Goodbye Hawaii, Hello Australia!

Time to say Aloha to Hawaii... we are leaving for Australia, but we will be back in Honolulu in just over a week.

Here's a recap of the last few days:

On day 3 of our trip, we went for a day long hike at Haleakala.  We rented two cars so that we could start at the visitor center, hike to the trailhead, and drive back up the crater to the visitor center.  Greg had hiked Haleakala twice before, and had made the mistake of hiking halfway down the crater and back up the steepest side.  His idea about the cars surely saved us the pain of a steep climb at high elevation.  Or did it? ;-)

The start of our hike at the rim of the crater was cold but sunny.  Temperatures rose as we approached the bottom of the Shifting Sands Trail - aptly named for the blowing red, gold and black sands featured in the cones that rose from the center of the crater and piled up on the trail.  I had slathered my legs and feet with sunscreen. Wind blew sand into the sunscreen, making a thick paste of mud from my knees to the tops of my feet.

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Greg and I walked down the crater wall and across a rocky valley of lava, desert-like and hot with little wind, for 7 miles.  We stopped often to observe the birds, the local plants, and to let horseback riders pass.  Once at the bottom, we continued across a moonscape of wind-eroded lava rocks with not a plant in sight.  After rounding the turn of a steep crater on the far side we were in a completely different environment of lush grasslands, tall flowering bushes, lizards and Ne Ne birds.  It began to mist, then rain as the clouds tumbled over the western cliffs and down into the caldera.  Remember that mud on my legs?  The rain and tall grasses washed most of it off, soaking my shoes and shorts at the same time.  I was glad for my waterproof rain jacket as it began to rain even harder, and pulled the brim down low over my eyes. 

Finally, we reached the base of an extremely steep cliff with a narrow path of rock carved out in switchbacks.  It zigzagged up into the clouds until it was no longer visible.  Greg and I hauled ourselves up the slippery path, trying not to look down as we rose higher and higher into the wet fog.  After many stops (for my tired legs and lungs not adjusted to the elevation), and a few jumpy encounters with the pheasants who nest on the sides of the cliff (they fly off the rocks suddenly, jumping out of the blinding fog) we reached flat grasslandand.  Another half mile and, at long last, the trailhead parking lot.  With a 12 mile hike behind us, we were just in time to witness the beauty of the sun setting over the far western side of Maui from the tip top of Haleakala.

Day 4 started with a painful walk down to the coffee shop in the morning, and a flight to the Big Island - Hawaii.  Greg and I rented a cute little red Ford Focus and drove north from Kona to the Waikoloa Marriott Resort.  We bought a bottle of wine and enjoyed the incredible view from our lanai of the sun setting on the bay and the lagoons.  Dinner at the hotel restaurant consisted of delicious yellowfin steaks with garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, and wine.  Greg and I shared a beer at the bar in an attempt to repair our aching bodies... we beat the mountain the day before, but it had taken its toll on our muscles. We then retired to our room to prepare for Day 5, our visit to Volcanoes National Park.

Day 5 started with the most physical pain I have experienced since my travels to train at the kung fu school in Shao Lin, but without the benefit of my mom's encouragement and her awesome dragon balm.  Stairs were impossible, and I relied on walls to support myself on basic walks across the hotel room.  An Aleve later, and we were in the car and driving through Kona coffee country on our way to visit Pele.

Volcanoes National Park featured Kilauea, actively smoking out sulfur and steam.  Greg and I hiked past steam vents, protected endangered plant management areas, beautiful flowers, and tourists expressing surprise that "the steam is hot!".  We visited Kilauea Ilihi, the caldera that last erupted in 1959 and created a lake of lava, now frozen into a flat expanse of swirling black and red rock.  The park trail signs pointed out huge six-ton boulders that had been flung from the explosions.  We walked through Thurston Lava Tube along with a small nation worth of tourists from the many idling tour busses parked outside the entrance. 

Later that evening, we grabbed dinner at a local award-winning steak and sushi house.  I killed the pain in my calves with a double ginger mojito, and Greg had a beer tour with Kona coffee porter, a red ale, and a Longboard.  Dinner was crab and mango sushi rolls, lobster tail with a crab cake in linguini, and crab white truffle ramen.  Dessert was crème brulee and a cup of.... what else?.... Kona coffee.  =). We ended our busy day with a sunset walk on the beach and around the lagoons. 

Day 6, Greg and I woke early for a big cup of coffee downstairs at the hotel coffee shop, then a leisurely stroll along the beach.  We stopped often to admire the interpretive trail describing the history of the lagoons and the different types of fish that evolved in the various salinities of the salt/fresh water mixes in the lava rock pools.  The resort is also home to significant archaeological sites that are protected and well-maintained. I was thrilled to learn about the housing structures and ancient fishing gates!

After an uneventful overnight stay at an airport hotel in Honolulu, we are now on our way to Sydney, Australia to begin the international portion of our great adventure. 

This blog post is brought to you by a Haupia (coconut) pie from McDonald's, the hotel cat that I fed at dinner, and my second attempt to drain this airplane of all the champagne onboard.  Bring it on, flight attendants!