In no-mans-land...

Saturday February 20. Beautiful day.

We took a quick look at the mountains and the current weather and decided to jump in the car and drive to Hana. Hana is the mysterious place on the far side of the volcano that holds great fascination for many people. Tales of Black Sands Beach, the Seven Pools, solitude and tranquility seem to be the attraction.

It is an absolutely horrendous drive with over 600 curves in the road and 50 some odd bridges, mostly if not all One-Way-Bridges. We started off at 9.00 and returned home 7 1/4 hours later with 128 miles on the odometer. I have driven it maybe five times and each time I say that is the last time. I say so again.

The weather was perfect, we only ran into light rain while coming into Hana and a torrent on the way home above Kihei, where we live. The rest of the time we had bright blue skies.

The spooky part is not so much the drive as the 'no man's land' just past Hana where the U-drive contract says 'thou shalt not drive!' If you do not chose to drive in the no-drive-zone, one has to go back the same way as you came in, with the 600 curves and 55 bridges to do again and it becomes very annoying.

We chose to defy death and the consequences associated with the rough bit and push on. The really really bad road is not so bad, as long as we travelled at the appropriate speed. The appropriate speed is sometimes 3 MPH, walking speed. My concern was the low undercarriage and the blind curves where locals with pick-ups and gigantic tires seem to enjoy spooking tourists like us.

We survived, as we got past the lumpy bit, about 13 miles that took us over an hour the road gradually improved until we were on a beautiful highway buzzing along at 50 MPH.

Long day but great to see all the various faces of Maui, from a dense bamboo rain forest to barren volcanic canyons. The passengers probably had a more scary ride than I did but nobody complained and Ian thanked me for a very comfortable ride.

Near the end of the run, Kihei is about one hour down the coast ahead.

Again, past the lumpy bit and glad to see half decent roads.

At Hana Bay, not a lot to see there, but a first for us.

Picnic lunch near Hana.

The weather was perfect, this is approaching Hana.
Hark is that a decent road ahead?

Volcanic canyons, formed by centuries of flash floods.
We could be in Scotland, looking at this picture.

A bit of the lumpy bit.

As a matter of interest, Hana gets about 65 inches of rain a year, same as Vancouver. Up the road a bit in the rain forest they get 300 inches a year, and the West Maui Mountains at the north end get 600 inches per year. Needless to say water is not scarce, just expensive.

Pictures say it all...

Friday February 19. Beautiful, a bit of cloud and wind.

Bits and pieces again...

Thursday February 18. Windy, coolish, dry, settling down later. Nice day.

MAUI REPORT:

After the usual leisurely healthy breakfast we took a look at the clear skies at the crater and decided to take a run up to the top. Although it is only 12 miles from our cabin here at Kihei, if we were crows, it is 48 miles of winding but interesting roads to get there. That 48 miles takes just under two hours of driving.

Th weather was outstanding, clearest we have ever seen it. Sometimes it is socked in up there and the temperature does go below freezing in the winter. The crater gets an average of 35 inches of rain per year, the same as London, England. Hard to believe but true.

Today we could see the Big Island of Hawaii and it's two volcanoes 80 miles to the south.

The last flow of lava from the crater was about 800 years ago. The main activity was between 800,000 and 1,000, 000 years ago apparently. That is clouds in the distance, not snow. We were above the cloud level.
Even walking is more of an effort here. The altitude is about 10,000 feet, Kilimanjaro just over 19,000 feet and Everest about 30,000 feet, just to put it in perspective.

This is a Silversword plant that takes up to 50 years before it blooms, then dies. Sort of like us humans!

Not Kilimanjaro but a nice feeling nevertheless, even the car had a bit of trouble with the carburetor on the way up.

THE LANGLEY STIMULUS PROGRAMME:

The front of the house being prepared for plaster and stone work.

Doug's playhouse, also getting ready for plaster.

THINGS AT WORK:

The 'management' had a 40 foot banner made for Olympic stimulation. They have decided to put up a Canadian flag for each medal we win. [This is the side of the building that faces the Trans Canada Highway were tens of thousands of cars pass each day.] Believe it or not, Canada has been projected to win over 20 medals.

The Manager of Canada Ticket, hanging up number six yesterday.

Much Ado About Nothing...

Tuesday, February 17. Beautiful windy day.

By now you must be fully aware that we are basically doing absolutely nothing here!

However, I will attempt to use my limited literary and photographic skills, to try to fool you into thinking that we had an absolutely exhausting day.

Up early for a leisurely breakfast on the porch, deck, balcony, Lanai or whatever. [Bacon and eggs today because it was a special day, 'We woke up!']

Off we go in our over-sized Dodge Magnum car with the mini-surf board on top, down to the far end of Makena Beach for an orientation tour with Ian and Judy.

At The Marriott Hotel we spent some time checking out the Maui Art Glass Exhibit. [Really, just a big showroom of very nice glass pieces.]

The vistas are as beautiful as ever from the Hotel lobby area. Very breezy here today.

Time to smell the roses.

Lingering along the way.

Back to Maui Hill to make sure the crater is not clouded over..

At 6.20 PM, time to go down to the mound like a good Druid to say farewell to the sun as it makes its way across the Pacific to Fiji.

That was then and this is now...

Tuesday, February 16. Beautiful.

We two had an early morning swim, [7.00], then back for a balcony breakfast. Off to get what groceries we did not get yesterday.

Other than that we all appreciated just staying put. Judy has a bit of a cold so that is just the reason we needed to stick close to home.

The setting here is absolutely beautiful, and we want to take it in as much as we can. We have done just about every adventure on the island from cycling down the 10,000 foot volcano to horseback riding in the mountains. This time we are going to relax.

This is the left hand view from our balcony, looking up to the volcano.

Fellette, Maui 1971

Fellette, 39 years later, same gown! Like a fine wine, better with age. [Methinks we do need to go shopping! We have other Mu Mu's [gowns], but this is a favourite, especially with me, Doug, good memories.

That's it folks, I said we were relaxing and I meant it.

Moving day, again...

Monday, February 15. Fantastic day. 80 C

Time to get out of Dodge and get to our ultimate destination... that little spec of an island called Maui. It has been a long haul, 40 days, to be exact, since we left home.

This is the 'cab' that took us to the airport in Waikiki. Same price, I guess not too many big shots looking for limos at 9 in the morning.

I thought this was a cute shot of Judy and Fellette in the limo. [There was a full length mirror on the roof].

In what seemed like forever, but in reality it was a matter of a few hours and we were in our rented car and at the condo in Maui.

The ever-so-beautiful view from our lanai, [balcony].

For the first time since leaving the ship we are fully unpacked and living like real people instead of living out of a suitcase.

I KNOW we are in Maui when I have some of this in the fridge, Kim Chee, Korean spicy cabbage. You can't beat it with chips and salsa after a hard day at the beach!

As ever, grateful to be here.

.

68 Years Hence...

Sunday February 14, another sunny day.

*The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour was only a diversionary attack. The real and successful invasion took place 68 years later, which is now!

I cannot believe the number of Japanese tourists here in Honolulu and Waikiki. Our hotel must have about 80% Japanese occupancy. The streets are full of them and ABC stores [local convenience stores], now accept Japanese Yen! They don't take Canadian but they sure take Yen.

Bus schedules are printed in Japanese, I don't know why, they have Special Charter Buses roaming the streets full of happy Japanese youths on them, screaming and waving as they buzz through the main drag. Of course the food stores love them. Have you ever had a 'Japanese Style Korean BBQ'?

All good though, no issues with that many of any one nationality. Other than the noisy bus kids, which makes us smile and wave at them, they seem to be exceptionally well behaved and polite. Family travel seems to be in vogue with them, babies, moms, dads, and grandparents come and go at the hotel reception in droves.

The Japanese seem to have mastered the art of eating without gluttony. I have not seen one overweight Japanese person.

Fellette and I went for a walk and swim this Sunday Morning around 10 and I just captured a few shots of the activities going on. Remember, it is winter, this goes on every day of the year!

The bride, finished with photos on the beach and clutching her cell phone, and the groom, trailing, some future for him.

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Talking to fish at the shore. His secret is he holds a hard cracker in his fingers and sits very still. he is surrounded by hundreds of small fish.

The church pews are empty!



Start them young! [Dad was right behind].



Life is a Beach, but remember these are basically ALL tourists, not locals.



Monday is Maui Day for us, finally!

* Ian mentioned that today and I thought that it was rather novel.

Bits and Pieces...

Saturday, February 13. Beautiful again.

This is written on Sunday, Valentine's Day, which happens to be our granddaughter's birthday. Yep, born on Valentine's day 16 years ago. Happy Birthday Angela!


Another reason to celebrate is son-in-law Robert, [Angela's father], had a rather successful day in his still-opening glass blowing Studio at their Hobby Farm. The equipment is being debugged and he is experimenting and becoming familiar with his new surroundings. Apparently somebody dropped by yesterday and bought most of his inventory. Congratulations Robert!




If you have interest, take a look at the articles written in the local papers about Robert and his Studio...
Surrey Leader article
Surrey Now article
Surrey Now slideshow

The Langley Stimulus Programme...
Coming nicely. Just a few back-ordered roof caps to be installed. Rough plumbing done, heating system installed, framing finished inside, much carpentry to be done on outside, stone work and plaster to do, electrical going in this week. After the electrical is done the house will basically sit for our return except for siding to go on where required on the house.



The Olympics...
Glad the opening is over, too bad about the glitch. A tragedy on the luge, that got a lot of coverage here. In the local paper they have moderate coverage on the Olympics but very nice coverage on the protesters. Isn't that the way folks!

And now to us...
Great relaxing day for all of us. balcony Breakfast, long walk towards Diamond Head and Zoo area. Caught up on reading and then out to see the area in the other direction. We had dinner at Duke's on the beach front and watched the sun go down. Beautiful. Prior to dinner we went into The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, next to Dukes at the Outrigger.


The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is one of only two buildings left that were there when the Japanese planes came buzzing over this area in 1941. It is a beautiful building, inside and out, distinctive by it's pink colour. My Mom and Dad used to go there for an evening drink when visiting my father's half brother, Uncle Bob who vacationed in Hawaii regularly in the 50's and 60's. Son-in-law Robert's father died whilst in Waikiki with Robert and apparently his ashes are spread in front of 'The Pink Palace'.


After dinner we slowly wandered back to our hotel. It was a bizarre experience with buskers and the throngs of people dressed in every possible casual set of clothing and attire or whatever you could imagine. Mixed in the group were some down-and-outers as we have seen in every place we have been. The 'invisible people', except why are they on the main street? To be not so invisible methinks. It is nevertheless a very safe and a happy place to be and it happens every day of the year! The seasons don't count here, it is winter now!