Thursday

At 5am this morning, our alarm went off, and Steve and I got out and had brekky. We then took our knapsack and headed out the door and down the lifts and walked to the Marriot Hotel a little ways down the road. We waited for our pickup van along with 8 other couples to take us to the Diamond Head crater where we were going to walk to the top!

Our tour bus/van

Before heading up.  The summit is our destination

We received a history lesson in the process and learnt that the crater was also used as a cattle ranch and a lookout during WW1 and WW2. We also learnt that hardly anything in Hawaii is native but most is imported by the Polynesians many years ago by canoe, hence called the canoe plants. Even the national flower is not from Hawaii! Even the people are mixtures: Korean, Irish, Japanese, Chinese, Polynesian etc.

 

Kona nut tree - also imported

The trek up was steady and we had breaks along the way. Lots of steps but an achievement when you get to the top! And what a view!

View from the crater looking towards Waikiki. The construction on the top is one of the bunkers.

After getting back to our room, where Jaclyn had very ably taken care of the little girls, we went to Honolulu Zoo. The girls loved looking at the rhinos, the giraffes, zebras and of course the monkeys!

Entrance to Honolulo Zoo

After a bit of a lazy afternoon, we headed out to Mac 24/7 for our last dinner in Hawaii. Plenty of food!

Hawaii has almost come to an end. 

Tomorrow we get picked up at 10am by the shuttle bus and taken to the airport. 

And after an approx 6 hour flight we hope to arrive in Seattle.