Waikiki – Honolulu – Hawaii – USA – September 2006

Tags

'From Here to Eternity', beach, Hawaii, Honolulu, USA, Waikiki

Two weeks’ in Hawaii

In 2006 I had a wonderful opportunity –  working in Waikiki for two whole weeks.   It was the middle of summer and the temperature was quite high [bit too hot for me if I am to be completely honest]. But no complaining as it was two weeks in Honolulu paid for by my employer.The beaches are lovely in Waikiki and very crowded with lots of Americans and Japanese and many other nationalities including us Aussies.  So one weekend when we did not have to work, we took the opportunity to get out of the hustle and bustle and a group of us hired a car and drove around the island.  It was such a beautiful day so we stopped along the way to the northern beaches to take lots of photos.We then drove up to a particular area along the northern beaches where the beach scene from ‘From Here to Eternity’ was shot.  I was shown the exact spot (well sort of) where Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr rolled around in the ocean; it was nice to see but must say nothing special.  But the other beaches were just lovely…As part of the reason I was in Hawaii, my colleagues and I went to Pearl Harbour and we were given a private tour along with a tour of the USS Arizona Memorial which is a floating memorial built over the sunken hull of the USS Arizona.    Waikiki was such a busy place; at all hours of the day and night so it didn’t matter what time you went out it was always crowded along the streets and in the bars and the shops.  For me the lovely part was the water which was incredibly blue and clean.  I enjoyed walking along the shore in the early mornings and evenings just enjoying people watching and looking at the different colours of the ocean. But, I think my most favourite time of the day in Waikiki was sunset.  I was told of a particular hotel on the beach overlooking the water that was famous for watching the sun set.  I walked to this particular hotel one afternoon and found a chair and table overlooking the ocean and took the following photos sitting down with a glass of wine…All in all an incredible experience and whilst Waikiki was a little commercial it was lovely getting up to the northern beaches as the scenery along the way was magnificent.