Friday September 21 Kona Hawaii – a
volcano, a dog attack, 2 coffee mugs and a wedding
Overnight we had re-positioned on
the other side of the same island – known as The Big Island, which is Hawaii’s
largest and still growing thanks to the continuous lava flow. We were moored
close offshore in absolutely clear blue water.
J was not feeling too swish but
managed to sit on a bike and read her book. We were ready the moment the lunch
buffet opened at 11.30 and then hopped on a tender to the town jetty. This side
of the island is in the rain shadow of the volcano and consequently very dry,
although the side where we were yesterday was very lush and gets very high
rainfall. We wandered around the tourist area and then found free wifi in the
huge sprawling foyer of the Mariott Hotel.
Church and buriel site of Hawaiin Royal family
First church built in Hawaii
The foyer was full of artworks and
displays recounting Hawaiian history and culture. It was divided into smaller
areas and we found a quiet nook to set up in. The Americans from our sports
team were nearby, trying to organize Australian visas over the internet,
without which they will not be allowed to stay on after Honolulu on Sunday.
What is it with these guys – they assume they can just go anywhere (remembering
the 3 who missed the first 2 weeks of the South American tour because they did
not have Brazilian visas.
We found a message from Steph – she
had come home to find Ruby (next door’s Rottweiler) wandering in the street.
She went to their side gate and called for Ruby to go inside but the dog ran at
her, jumped up and seized her by the arm just below her shoulder!!! Luckily she
wasn’t carrying Lissa, was wearing a jumper and had shut the car door. Ruby let
go and Steph was able to run to the house and get inside. She rang the Council
ranger and watched the dog sniffing round the car until she wandered off, which
gave Steph the chance to get out and bring Lissa inside.
The ranger sent her for a tetanus
shot because the arm was slightly pierced. She showed us the 10cm bruise the
whole way round her upper arm. It must have been a very solid bite. Kylie from
next door was distraught – they are a lovely young religious couple with 4
children. They have taken Ruby back to the breeder for an opinion as to whether
she can be re-housed elsewhere or needs to be put down. She was a nice dog but
she used to get quite outraged whenever I parked next to their fence. No way in
the world would we have gone in their yard.
We hadn’t seen Lissa for a month or
more and she seems to be talking a lot more. She was very aware of us on the
screen and got quite excited – she usually watches TV or wanders off. Steph ran
through all the bank statements for us and it was good to see that all is ok
there.
The afternoon trivia went well – we
tied with 2 other teams and Kim called for somebody from each team to go up for
a 3way tiebreaker. They usually let the teams decide on an answer. J usually
gets most of our points but today the questions had been my sort of thing so I
went up. We all got Captain Ahab and 2 of us guessed the same answer one year
before the English stopped hanging people. We both knew that James Bond was a
Commander and it went to a 4th round. By then everybody was highly
tense – particularly Kim – and I was wondering whether we should just let the
other team win. We have totally cleaned up for the last week and today J had
brought 2 booty bundles with Tshirts, caps and wallets for other teams who
haven’t won anything yet but have been close and very nice to us.
I tried to signal for advice
whether to concede but the team didn’t understand and I was thinking it wasn’t
for me to deprive Karen and Alan from another cap if they wanted one. Kim came
up with another question and luckily the other lady didn’t know that Vulcan was
the Roman god of fire. I went back and we were all chatting happily when Kim
arrived with COFFEE MUGS!!! At last! The Holy Grail!! J said she would have
killed me if I had given them away.
Which would have been unfortunate
because we got married after that J
Bobby and Becky have decided to
experiment with wedding vow renewal celebrations and asked people to register
their interest. We signed up this morning, thinking that Hawaii was as good a
place as any to make such a commitment. We have never actually been married.
There were about 30 couples and we went up 5 at a time to repeat simple
promises to love, honour and be faithful. We each placed Hawaiian leis round
the other’s neck. While the next 5 came up we collected champagne and our
certificates and posed for photographs behind a wedding cake. There was a
Hawaiian band and we had a wedding dance and then headed off back through the
lounge where our team had just got savaged without us. Not that we would have
helped them with some very obscure movie questions.
The evening show was a bit tame – a
singer and a comic juggler. We made it to the night club at the other end of
the ship where Javier (in my red shirt) was setting up a Latin line dancing
session. At this point the excitement was all too much and I came back to
collapse, leaving J to enjoy the honeymoon J
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