Monday, 3rd November

Today we went to Pearl Harbour with Heino and Liz. Instead of booking a tour, we caught a regular bus for $2 from the nearest bus stop. It took nearly an hour to get there through all the suburbs of Honolulu, but the bus driver told us when to get off.

We signed up for the USS Arizona memorial, which included a film about the bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and a boat trip across to the memorial that's been built above the wreck, which is still visible. The film, which included footage of the actual explosion, was very moving. There were two survivors in the foyer of the museum giving autographs - they must have been in their nineties.

After lunch (where Jo had her first, and last, American hotdog) we visited the USS Bowfin, a submarine, with an audio tour. It was fascinating to see the confined space in which the sailors lived and worked.

Betty and Ros and Di also did the Pearl Harbour tour, but did it as a proper 8 hour guided tour. They got back in time for Betty and Di to do some shopping, while Ros admired what Deborah and Jo had already bought.

After we got back from Pearl Harbour Deborah walked through the nearby park to visit Borders book store, Leewards along Ala Moana Boulevarde (directions in Hawaii are Leewards or Windwards around the island). There are homeless people camped in the park, some of them with quite elaborate setups of tarp, folding chair, push bike and shopping trolley, and their washing spread out to dry on the grass.

Dinner at Ruby Tuesdays (again) with Kerry and Linda, and yet another strawberry cream puff to share for dessert (and another cocktail to try for Deborah). Linda found a dress to buy her daughter for her formal but wasn't sure whether she would like it, so she took a photo to email. Unfortunately her memory card doesn't fit Deborah's computer; but fortunately the shop, Arden B, has a website and a picture of the dress, so we emailed that to Linda's daughter instead. Ain't technology wonderful!

Betty and Di have gone to listen to Accolade rehearse tonight. Tomorrow the Convention starts properly. We are going over to the Convention Centre in the morning to pick up our registration packs for this convention, and Di and I will register CKC as competitors for Nashville 2009. Harmony Bazaar opens at 11 am - we will try to give you all the exciting details about the SAI shopping experience - and then we're invited to Perth Harmony's rehearsal at 1 pm, along with all their other supporters. Tuesday night is the Showcase - see your E-zine for a description of the program. After that we'll be flat out watching quartet and chorus competitions. And I guess we should pay some attention to the US elections tomorrow, and to the Melbourne Cup (which I guess has just run, if I've got the time difference worked out. I asked Pete to put a bet on Honolulu for me).

We're very glad we chose to stay longer at Ala Moana rather than move hotels, as we CKC girls are all in the same hotel and can catch up with each other. There are Sweet Adelines all over the place. We met some ladies from North Metro (Toronto, Canada) in the salad bar queue at Ruby Tuesday's tonight - they are also suffering the US exchange rate. (But not enough to stop us shopping: Alex told Jo she doesn't have to fix the US economy all by herself.)

Okay, time for bed. More tomorrow!