Week 50- Part 2 Maui

As with flying over Oahu, I thought Maui looked quite brown at first but I was expecting this to be dispelled. When I landed I was also amazed to find that there was no WiFi and buses didn’t start running until 06:40 even though we landed at 05:40. I wasted plenty of time trying to sort out where to go (I also read a man’s boarding card for him, he was at the airport 12 hours early, as he couldn’t read) and in the end found a local, Franklin, who was going to walk to the town. It took about 45 minutes to get to where the first bus would have taken us. I was slightly concerned that I was blindly following this gentleman. He had two kids and seven grandkids and was a ‘full time surfer and part time builder’. He explained how he took his Jack Russell surfing and we talked about traveling, aerofoils, and advice for his grandson heading into university. At the town he bought me an iced tea and I used the WiFi to contact Rahel, the Swiss girl I was going to travel with. I was an hour later than intended but eventually met Rahel and Sia. Rahel is an au pair in Oakland who is writing a book, is very creative and is 21. Sia is Dutch but has been working in the Silicon Valley and is 26. We went into the super market to buy food (they didn’t have the camping gas I needed so we had to purchase food we could eat cold- bread and sandwich ingredients). We also grabbed ‘water shoes’ to protect our feet before we hit the road. Rahel started driving and I was in the front. Rahel was using her vacation days for the trip and Sia told me that she liked adventure and not partying so I was pretty optimistic as we set off, considering I had met them through couch surfing.

The plan was to drive anti clockwise round Mount Haleakala to get to Hana and then finish the loop the next day. We drove along stunning two lane coastline and then when it became single lane I started driving. I figured it was a good way to start my right hand side driving. It was difficult to judge how much car was on my right but otherwise it was okay. After 90min driving (11:00) we discovered the road was shut for roadworks till 16:00. In hindsight, we should have just waited and then driven through but instead we turned to go the opposite direction. The map said it would be 2.5 hours, it took just shy of twice that. The road was incredible with many single bridges, twists and turns. I got plenty off practice on that side of the road anyway. We filled up with expensive fuel, saw the luscious rainforest we were promised and bombed it the whole way to Hana as we planned to do the activities the next day. We drove into Haleakala National Park, paid the $25 entrance fee and set off on the 6km Pipiwai Trail to see the falls of Makahiku. We passed many other falls on the way and a gorgeous bamboo forest though we were very slow due to girl’s pace and Sia’s desire to take 5 x 10^8 photos. It was quite pretty at the end but I was vexed by the situation. We had sandwiches for dinner after Rahel and I pitched the tents (I think Sia was doing her makeup? She spent most of the time in the car looking at her photos). Once we had a rough plan for the next day we went to sleep, me in my tent and my stuff and the girls in Rahel’s host’s tent and single sleeping bag.

Tuesday 26th June, I woke the girls at 06:30 so we could hit the road. Once the tents were packed (again no help from Sia) we ate the overnight oats I made (Sia seemed very upset that I hadn’t packed more than one spoon). Once back on the road we were trying to find a waterfall to jump off, so anytime we saw an entrance Rahel and I went climbing and exploring in search of our goal. It was so much fun but we didn’t find anything. Each time we stopped we seemed to have to wait an age for Sia to get her stuff in order. When we reached Hana for the second time we went to red sand beach. It was more stones than sand but still beautiful with a lagoon closed in from the sea by big rocks. Rahel and I went swimming and snorkelling while Sia put on suncream and took photos. I saw many beautiful fish including rainbow and angel fish and an eel. It was a big step for Rahel who has a phobia of fish. We went to another beach first to wash my pots and paddle (the waves were too big to swim) again Sia took photos instead.

Our next adventure took us down a cul-de-sac to a broken bridge. We crossed the bidge on foot and walked down the hill to the sea. It was a gorgeous coastline and Rahel and I found coconuts to husk while Sia did her favourite pastime. Mine was rotten when I opened it and Rahel’s not ripe enough. On our way back up the hill we found a gorgeous waterfall with a plunge pool with the sun illuminating the whole ting. I thought we had struk gold and that we’d be able to jump off it. We walked to the bottom (I stipped off as I had forgotten my togs) and swam over to test the depth. I decided it was good to go so we spent the next hour jumping off the waterfall. It was magical. Eventually Sia joined us to do one jump. I had to tread water for about 10 minutes while I waited for her to build up the courage to jump). When other people decided to join us we left.

We had a few more stream explorations before we stopped for lunch at a random spot. We took out the tents to dry and had more sandwiches. As it happened, it was the start of a lava flow hole under a tree so we headed in. It was a big dark cave that then led to an open cavern where the tree had slightly fallen. Rahel and I explored the stream while Sia… well, you know! As we continued on, Rahel and I continued to explore, discovering many waterfalls that would put Powerscourt to shame! Sia gave up on leaving the car.

We were aiming for sunset on top of Mount Haleakala and we didn’t know how long it would take so I kept driving, stopping only to see the rainbow Eucalyptus trees (wow!). Sooner than expected (google offline maps don’t work) we began to climb up the volcano. Rahel took over driving so Sia could sit in the passenger seat. We used the toilet at the visitor centre at 7000ft and then drove up the summit at 10,000ft. The view, above the clouds, was spectacular. Rahel and I went for a short walk down into the volcano crater before finding a spot, out of the wind, at the summit to watch the sunset. Sia didn’t walk and possibly didn’t watch the sunset either.

When it was over, we discovered that Sia had found a lift back to her host and would be leaving us (woohoo!). She made the guy wait a good 15min while she tried to pack (making him a bit bothered)(I decided she was far too self centred). She had the lights on the whole time and when I tried to start the car it wouldn’t so I assumed the battery was flat. Rahel and I madly ran around trying to find jump leads to no avail. I asked a family to stop by the park ranger station to ask someone to come rescue us. While we waited, as the last ones on the mountain, we made more sandwiches and watched the stars and glorious full moon. While eating I reflected on my time on Waiheke and how I couldn’t get my boss’s car to start, and then it hit me. I ran over to the car to see my suspicions were correct, Rahel had left the car in drive which is why, as an automatic, it wouldn’t start. All was fine, I told another man to stop the ranger if he saw him and went back to star gazing. Eventually the ranger dd turn up so I apologised profusely and he left. Thankfully he was just 2 minutes away when he got the call. When we were too cold to watch the stars any longer we drove back to the campground at 7000ft. It was about 4 degrees above freezing so to keep warm we slept head to toe in my tent.

When my alarm went off at 04:00 we were both toasty and ‘well’ rested. We packed up the tent and drove to the summit to watch the sunrise. There was little shelter from the wind on this side and there were many people there (some using flash photography?!) but those two hours were some of the most beautiful I'd ever witnessed, with the clouds below forming a fluffy sea. Amazed and cold we decided to return to the warmth and I drove down the volcano. We grabbed Rahel's stuff from her host and I checked in for my flight. On our way out we stopped by an Hawaiian market where I bought 2 shirts and also had ‘lunch’ at 09:30. We decided that the next beach we saw we would go to. 30 seconds later Rahel told me to ‘Go right now!’. There before us was a beautiful, quiet beach. I brought my pots to clean and tent to dry while we sat and ate salad and doughnuts. Content we went into the water to swim. We were wading out when suddenly I saw a head pop out of the water- a turtle head. Rahel ran for her camera while I followed this monstrous sea turtle. It came up to breathe thrice and I could see just how big it was (bigger than anything I saw in Australia). After we left it alone and were walking back I saw another one! This time much smaller and when I went near, it took off with serious speed. We talked for a while before I packed my bag and Rahel dropped me to the airport. My bag was scanned for agriculture and I did my exercises while I waited to board. The girl on the seat next to me had her foot in my space and it was bare. Thankfully she moved it after not too long. And I was underway.

You can see all of my photos from Hawaii here.