HAWAII BLOG: 11/3/18
LIFE IN HAWAII
So far in 2018, we’ve survived a ballistic missile alert and being locked inside a volcano.
Welcome to life in Hawaii.
Living in Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, is a tourist fantasyland: Hundreds of gas flames shoot from head-high metal tubes on pavements (Tribute to beach fires lit by ancient Hawaiians to guide canoes); malls consist of New York designer stores plus giant trees; surf lessons cost $120.
But we're living like locals. We bought Hawaiians’ must-have accessory - a hammock. Nati made flower necklaces. I learnt to surf. Leo is learning the Shaka sign.
We’ve learnt life-work balance is in the right order here: Evening means 3pm onwards and it really is quite normal to play beach volleyball for three full days per week.
I do have a temporary office in our apartment. But it consists of an ironing board & stacked empty boxes of nappies, beer and cornflakes.
Priorities are different here. On New Year's Eve, Hawaii's main paper buried news 6000 homes will flood when sea levels rise, preferring a front page splash on tuna fish being cheap. (Raw tuna is the – surprisingly delicious - New Year meal here).
POLYNESIA & SUNSHINE
I love remote places. Hawaii is three-quarters of the way from Peru to New Zealand, and so far west that islands south of here are on the other side of the International Date Line.
Just when I was feeling chuffed to have visited the Polynesian Triangle’s three extremes (New Zealand, Easter Island, Hawaii), I found out Hawaii is actually in Oceania. Yes, the same continent as Australia. Then I was really pumped.
It’s year-round summer here.
But every Hawaiian island has the same extreme microclimate: West side dry (dusty river gorges), east side dripping wet (world’s wettest place is in Hawaii).
Rainfall is incredibly localised. The valley three miles from us is 10 times wetter than England. But it hardly ever rains in Waikiki.
And there’s snow right now on Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island. And don’t tell Edmund Hillary but it’s the tallest mountain in the world, measured from the seafloor.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Hawaii might be nervous about North Korea, but the islands will be destroyed by the ocean – eroded away, with nothing left above sea level in a few million years. It’s already happened to the other 200 volcanic islands in the chain which stretches to Alaska.
Unless a 500-metre high tsunami hits first.
There's no typo in that sentence. Underwater volcano collapses trigger mega-tsunamis. A 500-metre high one obliterated Hawaii's main island millions of years ago.
Hawaii’s islands - like most of Polynesia’s islands – were created by the Pacific Place plate moving north-west at 10cm a year, passing over a stationary hotspot in the earth's mantle, which bulged upwards to create 200 volcanic islands.
That’s why all Pacific Island chains run North-West to South-East. Cool hey?
CANOES & NATIVES
Asians paddled and later sailed canoes to settle Polynesia, arriving in Hawaii in two waves around 500 and 1000.
Captain Cook was the first European here, before being knifed in the back while kidnapping the island chief.
Apocalyptically, Hawaii’s native population - a million strong when Cook arrived – was reduced to 44,000 by European diseases in 100 years.
The USA illegally grabbed Hawaii in 1898, about the same time it did similar to Cuba and Panama.
We went to Hawaii’s uplifting protest march on the 125th anniversary of the US takeover.
Hawaii has a 10% native population. They're in a better position than Aboriginals. They strive for the Maoris’ status in society.
FLOWERS & SHAKAS
This is a Hawaii blog so I’ve got to mention loud shirts, Mai Tai cocktails, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (singer with the most stunning voice who died from obesity), and Shaka gestures (a man lost his three middle fingers in sugar mill accident in 1960. When he waved, an iconic symbol was born).
Oh, and I forgot the stars. Hawaii’s amazing stars. The same stars that humans used to navigate to these beautiful islands in the first place.
PS The missile alert was a false alarm. And the guy from the volcano crater cafe unlocked the gates.
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