Oli Reveals: II

Another installment of Olis round-the-world emails:

Hi again,

I’m gonna try and email you guys every week or so…

Ended San Francisco fine, cycling the golden gate bridge and going to China
town again (i’m obsessed with it ’cause of the amazing good, cheap grub).
Been in Hawaii for 5 days now, and the pace of my journey has gone down a
couple of notches, it feels weird to be in one place for more than a night!!
The weather’s been a mixed bag, had 3 really great sunny days of swimming on
Wakiki beach (my hostel is 100 metres from it!!), climbing 200ft up to an
extinct volcano “diamond head”, hiking to Manoa waterfall in the forest
(little fish biting me in the plunge pool tickled a bit), and checking out
Honolulu. In my opinion, the city feels a bit lost amongst the island’s
greenery and water, not having much atmosphere, a bit sterile….

Also Snorkelled in some of the most beautiful turqoise water i’ve ever swam
in, packed with marine life like angelfish, butterfly fish, a sea turtle,
trumpet fish…if only I had my spear gun!! The outer reef was really far
out, but I thought I’d swim out anyway, although no-one else did…..maybe
they knew something I didn’t? As it was a marine reserve, I had to pay 5
bucks to get in the bloody place- just to swim in a natural place?!!
bastards.

The last two days consisted of rain, going to a pinapple plantation,
and…..a fuc*ing earthquake measuring 7.5 on the richter scale. As a
result the whole south part of the island had no power all day. That meant
that 99% shops were closed, no-one went to work, no road traffic and loads
of people standing around like spares at a wedding. I knew I was in the
sh*t when I was using a can of petrol with a rag in for a light source
(great idea!! burnt for almost 3 hours!!), you’re playing cards with ben and
all you have to eat is SPAM and crisps. I tell you, it was the highlight of
the trip, I just looked at the spam and then ben and said “let’s get this
over with” (eating it). Not quite a serloin steak with all the trimmings.
Today was a lot better weather-wise, along with power!! Finally the place
didn’r feel like a post-apocolypic world and had life again. We went to
sandy beach, where there were 7-9ft waves that made it a favourite spot for
surfers/ body surfers. The lifeguard actually warned me that this beach had
the highest rate of dislocations, deaths, spinal injuries and broken necks
in Hawaii…,oh joy. The best part of the day for me was being tombstoned
by a 9ft wave, just like the guard warned me.

You know that exhilirating feeling when you’re riding the crest of some huge
wave, feeling your body glide over the top of the water like a bullet where
everything is a blur? Well, that was me, going stupidly fast on a huge wave.
It then dawned on me that I would have to end this amazing rush and
somehow figure out how to land safely…..too late. I suddenly inverted and
went from stupidly fast to stationary, going head first into the ground.
I’ve walked into a lamp post before, and this was worse than that. My whole
back felt like it had been hit my a sledge hammer and I think I might have
mild concussion, plus a perferated ear drum? I’m still alive, but my body
is broken. These waves are the most incredible I’ve surfed, but break
badly, as the beach is really steep. You have to weigh off not catching a
wave further out to sea or going for a short wave that you know will break
onto the shore verically coupled with a collosal undercurrent. fun.

Still happy, and i’ll recover in a couple of days for
sure….er…..hopefully

Miss you guys and girls!!

Oli