I was so surprised when I came across the observatory as straight away I realised it was the first LARGE telescope that I ever looked through way back in 1991. I remember that night well (apart from which museum it was located in) as I was so amazed to see Saturn and it's rings, Jupiter and its moons, and the Moon itself with its numerous craters; Funnily enough, now I think about it, these are the same celestial bodies that I first saw through my telescope!

It was odd, I thought, that the observatory was open during the day but when I went up there they were projecting an image of the sun onto the dome wall and all was revealed - we could see sun spots! These cooler areas on the sun showed up black on the projection, there were quite a few of them too.

The museum, part of which is built out of lava rock, was contructed at the request of Hawaiian princess Bernice Pauahi. Bernice collected artifacts and wanted to establish a Hawaiin museum to "enrich and delight" the people of Hawaii. There seemed to be lots to do in this museum, including a small music and dance show, so I would recommend getting there in the morning and checking out the schedule of events - and make sure you leave more time than I did to look around at the exhibits properly!

	I was also surprised to stumble across one of the Easter Island heads, quite imposing to look at. Dave has been looking to do a trip over to Easter Island, but its a bit of a trek and a tad too expensive for my pocket! I am certain it would be an amazing site to see (this one is a replica, Dave tells me).
This is a 'Kahili'. Kahili are feather standards which are used to indicate the presence of the Hawaiian chiefs. They were generally made in pairs and were given personal names to honer those represented, or descriptions of the standard itself. The Kahili Room was full of them and the museum boasts that it has the largest collection in the world. If you look closely at the framed picture in the lower right you can see two Kahili being held over a cheif. I wonder if it was this actual Kahili that is in the picture - I suspect it is.
	Cannot remember what this painting was all about to be honest, but I liked the bold use of colours on it. I did read the little inscription that went with it and I remember that the little black discs in the middle, with the white surround, represented coral polyps and birth. Also they mention that the number four is a very powerful number in Hawaii, and paintings like these are often made up in panels; this one contained sixteen (you can only see five and a bit) and as such is a very powerful painting. I just liked it.
Now this was a nice piece of work to. A sword made of sharks teeth. I think what struck me about this was how much work went into fixing all the little teeth on to the main shaft and then extending this onto the guards. It makes for a very impressive looking weapon, and I bet it leaves a few marks on the opponent!
	Anyone for ribs? According to the museum this was the first sperm whale skeleton to ever go on display to the public; at 17m (55ft) long it is quite impressive. A papier mache exterior was given to one side of the whale to give you an idea of what the outside would look like and the other half had the bones set in place.
Ooops! Chopped a bit off the top of this wood 'image'. This one is believed to have been used in a temple where human sacrifices were offered - i'm for it now! I think the view finder for the camera has an inaccurate side to it in fairly close up pictures, so I will have to figure out which dimension gets affected. Nice sculpture though. In fact I saw the drug store selling some miniatures just like it only today!