Birthday boy

I am in Waikiki for my Birthday. I hit the beach and watched the canoe races, the sunset and the fireworks.

Then I wondered the streets to find some entertainment. Successfully! I found a strange convergence of tastes in Waikiki... Thanks go the crew of the HMCS Ottawa, the girls at Femme Nu, and that crazy Australian four piece ukulele band providing the music!

Lava is cool!

On top of the World

Yesterday, I went up to the summit of Mauna Kea. At 10000m from base to top, it's the biggest mountain on the planet. 4200meteres from sea level, it's an ideal location for an observatory. What a place for a nerdly tourist to visit...

The sky was clear, the view stunning. My pictures are in the gallery!
At this time of year, because we're so close to the Equator, you can see both the star Polaris and Sirius. Wow!

Sunset was awesome. (You can check it out in the gallery of course), but above, is my favourite picture of my whole trip. That's not another mountain on the horizon... it's the shadow of the mountain I am standing on, cast across the top of the clouds. Those are my legs and so my shadow is cast about 230 km to the very edge of the world.

No Break for the Brakes

Getting to Hilo was fun. I flew from San Francisco to Honolulu, and embarked on a regional flight to Big Island. As we we taxiing up for takeoff, the brake warning light came on and we had to swap to a "better" plane.

They have a sense of humour here!

Aloha!

I am in Hawaii! I am staying on the outskirts of Hilo, on Big Island. It's a bit of a rest stop on my way home :)

This is where I went swimming this morning.


This is where I went swimming yesterday.

w00t!