I wanted to stay in a place which was active with lots of things to see and do so Mike had said for me to go to Lahaina and so I did and I just loved it. I arrived on Maui via Hawaiian Airlines and trotted out to the transport area and immediately spotted a big sign which said airport shuttle. Unlike Kauai where you are left to guess how to get to your hotel it seems that Maui had no objection to helping tourists to get to where they wanted to go. I went up to the booth and said how much to Aina Nalu and the girl said $50.00 and that was when my jaw dropped as I am used to spending no more than $11.00 on a shuttle. Is that the cheapest option I asked, she said a cab is $75.00 so I have her my credit card and hopped on the bus. It turns out that Maui has two volcanoes with a flat bit in the middle and Lahaina and most resorts are situated a long way from the main airport hence the cost of getting there. It took about an hour to reach Lahaina and when I considered that other places took almost as long so why the high cost of the trip then I figured that there were only three people on the bus, that this may often be normal and it was distance not traffic that caused the length of the trip.

Aina Nalu is an Outrigger resort just two very short blocks from the main street in Lahaina. It is a bit rambling and the exterior looked a bit tired but I think that was due the nauseous colour it was painted. My room was great, a separate lounge and bedroom, nice bathroom and a fully stocked kitchen so I could do my own food if I felt like it, I did buy food, ceasar salads from the ABC store and great pasta from the restaurant around the corner but the serves were so large I had leftovers and eating became quite cheap.

I loved Lahaina the minute I got there, it had such a nice feel too it. It was a cross between Kuranda and Cairns Esplanade, it was buzzing with people and activity and the buildings were interesting too.

The cute little furry critter in the background is a baby mongoose, I was lucky to get this shot as they are fast little things, you often see something brown and furry zap across the road in front of you but before you realise that something is there it is gone already.

The pictures have title tags on them so point and they will appear.

Lahaina

Nothing is very old in Lahaina, most buildings have early 1900 dates on them prior to that buildings seemed to have been constructed of mud and timber and thatch so they were not long lasting as far as historical architecture is concerned. Because Hawaii is alive there is considerable earth movement so even stone structures such as Heiau's (temples) are prone to collapse over the years. In 1819 King Kamehameha II ordered the destruction of all Heiau and abolished Hawaiian religion but these are being rebuilt as you will see when I get the pages abou the Big Island of Hawaii. If you are interested in Hawaiian history, click here.

Lahaiana is rather quaint and it is interesting, it has lots of character and I found it a fun place to be. I mooched around and talked to all kinds of people, one such person, an old dragon who was minding the art gallery under the court house, what a tragedy queen she was, I couldn't wait to get away. She was the only bad one though, people were very friendly and I met some nice dogs and parrots too.

The island above is Molokai which was one place I wanted to go. Originally I wanted to ride down the cliff to the old Father Damien leper colony on mules but I didnt read the fine print which said only 16 mules a day go down the cliff and you have to book well ahead. Oh well missed out on that one as I did not book the whole trip that far ahead but I woud still like to do it one day. The colony is very isolated and can be reached by sea, air or by mule. Hansens disease now has a cure so there are only a few people still living there by choice and we are priviledged to be able to go there on a day trip. I had originally decided I would stay on Molokai too, it is not a commercial kind of island and is supposed to be unspoiled and authentic as far as hawaiian culture is concerned. Reports I heard said that some people wanted tourism and others were very against it, the end result is rather disjointed facilities and opportunities for tourists. There were some hotels which were a fair distance from the ferry and I was not sure about transport.

When I found I could not do the mule trip I opted for a day package, catch the ferry from Lahaina and get a small tour bus on Molokai. I had a booking for my third day on Maui but while I was on the road to Hana the Lahaina Ferry Company rang me at the hotel and cancelled the trip because they did not have enough people to go that day, could I go on Friday. I could not because I was flying out to the big island on Friday morning, I thought of changing my plans but had already done that once because of me not staying on Molokai so I decided Molokai would have to live without me.

I was disappointed but soon got over it when I thought I could spend the money on flights over volcanoes on Hawaii. If you wanted to do Molokai it might be worth taking a day flight from Oahu, it is a long day and perhaps costly but at least you will know you will get to see the island. Lahaina is good but it is laid back and there are no guarantees of ferry trips to Molokai.

Like Waikiki there were plenty of ABC stores in Lahaina, they are fantastic because they are going to sell almost everything you are going to want. I still cannot get over being able to buy a good bottle of champagne in a shop where you can get food and your tacky souvenirs.

Lahaina kind of changes depending upon the time of day, the mornings are quiet, midday loads of tourists looking for lunch, afternoon gets a bit quiet again because it is hot and then things buzz again in the evening. I liked Lahaina in the evening, people, locals and tourists, go down to the shore and just watch sunsets and chill out. In Late afternoone everything goes rather silver in colour and then at sunset everything is very golden and just beautiful. Marian says the red Lahaina sunsets occur because of the atmosphere their volanco Kilauea creates.

As you can tell I liked Maui and Lahaina and highly recommend it. There are more resorts further up the coast but I think I prefer to spend my time amongst locals rather than at resorts. In winter the surfing brings people from all over the world and Hawaii in general is a great haven for hiking, adventure and water sports.

The Road to Hana (and around the volcano out the other side)

The road to Hana is listed as one of the "must do's" so I did it. It is a picturesque winding road with lots of beautiful views some of which I have included here. I dont mind bus tours, the ones in Hawaii are compact so you dont have hoards of people on them just small buses, all air conditioned and comfortable. Ours came with a driver called Dennis who was very entertaining.

The road into Hana is two lanes and windy with some roadworks as subsidance is a problem, we only got a delay of about 20 minutes and we all seemed to have fallen asleep while we were waiting. The beaches and coves are georgeous so it is something I recommend visitors to Maui do. Although many people hire cars and drive when you are on a bus you can look out the window the whole time and I liked that idea. We stopped many times to take photos and gawk at things, the road is narrow and occupational health and safety factors not all that important, you park where you can and so, at one stop, we were parked on the wrong side of the road with the passengers offloading in to the road. It's not a problem to locals and the drivers, they just stand in the road and wave the cars around or stop them if there is no room to get around. At one stop we clambered up a muddy embankment to get the best view and best pictures, there we were standing on the edge of a deep gulley with no safety rails so I was a bit surprised and realised how anal retentive we are in Australia about such things. When I turned to come back down the bank I slipped and almost landed on my okole but in the end I didnt fall over the cliff so it was a good day.

Lots of twisty bits on the road with commentary on the vegetation and history of things and a stop at a roadside stall to buy local produce and goodies, I had a tub of icecream, macadamia nut toffee locally made by the man selling it to me. Yumm. Dennis also told us about local characters and his time driving the road to Hana, not only as a bus driver but as a citizen too. Hana is on the other side of the island to Lahaina and it is on the other side of the volcano too so the landscape was rather lush and interesting.

The Road to Hana was interesting and enjoyable but the road out of Hana on the other side of the volcano Haleakala was a barrel of fun too. Once you leave Hana you kind of leave civilisation and the road gets narrow and turns into a dirt track. Every now and then we would encounter an obstacle like the big gas cannister truck that services the area because there is no electicity and Dennis would shout Holey Moley !! and wake us all from our tourist fug. There is only one thing to do and that is for one vehicle or the other to back up to a driveway, Dennis managed it ok despite his constant cries of alarm.

The picture below on the right is taken from the bus window so you can see how close we were to the edge of the cliff sometimes, Holey Moley indeed !!!! this drop was about 40 feet and you can just see the corner of the window in the bottom right hand corner of the picture. I felt safe though and no one else on the bus was alarmed, only Dennis who was driving. By the time we had reached this stretch of road we had been on the tour for about 8 hours or more. It is a long day 11 hours in total but well worth it in my opinion and the sights were not over yet.

The little house below is typical of those we saw, there was a derelict stone one next to it. After about an hour we came upon a shop with lots of people outside sitting and drinking softdrinks. The shop was crammed full of old curios and I loved it. Most of us bought something and queued up to use the facility. People there were very friendly and it is the only pit stop for miles

Although I had been on the dry side of Oahu and seen dry areas of Kauai nothing prepared me for the dry side of Maui. In the photo at left below there was green in the foreground an desolate brown just a few hundred yards down the road which went on for miles. It was a lava flow of course but having only seen lush pictures of hawaii and pictures with nice white sand beaches, swaying palms and sunsets it was a bit of shock to me and I didn't like it at first. Perhaps I didnt warm to it at all but later when I flew over the lava flows on Hawaii I coped better with the concept of brown landscape with no vegetation or black landscape with no vegetation. I have more photos of it on Hawaii so you will see it better there when I get to build the page and I will talk about the Hawaiian islands as a work in progress by mother nature.

The photo at right below was a big gully, almost a mini grand canyon, striking black and brown with a new bridge being built over it. An earthquake had destroyed the other one, I am not sure the state of the road or bridge we were on, it looked sound and I felt safe and I survived my trip around haleakala so that is all that counts. I never felt unsafe and the tours happen daily so I guess there is no real danger but some of the drops from the road are rather thrilling.

What an island full of contrasts Maui was, I liked it from the minute I landed on it after I got over the initial shock of having to pay $50.00 for a shuttle to my Lahaina hotel. I had to spend an extra day amusing myself because my Molokai tour was cancelled but I had no problems doing that, it is a nice island and if you like water sports you will get more out of it than I did. The picture above is typical of the silver that happens in late afternoon, it is around 5 pm here, the sun is fading and the water just turns this lovely colour before the sun sets red. The little black thing in the right hand of the picture is Molokini, a popular diving spot into the creater of an old volcano.

The island you can see at left is Kaho'olawe, there was interest in opening it for residential and tourist activities but it seems it was used by America as a place to test missiles and an attempt was made to clean it up but the job proved too much so the island itself is said to be still dangerous. What vandalism.

Wikipedia says "Kaho'olawe has always been sparsely populated, due to a lack of fresh water. Beginning in World War II, the island was used as a training ground and bombing range by the United States military. After decades of protests, the Navy ended live-fire training on Kaho'olawe in 1990, and the island was transferred to the State of Hawaii in 1994. The Hawaii state legislature established the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve to restore and oversee the island and its surrounding waters. Today Kaho'olawe can be used only for native Hawaiian cultural, spiritual, and subsistence purposes"

Although Wiki lists Kaho'olawe as being sparsely populated it officially has no residents, overgrazing has erroded top soil and there is little fresh water, then there are also the unexploded bombs to consider. However, Hawaiian ceremonies have been held there.

It was a long day, 11 hours in all but a great day and my overall impression of Mauai was good, in fact I had a great time there. I had the whole next day to finish off my visit and pack up in preparation for my flight to Hawaii, known as the big island. I had to fly back to Honolulu first and over the top of Maui again to get back to Hawaii and Mike and Marian. The flights are not that long but I think I took something like 11 or 12 flights in getting to and from Cairns with all the island hopping and sightseeing in between. They used to have a ferry service between the islands but it was closed due, some say, to political reasons, the official reason was the ferries used important sea life channels and put them in danger. I think a boat service between islands would have been wonderful but the airlines have the monopoly. There is a cruise ship that goes from Island to Island for those in to that sort of thing, I prefer to get amongst the locals and see what a place is really like.

Mahalo Maui and Lahaina, I had a great time.