Our three islands in two weeks trip to Hawaii!!!
May 28th, 2014, 12:15 AM
#44
Day 1 Maui (Day 10 Hawaii)
Knowing we had to get up early I didn’t sleep very well, thinking I might not hear the alarm. I actually got up at 5.45am, might as well be up than trying to sleep. This meant we had time for breakfast but also meant we had to unpack some of the food, much to DH’s disgust as he had packed it all away last night.
We had to fill the tank on the rental car, the gas station had to be within 10 miles of the airport, and we had to show the receipt!!! DH wanted to fill the tank the night before but I wouldn’t let him, we might have gone over the 10 miles. We passed a gas station not far from the airport so filled up there. Had no trouble dropping off the rental car at Hilo airport. It is great that the drop off place is just over the road from the airport, no need to take a shuttle. I would like to say here, that we had no problems with Dollar Rentals, I had read some bad reviews on the internet but we thought they were efficient, friendly, and the cars we had were all 2013.
We checked in at the airport within minutes, our boarding passes showed the pre check, so could go through the much faster line. However DH got a bit flustered when the buzzer went off as he walked through the detector. He had been holding his passport, realized he had forgotten to empty his pockets, and went back to put the contents in the tray. When he got through the other side, he couldn’t find his passport. There was a bit of a panic then. We searched through the trays, checked with the woman manning the detector, went back and searched the trays again. Finally one of the other TSA people checked the conveyor belt and the passport had fallen down between the rollers. Phew what a relief we found it. I was trying to work out how we were going to get another one before we were due to leave in five days.
The flight was very quick hardly time to drink your fruit juice. In NZ we do not have jets flying short flights, we have turbo-props. We often fly between Nelson and Wellington, which is a similar flight time from Big Island to Maui. We loved the jets, I guess the reason they are used is that they can carry large numbers of passengers. DH thought the reason they weren't used in NZ on short flights was because they weren't cost effective.
The view of the coast-line and the sandy beaches as we came in to land was just beautiful. All the islands we visited were so different to each other.
We had to pick up another rental car at Kahului this time with Thrifty, as it turned out they are the same company as Dollar. This time we had to take a shuttle to the depot, but again no problems at all. We were talked into an upgrade, we were told if we had an SUV we would be able to do the full Road to Hana trip without having to turn back. We were intending to do this anyway so thought what the heck lets go for it.
Our condo this time was in West Maui close to Kahana, and we couldn’t check in until 3pm so had lots of time for sight-seeing, shopping etc. Link to condo http://www.vrbo.com/347301.
We stopped at one of the malls near the airport and had a look around; I still hadn't found anything to bring back for my 7-year-old grandson apart from a T-Shirt. Didn't find anything there either. We did get a book about volcanoes for him at the Volcano National Park gift shop. Had no trouble at all buying things for my 5 year old granddaughter though.
We eventually arrived at our condo about 12.30pm but it was too early to check in. We could see it was still being cleaned. We went and had some lunch and then checked out some of the beaches. The weather was just gorgeous, and the views so photogenic. We had to sign in with the management company and they said we could check in early, so we made our way back to the condo. We were three floors up, (we found the elevator after DH had carried the bags up!!).
The view from our condo was superb, palm trees, blue sea, paddle boarders, boats, and canoes, going past, it was forever changing. The sunsets were just beautiful. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and went for a swim at a beach just down the road. We never swim, so this was a major event!!! The water was so warm. We came back to our condo and went to watch the sea turtles. There was no real swimming beach here, but a rocky beach where the sea turtles feed from the rocks every night. Apart from the sea turtle I had seen basking in the sun at one of the Kona beaches, this was the first time I had seen a whole lot of them together. We took a lot of photos and did a lot of videoing that night. Trying to take a photo when their heads popped out was quite difficult. Most of the times we missed them!
When we were driving around earlier in the day, we found the Maui Brewing Company and thought it would be a good place to go for dinner. We had a short wait for a table so had a drink at the bar. We had got used to leaving a tip at the table when we had a meal, but were still unsure what to do when we ordered a drink. We sort of followed what others were doing and just left some dollars in the glass that the tab came in!!. Our dinner was very nice; I had fish and chips, DH the Jambalaya. It had been a long day so went to bed relatively early.
Knowing we had to get up early I didn’t sleep very well, thinking I might not hear the alarm. I actually got up at 5.45am, might as well be up than trying to sleep. This meant we had time for breakfast but also meant we had to unpack some of the food, much to DH’s disgust as he had packed it all away last night.
We had to fill the tank on the rental car, the gas station had to be within 10 miles of the airport, and we had to show the receipt!!! DH wanted to fill the tank the night before but I wouldn’t let him, we might have gone over the 10 miles. We passed a gas station not far from the airport so filled up there. Had no trouble dropping off the rental car at Hilo airport. It is great that the drop off place is just over the road from the airport, no need to take a shuttle. I would like to say here, that we had no problems with Dollar Rentals, I had read some bad reviews on the internet but we thought they were efficient, friendly, and the cars we had were all 2013.
We checked in at the airport within minutes, our boarding passes showed the pre check, so could go through the much faster line. However DH got a bit flustered when the buzzer went off as he walked through the detector. He had been holding his passport, realized he had forgotten to empty his pockets, and went back to put the contents in the tray. When he got through the other side, he couldn’t find his passport. There was a bit of a panic then. We searched through the trays, checked with the woman manning the detector, went back and searched the trays again. Finally one of the other TSA people checked the conveyor belt and the passport had fallen down between the rollers. Phew what a relief we found it. I was trying to work out how we were going to get another one before we were due to leave in five days.
The flight was very quick hardly time to drink your fruit juice. In NZ we do not have jets flying short flights, we have turbo-props. We often fly between Nelson and Wellington, which is a similar flight time from Big Island to Maui. We loved the jets, I guess the reason they are used is that they can carry large numbers of passengers. DH thought the reason they weren't used in NZ on short flights was because they weren't cost effective.
The view of the coast-line and the sandy beaches as we came in to land was just beautiful. All the islands we visited were so different to each other.
We had to pick up another rental car at Kahului this time with Thrifty, as it turned out they are the same company as Dollar. This time we had to take a shuttle to the depot, but again no problems at all. We were talked into an upgrade, we were told if we had an SUV we would be able to do the full Road to Hana trip without having to turn back. We were intending to do this anyway so thought what the heck lets go for it.
Our condo this time was in West Maui close to Kahana, and we couldn’t check in until 3pm so had lots of time for sight-seeing, shopping etc. Link to condo http://www.vrbo.com/347301.
We stopped at one of the malls near the airport and had a look around; I still hadn't found anything to bring back for my 7-year-old grandson apart from a T-Shirt. Didn't find anything there either. We did get a book about volcanoes for him at the Volcano National Park gift shop. Had no trouble at all buying things for my 5 year old granddaughter though.
We eventually arrived at our condo about 12.30pm but it was too early to check in. We could see it was still being cleaned. We went and had some lunch and then checked out some of the beaches. The weather was just gorgeous, and the views so photogenic. We had to sign in with the management company and they said we could check in early, so we made our way back to the condo. We were three floors up, (we found the elevator after DH had carried the bags up!!).
The view from our condo was superb, palm trees, blue sea, paddle boarders, boats, and canoes, going past, it was forever changing. The sunsets were just beautiful. We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and went for a swim at a beach just down the road. We never swim, so this was a major event!!! The water was so warm. We came back to our condo and went to watch the sea turtles. There was no real swimming beach here, but a rocky beach where the sea turtles feed from the rocks every night. Apart from the sea turtle I had seen basking in the sun at one of the Kona beaches, this was the first time I had seen a whole lot of them together. We took a lot of photos and did a lot of videoing that night. Trying to take a photo when their heads popped out was quite difficult. Most of the times we missed them!
When we were driving around earlier in the day, we found the Maui Brewing Company and thought it would be a good place to go for dinner. We had a short wait for a table so had a drink at the bar. We had got used to leaving a tip at the table when we had a meal, but were still unsure what to do when we ordered a drink. We sort of followed what others were doing and just left some dollars in the glass that the tab came in!!. Our dinner was very nice; I had fish and chips, DH the Jambalaya. It had been a long day so went to bed relatively early.
May 28th, 2014, 12:52 AM
#45
Day 2 Maui (Day 11 Hawaii)
Nothing really planned for today, we thought it was time to have a day of not doing much.I had read about a self-directed walking tour you could do it Lahaina, which showed you a lot of the history of the town. We decided we would do at least some of this, but had to get a map from the Visitors Centre. This was a very interesting walk; there were plaques at many places that gave an explanation of what you were looking at. I enjoy learning about the history of places. There were also a lot of shops that we had to visit as well. Still looking for presents! I had fallen in love with the sea turtles and wanted a T-shirt or some item of clothing that had turtles on them. There were a lot of men’s T shirts but not women’s. We did manage to get some nice gifts for my DIL and DS.
It was getting very hot by this stage, so decided we would drive down the Southern Coast to Kihei and Wailea. There is a lot of traffic in Maui much more than I thought there would be. However when you read of the number of tourists that visit, and most of them have rental cars it is not surprising really. The beaches along the South Coast were beautiful too; there were so many resorts along there. We bought a couple of sandwiches and sat in the park near one of the beaches to eat them. We read where these beaches had been used by the armed forces during World War 2 for bombing practice, and how it changed the landscape. There seemed to be a large number of golf courses in this area too!!
When we got back to our condo, we decided to go back to the beach we found yesterday and have another swim. There was not a lot of people swimming, there were a couple of people fishing, and some people sun-bathing. I imagine that in summer most beaches would be packed with people. We stayed there awhile and then I wanted to go back and see the sea turtles again. DH took the proper video camera this time and managed to get some decent footage.
As we were driving up and down Lower Honoapillani Road we kept seeing a sign advertising the Sand Restaurant at the Sands of Kahana. We thought we would go there for dinner tonight. They were advertising a 50% discount on dinner, decided there must be a catch. It turned out that was between 5.30pm -6.30pm and there were limited choices. We were there at 7pm so ordered from the normal menu. The restaurant was right by the pool, and you could see out to the ocean. We enjoyed our meal, I had a fish burger, and DH a sea-food pasta. I also had another Mai-tai!! I think the one from Dukes has been the best so far. According to some of the Trip Advisor reviews there are good deals for breakfast. We never tried them bit seemed very popular.
We went back home and I started writing the first day of this report. It has taken awhile.
Nothing really planned for today, we thought it was time to have a day of not doing much.I had read about a self-directed walking tour you could do it Lahaina, which showed you a lot of the history of the town. We decided we would do at least some of this, but had to get a map from the Visitors Centre. This was a very interesting walk; there were plaques at many places that gave an explanation of what you were looking at. I enjoy learning about the history of places. There were also a lot of shops that we had to visit as well. Still looking for presents! I had fallen in love with the sea turtles and wanted a T-shirt or some item of clothing that had turtles on them. There were a lot of men’s T shirts but not women’s. We did manage to get some nice gifts for my DIL and DS.
It was getting very hot by this stage, so decided we would drive down the Southern Coast to Kihei and Wailea. There is a lot of traffic in Maui much more than I thought there would be. However when you read of the number of tourists that visit, and most of them have rental cars it is not surprising really. The beaches along the South Coast were beautiful too; there were so many resorts along there. We bought a couple of sandwiches and sat in the park near one of the beaches to eat them. We read where these beaches had been used by the armed forces during World War 2 for bombing practice, and how it changed the landscape. There seemed to be a large number of golf courses in this area too!!
When we got back to our condo, we decided to go back to the beach we found yesterday and have another swim. There was not a lot of people swimming, there were a couple of people fishing, and some people sun-bathing. I imagine that in summer most beaches would be packed with people. We stayed there awhile and then I wanted to go back and see the sea turtles again. DH took the proper video camera this time and managed to get some decent footage.
As we were driving up and down Lower Honoapillani Road we kept seeing a sign advertising the Sand Restaurant at the Sands of Kahana. We thought we would go there for dinner tonight. They were advertising a 50% discount on dinner, decided there must be a catch. It turned out that was between 5.30pm -6.30pm and there were limited choices. We were there at 7pm so ordered from the normal menu. The restaurant was right by the pool, and you could see out to the ocean. We enjoyed our meal, I had a fish burger, and DH a sea-food pasta. I also had another Mai-tai!! I think the one from Dukes has been the best so far. According to some of the Trip Advisor reviews there are good deals for breakfast. We never tried them bit seemed very popular.
We went back home and I started writing the first day of this report. It has taken awhile.
May 29th, 2014, 01:19 AM
#48
Day 3 Maui (Day 12 Hawaii)
We were on the road by 7.15am today. I had read countless reviews of the Road To Hana and they nearly all said you needed to start by 7am – 7.30am to be able to stop at a lot of the sight-seeing spots on the way, and get back before dark. As the majority of tourists stay at either South or West Maui at least 45 minutes is taken up just getting to the start of the Hana Highway. We took sandwiches with us but there were actually plenty of places you could have stopped for food.
It was a beautiful day when we left our condo, however by the time we were at the first stop of Hookipa Beach it had started to rain. We did get out to take some photos of the beach, but it was a short stop unfortunately. There were a few surfers out, it would have been great to watch them for awhile.
Our next stop was the Twin Falls. It had actually stopped raining when we reach there, thankfully. There were a lot of other early birds there too, the parking lot was nearly full. DH and I enjoyed the 20-minute walk down to the beautiful waterfalls. There were even people swimming in the pool at the bottom. A bit too early in the day I thought. You do have to wade through some water so pays to have sandals or something similar on. The people wearing socks and sneakers ended up taking them off and wading through bare-foot. I think it was here we bought some banana bread, which we ate further on in the trip. It was delicious.
The rain started falling again, and the fog was rolling in. As we were driving along we kept comparing the drive to places in New Zealand. At the beginning it was similar to driving the Queen Charlotte Drive between Picton and Havelock. A bit later on it was similar to the Kaikoura Coast. We did stop for a few minutes at the Kaumahina Park but it was raining heavily so quickly jumped back into the car. Yes the road was windy, and narrow in places but was similar to some of the roads in New Zealand so DH who was driving wasn’t too phased.
Our next stop was Keanae, a gorgeous view of the bay; we didn’t buy any of Aunty Sandy’s banana bread though. Unfortunately the bad weather prevented us from stopping at some of the other scenic stops, and we ended up driving to Hana township itself, and ate our sandwiches sitting in the car at Hana bay, watching the rain fall down!!! There were several tour buses and vans there also having lunch under the shelter. We stayed there a short while enjoying the view and by the time we left the rain had stopped.
We then carried on to the Pipiwai Trail and the Oheo Gulch (Seven Sacred Pools). We didn’t take the longer trail down to the Waimoku Falls, we had seen a number of falls during our Hawaiian trip and gave this one a miss. We did do the shorter Oheo Gulch loop, which we enjoyed. There were a lot of people carrying towels who were obviously intending to swim in the pools, which were being fed by small waterfalls. It looked cold to me. It was a beautiful view though.
At this point a lot of people turn back and go back the way they came. We decided to carry on and do the full round trip. I had printed a guide off the internet which gave places of interest. I really wanted to see Charles Lindburgh’s grave and we had what seemed like clear instructions on how to find them but still missed them. ( I just re-read the directions and realized where we went wrong.)
The views as you are driving along are gorgeous, the road does get narrow and you end up driving on a mixture of unpaved road, paved road, unpaved road, for about ten miles. It is fine though, no need to panic about needing to be in a 4 wheel drive. There was a surprising amount of traffic coming from the other way.
We stopped at St Joseph’s Church, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. It was built in 1862 and was partially restored in the 1990’s but is now in danger of crumbling unless more restoration is done. As you are walking around the church you get a fantastic view of the Kaupo Gap. Apparently erosion over many centuries has caused the break (gap) in the crater wall. The volcanic landscape was amazing to see.
We didn’t stop much after this; now and again we would pull over to take a photo but for the most part just enjoyed the drive. Once you have driven the unpaved portion, you end up on smooth asphalt. The road is one way in some places but no worse than the front side. We eventually got back to our condo about 4pm. It had been a long day, but very enjoyable. As DH said if it had been fine in the morning we would have probably stopped in more places and had a much later finish.
That night we couldn’t be bothered going out to dinner, and ended up making toasted sandwiches in our condo, having a couple of glasses of wine and watching the most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen.
We were on the road by 7.15am today. I had read countless reviews of the Road To Hana and they nearly all said you needed to start by 7am – 7.30am to be able to stop at a lot of the sight-seeing spots on the way, and get back before dark. As the majority of tourists stay at either South or West Maui at least 45 minutes is taken up just getting to the start of the Hana Highway. We took sandwiches with us but there were actually plenty of places you could have stopped for food.
It was a beautiful day when we left our condo, however by the time we were at the first stop of Hookipa Beach it had started to rain. We did get out to take some photos of the beach, but it was a short stop unfortunately. There were a few surfers out, it would have been great to watch them for awhile.
Our next stop was the Twin Falls. It had actually stopped raining when we reach there, thankfully. There were a lot of other early birds there too, the parking lot was nearly full. DH and I enjoyed the 20-minute walk down to the beautiful waterfalls. There were even people swimming in the pool at the bottom. A bit too early in the day I thought. You do have to wade through some water so pays to have sandals or something similar on. The people wearing socks and sneakers ended up taking them off and wading through bare-foot. I think it was here we bought some banana bread, which we ate further on in the trip. It was delicious.
The rain started falling again, and the fog was rolling in. As we were driving along we kept comparing the drive to places in New Zealand. At the beginning it was similar to driving the Queen Charlotte Drive between Picton and Havelock. A bit later on it was similar to the Kaikoura Coast. We did stop for a few minutes at the Kaumahina Park but it was raining heavily so quickly jumped back into the car. Yes the road was windy, and narrow in places but was similar to some of the roads in New Zealand so DH who was driving wasn’t too phased.
Our next stop was Keanae, a gorgeous view of the bay; we didn’t buy any of Aunty Sandy’s banana bread though. Unfortunately the bad weather prevented us from stopping at some of the other scenic stops, and we ended up driving to Hana township itself, and ate our sandwiches sitting in the car at Hana bay, watching the rain fall down!!! There were several tour buses and vans there also having lunch under the shelter. We stayed there a short while enjoying the view and by the time we left the rain had stopped.
We then carried on to the Pipiwai Trail and the Oheo Gulch (Seven Sacred Pools). We didn’t take the longer trail down to the Waimoku Falls, we had seen a number of falls during our Hawaiian trip and gave this one a miss. We did do the shorter Oheo Gulch loop, which we enjoyed. There were a lot of people carrying towels who were obviously intending to swim in the pools, which were being fed by small waterfalls. It looked cold to me. It was a beautiful view though.
At this point a lot of people turn back and go back the way they came. We decided to carry on and do the full round trip. I had printed a guide off the internet which gave places of interest. I really wanted to see Charles Lindburgh’s grave and we had what seemed like clear instructions on how to find them but still missed them. ( I just re-read the directions and realized where we went wrong.)
The views as you are driving along are gorgeous, the road does get narrow and you end up driving on a mixture of unpaved road, paved road, unpaved road, for about ten miles. It is fine though, no need to panic about needing to be in a 4 wheel drive. There was a surprising amount of traffic coming from the other way.
We stopped at St Joseph’s Church, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. It was built in 1862 and was partially restored in the 1990’s but is now in danger of crumbling unless more restoration is done. As you are walking around the church you get a fantastic view of the Kaupo Gap. Apparently erosion over many centuries has caused the break (gap) in the crater wall. The volcanic landscape was amazing to see.
We didn’t stop much after this; now and again we would pull over to take a photo but for the most part just enjoyed the drive. Once you have driven the unpaved portion, you end up on smooth asphalt. The road is one way in some places but no worse than the front side. We eventually got back to our condo about 4pm. It had been a long day, but very enjoyable. As DH said if it had been fine in the morning we would have probably stopped in more places and had a much later finish.
That night we couldn’t be bothered going out to dinner, and ended up making toasted sandwiches in our condo, having a couple of glasses of wine and watching the most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen.
May 29th, 2014, 02:20 AM
#49
Day 4 Maui (Day 13 Hawaii)
Today the plan was to go up Mt Haleakala for the sunset. We were planning to leave about 3.30pm so had the rest of the day to take it easy and relax. I did want to take a look at the Laihana Cannery Mall so we spent an hour or so looking around. I managed to find my T-shirt with sea-turtles that I had been looking for. The mall was not that exciting a few shops but nothing really to show that it was built in an old pineapple factory.
We went back to the Sands Restaurant for lunch, knowing we would be eating sandwiches at the top of the mountain for dinner. This time the restaurant was virtually deserted. There was only one server on, who was also manning the bar.We waited for what seemed like hours to get our meal. We were not that impressed. As this was our last full day in Maui we thought we should have a swim in the pool at our accommodation. We had been looking at it for several days but never ventured in. The water wasn’t too cold and we had a really nice swim, only one other person in the pool, two or three were sun-bathing.
After we made some sandwiches to take with us we headed off for our sunset trip. We packed warm clothes also, as it gets cold 10,000 feet up a mountain. We weren’t sure if we would get a good view, as the mountain was covered in cloud, but I had read that as you get towards the top, a lot of times you break through the cloud and the sky is clear. The road was two-way, paved, but had a lot of hairpin bends. DH said it was disconcerting watching the GPS and seeing the road you are going on, and the road you have just been on side by side. I was a bit worried about being close to the edge most of the time. At the bottom of the mountain there was lots of farmland with plenty of green grass, but as you get higher, and higher, the landscape changes dramatically, becoming more and more barren.
We arrived at the entrance at about 4.30pm and it was no longer manned so we didn’t pay our $ 10.00. Well actually we did, as we paid the fee yesterday when we visited the Oheo Gulch and that fee was good for anywhere in the Haleakala National Park for three days. We were still driving through cloud and it wasn’t until just before the Visitor Centre that we broke through. We were so relieved. The Visitor Centre was closed but we had such amazing views. We stayed there for 30 minutes or so taking lots of photos, and then went up to the car park further up the mountain. We managed to get a park okay, as it was still relatively early. It soon filled up though. DH and I were just blown away by being at 10,000 feet, couldn’t believe that you could drive up so high. You can’t do that in New Zealand that’s for sure.
We had about an hour to wait until sunset. We watched a lot of young Japanese tourists taking photos pretending to hold the sun, or doing crazy things like handstands close to the edge. The sunset was just beautiful, we were so glad we had made the trip up, one of the highlights of our Hawaii stay. Once the sun had set though it did get cold. I put on my jeans and shoes and socks. The drive down the mountain was in the dark, but there were reflective markers along the edge of the road, and cats eyes in the middle of the road so it wasn’t completely black. DH thought he was a rally-driver, he loved the whole experience, the drive and the sunset. I thoroughly enjoyed it too.
Today the plan was to go up Mt Haleakala for the sunset. We were planning to leave about 3.30pm so had the rest of the day to take it easy and relax. I did want to take a look at the Laihana Cannery Mall so we spent an hour or so looking around. I managed to find my T-shirt with sea-turtles that I had been looking for. The mall was not that exciting a few shops but nothing really to show that it was built in an old pineapple factory.
We went back to the Sands Restaurant for lunch, knowing we would be eating sandwiches at the top of the mountain for dinner. This time the restaurant was virtually deserted. There was only one server on, who was also manning the bar.We waited for what seemed like hours to get our meal. We were not that impressed. As this was our last full day in Maui we thought we should have a swim in the pool at our accommodation. We had been looking at it for several days but never ventured in. The water wasn’t too cold and we had a really nice swim, only one other person in the pool, two or three were sun-bathing.
After we made some sandwiches to take with us we headed off for our sunset trip. We packed warm clothes also, as it gets cold 10,000 feet up a mountain. We weren’t sure if we would get a good view, as the mountain was covered in cloud, but I had read that as you get towards the top, a lot of times you break through the cloud and the sky is clear. The road was two-way, paved, but had a lot of hairpin bends. DH said it was disconcerting watching the GPS and seeing the road you are going on, and the road you have just been on side by side. I was a bit worried about being close to the edge most of the time. At the bottom of the mountain there was lots of farmland with plenty of green grass, but as you get higher, and higher, the landscape changes dramatically, becoming more and more barren.
We arrived at the entrance at about 4.30pm and it was no longer manned so we didn’t pay our $ 10.00. Well actually we did, as we paid the fee yesterday when we visited the Oheo Gulch and that fee was good for anywhere in the Haleakala National Park for three days. We were still driving through cloud and it wasn’t until just before the Visitor Centre that we broke through. We were so relieved. The Visitor Centre was closed but we had such amazing views. We stayed there for 30 minutes or so taking lots of photos, and then went up to the car park further up the mountain. We managed to get a park okay, as it was still relatively early. It soon filled up though. DH and I were just blown away by being at 10,000 feet, couldn’t believe that you could drive up so high. You can’t do that in New Zealand that’s for sure.
We had about an hour to wait until sunset. We watched a lot of young Japanese tourists taking photos pretending to hold the sun, or doing crazy things like handstands close to the edge. The sunset was just beautiful, we were so glad we had made the trip up, one of the highlights of our Hawaii stay. Once the sun had set though it did get cold. I put on my jeans and shoes and socks. The drive down the mountain was in the dark, but there were reflective markers along the edge of the road, and cats eyes in the middle of the road so it wasn’t completely black. DH thought he was a rally-driver, he loved the whole experience, the drive and the sunset. I thoroughly enjoyed it too.
May 29th, 2014, 03:35 AM
#50
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Went up to greet the sunset at Haleakala. Never take a coat to Hawaii but the bath towels wrapped around worked well to keep warm before the sun warmed things up. 
Would love to go hiking down into the "cauldron" - maybe even camping overnight.
Would love to go hiking down into the "cauldron" - maybe even camping overnight.
May 29th, 2014, 10:14 AM
#51
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Glad you had a good sunset experience. People also come earlier to hike into the crater, then stay later to star-gaze. BTW, it's just "Haleakala", not Mt. Haleakala. It's the hale (home) of Akala. The volcano is 'dormant', not entirely extinct, although the last eruption was hundreds of years ago. You can see the lava trail going down to the ocean south of Makena.
May 29th, 2014, 05:26 PM
#54
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I'm glad you were not discouraged by posters who say it's unsafe to drive the backside of the road to Hana. I think I enjoyed that part of the drive as much as I did the other side. My husband was impressed by the mailboxes you would see now and then on that deserted looking road.
May 30th, 2014, 01:11 AM
#55
Day 5 Maui (Day 14 Hawaii)
We had to check out of our condo by 11am this morning and needed to be at the airport by 2.3opm to drop off the rental car. We had looked at the map last night and thought that the only major road we hadn’t driven on Maui was Highway 304 from Laihana to Kahului. We decided to check out some reviews on Trip Advisor and there were some recommending the road, although they said it was narrow, one-lane, tricky but drivable. Other reviews were downright scary. We had read that is some places if there was a car coming from the opposite direction you may have to back up. DH was okay with this as the rental car we had, was fitted with a backing camera, which made reversing a bit easier. We were also driving west to east so would be hugging the mountain. We had tons of time so decided to give it a go.
We left about 9.15am and had the most beautiful drive. The weather was great; the views were fantastic, although in a lot of places the vegetation was quite overgrown so couldn’t actually see the sea. There were places to stop though and take in the view. The road started off as a nice two-lane highway but gradually got narrower, and eventually down to one lane. We had to back up a very short distance once or twice. At one point a large truck sounded his horn at the top of the hill, we stayed at the bottom until he had gone passed. I would say this road is no worse than the back side of the Road to Hana, and the sea views were as spectacular. It took us about two hours to drive through which was faster than we thought we would do it.
Once we arrived at Kahului we went and had lunch and did some last minute shopping!! We dropped the car back at the Thrifty Depot and were told we had driven 496 miles since we had picked up the car 5 days ago. Quite a lot of driving really! We caught the shuttle back to the airport, again we were impressed with the staff at Dollar/Thrifty.
Here is the only gripe I have about Hawaiian Airlines. They give you the facility to check in on-line, but we needed to print our boarding passes, and baggage tags at the airport, as we didn’t have a printer. We printed off the boarding passes, but then couldn’t get the baggage tag to print, or so we thought. There was no staff on hand to help, and we must have waited at least 20-25 minutes with another couple who were having the same problems as us. The main check-in line was extremely long, and now I know why. You might as well stand in that line rather than the on-line check in line, as you will get attended to more quickly. Eventually some –one walked past and we got their attention. Apparently the baggage tags had printed but someone has to check your identity before they will put it on the bag. What a waste of time. In New Zealand we can print everything, put the tag on, and then drop the bag, takes about 5 minutes at the most.
Our flight to Honolulu was about an hour late, as our plane was coming from Kauai and was still loading at the time we were supposed to leave. Our flight to New Zealand wasn’t leaving until 11pm so had tons of time so we weren’t worried. Some other passengers were about to miss their connections to the mainland though and had to rush away to catch earlier flights.
The five hour wait in Honolulu was very long, as there was not much to do there, and no free wi-fi!!! Our flight left on time and we arrived back to a cold and wet Auckland morning at 6.30am. We eventually got home to Nelson at 11.30am.
We had an absolutely fabulous two weeks away in Hawaii. Yes we were busy but got to see most of the well-known sights on the three islands that we visited. Not sure if we will be back, as the flight is very long. I think out of all the Islands Maui, is the one I would go too for relaxing on the beach, swimming, snorkeling etc. The beaches were just gorgeous. We enjoyed all three islands though, they were all so different from each other.
We had to check out of our condo by 11am this morning and needed to be at the airport by 2.3opm to drop off the rental car. We had looked at the map last night and thought that the only major road we hadn’t driven on Maui was Highway 304 from Laihana to Kahului. We decided to check out some reviews on Trip Advisor and there were some recommending the road, although they said it was narrow, one-lane, tricky but drivable. Other reviews were downright scary. We had read that is some places if there was a car coming from the opposite direction you may have to back up. DH was okay with this as the rental car we had, was fitted with a backing camera, which made reversing a bit easier. We were also driving west to east so would be hugging the mountain. We had tons of time so decided to give it a go.
We left about 9.15am and had the most beautiful drive. The weather was great; the views were fantastic, although in a lot of places the vegetation was quite overgrown so couldn’t actually see the sea. There were places to stop though and take in the view. The road started off as a nice two-lane highway but gradually got narrower, and eventually down to one lane. We had to back up a very short distance once or twice. At one point a large truck sounded his horn at the top of the hill, we stayed at the bottom until he had gone passed. I would say this road is no worse than the back side of the Road to Hana, and the sea views were as spectacular. It took us about two hours to drive through which was faster than we thought we would do it.
Once we arrived at Kahului we went and had lunch and did some last minute shopping!! We dropped the car back at the Thrifty Depot and were told we had driven 496 miles since we had picked up the car 5 days ago. Quite a lot of driving really! We caught the shuttle back to the airport, again we were impressed with the staff at Dollar/Thrifty.
Here is the only gripe I have about Hawaiian Airlines. They give you the facility to check in on-line, but we needed to print our boarding passes, and baggage tags at the airport, as we didn’t have a printer. We printed off the boarding passes, but then couldn’t get the baggage tag to print, or so we thought. There was no staff on hand to help, and we must have waited at least 20-25 minutes with another couple who were having the same problems as us. The main check-in line was extremely long, and now I know why. You might as well stand in that line rather than the on-line check in line, as you will get attended to more quickly. Eventually some –one walked past and we got their attention. Apparently the baggage tags had printed but someone has to check your identity before they will put it on the bag. What a waste of time. In New Zealand we can print everything, put the tag on, and then drop the bag, takes about 5 minutes at the most.
Our flight to Honolulu was about an hour late, as our plane was coming from Kauai and was still loading at the time we were supposed to leave. Our flight to New Zealand wasn’t leaving until 11pm so had tons of time so we weren’t worried. Some other passengers were about to miss their connections to the mainland though and had to rush away to catch earlier flights.
The five hour wait in Honolulu was very long, as there was not much to do there, and no free wi-fi!!! Our flight left on time and we arrived back to a cold and wet Auckland morning at 6.30am. We eventually got home to Nelson at 11.30am.
We had an absolutely fabulous two weeks away in Hawaii. Yes we were busy but got to see most of the well-known sights on the three islands that we visited. Not sure if we will be back, as the flight is very long. I think out of all the Islands Maui, is the one I would go too for relaxing on the beach, swimming, snorkeling etc. The beaches were just gorgeous. We enjoyed all three islands though, they were all so different from each other.
May 30th, 2014, 01:17 AM
#56
Some other observations. Motorcyclists and cyclists do not have to wear helmets.
The speed limit in a lot of places was only 45 mph, occasionally it was 55 mph, and a lot of times was 35 mph. In NZ the speed limit on a motorway, is 60mph, 30mph in a built up area.
We loved the cheap gas!!!, but thought the price of groceries was higher than here.
The weather was gorgeous, being able to walk around all day in shorts, T shirt and jandals (slippahs) is just bliss. It rained now and again but wasn't really a problem.
The views were similar to NZ in a lot of cases, more so on the Big Island with the rain-forest etc.
The speed limit in a lot of places was only 45 mph, occasionally it was 55 mph, and a lot of times was 35 mph. In NZ the speed limit on a motorway, is 60mph, 30mph in a built up area.
We loved the cheap gas!!!, but thought the price of groceries was higher than here.
The weather was gorgeous, being able to walk around all day in shorts, T shirt and jandals (slippahs) is just bliss. It rained now and again but wasn't really a problem.
The views were similar to NZ in a lot of cases, more so on the Big Island with the rain-forest etc.
Jun 5th, 2014, 01:25 AM
#58
Forgot to add, we hardly saw any livestock, we passed ranches on the Big Island and Maui but didn't see any cattle, sheep, or anything else on our whole trip. In NZ everywhere you drive in the country area you see animals. We were they all in Hawaii!!
