Well after a hectic departure from Los Angeles we arrived in Maui via a confusing transfer at Honolulu airport. In that airport they don't seem to believe in signs or show any interest in having people who can direct you - you just have to kind of know.
Getting to our house was easier thanks to Jill's great navigation skills again, although actually finding which unit was ours from the selection of twenty proved another challenge.
This was our first 'house' in about 2 months of travelling and it was wonderfully liberating to have separate rooms and space to spread out. The first day of our stay was also Megan's 7th birthday! We celebrated it with a cupcake platter and presents for the special girl.
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| Happy birthday to you..... |
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| Proud birthday girl with eager cake helpers. |
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| Obligatory but not traditional birthday photo. |
Despite how beautiful it was at the beach, it took the kids and I a little time to actually visit as we were enjoying the swimming pool at our front door.
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| The walkway to our local beach - Napili Bay. |
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| Napili Bay beach. |
After a visit to Kahului one day we decided to return via the northern and less travelled road. After sixty five hairpin turns and long sections of single lane unpaved road, we understood why. When compared to the other roads on Maui, it was hard to understand why it was even open at all. The major roads on the island were the best that we had seen in all of North America.
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| Drive home from Kahului. |
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| Bunch of posers! |
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| Looking inland. |
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| Part of the north western coastline. |
Of course having survived one such road, Jill determined that we had to travel the iconic road to Hanna - a mere 48 miles from Kahului. She seemed to think that it would take us all day and we should leave as early as possible to drive the whole length. I figured that it was because of sightseeing. Silly me. At one point along the drive I became excited and nervous at the huge speed of 40 km/h that we had reached for a whole 300 metres! The earlier 65 hairpin turns had nothing on the road to Hanna, you could get that many in a kilometer it seemed. The single lane bridges where you give way to whoever arrives first made for interesting driving along with the roadwork trucks barreling along and ignoring the first come first served rule. In their case it was the biggest to arrive goes first regardless of how close you are to the bridge!
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| Setting off on a walk along the road to Hanna. |
There were plenty of things to do along the drive to Hanna, at least according to the guides there were - but finding those things was another taste of island life. No signs and quoted distances were approximate at best and downright misleading often. We met some other tourists doing the same as we did - look for other cars pulled over, find a park of your own and wander in to find out what is there. This made it difficult to have a quiet pee on the side of the road. The others had even bought a CD that supposedly 'talked' them through the trip but they were lost after only a few kilometres as distances didn't seem to match.
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| Waterfall on road to Hanna. |
ied some swimming, but the water was so cold that after the first falls pool they didn't go again.
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| Indonesian gumtree growing in Maui. |
The coastline wasalways energetic and provided plenty of interest.
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| Coastline at Keanae. |
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| Life persists. |
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| Old church at Keanae |
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| Another small falls on road to Hanna. |
Towards the middle of the afternoon we arrived at
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| Waianapanapa National Park near Hanna. |
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Black sand at Waianapanapa
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| Inside the lava tubes |
The drive home was long and sickening for Megan as she suffered terrible car sickness again. Jill was right again - it had been a VERY long day and we hadn't got to see the Bamboo forest or seven something or others.
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| Heading home along the Hanna Highway. |
The day after our epic, we decided to take it very easy at home. At the end of the day after much coaxing, we managed to persuade the kids to come to the beach just to say that we had done it. When we arrived there were monster waves crashing in ahead of a front. In we jumped, over we tumbled, down we crashed, sand we ate, but above all FUN WE HAD!!!
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| The fun of bodysurfng at Napili |
It was shortly after this wave that I learnt to keep my mouth shut when on top of a wave as it isn't long before you end up at the bottom - where the sand is.
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| Ian rides? a wave at Napili |
The waves were the biggest we had ever seen anywhere, but the water was warm and despite the dumpings we felt safe....most of the time.
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| Not looking good for Ash! |
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| Coastline towards Kahului. |
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| Napili Bay beach. |
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| Our home address on Maui. |
Another activity to do was visit the sea turtles in the next bay along from ours. All we had to do was trespass on another resort to get to them. The turtles swam about unconcerned by us and our frantic antics. One swam from below and looked like it was going to ram Megan. Even with her exited splashing and kicking it continued to rise, until at the last moment it veered away and went down again. In the bay there are estimated to be more than 60 turtles.
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| Sea turtle in bay next to ours. |
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| Aloha! |
A style of surfing that we noticed in California and Hawaii was the use of a long single bladed paddle. The surfer uses it to paddle out to the waves and then in some cases uses it as a rudder when catching a wave back.
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| Surfers on nearby beach, closest with paddle. |
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| Coastline along from Napili. |
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| Rainbow boats. |
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| The manicured lawns of the Ritz Carlton. |
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| Smaller waves, but still fun. |
Despite her contact lens, Jill braved the waves too.
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| Jill rides the waves too. |
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| Apparently sand does NOT taste good. |
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| Our last day in Maui and Jill makes the most of it. |
Maui was the perfect wind down after a hectic couple of months of travel.
