Transition Phase: Oahu Part 1

Landed at Honolulu Airport, drove to Friend 1's house in Nu'uanu.

View from Friend 1's back porch; looks out on Koolau mountains (which up the Pali Highway, forms the area where the Pali Lookout is.


The following are pictures from the Nuuanu Pali Lookout. Pali means "cliff"; the lookout is on a 985 foot cliff overlooking part of the island (Kaneohe Bay, Chinaman's Hat) and the Koolau Mountain range with it's steep cliffs and cutouts. The Pali Pass goes through the mountain and forms a wind tunnel. When you are at the lookout the winds rush to really high speeds, so much so that you typically have to secure your camera, bags, and sunglasses; clothes billow in the wind, and on certain days you can lean into the wind and be propped up without falling forward. (Note to the ladies: you'll put on a show if you wear a skirt, because you ain't going to be hiding any of the goods in that wind.) It's usually very hard to hear others talking up there (probably another reason I like it - no tourist chatter in the background) because you hear a ton of white noise as the wind swooshes past your ears.

History of the place: the story of the Pali involves a bloody battle fought in the struggle for control of the islands a long while back. As King Kamehameha I fought to unite the islands under his rule, during a bloody battle, he pushed the warriors defending Oahu up to the Nu'uanu Pali, where he drove the remaining ones over the edge of the cliff to fall 900+ feet to their deaths. After that, he was in position to take Oahu under his rule, making this one of the key battles in Hawaiian history. So neat to be in a place with such historic significance and such an all-senses experience.
The valley. Kaneohe Bay on left (not fully pictured).

Koolau Mountains; note bottom left, you can see one of the Pali tunnels. (Pali Highway connects Honolulu/Waikiki side of the island with the opposite; faster than driving the perimeter of the island.) The highway (before it was a highway) was first a foot trail walking around the steep clidffs, then horse trail (narrow); then a 1 lane dirt road, before it was finally paved into a 2 lane road (then again expanded to 2 lanes each side).

Chinaman's Hat rock formation.

Next: Phase II: Australia, October 22