They say when travelling you need to do as the locals do, so when in Hawaii I guess you ride some gnarly waves and hang ten, if you can. Even though I had no surfing experience, we decided that, as Aussies, we didn't need surfing lessons. The waves were breaking 200 metres from shore which allowed for a long and smooth ride. So how hard could it be?
Josh is an alright surfer back home, on his short board and Perth's dumping waves but we were on a 10 foot long board and it handled like a boat. We failed to catch wave after wave and it was starting to get disheartening to see small kids tearing it up around us.
It was avoiding the reef, choosing the right wave and gaining enough speed that was tricky and we didn't really get the hang of until we were too exhausted to keep going. By the end of the day, Josh had rode a few good waves, I managed to get up onto my knees and my tan was looking pretty sweet. Wins all 'round.
During our last days in Hawaii, we hired a car so we could explore the island of Oahu. Unfortunately we chose the two days with the worst weather. Sheets of rain bucketted down and the wind was nearly enough to knock you over. For Josh, the designated driver, it took some getting used to driving on the left side of the car and the right side of the road. There were a few moments of confusion in the beginning, but Josh's plan was to think of whatever came naturally and to do the opposite. And for a while he was doing really well.
It wasn't until the second day, while in a small surfing town in North Shore, that a small mistake nearly spelt disaster. Josh had turned into the wrong lane and we didn't even notice. That was until a monster truck, with wheels as high as our car, appeared from around a corner and was heading straight towards us. We both screamed, Josh slammed on the brakes and the huge truck swerved around us. Still in shock and out of breath, we looked at each other and said, "Imagine trying to explain tyre tracks on the roof of our car to the hire company."
Aloha Hawaii and mahalo for a great week!
Say hi to ours mums for us!
Ps. Pub crawl was great and we made some new friends. Problem is, we drank too much to remember any good stories! *wink wink*
