Hawaii - Maui - Part 2

---

Aloha!

Sunday 30^th September – Maui (Haleakala National Park)

We got up (much better nights sleep tonight, I shut the window so I couldn’t hear the traffic) were going to take the free hostel tour to Big Beach and Little Beach, I really wanted to go as had heard it was a must see (beautiful and for the fire shows in the evening). But in the end we decided not to and decided to move from the hostel into a hotel…so it was a busy morning of sorting. We booked into the Royal Lahaina (just outside of Lahaina) and checked out of the hostel; they wouldn’t give us a refund but that’s understandable. We packed up the car and headed for the Haleakala National Park, a dormant volcano. I hadn’t originally planned to go because I’d seen a fair few volcanoes but Jonny hadn’t and I was so glad we did go because it was stunning.

We headed on the volcano road and it was much steeper, windier (though not so many hairpins) and higher up than the Road to Hana… but the road was wider and there were more barriers! It was really sunny as we started up the road but we were climbing closer and closer to the clouds… (it’s one of the quickest ascensions to height over a short distance drives in the world) there were great views. As Jonny said it was almost surreal in places. We got up into the clouds and the temperature dropped… at one point as we passed through them it was like being in thick fog… I think that was better for Jonny as he couldn’t see down the drop! As we passed just above the cloud line we stopped and practically stood alongside a big white fluffy cloud… it was amazing. It really did seem like you could walk along the cloud canopy… it’s a view I’ve only ever had from a plane before. We continued up and up and soon reached almost 10000ft at the visitor centre on the edge of the crater. We parked up and took a walk over to the edge… it was quite literally breath-taking. The main crater was massive (even though it’s not an actual volcano crater… the valley has been created by years of erosion) which had several cones with their own craters inside. The soil was a deep dark red colour. We climbed up the ‘white hill’ and sat at the top just looking at the view, it’s one of the most incredible sights I’ve ever seen. I could have sat there happily for hours and took far too many photos (sorry!). It was amusing watching some of the other tourists posing for their photos… there was one Japanese girl who was taking it very seriously, posing all over the place and reapplying her make up. I didn’t go that far. We could see the path that people take to hike across the valley…I wouldn’t have fancied the hike but I saw a trail of horses and would have fancied that. We tore ourselves away from the view and drove up to the actual summit, where there was more information about the volcano and confirmation that the two big peaks we could see rising through the clouds in the distance were on the Big Island (aka Hawaii… we had considered going to see the erupting volcano but decided not to as it was expensive and lava wasn’t flowing at the time). We took some quick photos but the view was better at our original vantage point further down. There was a weather observatory up there… as they say you can literally see weather being made. We had to start heading back down because it was getting on in the day, stopping every now and again to take more photos. I loved watching the Japanese tourists posing for very clever photos with the clouds behind… I got Jonny to do a diving pose J The journey down, passing gradually through the clouds was quicker than the journey up… even though we got slowed down by the truck carrying the horses back down and cows in the road!

We headed back out to Lahaina, driving into the sun again (my poor eyes, it was actually painful!) and went in search of our hotel. It turned out to be a big resort! We pulled up and had the option of valet parking (very embarrassing in our ‘piece of s*i*’ with our backpacks) but declined that. I felt uncomfortable about the hotel… it was more than 4 times as much as would pay in a hostel (and we’d already paid for the 2 nights in the hostel) but I decided I’d best make the most of it (as Jonny put it… we’d gone from the Pitts to the Ritz!). I couldn’t stop giggling when they told us we’d be taken to our ‘garden cottage’ on a golf buggy… it was so not expected on this trip (although would be reasonable to pay if on holiday) and I banished thoughts of Uganda and how far the money could go there. Our garden cottage was lovely; two big double beds, a dressing area, a nice patio that looked out over the golf course and we were very close to the sea. I’d asked the porter who drove us there if there was a tsunami plan and he told us the alarm is tested every week… I still gave Jonny a briefing on the importance of leaving if there’s an earthquake!

We’d arranged to meet Ryan (Mick Fleetwood’s man, we’d got on well with him) and he kindly picked us up to save me driving and took us to the Hula Grill at Whaler’s Village. Ryan knew everyone there and we got some delicious starters and then I had a nice fish dinner. We had a lovely evening and after a quick tour of the area Ryan dropped us home. I was so tired I passed out in bed.

Monday 1^st October – Maui - Lahaina

We had a slow start to the day… Jonny headed off for breakfast and to the pool whilst I ate the cookies that were left over from my pudding the previous night (the doggy bag actually had doggy bag written on it), sorted my money out and studied. I met Jonny by the pool in the afternoon and spent a really nice couple of hours reading there and listening to the sound of the waves on the beach. I really fancied a swim and snorkel but had such bad ears, I could hardly hear half of the time so decided to give it a miss.

We headed into Lahaina in the evening and went back to Fleetwood’s to say bye to Ryan. It’s fair to say that I had a lot of wine … I spent my food money on alcohol which wasn’t the best idea. We had a really nice night though, watched a lovely sunset and got to see Mick play the drums again. We got a taxi back to the hotel and I really needed bed but then found out about the Facebook issue where some private messages from 2007-2010 had been published for all to see so had to sort that out in my drunken state! I didn’t sleep much that night.

Tuesday 2^nd October – Maui to Honolulu, Oahu

I actually can’t believe I didn’t have a hangover… I actually felt ok! We were flying back to Oahu (the island Honolulu is on) at 9am so had to get up at 6.30am to check out, drive back to Wailuku, drop off ‘the piece of s*i*’ and get a taxi to the airport. We were cutting it a bit fine but made it! The flight was really short again, and the flight attendant was just as jolly. There were no bumps as we descended back into Honolulu. We got a good view of Pearl Harbor which I was pleased about as it’d been dark when Jonny had flown in so he hadn’t seen it.

Next up…Oahu’s Northshore.

Xx

NOTE: I use these updates to capture my memories and share what I'm doing on my travels with friends, family and anyone who’s interested enough to read. The views are my own and I try my best to ensure any information I share is fair and accurate but I do sometimes get things wrong. I welcome any feedback so I can make improvements and corrections for future readers. Thank you.

---