Last Meal in Waikiki

For my last meal in the States I opted for my new favorite restaurant Giovanni Pastrami (same restaurant where I had dinner last night). I got there right at 7am when they opened and ordered the lovely eggs benedict with pastrami.... heaven!

Hiking Diamond Head

Tim's flight left around 1pm today; my flight leaves tomorrow. So we had a great last totally decadent US-style breakfast together before taking a last walk around Waikiki. In walking around Waikiki we also saw a bulbul fly into a shoe store and cause havok! Captured him on film just before he flow in...



After Tim's flight left I decided to take a bus out to Diamond Head park and hike up to the top.

The hike up Diamond Head took over 90 minutes (only 40 minutes on the way back) but the views were spectacular and totally worth it. The pink hotel in the distance is the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, where the original Mai Tai, created by Victor J. Bergeron, was first made popular in the '50's.



Saw some good introduced birds on the hike up Diamond Head, including more red-vented bulbuls and little nutmeg mannekins.

After such a strenuous hike, I treated myself to a terrific dinner of pastrami on rye and New York cheesecake for dessert - probably the best pastrami I've ever had...

Waikiki

Today we flew from the Big Island back to Honolulu. We spent the day walking around Waikiki Beach and shopping at the Ala Moana shopping centre. Even got in a little birding (Java Sparrows shown).

Volcanoes National Park

Today we spent the day in beautiful Volcanoes National Park. The lava is really spectacular - there are two types, one more flowing and one more angular. We also managed to see some cool birds at the park.











Afterwards we went back to the condo with the cool light fixture and watched the sun set....

Lazy Saturday on the Big Island

Today we took it easy, simply meandering down the coast, visiting the southern-most bakery in the USA, taking in the scenery and making some new furry and feathered friends...

Poster and Owls

Today I presented my poster on my Geriatric Anxiety Inventory at the poolside poster session.


Afterwards we walked one last time around the Hilton's artificial reef, where we saw a green turtle, and the dolphin pool. But then we left to go in search of wildlife in the wild...



We drove north along the shore and spotted humpbacked whales just off-shore. We then drove to the Saddle Road, which goes across the big island and has some great habitat. There we spotted the Hawaiian subspecies of Short-eared Owl - a great bird.

Conference at the Hilton, Hawaii

Today was the first day of my conference, the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Meeting, held at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the big island of Hawaii. The Hilton was a sprawing complex of four large buildings connected by both a monorail and by a canal. I liked riding the boat around (sort of a mini-pelagic trip). We saw some definitely introduced specias (like the African Grey-Crowned Crane, but also native birds like the little wandering tattler.

Today I spoke at Monique's symposium - here you see our large and riveted audience....

On the Big Island of Hawaii

Having flown to the big island of Hawaii yesterday evening, today Tim and I simply checked out the town of Kona, where our condo is located. Managed to get a good photo of one of the Gold Dust Day Geckos that are all over Hawaii - they seemed to really enjoy sitting on the railings of the condo...