August 24, 2012 Again?

August 24, 2012 Again?

I feel a little like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. We spent August 24th in Sydney, now we are spending the same day in Hawaii. I know it is because we passed the International Date Line and skipped back in time. But tell that to my body. We also passed over the equator and changed seasons again. We are back to summer and I am not dressed for the humidity. We spend the next several hours in the Honolulu airport waiting for our eight-passenger puddle jumper to take us the forty-five miles over to the nearby island of Molokai. This is the last major Hawaiian island we haven’t visited. After landing we have a conversation with another passenger who, like Aimee, lived in Itasca outside Chicago. He now lives fulltime in Molokai.

We pick up a rental car at the airport. Having driven in Australia in three different vehicles, Aimee has to keep reminding me to now stay right while driving. We stop at the central town grocery to do some shopping. It is tiny, expensive and limited. I have to pinch myself to make sure I am not back in Australia. Disappointingly even the fruit is imported. I guess all the commercial farms like pineapple have shut down in Hawaii. We did ask for fresh fish and got a Mahi Mahi fillet that was still in the back. I can only hope it was locally caught. Outside town we see a sign for a farmers market; so we stop and buy a papaya. I am not a papaya fan.

From “town” we drive to our rental condo on the west end of the island. Our first-floor studio has a nice view of the ocean about two hundred yards off. The condo has no heat or air conditioning, just louvers on the windows that can be opened to let in the breeze. One of the benefits of living in paradise.