For some reason we woke up early so after breakfast we went to the shop / deli over the road and picked up things for lunch they have a great selection of salads and sandwiches. Then we decided that we would go to the Makapu’u lighthouse which is on the Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline which should only be about 20 minutes drive away but we stopped a few times on the way to look at the view over Honolulu and also at the blow hole scenic lookout but just as we didn’t really see anything in New Zealand we didn’t see much here either, we seem to manage to get to these places when the tide isn’t quite at the right level. The forecast today was for rain and we did actually have a downpour, it lasted about 5 minutes then was gone so I am not sure if that is it or if it will return but if that is all we see today that could be very lucky. The first time round we missed the Makapu’u car park but managed to turn round at the beach where the whales should swim by, but this only happens in the winter so we missed that! Unfortunately everyone had the same idea as us about walking to the lighthouse and we couldn’t find anywhere to park, so we decided to head for the Plantation Village which is the other main thing we wanted to do today as you can only go in on a guided tour and they only run on the hour between 10:00 and 14:00. The navigation suggested we would arrive just before 11:00 so we set off, unfortunately what wasn’t clear was that a tree had come down on route and traffic was terrible. We couldn’t tell if the tree came down in the wind or just because it is very old but the whole of one side of the road was closed. We finally arrived at the Plantation village at 11:15 so thought we would have to wait for 45 minutes but the lady at reception said that we could join the tour if we wanted as it had only just left. The village is created to reflect the people that worked on the plantations and the houses they lived in. The complex starts with a Hawaiian house as initially the plantation owners wanted to use the local population but as the plantations grew there were not enough people so they started employing people from around the world. Although some of the populations overlapped broadly speaking the order was Chinese from 1823 with the main influx between 1852 – 1897, Japanese from 1868, Portuguese from 1878, Puerto Rican from 1900, Okinawa from early 1900’2, Koreans from 1903 and finally the Filipinos from 1906 with the major migration taking place in 1910. Our guide was actually of Japanese extraction and her Grandfather had come over to work in the plantations, he had come with his two brothers and one had gone back to Japan but the other had stayed and they moved to Maui and brought a farm which is where she was brought up. It was really interesting talking to her as it made the experience a lot more alive, she said that at one time in the mid to late 1930’s Japanese made up 45% of the population which is probably why there are so many Japanese people on the island. She still has family in Japan – from the brother that returned and they visit each other which keeps the links alive. People signed up for a minimum three year term and for that they received a house, medical care and education for their children, they were not allowed to leave until any debts they had were paid off. Each of the houses had been staged to reflect something relevant to the time or family, for example the Filipino family home was set for a baptismal party which again made it easy too understand how people lived. In addition to the houses there was a company store and the managers office plus the Social Hall and Infirmary which had some very ancient looking medical equipment. There are no plantations left on any of the Hawaiian Islands, the last one was closed in 2016. When they became a US state they had to adopt the minimum wage and because the landscape doesn’t readily lend itself to farming all sugar production moved to the southern states of America where they could farm using machinery rather than people which protected the profit margins. By the time we had finished looking round we had spent almost two hours so we decided to have our picnic lunch before heading off to our next destination which we changed to be driving the Farrington Highway (West Shore). Begins near Ko Olina and ends at a dead end just before Kaena Point State Park. The most scenic stretch is north of Makaha to the dead end and is where everyone seems to move in for the weekend, everyone seems to arrive with a tent, table, chairs, gazebo, barbecue, cool box (or multiple) full of I assume beers and settle in for the weekend, having said that it does look very nice, the sand was very white and the sea a lovely turquoise colour with little pools that don’t fully empty and I assume are very warm. We had a walk around a few of the beaches but didn’t go for a swim, perhaps on one of the other islands. We drove to the end of the road and the turned round and drove back again – that is our only option! Then headed back to the hotel through the Honolulu traffic which is rubbish, I am not sure what I expected but the traffic around Honolulu and Waikiki beach is just like London in the rush hour where pedestrians overtake you as they are walking along the road. We finally got back to the hotel at about 5pm so we put the stuff in the room then went downstairs for our ‘complimentary’ drinks and snacks which were very nice before heading out for something to eat.
