High Times at Haleakala

We made a day trip to the top of the Maui today to Haleakala National Park. The main feature of this part of the park is the famous Haleakala Crater. It is huge: 11.25 km (7 mi) across, 3.2 km (2 mi) wide, and some 800 meters (2,600 feet) deep. When you are standing on the rim, it feels as if you might be descending on the Moon.



There were other-worldly plants and the sands of the crater changed color in every direction that you looked: blues, greens, yellows, reds, every color imaginable.



We began the steep descent down; even though it was the beginning of summer, it was quite chilly as we hiked into the Crater. We only had a few hours before we had to meet everyone else for dinner, so we didn't have a chance to hike as far as we would have liked, but the views were beautiful.

On the trek back up, we were really envious of the crowds of people who were on horseback!



We drove up to the Summit and we were above the clouds and could see all of the islands of Hawaii! Words cannot express how beautiful it was!

The Hana Highway

After a relaxing morning at the Four Seasons shaking the post wedding celebration stupor, we set off for a scenic drive along the Hana Highway. It is a long and winding road cut into that weaves alongside the eastern side of the island. The drive takes about 3 hours of white knuckle driving with a cliff on one side and the mountain side on the other. Jon thought he was a rally car driver and it was completely freaking me out. According to Wikipedia, there are approximately 620 curves along Highway 360 from just east of Kahului to Hana; which means there were approximately 620 times I yelled "Slow the frick, down" or some variation of that phrase.



Then to make matters worse, I read in the guidebook that Many of the concrete and steel bridges date back to 1910 and all but one are still in use. That one bridge, badly damaged by erosion, has been paralleled by a portable steel bridge erected by the Army Corps of Engineers. Signs on the old bridge warn pedestrians to stay off due to imminent collapse. My nervous tendencies construed that all of the bridges were going to collapse imminently.

Our first stop was in the bamboo forest and had we had a bit more time, we would have loved to hike out to the waterfall, but with the long drive, it wasn't feesible.

The drive passes through beautiful, tropical rainforest and has many beautiful waterfalls. We had lunch on mangos and other goodies that we found at self-service fruit stands along the road. With daylight fading we made quick stops at the black and red sand beaches and darted off to the Seven Sacred Pools.



We were really looking forward to taking a swim in the pools, but they were closed due to high water levels. We watched the sunset over the pools and had a chat to a few local fisherman.

Then... we had to drive home on the Hana Highway in the dark. All I can say is I am lucky to be alive =)

The Big Day!

Tuesday was the big day! We were told the best thing we could do is stay out of the way, so Steph, Brett, Jon & I headed off to the Kiehi Cafe for some of the best damn breakfast burritos I have ever had. We had made plans with Russ's roommate John to meet up with us, lend the guys some surfboards, so that when they returned home they could tell girls in bars that they "surfed near Pipeline." Like in the VERY general vicinity, but those are only details.



Halfway through brekky, we realized that Brett's shirt for the wedding was still in the bride's car, so we had to track her down while she was at the spa and retrieve the shirt. While Brett was off finding his shirt, we waited by the Jeep under this tree that had long pods that looked like centepieds. Now, Brett had learned about the centepieds on the island and was DEATHLY afraid of them. Apparently, they are pretty gross to look at and hurt like a beasty when they bite you. Needless to say, even the mention of a creepy crawly sent him into a five-year-old-girl type frenzy. So, being the sweet friends that we are we gathered up as many of these faux centipieds as possibly to scare the crap out of him. We hid a bunch around the car and waited.......




Unfortunately, he walked out and saw us planting our bugs, so he was on guard for the rest of the week. It had the potential to be such a great damn joke.

The wedding took place on a overlook by the Wailea Country Club. Everything was absolutely perfect; beautiful view & sunset. Mike even had one of his student's parents drive the rescue helicopter over the site of the ceremony and drop down 10,000 plumeria flowers; it was snowing gorgeous tropic flowers.



The reception following was at the Irish pub where they met called Mulligans. One of Mike's students came and did a special hula for his special teacher, which really spoke volumes about the relationship he has with all of his students.

We were really lucky to share the special day.

Mulligan (by Jon)

Sunday was time for the boys to have some real fun, ditch the broads and go raise hell.... On the golf course. *Ahem* Yes, we are real rebels, and decided to go play a round of golf in Waillea. We wanted to do something different, you know? I mean, who plays golf in Hawaii??? So, Russ, Wegs, Steph (yes, he has a girls name), Noel, and Russ's brothers rented some clubs and got ready to do battle. Yes, we rented. And no, as you can guess, we are not good at golf (well, except Noel....He beat everybody by about 20 strokes, that smug *******) But I'll tell you what, we tore that golf course up. No, we did really. Literally. There were divots all over the place, it was pretty ugly.... Let's put it this way, when I went to rent the clubs it was so obvious that I had no clue what I was doing that the guy at the golf shop gave me a bag of balls (literally a whole shopping bag full) and said that I'd need 'em.




I did

*sigh*

Oh, did I mention I got the dubious honour of getting the highest score? No? Good. Then I shot 2 under par.....



Anyway, we got out to the course for the early tee time of 7AM. Loaded the beer on the back of the golf carts and were on our way. Why the beer you might ask? Well, the way looked at it was that we were going to have horrific scores anyway. We might as well get drunk and have that as an excuse. By the time we reached the 9th hole the beer was gone but luckily we ran into the beer girl and bought her entire stock and kept on going. Funny thing was that looking at the score card afterwards that I apparently play a hell of a lot better drunk than sober.

The golf course was awesome, perched up on the the hill over-looking the islands of Molokini and Molokai and sometimes we just had to just stop and soak up the view. It was almost like playing Tiger Woods Golf on the PS2.....except that it was real. Oh, and that we suck. I had bought these really cool salmon coloured balls, 9 of them, figuring that they would be really hard to lose. I started in on the balls that the guy in the golf shop gave me by the end of the 3rd hold. Oops.



Didn't matter though, we had a blast. Moment of the day for me was on the back 9. Can't remember the whole, I was pretty drunk I think. but it was a par 5. I was off in the light rough after my tee shot about 220 yards from the pin. Using the 3 wood I managed to put the ball onto the green about 10 feet from the whole. It was so cool. And no, I didn't make eagle....or birdie. Hell, I didn't even get par as my putting skills decided to desert me at just the right time but hitting it onto the green like that was cool anyway.



Difficult to describe the course with words and can't show you pictures because we forgot the camera but take my word for it, it was gorgeous. Afterwards we went to the bar and had a few more drinks before going home to get cleaned up cause the boys were going out on the town to rage tonight!!!!

Yup, we were going out to party more after playing 18 holes of golf in 90+ degree heat in blazing sunshine and drinking loads of beer. We got back and decided to watch a bit of the game before getting ready and....

Ah well, we had a blast that day anyway even if we did, ummm, fade a bit towards the end.
- Jon

What Jon forgot to mention is after the boys got back from the golf, the families of the bride & groom hosted a beautiful barbeque on the beach in South Kihei. The night culminated in a soccer game Mike v. his nieces and I do have to say, I think Maddie & the girls won flat out! Then promptly came home and returned home to all fall asleep on the couch. But, good times, good friends & good food are always wonderful!

Good Times & Green Turtles

We had a wonderful sleep in on Saturday & enjoyed a wonderful greasy breakfast at the "Philly Diner" in Kihei. The irony was not lost on either Jonathan or I, but it was wonderful to have the closest thing to a greasy spoon we could find on the island. We had what the Aussie's call an "American Breakfast" of scrambled eggs, white toast, hash browns & bacon while very aggressive little sparrows flew around the inside of the diner and seems to swarm for scraps!



Mike phoned and said everyone was meeting down on the beach in Wailea just to relax, swim & snorkel. So, we drove down taking an accidental detour that ended up in a stunning drive along the coast of Maui. The sights were absolutely breathtaking! As we were driving, the directions Jon took down over the phone accidentally flew out the window, so we spent quite a bit of time backtracking down the road looking for a scrap of paper on the road. These sort of ridiculous things only happen to us!

When we finally met up with everyone else, Mike suggested that we take our snorkeling gear and go explore a little point about a half mile down the beach. Other people had told us the coral was a bit pretty, but we never expected what we actually found! The reef itself was impressive, but not by Australia standards. We were lucky enough to come across a group of green sea turtles gnoshing on the kelp that was floating around. I even took a bit of kelp in my hand and had one of the smaller turtles take a nip from it! There had to be at least 15 turtles; they were everywhere you turned! It was truly a "Finding Nemo" moment!



The bride & groom to be were having dinner at Spago's, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant at the Four Seasons Maui, so we were invited to dinner with the bride's Mom and assorted friends at Stella Blue's, a great local restaurant with a bit of a Grateful Dead undertone. Our Deadhead friends would love it! There is even a drink on the menu called "Friend of the Devil." Check out the website at http://www.stellablues.com./

The best man was one of the managers there, so we had top notch treatment & had an amazing dinner while sipping Lilikoitinis (the most amazing concoction ever! Problem being, you can't taste the vodka!) Our server Chris was a legend! Talk about service with a smile!



We tried to rally to do a "late night," but the night's fate was sealed when Brett took my sunglasses and fell asleep in the bar. This became a recurring image on the trip and the scariest part was he looked better in my sunglasses than I did! Tip-Ups was a great bar, but we were all just so incredibly shot out that all anyone wanted to do was go to bed. We are so not 21 anymore!
The boys had an early tee off time at a golf course in Wailea & Jon was loving be able to watch ESPN Sports Center, so going home early was actually a nice treat!

Halfway Home in Hawaii

It felt so good to be back in the U.S., even if just for a week. My main objectives were to eat as many bagels & pieces of "New York Style Pizza" as humanly possible & to stock my suitcase full of "homesickness curing" foods.

It was the strangest thing, I left our apartment at 11am on Friday morning to fly from Brisbane to Sydney and then Sydney to Honolulu. When I walk off the plane to meet Jon and hop an interisland flight to Maui, it was 10am on Friday. Shocking. The jet lag wasn't too bad though, other than not knowing what day it was, the time change didn't screw with our circadian rhythms too much.



We rented a bright red Jeep Wrangler to cruise the island and style and rushed off to Mike's house, so he could begin shuttling everyone to and from the airport. After one of Mike's high school buddies arrived, there wasn't much time to think about how tired we were before we were off to Mike's parents condo for a lovely barbeque at sunset. The food was amazing; it was so nice to have "traditional American" cuisine =) I know it sounds silly, but it was so incredibly wonderful!



After the barbeque, Mike and his bleary eyed group of travellers set off to meet up with his bride-to-be and her friends who had just flown in from the Mainland for a night of libations at Moose McGillicuty's and then it all gets a bit fuzzy from there.....
It was a great night, I'm sure!