Special Bonsai Garden on Oahu

Another reason why traveling is great.  This is a very special Bonsai garden.  The cove next to Sharks Cove on the north side of Oahu. The keeper of the garden is a homeless old Japanese lady who has taken this cove over and made it her own.  She lives in her make shift tent. The public ablution block is her bathroom and if she runs short of cash she sometimes borrows from the local firemen and always insists on paying back on time and with interest!!! (This info direct from those firemen who supply the loan).  The local authority leaves her alone while all other squatters get moved on. She earns her keep by maintaining such a beautiful water front. We watched her saying a little prayer over her little trees.  Her tools: a pair of nail scissors.
A lesson in non verbal and "just accepted" co operation.  ............This is her garden!  Note the detail.

She declined to be photographed in courteous Japanese style.

Interesting Hawaiian flag....Did you know........

I knew that Capt. James Cook had discovered these islands and named them the Sandwich Islands and I also knew that he met with a sticky end here, but I didn't know that Hawaii had a past history with the British much beyond the discovery. They acknowledge their past in their flag. The Hawaiian flag with the union jack in the top left hand corner flies alongside the stars and stripes all over Honolulu.  

For more info on the history of Hawaii centred around the British connection I chose the link below:

1.       http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/hawaii.htm     

O   Other links are more American orientated and there seems to be a bias in all directions as to what happened here depending on the author..... hey, history was written by the victors.  The influence the British had is recorded in the state flag, just another very good reason why flags should be an acknowledgement of a country's past,  it gives interest and meaning to that piece of cloth, don't you think?

2.        

The 3rd flag in this picture belongs to the Dole pineapple plantation where we had the typical American fare!

pineapple ice cream and fresh pineapple for $4.95
We shared this......

another concoction. This person wasn't sharing!!

The plantation is on the way to the northern beaches of Oahu. A slick operation.

Turtles everywhere

The turtles are enormous and a great attraction. We spent heaps of time snorkeling on the north coast of Oahu.  

 

........and then there's the movie

 

Ko olina Golf and really interesting stuff!

Yes, we played golf.  This is Ko Olina golf course.This is Tone's "can't find it" tee shot.

Playing with Tony is different.  No one behind us and a paw paw tree right on the fence line of a locked up property........just had to pick the ripe ones.
It was golfing and harvesting. Well, they were only going to go to waste....and they were delicious.

 Haven't seen this sign for years!  The idea that property is private from intruders is extinct in Oz!






Another sign you don't see in Oz.....These beaches are for the public but it's private property. People have been warned, no compensation for being an idiot.

 This is a microwave!  It's a drawer without a turn table.  Exceptionally efficient!

What is it?  It's a "Daiquiri whizzer" for campers,silly! It runs on diesel and starts like some lawn mowers and the handles work Al a motor bike style. Rev it up for different speeds!!!  These campers were serious about their sun-downers!






Interestingly, the price of alcohol is way cheaper than Oz and we are yet to see drinking on the beach or drunkenness.


There's a message here somewhere.  The legal drinking age here is 21....

Tony's 70th birthday

Dinner at the Marriot KoOlina Resort

Graham's gift to his dad of "Grange" a decade ago, had made it!  Very drinkable.

.....and just to make sure guests don't get out of hand in the decorative pools around the hotel

They're full of small Hammerhead Sharks.

For more photos of Tone's 70th click on his Facebook badge on this site.  I'm on open wireless WiFi at the moment and it's taking forever to upload a photo. Amanda is uploading her photos to Tone's FB.