Hawaii 2024, August 30

My college football ticket transfer notification come through overnight via email. To get the mobile transfer you need to register an account, except it only accepts USA mobile phone numbers in the form. So in order to get around that I did a quick search for a place nearby with cheap SIM cards before breakfast. I headed down for the usual breakfast and a run for 11 kilometres, with a bit of rain but it was still warm so you dried out very quickly.

I got a bus down to the local phone shop selling SIM cards, the guy was quick and got everything installed in five minutes, even knew his Australian Vegemite and Tim Tam references. Stopping off back at the hotel I was able to create an account and get my ticket into Google wallet. Probably I could have put in any random number as the ticket was then accessible via website rather than a text message, but I didn't know that beforehand and didn't want messages going to a random phone number. Having a cheap SIM card meant a couple of days not paying Optus roaming, and the data limit was enough to get me through until the end of the trip.

It took another two buses to get into the suburbs of Moana via Ala Moana. There was only a few other people on the bus by the end and they also seemed to be going to Manoa Falls. It was only a short walk from the last bus stop to the entrance, with a bit of rain coming and going.

The trees and scenery on the lower part of the trail were quite impressive in particular, as the long walk uphill began. I thought it would be about 15 minutes or so but it was probably double that and took a bit of effort. There was an old shipping container to walk through and a few sections that were very muddy before reaching the top.

The waterfall at the top was good, but sadly due to a rock collapse some time ago you can't get up close anymore. On the way back down the rain became quite heavy, but it was still too early to make much difference to the trail conditions. I finally got to the bottom where luckily they had some pressure hoses to clean all the mud off your shoes. Near the exit there was also Lyon Arboretum but it said at the entry an advance reservation was required, but I can't imagine it's that popular.

Back to the bus stop, but it wasn't coming for at least 30 minutes - it seems it comes only about once an hour during the day. I decided instead of waiting I'd do a slow run downhill, besides one small incline. I ran for about 3.5 kilometres before I'd had enough, and the sun was out so now I was dry and sweating again. Jack In The Box was the closest restaurant so I tried my luck again and they had the French toast sticks this time, much better than their fries.

After lunch I walked down to the giant Walmart near Ala Moana. Sadly since it was my second last full day I couldn't buy too much, so just some snacks and drinks. I was a bit disappointed their bakery section didn't have a lot, only some mini donuts.

My feet were quite sore from the hiking and extra running so I headed back to the hotel for a mid afternoon rest. I was considering between visiting the hotel pool or the nearest beach, which was about 750 metres away. I decided on the pool which turned out to be quite small, only about 5 x 5 metres. There was only a few people around because of the drizzling rain, but was refreshing to just sit in the water.

Due to the college football happening in the early afternoon I didn't need much planning for tomorrow. I finished off watching the Sprint documentary series, it was good but only focused on the 100 and 200 metres instead of more events and athletes. I was able to see the fireworks from my hotel window at 8pm coming from the Hilton near the beach.

Steps = 28,000 including 14.5km running