Link to other threads on 'Shiney's Travels' http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/shineys-travels.61299/ Hawai’i is an interesting place and is a string of eight major (and a number of minor) volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean. It’s part of a much longer chain of islands, mainly submerged, that stretches north towards Russia. The northern islands being the oldest and they gradually formed towards the south as the Pacific Plate moved. The northernmost Hawai’ian island (Kauai) is 5.1 million years old and the southernmost island (Big Island which is the original island named Hawai’i) is only half a million years old and is still forming. They are stuck right in the middle of nowhere and are over 2,000 miles from mainland U.S., nearly 4,000 miles from Japan, almost 5,000 miles from China and over 5,000 miles from the Philippines. They first became inhabited between 1,500 and 1,000 years ago by Polynesians who sailed their canoes thousands of miles and steered by the sun and the stars. Supposedly the earliest colonists were from the Marquesas and later on from Tahiti. When Captain James Cook ‘discovered’ the islands in 1778 he named them The Sandwich Islands in honour of the Earl of Sandwich. So the man had more than a couple of slices of bread named after him! (There are also the South Sandwich Islands which are part of the Falkland Island Dependencies.) Hawai’i had various diplomatic agreements (some imposed upon them) over the last couple of centuries and was a British Protectorate for a short time. That’s why the State of Hawai’i has the Union Flag in the top quarter of its flag. It became the 50th State of the U.S. in 1959. I’m going to do a little tour of two favourite islands, Kauai and Big Island, with a brief visit to Oahu where the capital, Honolulu, is situated. Maui is the second most popular island and is usually known as the ‘jet set’ island. Oahu is, by far, the most visited island with Pearl Harbour and Waikiki beach being the main attractions. Pearl Harbour:- December the 7th 1941 was when Japan bombed the Naval base in Pearl Harbour and it brought the U.S. into World War II. The attack killed 2,390 people which included 1,177 crewmen on board the USS Arizona. The ship sank nine minutes after the bomb being dropped on it. At the Visitor Centre there is a lot of information, photos and a film about what happened during the raid. The USS Arizona Memorial is a floating memorial that is directly over the Arizona and you can still see the sunken ship. It's a very impressive and thought provoking place. There are many ships that can be visited including the Battleship Missouri where the surrender of the Japanese was held and an interesting tour of one of the submarines that fought in the war. What seemed rather strange to us was that a large proportion of the visitors were Japanese!
Now to a lighter note. The island of Oahu has the capital city of the State of Hawai'i, Honolulu. The beach at Honolulu is the famous beach of Waikiki. Although the beach is good for surfing it's not a particularly impressive one. It's fairly long but quite narrow, but it doesn't stop it from being very popular. It's especially popular for weddings being held on the beach. I had to laugh because nobody takes any notice of the weddings and continues to run, or walk, past whilst the photographers are trying to take their photos. The hotels that open straight onto the beach do a roaring trade in weddings. There are a lot of people giving formal lessons in surf boarding And some locals just teach their own children but are still take safety precautions. It gets pretty busy in the water as well as on the beach Just by the beach is a nice sculpture that represents a famous story for children Apart from there being lots of night life in Waikiki there are also lots of boats that do dinner and entertainment. It's quite nice to get on a very big catamaran in late afternoon and sail along the coast and watch the sunset whilst having dinner. But not quite sailing off into the sunset - as we were going the other way! You can see that they're flying both the Stars and Stripes and the State flag. You can just see the Union Jack in the corner.
When we booked the dinner trip on the catamaran it included being picked up at our hotel (we stayed in a very reasonable 3 star hotel just behind the beach) and the coach driver/guide was a good storyteller and had a very dry sense of humour. Although he came from the mainland he had what appeared to be a vast knowledge of the history and folklore of the island. I am not sure that his explanation of how there happens to be an Interstate Highway on the island is correct but I don’t see how there can be any logical explanation for an 'Interstate' when the next State is over 2,000 miles across the sea! He said that the local government called it an Interstate so that they could obtain Federal funding for it. Surely the government aren’t that gullible? Also, whilst on the coach there was a very pretty woman sitting in the seat in front of me and she was holding a very young child on here shoulder. So he was looking straight at me. He smiled, pointed at me and shouted out, "Grandpa!" Before leaving Oahu I must comment on the sad demise of the International Market Place, which finally closes in January. This was a fascinating place to stroll through and spend some time. It was the one place in Waikiki that kept the atmosphere of traditional market places in the midst of a big city of high rise blocks. It's being taken over by developers and being turned into a 360,000 sq ft shopping mall! They say it will open in 2016. It's mainly an open air market but it rambles through large spaces covered by an enormous banyan tree (they say they intend to keep the tree) and small shops in the adjoining buildings. Although you can't really get lost it's not easy to find your way back to any stall that you want to see again. It covers such a vast space with lots of small squares and alleyways crammed with stalls and people. They sell t-shirts, aloha wear, souvenirs, crafts, more t-shirts, jewellery, junk, antiques, more jewellery (good and bad), even more t-shirts, games and toys and there are bars and eating places. This is a place either for shopping or just mingling with the crowds and looking (the locals use it as a meeting place) and is open from 9 a.m. until they feel like closing their stalls – usually sometime between 10 p.m. and midnight. You don't pay the asking price or the price on the ticket. You're expected to bargain for everything (except food and drink) and we usually managed to get some things at half the ticket price. There is a small fast-food mall serving anything from sandwiches to American and oriental food. When we were there (four of us) we had our lunch there and each of us had something from a different outlet, all of which was tasty and cheap. Some of the stalls were just in the open but most were covered and some even had three walls. As my photos are not good enough I've borrowed these from travelseelove and the mowry journal You can see that the banyan tree was pretty large.
Kaua'i - the garden island:- This is the fourth most visited island, just a little way behind Big Island but is one of my favourites. It is known as the ‘Garden Island’, is only about 14% of the size of Big Island but they make it seem larger by having a lot of the roads with just a maximum speed of 25 m.p.h. - so it takes longer to get anywhere! It is the oldest of the islands and has had much longer than the other islands for the sharpness of the mountains to soften and for soil to form. This, together with the climate, has helped to make it the tropical garden paradise that it is. It has also made it an ideal place for making films and over 40 famous films, from the original 'White Heat' through to the first really big hit 'South Pacific' (fairly quickly followed by 'The Wackiest Ship In The Army', 'Blue Hawaii', 'Donovan's Reef', 'Gilligan's Island') right up to 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark', 'Jurassic Park' and 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' have had some, or most, parts of them made here. There were two beaches used for South Pacific. A larger beach that is out on its own With deceptive breakers that look rough But don't do a lot on the lovely shallow beach To a smaller beach by the lovely village of Hanalei They have one, major, wildlife problem on the island and that is wild chickens! There have always been some wild chickens and a lot of domesticated ones, but when they had hurricane Iniki, in 1992, almost all the buildings and coops that housed the chickens were destroyed and the chickens escaped into the wild. This wouldn’t have been too bad but a favourite pastime of the Filipino residents was the ‘sport’ of cock-fighting. Most of these also escaped and interbred with the chickens. This may seem like a minor problem but they have bred so prolifically that they have become a nuisance – the island government are even asking for people to put forward ideas on how to deal with the problem. You come across these 'chickens with attitude' all over the island, in towns, fields and mountains. We were told that they are not very good to eat as they are very lean and stringy. We were awakened about 5 a.m. each morning by the wild cockerels crowing. Iniki was a very ferocious hurricane that reached speeds of 175 m.p.h. and totally destroyed one third of the 20,000 homes on the island and left virtually no property undamaged. The cost of the damage was estimated at $1.9 billion. It occurred on September 11th!!!
The more isolated beach, above, is Lumahai (Twist of Fingers) Beach. As it was so peaceful we had our picnic lunch there in an area under the trees that is laid out for picnics and BBQ's. The cardinals came to help us eat. Hanalei (the smaller beach above) is a lovely village and has a beautiful old wooden church, Wai’oli Hui’ia Church. The Mission House was founded in 1834 and the present church was built, in 1912, of shingle in American Gothic style with the old Mission Bell housed in a belfry tower. These buildings were also damaged by hurricane Iniki but have been restored since. The Mission House is now a museum (don’t forget to take off your shoes before entering) and both buildings are not to be missed. The church is pretty and in an unbelievable grassy setting surrounded by coconut palms with majestic mountains in the background and white fluffy clouds scudding across the deep blue sky. On the journey across the island to Hanalei the road takes you past the valley that has their wildlife reserve.
A lot of you know that I play bridge but on the island “bridge etiquette” is completely different from what I would think it was. It refers to being courteous when driving across the very narrow bridges that abound on the island. Always be prepared to yield to any vehicle coming the other way. If you are in a line of traffic that is crossing the bridge and there is someone waiting to cross from the other side then, if you are the fourth or fifth car in the line, you should stop and allow the other traffic to come across. You'll know that you have judged this correctly if a local gives you the ‘shaka’ sign (3 middle fingers closed to the palm and thumb and little finger raised then the hand is rocked from side to side). On this island they follow the 'No hurries, no worries' philosophy. That was definitely the philosophy of the cat where we were staying. When we wanted to park the car we had to lift him up and move him to one side! We were staying in a lovely B&B in the south of the island at a place called Po'ipu. This is a popular holiday area with hotel complexes and apartments stretching along the Po'ipu Road. It doesn't feel too crowded because the area consists of a number of beaches with separate roads leading down to each beach. Our B&B was in a lovely setting with a large Royal Poinciana tree (flamboyant or flame tree) in the front garden and mango trees all round the building. We had breakfast each day on the lanai (verandah). There was always fresh fruit, cereals etc. and Kimberley (the owner) did a cooked menu as well. Things such as French toast with cinnamon and topped with chopped cooked macadamia nuts, Dutch babies (a sweet, light fluffy, pancake done with maple syrup and lemon), omelettes etc. Each room had a feature of carousel horses in them! There was a nice entrance hall and Mrs Shiney did her yoga there. Just down the road from us was one of the beaches. It was made up of a bay split in two by a spit of sand running out into the sea with some rocks at the end. This meant that the sea came into the spit from both sides at the same time. Every evening locals, and just a few tourists, came down to the beach at sunset for a few songs and bevvies before going for dinner.
The Moir Gardens at the Kiahuna Plantation Resort are quite pretty and their cacti garden is supposed to one of the top ten in the world. It seemed a bit neglected to me but when it comes to cacti and succulents I'm a Philistine. The orchids were very nice. It was opened to the public in 1954 and is free entry. On this plant the flowers seem much too delicate to produce such hefty bulbs! We were being eyed rather suspiciously by this bird. The cacti and succulents were huge Not too far from there is The Spouting Horn which is a lava tube that extends into the sea with its open mouth on the rocky shore. The waves hit the rocks and force water up the tube until it creates a large spout. The size of the spout depends on how heavy the sea is at the time but when we were there they rose 20-30 feet into the air. Another hole that's behind the spout has the air forced through it at the same time creating the sound of a horn. There is a story that says the spout used to be much higher but because the salt spray damaged the cane fields the plantation owners made the opening larger so it wouldn’t carry the water spray as far. There's a fairly large flea market by the car park at Spouting Horn that sells trinkets and crafts.
There's a pretty drive to the Wailua (Two Waters) Falls. The 80ft twin falls run over the sheer pali to drop into the large pool below. It is said that the ali’i (Hawai'ian history/mythology doesn't have a clear distinction between the ruling classes and gods) would come here to dive from the cliff as a show of physical prowess. The name Wailua was not given for the two falls but because the river becomes two rivers only a short distance from the sea. Some distance from there is the Opaeka’a Falls overlook, (the only practical way to see the falls) which is another twin drop falls. In the other direction you can see the Wailua River, far below you, meandering through the rain forest. On the right bank of the river and you will see, nestled in the forest, Kamokila (Stronghold)Village. This is a reconstruction of a folk village built on the site of an ali’i village. Look a little way past the village and you can see the river running through a ridge. There were villages further up the river for the ordinary people and it was Kapu (forbidden) for them to travel past that ridge. The old ali’i village was on terraces on the hillside and the reconstruction is where they cultivated their crops. They have tried to make it as authentic as possible and have built a hale koa (warrior’s house), hale noa (chief’s sleeping quarters), hale ali’i akoakoa (assembly hall), laola pa’au (doctor’s office – with waiting bench), pahoku hanau (birthing house) and alana nu’u mamao (oracle tower) has been erected. They grow crops and medicinal plants as well as fruit trees and have demonstrations of traditional craft-making and medicine making. I would guess that they have made the place a lot more commercial now but don't really know. At the time we were there it was not an easy drive down to the village on a very steep and narrow road. So the parking was just on the grass. Not many Americans would drive down there but it's not much different than a lot of the roads at home . One of the locals that worked there was delighted that we were English as he was a Benny Hill fan.
Another not to be missed sight is Waimea Canyon - the Grand Canyon of Hawai'i. The canyon is way up in the mountains above the town of Waimea and we drove to the canyon overlook at 3,400ft. The road climbs through Waimea Canyon State Park and up to Koke’e State Park. It is a steady winding climb past sugar cane fields then, about a mile after meeting the other road, it enters Waimea Canyon State Park. From here it continues to climb but the scenery changes to a wild country of rocks, canyons, gnarled trees and red earth. Further up the trees get larger and you are well up into the mountains. All along the route there are pullouts and overlooks. Each one is worth stopping at. There are two roads that you can take to the Park and they both have the same number!!! Route 550. On the way there, between Wailua (in the previous post) and Waimea there are some good panoramic views of the countryside with the river winding through it Then you approach the viewpoint for the Canyon The canyon Overlook gives spectacular views across the canyon and you realise why it is called the Grand Canyon of Hawai’i. I was overawed by the colours that ran through the valleys and mountains as far as the eye could see. The famous red rock ran in horizontal stripes from the valleys to the peaks and these were interspersed with a variety of greens from the trees. The sunshine, broken by the shadows of the moving clouds, made the colours and shapes change from one minute to the next. Apart from the ever changing beauty of the view we were fascinated by the many faces that seemed to be formed by the mixture of colours and rock shapes. Everyone gathered at the overlook was pointing out the different faces that they could see.
On the way back from the Canyon we stopped in Waimea to sample the local 'shave ice'. Shave ice is a mixture of shaved ice on top of ice cream with a little condensed milk and finished with flavoured syrups. We went to Jo Jo's, the most famous shave ice parlour in Hawai'i. Not the most salubrious place but quite clean and frantically busy with the queue running round the shop and outside into the very hot sunshine. I'm not all that keen on shave ice so had a wonderful ice cream. They have hundreds of combinations of flavours as each shave ice gets three different flavours. Next door to JoJo’s was a shop selling the, now famous, Red Dirt T-shirt. There is an interesting story behind these shirts that goes back to hurricane Iniki. They are made by the Paradise Sportswear company in Port Allen. This was a very small company that used to sub-contract their work from other companies. Iniki blew the roof of their warehouse and all their stock was soaked by the rain and covered in the red dirt from which Kauai is made. They found it impossible to wash the red out of the T-shirts and were staring bankruptcy in the face. The story goes that one of the staff said “these shirts look pretty cool!” and that was the start of the now famous Red Dirt T-Shirt. Then, company employed local families to pick up simple white t-shirts and take them home to repeatedly dip them into vats of red dirt solution. They then return them to the company where other local families worked silkscreening different designs on them. No two shirts were alike as the colouring differs because of the home dipping. They are now sold in outlets on the other islands and the mainland. Since then, things have changed. A quote from their advertising: "Today the dyeing process has been refined to bring you an Original Red Dirt shirt with the soft feel of velvet and the look of fine cognac. Just like your favorite pair of jeans, the rich suede colour of your shirt will gradually fade... to a beautiful buckskin colour."
A trip to Hawai'i isn't complete without going to a luau - a traditional Hawaiian feast and, usually, music and show. We went to the Smith Family Garden Luau, also on the Wailua river and were due to arrive at 4.45 p.m. After parking the car in the large car park we joined the hundreds of people entering the gardens. As we arrived at the pay desk to pick up our tickets we thought the woman in the box office was going mad. She suddenly started jumping up and down and spinning round, but we then realised the cause when she chased one of the ubiquitous chickens out from under her counter where it had started pecking at her feet! We were offered the free use of mosquito spray – always an ominous sign. Once inside the gardens we paid the small extra sum to take the guided tour on their min-tram. The 30 acres of garden were very good and had large areas of immaculately kept grass that made a good setting for the exotic trees and plants. The guide gave a very informative talk about the plants and their history and usage. There is a pretty lake set in the lawn area and the sight of people strolling across the grass amongst dozens of tame peacocks (and chickens) as the sun was getting low in the sky was idyllic. I don't know what the grey birds are in the picture but the small bird at bottom left is a cardinal The peacocks were beautiful and kept displaying their wonderful plumage. They served drinks near the restaurant area where they had the two imu (an underground oven filled with hot rocks, the meat – usually pork – is placed in a tray) or sometimes directly, on top of the rocks, covered with cloth – originally banana leaves or the leaves of the Ti plant – then covered with sand and left to steam for up to 9 hours. (This gives a very succulent end result.) The imu is traditionally tended by males only. They then performed the ceremony of thanks to the gods before opening the imu. After that we were asked to go into the open-sided restaurant for dinner. There was entertainment before, and through dinner, with traditional and non-traditional songs. The food was hot and cold buffet – Garden Island greens, Poi, three bean salad, oriental fried rice, kalua pig, teriyaki beef, adobe chicken, sweet and sour mahimahi, macaroni salad, namasu salad, lomi salmon, snowflake potatoes, sweet potatoes, hot vegetables, breads, fresh fruit and a variety of cakes and puddings and a range of drinks. Towards the end of the dinner some hula dancers performed and then they asked anyone if they wanted to come up on the stage for hula lessons. Mainly young children went up and it was quite entertaining. After the meal, when the sun had set, we went to their open air torch lit lagoon theatre where they performed “….a colourful festival of dances showcasing the lively ethnic groups that have come to call Hawai’i home. This International Pageant depicts dances and songs from Tahiti, Hawai’i, China, Japan, the Philipines, New Zealand and Samoa”.
