Day Eight It was Written in the Stars ........

As another day dawns in paradise apparently I still find it impossible to sleep!!! I have a full day ahead, some swimming and sunbathing followed by a tour up to Mauna Kea the highest mountain in the island and if you measure it from the sea bed the tallest mountain in the world!! From the sea bed it is over 10,000 metres but forms sea level it's about 4,200m - still pretty damned high and probably liable to make me feel a bit cruddy since I'm going from sea level to 4000m in the space of a couple of hours!! Altitude has never been my thing but it is meant to be the best spot in the world to go stargazing!!

So after another big breakfast at the aptly named Big Island Breakfast I have three hours to kill before I hop on a bus to the local shops to start my evening tour up to the White Mountain (the literal translation of Mauna Kea). Suspect there is a lounger and a towel with my name on it poolside!! Wouldn't want to exert myself after all!!

I feel I was less than enthusiastic whilst writing about the Luau last night. It really was a fun evening and the show was great, although it would have been nice to see more about Hawaii than the other pacific islands. I think mainly I was feeling acutely single again. Think pretty much everyone else there was a couple or a family group. When the hostess got all the newly weds and anniversary couples to stand up I had déjà vu of a wedding where all the singles were made to stand up whilst all the smug couples looked on at the loveless!! I did have to feel sorry for the family in the queue in front of me though, who had actually been playing on the beach all day close to where I was sun baking, they got to the head of the line about to be shown to their seats when their second youngest without warning, unceremoniously threw up all over the path!! The woman behind me got quite a strop on as she wanted to move past me with her child to avert their gaze from the fresh vomitus, I of course wouldn't budge!! A bit of vomit never hurt anyone!

So a great morning by the pool a little breezy but no harm done, had a quick dip in the pool when it got too hot and a swim beneath the waterfall certainly cooled me down. Had a quick shower put on my jeans (which are currently unbearably hot but are needed at 4000m!), grabbed the shopping shuttle and am now sat outside Starbucks (which most of you know is a mortal sin for me) waiting for the your company to take me up to certain mild neurological effects of sudden altitude. I am however hoping that the starry heavens will be ample compensation for the pounding headache, nausea and disorientation!!! Here's hoping anyway!!!

Got on the bus and sat with the daughter of a family from Missouri (somewhere in the States I have actually been!!), she used to live in New Zealand with her Belgian partner and now lives in Belgium so we had a lot to chat about as the day went on. I was slightly worried by the size of one family who were all lovely but pretty close to the BMI top range for the trip (40). First stop 2800m at the Visitors centre and I could already feel the lightheartedness, after a lovely veggie lasagne and part of a far too rich chocolate brownie that I ate at a picnic bench with a Canadian couple from BC, we climbed back in the coach and headed for the summit. Was quite proud not have bought anything at the Visitors centre!!!

The summit at 4280m was certainly thin air, the 13 observatories were a sight to behold and watching the sunset took ones mind off the shortness of breath and disorientation. Most people coped relatively well, the father of the larger family found it a struggle and was feeling quite short of breath but the rest of the coach laughed as his daughter described him as curmudgeonly - a fantastic phrase that I've only ever read from the likes of Conan-Doyle - it was a very Holmesian thing to say but quite apt!!!

We popped back to the Visitors centre for a comfort stop, never a quick thing with only 3 stalls in the women's restrooms the queues were long, but we were soon parked up in a quiet spot for our stargazing experience. I can not tell you how full the sky was of celestial bodies, with no light pollution and at 2800m the view was breath taking!!! We had two GPS guided telescopes so as we'll as seeing with our naked eyes we had the back up of ultimate zoom lens!!! To be able to see the craters on the moon and the gas bands around Jupiter was phenomenal, not to mention the double cluster between Casio Pea and Perseus and the Orion Nebular- just awesome!!!! To top of the evening someone on the second bus on the tour proposed to his girlfriend under the stars - fortunately for him she accepted, unfortunately I'm not sure he'll ever be able to top that one!!!!

Missed my connecting bus but got a lift back from Miss Missouri whose name I don't think I know but I have her card in case I'm in Belgium sometime soon!!! Now some last minute packing, postcard writing and a film before bed. Long day at the beach tomorrow followed by an overnight flight back to LA and then a quick change and off to New York!!!

Mahalo Mateys xxx