We are slowly getting used to the hot weather and masses of people, although I’m not going to lie the hike we did yesterday was very busy and I found myself longing for the quiet nature of the National parks, where seldom did you see anyone.

The hike we did today was recommended in our guidebook and was named Diamond Head Crater Trail. You have to book a permit to be able to do it (at no cost) which seemed strange, but thank goodness you did otherwise there would have been even more people.

We set off from our hotel at around 8am as the beginning of the trail was about a 3 mile walk from our hotel. We didn’t mind too much as it goes along the beach and through parks so was very scenic.

You start at the bottom of a volcanic crater and the walk is a 1.5 mile round trip from there. It was a very steep and winding trail with many stairways making it seem a lot longer. We are very used to these types of trails though thanks to our time in the National parks so we weren’t phased! There’s multiple switch backs to start with after which a staircase takes you to a dimly lit tunnel (which is 225 feet long).

Following this there are further steps to reach the summit which had great views of the crater, and Waikiki. There were also some army look out points too.

Once we’d done the walk we made our way back to Waikiki beach, stopping to have our lunch on the beach and paddled back along the sand towards our hotel.

We went for a late afternoon cocktail in a tiki bar for a happy hour cocktail. I had a margarita and Si had a fruit rum slushy. The views from the roof top bar were great as they looked out over the beach. The surfers were like dots bobbing in the ocean.

The next day we had a more relaxing day and wandered around the shops. There is a good mix of branded shops and local independent stores. We got a really cool and unusual souvenir from one of their small independent shops. You will have to wait and see what it is when we get home 🙂

In between shopping we had a pit stop at Arnolds bar, which is just off the seafront so more reasonable prices.

We also wanted to watch the sunset on the beach so we took some deckchairs from our apartment and made the short walk to the beach front. Naturally a lot of other people have the same idea but it was still worth it.

We have a busy day visiting Pearl Harbour so more on that trip in a few days.

Aloha! (which can mean goodbye, as well as hello)

Lucy