The Banana Bungalow rocks, just watch out for the wood lice. I met the nicest people here and this has been by far the best week of the tour. I'm going to miss Maui. I missed 2 of the tours. The whale watching, which is apparently hit and miss and the 12 mile hike of Haleakula. I would have liked to do that, but I have a prior engagement in Honolulu on Sunday
I love listening in on hostel conversations. This guy today was giving advice to someone who has an idea for a film and wanted to find out how to get funding etc. to get his film made. He claimed to be a highly successful film producer and started handing out his advice. Mate if you're so successful why are you vacationing in a hostel.
The hostel gave me a free lift to the airport. I was walking to the departure lounge when I saw a familiar face. It turns out that Mx is on the same flight as me although she goes on to Kauai. She claims she didn't know what flight I was on, but I think she's stalking me.
After a stressful 22 minute flight I got the $8 airport transfer direct to the hostel. Apparently they don't like you taking baggage on the local buses from the airport. I'm staying in the HI @ 2417 Prince Edward Street in Waikiki (a suburb of Honolulu).
So here I am back on Oahu and in the main centre of Hawaii. Apparently 65% of the population of Hawaii lives in Honolulu. Honolulu is the state capital and therefore a big city. Waikiki however is very nice and clean. Oahu is the 3rd biggest of the 135 Hawaiian Islands (only 8 main ones) and very popular with tourists, especially the Japanese. It's all very different from the seclusion of Maui. I had been warned, buts it's more built up than I imagined.
I met up with brummy Dave (from the Banana Bungalow) and headed to the pro bowl football festival in the local park. There were NFL players and cheerleaders signing autographs and games to play. We didn't recognise anyone so we took a walk up to Diamond Head.
Diamond Head is a volcanic crater that was used as a military installation and is a famous Honolulu landmark. The trail to the top provides a great view across the hills, the ocean and the city from a height of 760 feet. It cost $1 entry and was quite a hike to the top although well worth it.
In the evening we walked again, this time to the cinema. We watched 'Miracle'. It was a typical America beats the big bad and unbeatable Russians. I expected so much of this film, but really it was patriotic poop.
