graves, and a plot of Japanese family graves, and many different temples.

After the Valley of the Temples, we stopped at a lookout on the side of a mountain, overlooking the island. That was very impressive, and very windy. Lots of cool photos, including one of Anne Marie with wild crazy hair.

Next we stopped off at a blow hole; a formation of rock where waves cause a huge geizer to shoot up into the air. We also saw a very impressive and inaccessable beach at the bottom of a huge ravine. The ravine didn't seem to stop some dedicated folk from being down there, splashing amongst the rocks and the 5 foot waves.

Finally we drove to Hanauma Bay, which is a big fish sanctuary in a U shaped bay. The bay is full of coral, and many friendly fish. We plan to go snorkelling there sometime in the coming week.

We also, over the course of the tour, saw countless beautiful beaches, most of the island, lots of strange trees, and many landmarks made famous by television shows such as Hawaii 5-0, Lost, and Magnum P.I. (including Magnum's house, and a baseball diamond where they played on the show). We also saw the road where the penguin got run over in "50 First Dates".

After getting home from the tour, we went to "Da Big Kahuna" for dinner, and then we went down to the main strip in Waikiki, which was closed today. Today is actually holiday in Hawaii; King Kamehameha day (the first king Kamehameha, Kamehameha the great, invaded Oahu, and united all the islands of Hawaii under one rule). The whole of downtown Waikiki was closed off for "Matsuri in Hawaii", part of the "Pan-Pacific Festival". There were about 5 or 6 stages setup all along the Waikiki strip; lots of Taiko drumming, some oriental fan dancing, some traditional polynesian dancing, and the Hawaiian Royal Marching Band (which played a variety of music, including a big-brass version of Britney Spear's "Toxic".). Pretty amazing stuff, but Anne Marie wasn't feeling well (something was really bothering her eye), so we came back to the hotel and had some Godiva chocolate chocolate chocolate cheesecake, with chocolate. It was very good, and very chocolatey.

Expect lots of excellent photos from today.

I should mention, BTW, that I'm dating these using Ottawa time. The problem is, I'm not sure if BlogSpot is going to use the timezone I specified or the local timezone from the PC I'm using... For reference, this post SHOULD be dated June 11th 3:10 AM (and here, it's June 10th, 9:10 PM). If, when reading this, the time you see isn't 3:10 AM, then BlogSpot is using the local timezone, and all the times will be totally wonked.