So this was going to be my second Hawaiian post before moving on to Oz but once again things have gotten in the way, times moved on and it's now going to be classified as my first post in Australia! Another month has passed and Maui has been and gone, but not without a fight. It seemed the island did not want us to leave and in a strike of unfortunateness we went and missed our flight to Sydney. Not by a minute, not by an hour....but by a whole day.
I have no idea how we got things so drastically wrong but I do know that it meant we were in America illegally for 3 days and have now lost our UK visa rights (not cool) but that I used the extra days to practice back rolls (cool).
I'm really happy with the amount I managed to get done whilst on the island, the last month had been an interesting and varied one with a dollop of beach, a spoonful of kite surfing, and a pinch of soul searching. By the end I'd seen loads of the island, pretty much all of it actually and I feel like I really know it inside out which was the grand plan.
So since my last post we've done a few more larger road trips and I finally got round to doing the Waihee Ridge Trail hike which nearly killed me (a VERY strenious 2 hour, 2,600ft uphill climb into the clouds to the mountain summit).
Our first road trip was a few weeks back and I call it the West Maui Loop as we did a loop of, well, West Maui. The drive is a circle and takes you along the top of the north cliffs, round to the touristy west coastal beaches of Lahaina town and south along the base of the mountain back to the starting point in Kahului.
It's a testing drive especiallly for Buck the truck who is almost wider than the actual road at some points but we made it round the windy corners without hitting another car or falling off the cliffs which is good, because we didn't have any insurance, oops.
Along the way we stopped at all the right places according to my guidebook and even managed to find Julie's stall which is quoted as having 'the best banana bread in the world', and yes it was really, really goooooood.
Our first stop were the Olvine Pools which are natural formation rockpools formed from sea erosion on the black lava. They were only discovered in recent years and now although a bit of a tourist trap were very pretty and worth seeing. There are about 5 different pools of different depths and colours (a coloured gem in the rock make them shimmer green in the sun) and with the pacific crashing dramatically against their edges it was a cool experience.
Next along the coast was the Nakalele Blowhole which is again formed from sea erosion and pumps a water spout high into the air when the sea pumping right. We were doing this trip a few days after a tropical depression had passed by the islands so luckily the sea was quite ferocious and it was exploding 30ft in the air!
By now it was mid afternoon and we hadn't even got to Lahaina yet but I wanted to squeeze in one more thing, locally called the Dragon's Teeth at Makalua-Puna Point. Hundreds of years of salt spray had whitened and eroded the lava into sharp points which kinda look like teeth, it was pretty cool except I didnt charge my camera the day before and annoyingly couldn't take any photos!
Then we got round to Lahaina, sat on a beach for Sunset and had a nice (but expensive) dinner. After that, it was highway all the way home and straight to bed.
On our last weekend in Maui I had arranged a 2 day camping trip around the island which actually worked out really well. The plan was to camp over night in Wai'ananapnapa State Park (that's the real name I promise!) just outside of Hana, the most eastern point of the island. We picked up our permits, packed the cooler with food and drink and got going on a bright sunny Saturday morning.
Again the trusty guidebook was used to get us to the extra special hideaways along the way and although the boys wern't too keen on stopping much we managed to see and do a lot the first day. My favourite things were a bamboo forest hike and eating/swimming at secret little waterfalls off the beaten track.
That evening we pulled into Wai'ananapanapa just before night fall and checked out the local black sand beach and caves which were quite scary in the dark. We had booked a cabin to sleep in and initially the plan was to live up to the stereotype of marshmallows and camp songs around the firepit but as darkness fell we felt more and more like we were in a 1950's horror film where the house gets surrounded by bugs and creepy crawlies are swarming all over the windows. Infact, there were so many flies, mosquitoes, lizards, spiders and cockroaches on the other side of those huge glass panes that I wouldn't sit near one let alone go outside and be eaten alive. Plus I also got paranoid that some serial killler was watching us from the woods and couldn't sleep so it fair to say it was a restless night.
The next day we got going earlyish and started the drive around the south of Maui and towards more of Maui's natural attractions. We stopped at Hamoa Bay where there were some big waves to play in and then continued round to the Venus Pool, a freshwater and saltwater mix pool where the locals go to hang out and jump off the rocks.
As the afternoon wore on it was important for us to get through the baron sections of road and up to the volcano before sunset. Buck took some brutal batterings on the unpaved roads and to be honest i'm very suprised the rust didn't give way and everything fall through.but somehow he managed the 10,000ft climb and we thought our luck was in....but it wasn't. On the way back down our brakes stopped working for the SECOND time which is not what you need on a 20 mile steep downhill stretch...on the side of a volcano...in the dark. After pulling into a scenic view area in a panic and assessing the danger levels and risk of death we decided to carry on at 3mph with Loz pumping the emergency break and 3 hours later we somehow, and I have no idea how, got home safely. All fun and games when driving Buck!
After the Hana trip we had a few days to round things up before our flight to Oz. I kited everyday and Loz managed to flog the broken truck to a garage for $350, to be honest I didn't expect to get anything for it so that was a bonus! Then we suceeded in missing our flight by getting the wrong day and spent a night on the phone to Qantas, Hawaiian Airlines, STA Travel and American Immigration and paying the price for our stupid mistake. The next flight Qantas could put us on was in 5 days and I used those by kiting everyday and battering my body to the point of exhaustion.
When Tuesday 25th rolled around we had to be up at 4am, in a taxi at 4.30am, on a flight to Ohau at 6.00am and ready for boarding to Australia at 9.15am, all pretty crazy but second time round it went well and without a hitch.
Arriving in Sydney was a weird feeling. I don't know, I guess being thrown back into civilization was a shock to the system and not only that we were going from an all-year summer location to an Australian winter. We're now 9 hours ahead of the UK rather than behind and to top it all we lost a day and a half on a 10 hour flight. Our bodies are confused because the sun starts to fade at 4pm, the shadows get longer and there's a freshness in the air but still I have to say, even their winter days and better than a UK summer day, I think I may have to move here at some point.
So now we've been here 3 days and it's the morning of the 4th, our first few days were all about settling in and checking out the city which I really love and yesterday we got to explore a bit of northern Sydney and the national park area which was beautiful. Today I believe it's time to get down to research as our plans have changed and we will no longer be staying and working in Sydney for Sept, Oct and Nov but rather at Surfers Paradise in Queensland (This is Lauries fault from Maui as she recommended it!). We will come back to Sydney for the month of December and for Christmas and New Year though. Thinking ahead of that scares me so we'll leave it at that for now!
Ok, so that's it for now! Time to look into booking flights to the Gold Coast...
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