North Shore, Oahu Hawaii - June 2015

North Shore - The ‘pipeline’ is on holiday for the summer

The north shore is where nature has created these long, beautiful beaches. In the winter, these beaches are famous for all those 15ft waves and hunky surfers (the pipeline refers to those huge 15ft waves) but in the summer, the sea is flat as a pancake, families with kids on beaches, local teenagers bronzing their white skins and not a wave nor surfing hunk in sight. Swum with my first turtle, they seem to be oblivious to us big humans floating in the water with them. Again they have a lush interior and palms are all around – when the wind catches the rough edge of the plant, it makes a noise like crushing metal - infact one just shed one of its big leaves, made me jump out of my chair!

Hawaiian lifeguard - Pick me up, set me down

So one morning I was taking my pictures of the flat ocean with the lifeguard’s cabin in view to have a bright “heh, what are you doing here” from the lifeguard. He was surprised I was travelling solo, and took his cue to ask me round to his house for dinner.. I couldn’t get a sense of him behind his dark sunglasses so I hesitated and said what about some beers in a bar. But it was the highway or no way, as he was intent on getting me round to his house, bezozzle me with some drinks and then I would have to stay the night. Alas, no riding of the waves there then, I had barely landed on shore!

Beach greetings from an open heart

On the first day, I met a nice man who was playing with his daughter at sunset. I met him again, this time with his son who was so bright and wanting my attention. The father told me that he had open heart surgery when he was only 3 days old, as he only has 2 heart valves instead of 4 – and has had several operations since then. The little boy then proceeded to pull down his Tshirt as he was talking to me and I could see his huge scar - he was such a lovely little boy, it made me really appreciate how medicine has allowed this little boy to be on this planet. He was also very concerned how I was going to get home, bless him.

Waikiki visitors on the north shore

It seems to be a popular day trip out as I met several parties from Waikiki. All were enjoying themselves but there seems this north/south rivalry as the ‘Waikikites’ could not understand how you could live so remotely and away from the action is in the city!

Random people I’ve met in North Shore

Hawaiian couple who have just come back after a month of partying in Ibiza, German and Asian American from Baltimore travelling with their parents, dentist dad with his kids on the beach who also managed to take a 3 week vacation

Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii - June 2015

Oahu is Hawaii’s metropolis, multicultural, financial centre, shopping mecca, where there are posh hotels, seedy bars, great university, has the surfing glitz of the north shore, 3 lane motorways.. it is also where everyone is happy to talk to each other, tourists and locals alike – a feel good island..

The people

Hawaii is has such a diverse population, I really didn’t know which part of the planet I had landed on in the first couple of days. Initially populated by Polynesians AD 300 – 600, they lived off the land until the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778who bought Hawaii to the world’s attention (and he was also killed on the Big Island in 1798 – there is even a town called after him). Since his arrival, missionaries and whalers started to arrive, and by the 1850’s, the sugar planation owners recruited heavily from China, Japan and Portugal. After US annexed Hawaii in 1898, Oahu’s plantation owners recruited labourers from Porto Rico, the Philippines and Korea.

So you can see, there is no one look – infact I had to pinch myself sometimes that I was infact not in Japan, China or Korea but in Hawaii (in the Honolulu area anyway..). And then to top it off with all the tourists who come from far and wide, it is the South Pacific melting pot.

Nature’s bounty around Honolulu area

Hawaii is an amazing set of tropical islands. Created by volcanic activity, and then eroded over time once the volcanos became inactive (although the one on Big Island is still very active), an amazing biosphere developed. The botanical gardens outside Honolulu is a case in point, the volcanic hills rise up at 90 degree angles and then there are these lush rain forests everywhere… The Manoa Valley and waterfalls are dwarfed in huge trees, plants growing up barks, wet rainforest walks up to the falls. Waterfalls seem to hold a special place in the American’s heart, as any waterfall walk is like a pilgrimage.

Random people I’ve met in Honolulu

I met American people my age who were attending a military conference, a Brazilian who was eagerly waiting for his Japanese wife to come over, whom he was due to marry the next day; a South African doctor who has been flying 22 hours for the last 10 years to take his family on holiday on the islands; a Hawaiian of Japanese decent taking photos who confessed that he does not know any Japanese as it hadn’t been passed down by his parents; the crazy artist who divulged his life story to me as I was sipping my iced coffee at Starbucks in Honolulu.

The force of nature

I am about to venture out into the world, capturing nature's majestic beauty and people's stories along the way.

I will be posting regularly, so if you need some escapist thoughts whilst at work, some inspiration as to what is out there in the world, want to savour nature's beauty - this will be the haven for you for the next 4 months.

To tales further afield and coming your way.. starting 1 June!