Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Kailua, Oahu Island - Hawaii
Round The World Trip Journal

Text By Jo & Photos By Mike

(10th - 17th August) Oahu, Hawaii - Kailua
What a sad day when we had to leave Maui – it had become like home to us and we’d settled into a nice routine, but the weather was changing and Mike’s windsurfing was being affected so that helped to make it easier to move on. We only had a short 30 minute flight to our next destination - the neighbouring island of Oahu. This was a bit of a culture shock to us after spending over 2 months on small, quiet islands as this is the most populated island in the Hawaiian chain. We could see the high rises of the hotels at Waikiki clearly from the air as we flew in. Fortunately, Mike had previously spent 5 weeks on Oahu, so he knew to book into an apartment on the opposite coast to Honolulu, across the mountains on the Windward side in a town called Kailua. This has one of the best beaches on the island – a 2.5 mile long sweeping, palm fringed bay with offshore islands and the Ko’olau mountain range as a backdrop. There is windsurfing, kite surfing and surfing in the bay. Luckily, we had access to the northern end of the beach within a 5 minute walk of our new home. There are 3 highways that cross the mountains from west to east but our favourite had to be the H3 freeway. It’s rated as the next best thing to taking a helicopter flight along the mountain range as it gives incredible views of the lush green fluted mountain sides from its elevated position high above the ground. We also stopped at a lookout on another of the highways – the Pali Highway – and were almost blown off our feet, quite literally, from the strong wind funneled between the mountains and also metaphorically by the awesome views down over Kaneohe Bay and along the mountains.

Highlights of our round the world trip:

Stop 1 - Capetown---> The City | Simonstown Penguins | Table Mountain Cable Car | The Waterfront Seals | Windsurf Action.
Stop 2 - West Australia---> Perth City | Perth Zoo | Cohunu Animal Park | Rottnest Island | Rockingham Penguins | Yanchep Park Koalas | Cervantes Pinnacles | Geraldton Windsurfing | Kalbarri Gorge | The Pink Lake | Coronation Beach Windsurfing | Gero Road to Cervantes | Carnarvon Jetty & Quobba Snorkel | Denham Lagoon | Monkey Mia Dolphins | Coral Bay Termite Hills | Coral Bay Quad Biking The Dunes | Exmouth Kangaroos | Mandurah Canals | Margaret River | Margaret River Wine Tour | Margs Windsurfing | Bunbury Windsurf | Bussleton Pier | Towns near Bussleton | Augusta Nature | Pemberton Camping | Pemberton Tall Trees | Cape D'Entrecasteaux | Walpole Tall Trees.
Stop 3 - East Australia---> Cairns Sky Rail Cable Car Over The Rainforest | Mossman Gorge | Cape Tribulation Rainforest | Port Douglas | Daintree Crocodiles | Captain Cook Highway | Beaches Near Cairns | Atherton Tablelands Fig Trees | Bowen Beaches | Airlie Beach | Whitsunday Islands Boat Tour | Great Barrier Reef Snorkel | Whitsunday Snorkelling | Town of 1770 History | Fraser Island Beach Driving | Tin Can Bay Dolphins | Noosa River | Australia Zoo Wombats | Sunshine Coast | Nanango Bush | Gold Coast Beaches | Byron Bay Beaches | Woolgoolga Beaches | Coffs Harbour | Port Macquarie Cafes | Forster Pelicans | Great Lakes | Nelson Bay Dolphins | Sydney By Day | Sydney By Night | Sydney's Manly Beach.
Stop 4 - New Zealand---> Auckland Revolving Restaurant | Rotorua Volcanic National Park | Lake Taupo & Waitomo Glow Worms.
Stop 5 - French Polynesia---> Tahiti Island Waterfalls | Moorea Island Water Bungalows | Moorea Shark Feeding | Bora Bora Island Buggying.
Stop 6 - Hawaii, Maui---> Maui Snorkel Videos | Maui Snorkel Photography | Maui Windsurfing | Maui East Coast Hana Highway | Maui North Beaches 1 | Maui North Beaches 2 | Maui West Coast Surfing | Maui South West Lava Fields | Haleakala Volcano.
Stop 7 - Hawaii, Oahu---> Kailua Beaches | Round Oahu Island Drive | Honolulu Pearl Harbour | Oahu Snorkel Videos.
Stop 8 - West USA---> Los Angeles City Tour | Venice Beach | Long Beach | Queen Mary Tour | San Onofre Surfing | Route 66 Drive | Las Vegas Casinos | Grand Canyon.
Stop 9 - East USA---> Miami Beach Art Deco.
Stop 10 - UK, HOME---> Back To Heathrow, Bringing To A Close Our Amazing Round The World Trip.