Day 39 - Honolulu

Today's activity that I arranged yesterday was the Oahu Grand Circle Island Tour which is a coach tour around the island of Oahu. It goes right around the edge but then cuts through the middle because Apparently there isn't much to see around the other side. I thought this would be a good way to see more of the island. It would be a great tour to do if you are staying for a number of days and need ideas of where to go if you rented a car.

Our first stop was Hanauma Bay which was a nice bay with a small beach and beautiful blue water. We then drove a wee bit further to stop at a blow hole. It wasn't as impressive as I had hoped but you could still see the water blowing through a tube created by lava flow.

We stopped at a couple more lookouts and then stopped at the Byodo-In Temple which is a Buddhist temple in the middle of a cemetery. It was a nice temple with heaps of fish in the pond surrounding it. This temple has been used in Hawaii Five-O and was also in Lost as Sun's family home. Apparently it costs $5000 to film a tv show there.

Our next stop was also our lunch stop which was at Kualoa Ranch which is the

biggest ranch in Hawaii. They have various activities and tours including one that takes you in to the valley where lots of movies and tv shows have been filmed including: Jurassic Park, Mighty Joe Young and others. Apparently any movie or tv show that has filmed in Hawaii will have filmed in this valley.

We went past some of the popular surfing beaches including Sunset Beach which I think hosts the Pro-Surfing Champs. Unfortunately at this time of year there isn't really any waves. If you want to see the waves then you are best to come in winter.

We then drove through fields and fields of pineapples with out guide telling us about how long the take to grow etc. you are actually able to just cut the top of a pineapple and plant this in the ground and it will grow over the next 22 months and then produce fruit I think it was three times over the following six months. Pineapples which are exported are actually picked early so they will become yellow by the time they get to us. In the shop the way to tell if it is a good pineapple or not is by smelling it and feeling the bottom. If it smells sweet or the bottom is wet it means it is overripe.

Our last stop for the day was at the Dole Plantation where they have some various activities to do. Unfortunately we only had 20mins so I only had time to have a pineapple ice cream and buy a keychain. The ice

cream was very nice and definitely had a strong taste of pineapple.

Again it was a great way to see the island by land and see some things that you would be able to do if you had more time on the island.

Check in tomorrow, when my post will probably turn in to a bit of a history lesson (that's probably a major clue to what I will be doing)