Travel. O.seas. Hawaai 1980

Hawaii and America. 1980
After such a wonderful journey through out the United Kingdom and Europe in 1978, I have been saving very hard to satisfy my desire to explore more wonderful places around the world.
Having three weeks holiday I decided to check out the beautiful Hawaiian Islands and some states of America. with my English friend Harry Letch, whom I met while being a barman in the Riverina Hotel and him a patron. Harry was a school teacher at the Ngaruawahia High School, a long way from his home just outside Newcastle in Northern England, He was going home and we decided to travel together for part of the journey, then Harry would continue on to New York and finally England. My travels would take me as far as Flagstaff near the Grand Canyon.
Our journey started in Auckland New Zealand with a Continental flight across the Pacific, having a brief refuelling stop at Pago Pago in American Samoa, had time to watch some very good song and dance entertainment from a group of children. Back on the plane again the flight took us through the international dateline so it was Thursday once again. The plane landed at Honolulu just after midnight and with a suggestion of a friendly taxi cab driver, took us to a very nice reasonably priced motel, just one street away from the famous Waikiki beach.
Next morning we changed our lodging to one of the Outrigger hotels where we had booked for a one night of luxury, a glorious ocean view from our fifteenth floor apartment. Now it was time to enjoy this pearl of the Pacific .a walk around the beach and international markets, next some sunbathing and swimming, the water was tepid, there were some good strong waves. Although this seems like a bustling city, hundreds of cars, buses and people, there is also a feeling of relaxation in holiday mode.
The state’s capital, Honolulu is on the Island of Oahu, with long white beaches and lovely blue sea. Waikiki has many high-rise resorts, including the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, a distinctive pink showpiece of the 30’s with beautiful interior décor.
Deciding a bus tour around the Island was a good way to explore, we travelled through many small villages along the coastline, viewed the huge Mormon Temple with its lovely landscaped gardens. The tour visited the Nuvann lookout way up in the hills, a wonderful panorama view of surrounding countryside and coastline.
A stop for lunch at Waimea Falls was a cool relief from the heat in lush rain forest. Looking over the nearby valley was a steamy jungle in this tropical Island. Heading back we passed many popular beaches, especially one called Sunset, which is noted for it’s mountainous waves. We were soon in the middle of pineapple plantations, stopping for a sample of their juice. very refreshing, I learnt a lot about their growing habits. A very enjoyable day, tours are great for learning the relaxing way about these beautiful Islands
Our short time of luxury was over, goodbye to the Outrigger and back to the Blue sky Motel, just one street from the beach, an ideal day for sunbathing and swimming, also an interesting visit to fort De Russy with exhibitions about the two world wars.
We booked a tour of Pearl Harbour which started with some showers, not very good for photography fortunately the weather cleared when it was time to take a boat to the graveyard of many battleships which were sunk during the Japanese invasion on 7th December 1941, the Arizona memorial built over the wreck was very touching, 1, 100 sailors went to a watery grave, the outline of the ship was visible in the crystal clear waters.
Our stay in Hawaii was over, next stop was San Francisco, arriving very early, we managed to find a central hotel. It was still early morning so after a refreshing shower we booked a city tour so as to get our bearing of this lovely city. The tour took in along the down town area, Delores Mission, many lovely parks including a fine Japanese garden, we drove to Twin Peaks for a wonderful view of the city, then crossed the Golden Gate bridge, which to my surprise was not golden but a reddish brown, it is 4,200 feet long, built in 1937, then on to the Presidio, the site of the original garrison, built by the Spanish to protect the settlement in 1776. Next was a drive along Marina Boulevard, past many fine waterfront houses and on to Fisherman’s Wharf, then back to the central city where the tour finished.
We were soon heading back to the waterfront where we enjoyed a lovely seafood lunch at the wharf and then explored the inner city with its colourful China town. A challenge was to climb up the world’s most crooked Lombard Street, a challenge to your fitness.
A boat cruise to Alcatraz was very educational, the abandoned prison closed in 1963, situated one and a half miles in San Francisco harbour, surrounded by ice cold treacherous currents and sharks and held most American notorious prisoners. U.S rangers conduct informative and witty tours of the old home of Al Capone and other convicts to dangerous for normal prisons.
The rest of our stay in the city seem to be spent in sampling some well deserved Budweiser beers and enjoying the sights of this great city.
Moving on south by Greyhound following the coastline to San Jose, had time to explore this small Mexican style seaside town, then on to Santa Cruz passing some lovely wooded scenery. . The resort town was nearly empty of tourists, as the season had not yet started; we found a reasonably priced motel and explored the waterfront and Casino, not a lot of action.
Next morning we continued our Greyhound journey south still following the coastline to Salinas where a change of bus with a direct express route to Los Angeles, being more inland now there were many miles of market gardening and vineyards on the 101 freeway. There was a brief stop at King city, then onto Paso Robles for a lunch break. Well known names like Santa Maria and Santa Barbara, here we joined up with the coastline again and enjoyed a glorious red sunset over the Pacific Ocean.
By early evening we were in north Hollywood, then the density of Los Angeles was soon noticeable, we finally arrived in the huge city with its Spanish charm mixed with many huge glass and steel high rise buildings. Although it was mid-winter the temperature was a pleasantly mild one.
We found the tourist information office at the Greyhound depot and were able to purchase a concession three day ticket for use around the city, plus information on Disneyland and universal studios, next was accommodation and start planning to explore this very busy city.
Next morning early we caught the bus to Anaheim for a busy day enjoying the many themes, fantasies, make believe and advanced technology of Disneyland. The main street sets the scene of a small town in the U.S.A. at the turn of the century. Most of the houses and shops are three quarter size in an effort to escape from the realities of the outside world. Different themes like Adventure land; Frontier land and Tomorrow land really tested your imagination. We enjoyed or braved many of the attractions like the roller coaster, an innocent old train ride that scare the life out of us.
Next day it was Universal Studios was another fascinating place, a tour by bus brought back much of the realities of past movies like Jaws and the Towering Inferno. An earthquake reproduction was so very real, even the safety of the bus was in doubt as it shook and dodged falling rocks.
It was early afternoon when we caught a bus to San Diego, about two hours south of L.A., the bus had a tyre blow-out so it arrived in the early evening in this very lovely city nestled on a sheltered harbour. I remember the hotel we stayed in had a lift that went up on the outside of the building; quite scary first time but gave a wonderful view over the city.
Still nice and warm which was nice for a walk around the city centre and down to the sea front, many pleasure craft, navel vessels making a splendid skyline along the shore, also sea world with its many shows of performing dolphins and skating penguins.
The city is close to the Mexican border so there was a chance to take a bus tour to the tourist town of Tijuana, which is just through the border. We were told to stay on the main street of the town, as there was lots of crime around there. After a passport check the bus was soon surrounded by the huge crowds that came there for the shopping and to sample the famous Margarita cocktails. Everywhere was colour, lots of leather work in purses, belts and shoes, gold jewellery and lots of pottery. Haggling over prices is a part of life here and you soon get into the technique and go away thinking you have a special bargain; produce and giftware were so cheap anyway.
The journey back to San Diego took in some lovely seaside resorts, then over the bridge into the city just as a lovely Pacific sunset put on a wonderful display.
Next morning we were on a Greyhound bus again, this time in the direction of Phoenix, Arizona, once out of the city there was the suddenness of baron rocky mountains, some rising to 3000-4000 feet above sea level, next was a very fertile valley with miles of Canola just starting to flower which left a show of rich yellow as far as you could see, then vast acreages of cotton, onto big orchards of Sunkist oranges. Before leaving the valley there were fields of lettuces as far as the eye could see, all irrigated and ready for harvest. The scenery changed again into desert scattered with hundreds of huge cactus trees, evidently it takes 100 years before they get their first branch.
With an hour time change at the Arizona border, changing buses at Gila Bend for the final drive to Phoenix which appeared out of the desert, there was still enough time to explore some of this very hot and dry city with its many old wooden churches and low rise buildings.
Next morning we caught the bus on to flagstaff. Again many miles of desert and cactus, into rocky countryside, the route took us over mountains reaching 6000 feet, great scenery and quite a few degrees cooler, snow capped mountains in the distance. Descending again into pine forests, then onto Flagstaff, a delightful town settled in a valley, the streets covered with snow and surprisingly warm.
Our base for a couple of days we found a very nice motel with great views, lovely fresh air, the town catered for tourists with many shops selling Indian handiwork, silver jewellery was beautiful but expensive.
Next morning we took an all day tour of the Grand Canyon, with the Ameripass card that came with the special tourist bus ticket the tour only cost $7.50, a real bonus It was a chilly morning with snow still laying around the streets. Our 9 am. bus started on the 1-½ hour journey to the canyon travelling through some tall pine plantations covered in snow, a very pretty sight. Nearing our destination we passed through a small town, which was a replica of the Flintstones movie, a pleasant surprise. The first glimpse of the famous Grand Canyon was amazement, it’s massive size was quite unbelievable, very hard to realise that in some places it was ten miles across and one mile in depth, just visible was the Colorado river which has eroded a passage through the 227 mile length millions of years ago. Certain viewing platforms along the rim proved to be a photographer’s dream, with a splattering of snow here and there to add to the contrast of the beautiful rusty shades of the canyon walls. The main tour took us twenty-seven miles stopping at many lookouts, Indian villages and a reconstructed Trading Post made from natural stone from the Canyon. My camera got a real workout with so many different scenes appearing along the way but when they were developed there was not very much variation of photos. It was a most interesting place to come to, I never tired of staring into its vastness, enjoying the solitude of this unbelievable magnitude of light, colour and texture, along with watching squirrels frolicking around on the snow capped rims.
It was time for Harry and I to part, he is moving on to Albuquerque and continues his journey across the vast State of America to New York where he will fly back to England. For me my journey is to the exciting flashy desert city of Las Vegas.
My Greyhound bus was soon well into the Nevada rocky dessert passing countless dry lakes, more pine forests, got some very nice views of the huge Hoover dam, a gigantic construction which eventually forms into the man made Lake Mead, the largest in the western hemisphere.
Las Vegas suddenly appeared out of the dessert, it was just on dusk and you were blinking with the brightness of hundreds of neon signs flashing. I soon found a motel and booked a night tour of this exciting city. This started with a drive around all the Casinos and homes of many famous people, then a lovely dinner at a hotel with the chance of a little flutter on the pokies, followed by a very wonderful floor show called “Ice Follies”, next the area which is called “ the Strip” which is the heart of most of the beautiful hotels and Casinos, it was late evening but could have been midday with all the bright lights. On to another show, this time it was the French revue of, “ “Follies Bergere” which was staged at “ Caesars Palace”, complimentary drinks were served, then some free time to wonder around and enjoy some of the beauty of this wonderful place, luxury first class, huge marble statues surrounded by a 20 foot model of Caesar which dominated the entrance to the mirrored walls of the hundreds of gambling tables. A marble gold-railing staircase twined up to another floor with more tables. It was a very enjoyable evening, finally ending about two a.m. All entertainment and fine food is very reasonably priced in this gambling city, mainly aimed at the tourists leaving a sizeable chunk of their savings at the poker machines, card and roulette tables. I don’t think they made much from my meagre contribution; I did try my luck at pulling down the giant lever on the one million dollar machine, all for a dollar.
Next morning I took a further bus tour around some more interesting places, visited the chapel that caters for fast, no fuss weddings, also Liberace’s mansion, the piano playing icon, there was also a museum of all his collection of luxury cars, costumes from shows and a huge grand piano. The bus travelled through the university complex and convention centre, everything seemed to be on a large scale. I spent the afternoon checking out many casinos, daylight was a totally different scene in this exciting city. I also decided to make use of the meal vouchers that evening, enjoyed a huge steak for a mere $3, had a final flutter to try for a fortune, no chance.
Next morning I started my journey back to Los Angeles, the bus was soon back in the dry desert, much tussock and stumpy Joshua trees which had pine like clumps of leaves reaching to 10-15 feet said to be over 200 years old, past more snow capped mountains in the distance, taking a winding road through the hills, then into a lovely fertile valley with miles of vineyards and market gardening. Soon the city skyline came into view and it was back to the bustle of this huge sprawling metropolis.
It was a beautiful sunny morning and just right for a bus tour around Hollywood, first stop, the famous Hollywood Bowl where many great concerts performances are held, Niel Diamond had just finished there, a shame as he is one of my favourite singers, all I could do was sit in the bowl where 17,500 people enjoyed this natural sound shell.
The bus continued on to the Magnetic Chinese theatre where you can view the footprints set in concrete of many famous Hollywood stars, on to Beverly Hills, and the huge mansions of many very wealthy people. Taking a stop at Century City Shopping mall for lunch, one could easily get lost among the hundreds of shops in the complex. Next was the Sunset Strip settled in the palm-lined streets with its many expensive designer shops, there were also 160 banks and 60 insurance companies, probably needed to cater for so much wealth? Many well-known film studios were there, exciting to actually see them knowing where many a great movie had been made.
A final walk around the city after the tour, taking in the huge high rise buildings, I enjoyed the mammoth shopping centres, something that was just starting back in New Zealand, very convenient having every shop imaginable under one roof. also a novelty being able to shop on a Sunday..
Not a very safe place to walk around the streets after dark so I found a small pub and enjoyed some drinks and a meal.
Next morning I managed to buy a tourist mini bus ticket which could be used all day and followed a standard route around the city at an amazing price of 20 cents, this took me to a large Mexican/Spanish section of the city, many beautiful old churches, Olvera St. was a treat with its cobbled arcades and shops selling colourful Mexican items. I reboarded the bus to the Japanese section, then on to downtown L.A. spending some time browsing through the California Mart, with its many wholesale and bargain shops. New Zealand had a huge tax on electrical goods, watches and clothes so this was a wonderful chance to be able to buy up some luxuries at unbelievable prices.
Sadly my holiday was coming to an end so it was time to pack up and make the 5.30 am bus trip to the monstrous Los Angeles airport, leaving enough time to stock up on some duty free alcohol and cigarettes and board the D.C. 10 flight back home. There was a short refuel stop at American Samoa, then back on board to enjoy the last part of my journey, the flight was very smooth and I enjoyed the spacious interior of this huge wide-bodied plane.
Arriving into Auckland N.Z. you are immediately shocked back to reality as another holiday is over, the customs were their usual very thorough examination, checking that all the articles I had bought were listed on the declaration as they are very keen to charge you some duty after the allotted amount has been reached.
This was my second long overseas journey and hopefully will not be my last, I have always dreamed of exploring the world and now it is back to serious savings and planning for another. Till next time.