beach Keyword
Waimea Bay
Hawaii has been one long beach session. All around the island are beautiful tropical beaches. One of the most famous on the North Shore is Waimea Bay. It is well known for it’s huge waves and hosts the Quicksilver Big Wave Invitational.
It is a beautiful beach and floating out on the swell really is eye opening. The season is just starting for the big waves so what I experienced there that day are considered “small”. The swell was still bigger than anything I had ever seen before.
Leading into the bay is a small creek which runs through the Waimea Falls National Park. The park is filled with historical information on how the islanders used to cultivate food and live in the area and it has a wide range of plant life and over grown jungle. About a mile and a half into the valley you come to the Waimea Falls. While it’s not recommended that one swims in the falls, I did anyway and it was great.
A bit south of Waimea Bay is a beach which is a favourite place for turtles to hang out. I have never been that close to such an awesome creature. There was something very relaxing and peaceful about sitting on the beach surrounded by such wise creatures.
The North Shore really is an amazing place. If you ever get a chance to go there hit up Masumoto Shave Ice. Great Stuff.
Waikiki Beach
Ah Oahu, you are beautiful. Touristy, but beautiful. Dominated by Waikiki Beach the area is teeming with life. Waikiki means Spouting Fresh Waters in Hawaiian and at “The grove” you can see a recreation of the area as it would have been when the Hawaiian royalty would have seen it when they held the area sacred.
Today the grove is surrounded by Oahu’s biggest and most luxurious hotels, all suprisingly very open and welcoming to everyone. All day long you’ll find people from town mixing with those using the hotels, just wandering through to the beach or eating and drinking at the hotel bars and restaraunts.
Waikiki beach is massive, and curves in a cresent along the south of the Island. To the east is Diamond Head, which I hope to climb soon.
Busy
Some people have complained about my lack of updates of late, and they are perfectly right to do so. I have neglected the Odyssey. Normally brimming with new and exciting adventures, the site has become a stale backwater festering with a quagmire of posts about drinking and lame stories of dead dogs and rocky outcrops.
Writing on the road can be hard. It is often difficult to be creative and most importantly: interesting after a day of adventuring. Most often I pick up the laptop with good intentions but all I want to do is sleep. One thing to note is that, while my lack of updates may have fallen over the last week, my days have been plenty busy.
I am in Holland now, having arrived at Schipol on Monday last week. The weather that day was beautifully warm and sunny, especially compared to the misery that was London weather. The good weather hasn’t let up since I have been here, which I am told is quite strange. My first week in Holland saw my Dad’s friend Paul taking me all over the country to see various sights. Storm doors, places in my family history, beaches, famous cities and towns. We even rode a good 50km’s on a pushy. We caught up with Henk, Jenny and their daughter Jessica in Olddorp where I dunked my toes into the freezing north sea. I caught up with my Dad’s Nephew and his Aunty and saw the tulips.
On the weekend I attended a party for one of Paul’s friends birthdays and had a great time playing Wii with kids and old’s alike. I helped Paul look after a garden of one his friends and on Sunday had a drink at a restaurant with Marion and Martine near where I am staying at which Paul lost his camera. I met Paul’s son and his wife and I cooked schnitzel for the lot of ‘em.
This Monday Paul had to go back to work, so Marion and Martine became my guides. On Monday they took me to the wonderful Madurodam where I saw all of Holland in just a few short hours. Tuesday was Martine’s Birthday so the day was spent celebrating that in the sun. Wednesday we adventured to Amsterdam where I walked the red light district, attempted to apply for my Italian passport and did a little shopping. Thursday I relaxed, gave Marion a hand with getting some plants for the garden and had an icecream at Boskoop.
So as you can see I’ve been pretty busy. I’ll try to write up some articles about some of the more interesting things I’ve just mentioned so expect to see them in the next few hours. For now: enjoy some of the photos I’ve taken from around Holland!
Noosa
This is what I imagined Queensland to be like. Perfect, beautiful sandy beaches. Lush, green and tropical bush. Beautiful skies and warm, clear water.
About an hour and a half north of Brisbane is the Sunshine Coast, and at the northern end of that Noosa Heads. Fairly touristy in some parts it is worth heading a little past the main beach and into the national park. Here you will find secluded, quiet and beautiful beaches with decent surf and nice shallow warm water. Watch for rips though.
I swam for about 4 hours, relaxing in the surf while Jess, one of Tegan’s friends who played navigator for my trip up the coast sunbathed and did assignments. I had a great day, capping it off with a fantastic fish burger and a visit to the Big Pineapple! Rock and Roll! I was a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t stop at Aussie Land and aussie it up something cruel, but I did get Jess to get a photo as we went past the Ettamogah Pub.