On our way From Costa Rica to Australia we stopped over in Hawaii. When we arrived it was 2pm and we picked up our car and drove straight to the north shore. Some of the things that we all noticed when we arrived were all the vibrant colours and the lovely smell. Every where we went it was like we were smelling a huge bunch of flowers. When we reached the north shore we stopped at Waimea to have our first swim in Hawaii. We walked down the beach and saw there was a shore break. I was very excited because I really enjoy swimming in shore breaks and I hadn’t swam in one for ages. After our swim we got back in the car and continued to drive to where we were staying. Just before we got there we realised that we were really close to some world famous beaches. As we were so excited we decided we had to go to a couple of beaches before sunset. We went to Turtle beach, but unfortunately we didn’t see any turtles, Pipeline and Sunset beach for the sunset. 

The next day we got some stand up paddle boards, provided by the house we were staying in, and went down to Pipeline because the Billabong Pipe Masters was possibly going to be on while we were there. Unfortunately it wasn’t on  due to the lack of waves so we drove back to Waimea. We sunbathed, swam, had lunch and went on the paddle boards. The paddle boards were very exciting because we had to get past the shore break before we could start and when we got past them the waves were still very big. It was quite funny because Dad couldn’t stand up for more than 5 seconds. 

After that Dad and I went to a surf break called Goat Island. To get to the wave we had to paddle about half a mile over a very shallow and very sharp reef. When we got there it was about 5 foot and extremely powerful. Unfortunately the sun was setting so we didn’t get very long but on the other hand the sky was beautiful. We didn’t manage to catch any waves except for a broken one on the way in and it was incredible the amount of power it had, I had never felt a wave like it. 

The day after that we all got up early because we heard that there was a chance that the surf competition could be on. When we got there we guessed it was on because of the lack of parking spaces. We got to the beach just as the surfers were warming up. Unfortunately in the day we found out it was only the invitationals so there weren’t going to be any famous surfers there that day. We stayed and watched it all day. It was amazing watching them because they were getting huge barrels and doing massive tricks. The winner was Fin McGill a 16 year old local. 

Unfortunately the main competition wasn’t on the next day but it was our last day so we drove back to Honolulu to check into our hotel and go to Waikiki beach. At Waikiki Dad and I hired 12 foot boards and went for a surf. The waves were tiny but it was still great to be surfing where surfing originated. Mum and Summer wanted to try surfing so Mum and Dad shared a board and Summer and I shared a stand up paddle board. We had races into the beach. 

The next day we set our alarms for 5:30 because we had an eleven hour flight to Melbourne, a five hour wait at Melbourne airport and a three hour flight to Perth. 

Overall, Hawaii is a beautiful place with lovely smells and perfect beaches. I would love to go back for a longer time. 
Fin