We left Thames and headed to Rotorua (Row-toe-roo-a). Along the way we stopped at Karangahake Gorge. Here the Waitawheta River charges out of its steep rocky canyon and merges with the Ohinemuri River. Almost all the names of streets, road, cities and towns and geographical places are named by the Maori people. Generations ago canoes of Maori ancestors sailed from East Polynesia and landed in New Zealand. Due to mixed marriages there are now very few Maori of pure Maori descent in New Zealand.
Here at the Karangahake Gorge we elected to do the Windows Walk which took us over two swinging bridges, up many many steps, and through tunnels which required flashlights which fortunately we had brought from Phoenix. The mine tunnels had a series of openings or windows which looked down at the remains of the batteries and river below. Panels along the path told the story of how over 100 years ago gold was mined in this area. Gold was extracted from quartz ore and was the nation’s third largest and most productive quartz gold mine. An incredible four million ounces of gold was removed from this area.
After our hike we stopped to view Owharoa falls then we continued on to Mt Maunganui which is really a lovely and popular beach town in the shadows of Mt Maunganui, an extinct volcano. This seemed much like a California beach town with many shops and restaurants as well as sun worshipers. We saw people making the long trek up to the top of the volcano for the view of the town below, but we found people watching more entertaining. On this day they were having youths between the ages of 10 and 14 competing in an ocean lifeguard event. All of the youth had qualified to be lifeguards and this competition was to recognize the best of the best. We chatted with one of the mothers of the competitors and she said that since New Zealand is surrounded by water, children train at a young age to be lifeguards since they are in high demand.
Some observations:
Everything in New Zealand is metric so we are having to refresh our knowledge of the metric system.
A “track” is a walk and a “tramp” is a hike and expect some challenging terrain.
A “torch” is a flashlight.
A large pizza and a large coffee is the size considered medium in the U.S.
New Zealand does not have many traffic lights or stop signs. Instead there are round-abouts everywhere. Bill loves them and I hate them.
All the beef used in fast food restaurants is 100% New Zealand beef and it is really good.
The New Zealand people are friendly and eager to help. They are curious about where we have been and where we are going in their country. Strangers say hello and wish you a good day.
We left Auckland and headed toward the town of Thames ( pronounced Tims). Along the way we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula. This stretch of scenic highway is considered one of the best on the North Island. The road hugs the coast of the Firth of Thames (a bay) and has narrow roads and several one lane bridges with signs telling you which side has to “give away” (yield). We passed through one particularly harrowing stretch of road that was extremely narrow and we wondered what would have happened if we had passed one of the many large trucks traveling the road. We stopped along the way at a rest/camping area and talked awhile with a New Zealand couple camping there in their camper van. They owned their camper van but this also seems like a popular way for tourists to travel in New Zealand since they are readily available for rent. New Zealand is very friendly to campers and there are several options available with campgrounds as well as places you can camp for free for two nights. This couple was staying in a free two night area near the water where they could swim and fish. We seriously considered this option when planning our trip but decided to go the rental car/hotel route. We arrived in Thames for a two night stay. We usually do not do bread and breakfast places, but this place had excellent ratings and private chalets. We were greeted warmly by the owner and given homemade shortbread cookies and a bottle of liqueur. We loved our little chalet which was bigger than a hotel room and had a small fridge, microwave and hot plate/convection oven. We had access to the hot tub steps away from our chalet and the use of their large barbecue grill. We certainly enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub and watching the sun set over the Firth of Thames. The new day we drove to Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. Cathedral Cove is known as the most beautiful small beach on the North Island. We were lucky to find a parking spot in their very small lot and walked around admiring the beautiful views. It is possible to hike from the parking lot down a very long steep path to the beach, but on this hot day we decided to pass on the hike and admire the beauty from afar. Our next stop was Hot Water Beach. This is one of the North Island’s biggest tourist attractions. During low tide scalding hot water pulses out of the sand. You can rent a shovel and dig yourself a spot to make your own spa pool. All this must be done within two hours of low tide and since low tide was 9AM and 9 PM we missed it. Somehow knowing we had a nice clean hot tub waiting for us at the chalet made the thought of wallowing in hot mud less attractive anyway. Some observations: A car park is a parking lot. The New Zealand sun is very intense and hard on fair skin. It is possible to get a sunburn through the car window and 50 SPF doesn’t help much. The New Zealand currency is much like the U.S. dollar in some ways. They have coins for one and two dollars instead of paper. The smallest coin they have is 10 cents so if you purchase something and need change less than ten cents they keep the difference. Hey! That adds up! The days here are 13 hours long. Bill says the coffee is not very strong. Living out of a suitcase and moving every two or three days has its challenges. If I had 10 cents for every time we said “I can’t find” or “do you know where….”, I would have enough money to buy me one of those $4 cans of Diet Coke! A note on immigration. The government here makes it very hard to immigrate to New Zealand. Before we boarded the plane the airlines made it clear to everyone boarding the plane that you better have proof of a return ticket when you got to Customs in New Zealand. When we arrived they did ask us how long we were staying and we signed a customs form declaring that to be true. They did not ask us for any proof.
Another day we headed down to the strip where we walked around beautiful Caesar’s Palace with its statues, fountains, a colorful dragon in the Forum Shops area, and the first curved escalator we had ever seen. With all the twists and turns throughout the enormous Palace, it was very easy to get lost.
We attended a Rod Stewart concert at the Coliseum in Caesar’s Palace. He put on a great show and at one point walked into the audience very close to where we were sitting. The show ended with colorful balloons falling from the ceiling as he performed his closing number. It is hard to believe he turned 70 last month!
After the concert we walked over to the Bellagio to see their nightly water and light show. The Las Vegas strip is an amazing place to see at night with all the lights!
Disregard the previous email posting, this replaces that post of the same name.
We were eager to explore the area outside of Las Vegas and our first adventure was to make the short drive to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. This 200,000
acre area in the southern Mojave Desert gets its name from the fantastic red sand formations that can be found in the area. More than 500 million years ago this area was at the bottom of the ocean. For more than 250 million years limestone sediment accumulated and southern Nevada began to emerge from the sea. The great sandstone cliffs at Red Rock, thousands of feet high, are made of Aztec sandstone. The sandstone rocks were slowly uplifted thousands of feet to their current elevation where they have been exposed to weathering and erosion. The red color comes from deposits of iron oxide and calcium carbonate. Exposure to weather caused some of the iron minerals to “rust”, resulting in the beautiful red, orange and brown rocks.
There is a small Visitors Center there and a thirteen mile scenic loop drive with overlooks and places to hike and rock climb.
Paleontologists have confirmed that fossilized tracks made 180 to 190 million years ago in Red Rock Canyon are the first documented dinosaur tracks in Nevada.
There are many mammals which can be found in the area, including the kangaroo rat, blacktail jackrabbit and desert cottontail. We saw numerous road signs warning us to be on the lookout for wild burros and wild horses. These horses and burros originated from animals abandoned by settlers, ranchers, prospectors and Native Indian tribes.
The next day we decided to drive a further distance from our RV resort to Valley of Fire State Park, the oldest state park in Nevada. While we thought Red Rock Canyon was
beautiful, it didn’t begin to compare with the magnificent beauty of Valley of Fire. The red sandstone formations were formed from great shifting sand dunes during the ago of the dinosaurs. The uplifting of the region through faulting followed by extensive erosion created the present landscape. Native Americans such as the Basket People and later the Anasazi Pueblo farmers lived in this region.
While in the park we stopped by the Visitors Center and watched an excellent film on the park. This state park also had a scenic drive with many stops along the way to see gorgeous scenery. Our first stop was Arch Rock followed by Atlatl Rock where we climbed stairs which took us to view some petroglyphs carved in the desert varnish. Here we saw depictions of an “atlatl” which is a notched stick used to throw primitive spears. We stopped several times to hike back into the canyon to view more petroglyphs and magnificent views. The day went by quickly and before long the sun was starting to set in the canyon.
We were so glad we visited these two beautiful areas and had a chance to see the area outside of all the lights and casinos in Las Vegas!
Native people lived in this area for thousands of years and evidence of their existence can be found in petroglyphs and pictographs throughout the park. A petroglyph is made by scratching into a rock, revealing the lighter colored rock underneath. The designs are often carved or scratched into the dark coating of “desert varnish” on the surface of the rocks. A pictograph is made by painting designs onto the surface of rocks.
Red Rock Canyon’s petroglyphs (scratched)
Red Rock Canyon’s pictographs (painted)
Valley of Fire ‘s petroglyphs (scratched) “atlatl” which is a notched stick is at the top
Valley of Fire ‘s petroglyphs (scratched)
Closer view Valley of Fire ‘s petroglyphs (scratched)
We left Boulder City and headed to Las Vegas. Bill had been there several times but this was my first time. Neither one of us are gamblers, so we knew our time in Vegas would center on sightseeing in and around Vegas and perhaps taking in a show.
We stayed at a campground about 15 minutes from the strip making the drive wherever we wanted to go very convenient.
One day we headed to the downtown area which was the original gambling strip and still the location of many casinos. We stopped at the famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, one of the most photographed signs on Earth. We had a free audio tour of the Las Vegas area so we played that as we drove.
Fremont Light Show
Fremont Light Show
Designed by architect Frank Gehry, this is the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health
After dark we concentrated most of our time in the Fremont Street area where we saw a sound and light show featuring 12.5 million lights. There are many interesting sites to see downtown!
One of Bill’s favorite things he did while in Vegas was going to the Gun Garage and shooting some automatic weapons. He shot an MP5-9mm, M4-9mm, UZI-9mm and an AK-47. He even has a bruised shoulder for his efforts. His target showed what a great shooter he is! I was content to stand to the side and be the photographer!
After ten days in the desert at Quartzsite we sadly packed up to leave. We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to return in several years.
We headed back into California with a brief stop at a California agricultural checkpoint. Agriculture is very important in California so anytime you enter their state they stop you and ask what fruits, vegetables, nuts, plants and firewood you have with you. We had heard some RVers had oranges they had been given in Arizona and those were confiscated at the border.
Lake Mead Recreation Area
We arrived at the Lake Mead Recreation Area where we stayed for two nights at their Boulder Beach campground. We had a beautiful view of Lake Mead from our campsite. We visited the Lake Mead Visitors Center where we saw a movie and learned that Lake Mead is the largest man made lake in the United States and the largest reservoir by volume. Currently it is down about 40 feet from the severe drought. We could see the white oxidation line where the lake should be.
Towers that feed water from Lake Mead to the generators
Our purpose for coming to this area was to visit and tour Hoover Dam, known as one of the seven wonders of the Industrial Age. We made the very short drive from our campground to the Dam and paid for a tour. First known as Boulder Dam and later renamed after President Herbert Hoover, it is a concrete arch gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River half in Arizona and half in Nevada. While touring the dam you are at times in Arizona and then other times in Nevada. The Dam was constructed between 1931 and 1936, with its dedication in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The building of the dam was a massive effort involving thousands of workers and the loss of over a hundred lives. Our tour guide told us contrary to what some have said, there are no bodies buried in the concrete. Life was very hard for the workers with long hours and back breaking work. If they missed one day of work they were fired, so they worked sick or well.
Model showing top view of dam layout
Inside view of the Nevada generators
What a generator looks like inside. This one was currently under maintenance.
Our tour took us 530 feet down an elevator in 70 seconds to a tunnel drilled through the rock wall of Black Canyon. The tunnel was drilled in the 1930’s construction to the Penstock Viewing Area. Here we were atop one of the four huge thirty foot diameter pipes that can transport nearly 90,000 gallons of water each second from Lake Mead to the dam’s hydroelectric generators. We then got on another elevator which took us to the power plant balcony on the Nevada side where we had a panoramic view of the 650 foot long wing of the power plant where eight of the dam’s seventeen huge generators are located. The dam’s generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona and California.
Arizona generators in the top building and Nevada generators in the bottom building. We were standing in the bottom building during our tour
On both the Nevada and Arizona side are spillways that are designed to direct high water from Lake Mead around the dam and through tunnels in the canyon walls. The spillways are so large that a World War II battleship can be floated in each one.
We also visited the excellent visitor center where they had many audio, visual, and interactive exhibits as well as a very interesting movie on the construction of the dam.
Our month in Hemet was very busy with yearly physicals, chores around the RV and making plans and reservations for much of 2015.
We left Hemet and headed to Quartzsite, Arizona to join a huge gathering of RVers. We had read that for about a month in Quartzsite, RVers from all over the country gather to socialize and enjoy the warm Arizona winter sunshine while camping in the desert. They take advantage of miles and miles and miles of BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) where you can camp for up to 14 days free. Anywhere from 750,000 to 1,000,000 people surround the tiny town of Quartzsite, and needless to say they love having the extra money in the local piggy banks. Also during this time vendors come from all over and set up their wares near the town center, which includes everything you could possibly imagine wanting or needing, and then some! If you love flea markets, this is your paradise.
We discovered that among the many groups meeting in the desert was a large group of amateur radio enthusiasts (see quartzfest.org). We decided to join them and it turned out to be an excellent choice. Bill had a ball since every day, members of the group had daily seminars on all kinds of topics related to amateur radio, as well as other useful seminars on topics such as solar energy. In the evenings they had happy hour as well as a couple of pot lucks. Also while we were there Bill was able to take a test and upgrade his license from General to Extra, the highest level possible. He was thrilled and I was so proud of him because he decided to take the exam 2 days before it was being given. With all the seminars, happy hours and fun activities, he had very little time to study. Most people have study for months and still have to take the test several times, so it was quite an accomplishment for him to pass it the first time with little study.
While camping in the desert we saw some beautiful sunrises and sunsets, as well as clear, starry night skies. We never saw or heard any coyotes. They probably retreated far into the desert to get away from the crowds. In our amateur radio group there were around 440 people, and a ranger told us the crowd in Quartzsite this year was estimated to be 850,000. We had never seen anything like this gathering of RVers, it is truly a place like no other in the world! We were so glad we went and can’t wait to go back again!
After 10 days in the desert we packed up and headed to see one of the seven wonders of the Industrial Age. More on that in the next blog!
Here is a panoramic video made of the Waikiki and Honolulu area:
cut and paste this link to your browser
“http://youtu.be/ymVpPdVpKds”
In this post we will describe our drives along the north and west sides of Oahu.
The North Shore area of Oahu is made up of beautiful beaches with dramatic mountains towering above the shore. This area is famous for its “pipeline” waves, the massive waves you see at the beginning of the tv show “Hawaii 5-0”. It is a surfers paradise. We saw larger waves than we had seen on other parts of the island, but the massive pipeline waves usually occur during the winter months.
Turtle Beach with no turtles
Watching the world go by
We stopped for lunch at a shrimp truck. While these roadside trucks are usually not our dining choice, our audio tour companion encouraged us to try one. We stopped at one called Romy’s, which was more of a shack than a truck. Bill got the garlic shrimp and he said it was without a doubt the best garlic shrimp he ever had in his life. I think it is going to be very hard for him to find garlic shrimp ever again to match the meal he had at this little shrimp shack. They farm raise the shrimp out back so it is super fresh.
Romy’s Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp has really GOOD butter & Garlic shrimp!!!
We stopped at Nuuanu Pali State Wayside Overlook which at an elevation of 1200 feet had amazing views of Oahu from a stone terrace on the edge of cliffs. The Hawaiian word “pali” means cliff. This area is of historical importance to the Hawaiian people because on these cliffs in 1795 is where King Kamehameha won a battle that united Oahu under his rule. The battle was fierce and during the battle hundreds of soldiers lost their lives, including some who were forced off the edge of the sheer cliffs.
Impressive view of windward O’ahu from Nu’uanu Pali State Wayside (cliffs) at 1200 feet elevation
A view of Waimea Valley and the northern shoreline from the Puu O Mahuka Heiau on O’ahu
Puu O Mahuka Heiau historical site (religious site or temple) on O’ahu
Another day we drove along the western side of the island. We wondered why there was not an audio tour included for this part of the island and after reading up on the area in our trusty tour book, “Oahu Revealed”, we think we know why. This is considered the poorer side of the island and decades ago the islanders were not friendly to tourists. Years ago tourists were often attacked on this part of the island. We read this has stopped and the area is considered safe, though still a less desirable area. We felt it was safe to drive around and we had no problems. The beaches here are beautiful and much less crowded since tourists do seem to avoid the area. We did see more evidence of homeless camps set up along the beaches, though this too has been discouraged by the police on the island. We read that at one time there was a very large homeless camp on the west shore of the island but all that has been cleared out.
We noticed this part of the island seemed drier and less lush than other parts of the island. Bill took some pictures showing the difference in the mountain landscapes. We enjoyed our drive through this area of Oahu even though we really did not see anything to do except for the beautiful beaches. Other than several fast food restaurants we didn’t even see any good places to eat.
It may be hard to see the color difference but the foreground mountain is brown and the background mountain is green from plenty of water
We loved our month in Hawaii visiting Kauai, Maui, the Big Island, and Oahu. Our favorite island? Hard to say. Probably if you twisted our arm and made us answer, we would say Maui and the Big Island. Kauai is beautiful but small with less choice of restaurants and stores for supplies and the snorkeling was not quite as good. Maui had great snorkeling and beaches and lots of places to eat and shop. It definitely has a resort feel to it. The Big Island has great snorkeling with beautiful weather and plenty of restaurants and stores on the Kona side. The Hilo side is rainy and chilly with a very limited choice of restaurants near Volcanoes National Park, but how often do you get to see an active volcano??
Oahu is very busy with freeway traffic, noise and tons of people, restaurants and shopping opportunities. On our way to the airport to fly back to San Diego we stopped in Honolulu and took some pictures of Christmas decorations and the famous statue that also appears in the opening credits of “Hawaii 5-0”. This is one of the places we saw tourists snapping pictures. The statue is of King Kamehameha the Great (1756-1819), perhaps Hawaii’s greatest historical figure. There are four statues of the King; this one in downtown Honolulu, on the Big Island at his birthplace, another in Hilo, and in Washington, DC at Statuary Hall.
Mrs. and Mr. Santa in front of city hall
The shaka sign, sometimes known as “hang loose” to convey the “Aloha Spirit”
King Kamehameha the first
Red-Crested Cardinal it was introduced around 1930
One last comment. All of our flights on this trip were on Hawaiian Airlines. We have only good things to say about this airline. The planes were on time and very clean, the flight attendants friendly and helpful, and on both flights to and from Honolulu and San Diego we were given in flight meals with complimentary wine. Not bad for a non first class seat!
Aloha until the next blog posting!
Our last view of Diamond Head from the Honolulu airport
You absolutely cannot visit Oahu without going to see Pearl Harbor. The tickets to see the Arizona Memorial are free but I forgot to order them online and they only give out 2,000 tickets a day at the memorial. We were a little nervous about being sure we could secure tickets while we were on Oahu because when I tried to get two of the 300 tickets available online each day, it said the next available date was a week from when we were due to leave! We arrived early in the morning and we were very pleased when there was no line at the ticket counter. The lady handed me two tickets with no problems with a very short wait for our turn to take the boat over to the USS Arizona memorial. I had read that during busy tourist season the wait could be as much as 3+ hours. We purchased headphones which gave us an audio tour of all the exhibits at the Pearl Harbor Visitors Center as well as an audio tour at the USS Arizona memorial.
While waiting for the boat we were taken into an auditorium where we watched a movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor. We then boarded a boat for the very short trip over to the memorial. I have no adequate words to describe our time there. How does one possibly write anything that would do justice to such a hallowed spot? The USS Arizona Memorial is built over the sunken hull and honors the 1,177 crewmen who died. The memorial was dedicated in 1962 and the hull is a tomb for over 900 sailors who died inside.
Display of what the USS Arizona looks like underwater
No smiles, just deep emotions here
The names of all those who died are on a wall inside the memorial
Some survivors later chose to be buried inside the memorial
Also nearby is the USS Oklahoma honoring 429 sailors who died when the ship capsized, as well as the visible hull of the USS Utah Memorial commemorating its 58 dead.
When we returned from the Memorial we spent some time touring the Visitors Center with the
The ships in red were sank during the attack
aid of the audio tour. The Visitors Center has excellent detailed exhibits on the attack and aftermath. While we were there they were beginning to set up for Dec 7th ceremonies the next day.
After lunch Bill took a tour of the Battleship Missouri Memorial which was docked nearby. The USS Missouri was launched on January 29, 1944, and is the last U.S. battleship ever built. We toured the USS Iowa battleship in a previous blog “October 18, 2014 Huntington Beach, California” both ships are identical but have important but different roles. She is three football fields long and towers over 20 stories tall. Most importantly, after joining the battle of Okinawa, she became the site of the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.
We visited Pearl Harbor on December 6, the day before the 73rd anniversary of the attack. We were excited to learn that the next day, December 7th, there would be a Pearl Harbor parade down the main street in Waikiki, a block from where we were staying. We walked down the street from our condo and found a seat on a lava rock wall. The parade was very patriotic, with the grand marshals being four of the survivors of Pearl Harbor. There are only nine remaining survivors of the USS Arizona and approximately 2,000 to 2,500 Pearl Harbor survivors alive today of the approximately 60,000 survivors on the day of the attack. The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,400 people and sank or damaged 21 vessels and 323 military planes.
In the parade we saw many bands, all playing patriotic music, including bands from Roanoke, Virginia and Sanford, Florida. Bill and I love to watch the TV show “Hawaii 5-0” and we were excited to see in the parade the guy on the show who has the garlic shrimp truck. Since the parade was held at night it was especially hard to get clear pictures of moving people.
Hello, Oahu! The last island on our Hawaiian adventure. We picked up our rental car and headed to Waikiki Beach where we had rented a condo for our seven day stay. We immediately noticed that compared with the other islands there was lots more traffic and people. And we do mean lots! We had a nice view from our balcony on the 17th floor, but it was noisier than the other islands with city noise.
Can you find Bill?
Having onion rings with a pretend flower behind my ear
We spent most of our time exploring the island by car, dividing Oahu into four sections. Like on Kauai, Bill was able to purchase and download to his phone an app that gave us an audio driving tour of the island.
The first day we explored the Waikiki and east side of Oahu. If you love to shop, love beautiful beaches, and don’t mind hordes of people, you will love Waikiki. We were able to walk to eveything from our condo, and it was especially nice to have a wide selection of restaurants to choose from each evening within a short stroll.
Houses are built everywhere
Getting ready for sunset on Waikiki beach with Diamond Head Crater in background
Asian tourists have their own bus
We followed our audio tour as it took us to Diamond Head, the most recognized landmark in Oahu. The actual name of the volcano is Le’ahi. It is believed to have been formed about 300,000 years ago during a single brief eruption. The broad crater covers 350 acres with its width being greater than its height. The southwestern rim is highest because winds were blowing ash in this direction during the eruption. Since the eruption the slopes of the crater have been eroded and weathered by wind, rain, and the pounding sea.
Diamond Head got its nickname because in the late 1700’s, Western explorers and traders visited Le’ahi and mistook the calcite crystals in the rocks on the slope of the crater for diamonds. Imagine their disappointment when they discovered it was not diamonds! Because of its panoramic view, Diamond Head has been used over the years as a site for coastal defense. Most pictures of Waikiki will have Diamond Head in the background.
We stopped at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve to do some snorkeling. We had high hopes for this location because it was advertised as the best snorkeling in Oahu. It is the only place during our month in Hawaii where we had to pay to park and snorkel. We were required to watch a short video on protecting the coral and sea life before we were allowed to ride a trolley down to the beach. It was low tide and the coral in that area is very tall, so in some places we had to be very careful not to touch the coral or scrape ourselves. While we saw some fish, the experience was not nearly as good as the wonderful snorkeling we did in Kona on the Big Island.
Hanauma Bay has a big reef to snorkel over
After changing clothes and eating a picnic lunch, we continued driving along the coast and came to the Halona Blowhole. Since it was not high tide the spouting was not magnificent, but we still got a picture.
Kalaniana’Ole Highway
Halona Blowhole
Eastern shore
We stopped by the Puu Ualakaa State Wayside Park which is on a cinder cone with a breathtaking sweeping view of downtown Honolulu and Diamond Head. We reached the park by driving on Tantalus Drive, a narrow winding canopy-covered road that steadily climbed to the park. We were rewarded not only with a great view but also with a lovely rainbow!
Overlook of Diamond Head Crater and Waikiki Beach hotels
Houses are built everywhere
We ended the busy day by visiting The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, otherwise known as the Punchbowl. The cemetery is located in Punchbowl Crater, an extinct volcanic tuff cone that was formed 75,000 to 100,000 years ago. The Hawaiian name is Puowaina which means “Hill of Sacrifice” because the area was first used as an altar where Hawaiians offered human sacrifices to pagan gods. In 1948 Congress approved funding to make it a national cemetery as a permanent burial site for the remains of thousands of World War II servicemen.
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
It is a very lovely, peaceful setting with beautiful views of Honolulu and Diamond Head.
Beautiful end to a perfect day.
Sunset on Waikiki beach
Night view from our hotel balcony
Cookie Consent
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using our site, you consent to cookies.
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
_gac_
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
and merges with the Ohinemuri River. Almost all the names of streets, road, cities and towns and geographical places are named by the Maori people. Generations ago canoes of Maori ancestors sailed from East Polynesia and landed in New Zealand. Due to mixed marriages there are now very few Maori of pure Maori descent in New Zealand.
flashlights which fortunately we had brought from Phoenix. The mine tunnels had a series of openings or windows which looked down at the remains of the batteries and river below. Panels along the path told the story of how over 100 years ago gold was mined in this area. Gold was extracted from quartz ore and was the nation’s third largest and most productive quartz gold mine. An incredible four million ounces of gold
was removed from this area.
which is really a lovely and popular beach town in the shadows of Mt Maunganui, an extinct volcano. This seemed much like a California beach town with many shops and
restaurants as well as sun worshipers. We saw people making the long trek up to the top of the volcano for the
view of the town below, but we found people watching more entertaining. On this day they were having youths between the ages of 10 and 14 competing in an ocean lifeguard event. All of the youth had qualified to be lifeguards and this competition was to recognize the best of the best. We chatted with one of the mothers of the competitors and she said that since New Zealand is surrounded by water, children train at a young age to be lifeguards since they are in high demand.
