Hana Highway

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I was awake quite early again so was up and about before Daryl (this only ever happens on holiday!) the cockerel woke Daryl up at about 4am (I was already awake) but he managed to get back to sleep. Just after 7am we headed for the nice coffee shop we'd visited the day before 'Wailuku Coffee Company' http://wailukucoffeeco.com/about.html it really does seem to be the most popular place in this quiet town, it's always busy, but has a really nice feel to it and the food is good. We shared a fruit yogurt and granola pot and then had a breakfast bagel (Daryl had 2!) and a cup of tea.

We returned to the bungalow to get our bags packed for our Road to Hana day trip. There were 2 minibuses going, each with 11 people. This day trip was fully booked so I'm really glad we managed to get our names down in time. After signing a waiver / disclaimer or whatever you wish to call it (effectively saying the trip is our own risk and responsibility etc) we boarded the bus and met our driver/guide for the day Bridget. When I say guide, they actually work at the hostel and really just volunteer their time to run these trips. On our bus was a mix of people from Germany, Canada, California, and Brazil, who were all really nice.

We stopped off at a grocery store in Paia, a town we hope to visit on Friday, before heading on Hana Highway. This route is popular as it was listed on the National register of historic places in 2002, and most of the drive is through tropical rainforest-very scenic. We saw some lovely Rainbow eucalyptus trees, apparently the more colour they have the older they are. We didn't get any pictures as we were passing them in the bus which was a shame, but google it to see how lovely they are. The coast was lovely and we passed a load of surfers who looked like tiny dots in the ocean amongst the giant crashing waves, it looked like great fun.

Our first stop was for banana bread at Aunty Sandys http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/keanae-landing-fruit-stand-keanae on the Keanae peninsular. Daryl doesn't even like bananas but loved this bread (it was a small loaf and still warm) and was as good as Bridget said it would be. We then drove a couple of minutes to stop off at Keanae Peninsular which was created from the lava flow from Haleakalas crater. A tsunami hit this coast in 1946 following a huge earthquake and wiped out an entire village. Following that the Pacific tsunami warning centre was created and is still in place to this day.

Our next stop was to Wainapanapa state park home to caves,lava tubes and a black sandy beach. Bridget was leading the group through the lava tube, but said as the water levels were high there would be times we'd have to duck under the water for a few seconds, so if you can't swim well or get claustrophobic then don't go. We jumped in the freshwater pool which was a bit chilly, and to me, the opening of this lava tube was barely visible (as in there was probably only enough room for your head between the cave roof and the water ) I asked how long it would take, and she told us about 25 minutes. All I could think of was that programme that used to be on TV years ago '999' and I remember a group of scouts doing something similar and one boy ducked under too far and came up in a separate cave system and they couldn't find him. I could hear Micheal Buerks voice in my head 'what should of been a holiday of a lifetime, soon turned to disaster....' I wasn't feeling the love for this one!



Daryl intervened and said we'd give it a miss and head back to the beach instead (he said he could tell by my eyes I wasn't 100% keen-maybe my memory of that Boy Scout on the programme was obvious by my face!) I felt a bit bad that he was missing out, but he reassured me he wasn't bothered in the slightest. After all, it wasn't an organised trip, these weren't qualified people, we'd signed a waiver before we'd left to say anything was at our own risk, We didn't know anyone, they didn't know us, and only one person in the group about to venture through an underwater cave with 20 or so strangers had a torch. Plus he was dying to get in the sea and have a swim and we were only stopping here for an hour. Thank god one of us has some sense, as I would of probably been a sheep and reluctantly followed and panicked halfway through.

The beach idea was better and we had a great time getting bashed about in the waves. It was only a small beach and quite busy, but the water was so nice and warm and the waves were really rough, we had a great 40 minutes or so in the washing machine!

Our next stop was lunch, at Braddah Huts BBQ and grill, which was a little caravan and seating area by the side of the road, we ordered Chicken Tacos and BBQ chicken with rice which was really nice and sat out in the sun for a bit which was really hot by this point. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g60630-d2051742-Reviews-Bradduh_Hutt-Hana_Maui_Hawaii.html



Luckily we were heading to another beach after this: Hamoa. This was a white sandy beach and the water here was crystal clear. The waves were even more relentless than the previous beach, and we had great fun taking pictures getting smashed about in the waves. We really were exhausted afterwards, but got some brilliant pictures on the underwater camera, it really was such a beautiful place.

Next stop was Haleakala National park for the 2 mile waterfall walk along the Pipiwai trail at Oheo Gulch. I was glad to be going here as Gaz and Ali had mentioned how lovely this place was and they weren't wrong. It wasn't particularly arduous, and the pace was nice. We passed a huge Banyan tree which had rerooted several times and looked amazing. To get to the waterfall you had to walk through a bamboo forest which for me really was the highlight. The bamboo tress were so tall they blocked out most of the light, but it really was stunning, as was the end: Waimuko Falls, a 400 foot waterfall, a truly amazing place.

Our last stop was for a quick dip at a waterfall we'd passed earlier on, which was lovely and refreshing, and nice to get into some dry clothes afterwards. I fell asleep for most of the way back, the day (and previous night) had caught up with me, and I just couldn't keep my eyes open after a really great day.

One of the reasons we'd booked this hostel is because the day trips like this, apart from meals and State park entrance fee of $5 are completely free. I wondered how good they'd be, but am glad to say I think we made a good choice here. I left Daryl sort out the tipping as I made my way in to put our names down for tomorrow's trip, which thankfully still had spaces by the time we arrived back just before 9pm. We had a shower then it was straight to bed, we were completely wiped out, but happy that our first proper day in Hawaii had been amazing.



http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hana_Highway

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Comments

[Grandma & Terry]

glad all is going well now.
Hi Em and Darrell glad you are now reunited with your luggage and able to get into clean clothes (p.s. don't forget to claim on your insurance) The scenery looks fantastic and you are thoroughly enjoying yourselves now you have caught up with your sleep. Carry on having a good time take plenty of photos and posting them for us to view. Lots of love.