Waikiki, HI

Wednesday 31st Mark and I woke early and snuck out for a walk south-east along the coast to the Sans Souci beach area; a popular walking/jogging route for the like minded early risers. We were taking a tour of the island today and met our guide, Lani, at 9am. Lani was an extremely well informed guide with a jolly and generous spirit who talked non- stop and passionately about the various physical, biological and cultural features that we encountered around Oahu. It was a wonderful, albeit long, day enhanced by the natural beauty of the island and Lani’s enthusiasm. We drove through some of the wealthy areas where a home can be a mere $30 million. That’s USD too! We saw the north shore beaches where, although relatively flat today, the surf is often at 35 feet. A draw card for all of us was seeing places where many famous film/TV shows were shot. Including ‘Lost’, ’50 First Dates’, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘From Here to Eternity’ (yes…that beach scene), ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’, ‘Hawaii 5 O’, ‘Fantasy Island’ and, not forgetting, ‘Gilligan’s Island’. Lani returned us to the hotel at 5.30pm, all somewhat weary from having taken in so much throughout the day. We went across the road to a wonderful teppanyaki steak house for dinner, ‘Tanaka of Tokyo’, that was almost more theatre than food and a first for Tom. We sat around a horse-shoe shaped table and were entertained with a knife and volcano show whilst we ate. Later, back in the hotel, we tried to sleep but there was a concert in the courtyard of our hotel due to NYE making this a difficult task. .