Hawaii part one
In a valiant - and indeed successful - attempt to avoid the swathes of trick or treaters liable to wash up on our front porch, Rachel and I cashed in those precious hours of earned vacation for a week's holiday in Hawaii. Or Maui to be more precise. To anyone British of about my age, Hawaii forever basks in the unwordly glamour bestowed upon it by Hawaii-Five-O ("book him Danno - murder one") and subsequently by the hirsute Tom Selleck of Magnum PI. Yet despite the fact I only know it from crime dramas, I still fancied a trip there. Also, its one of the few places within easy reach of Portland where you can be guaranteed a bit of sun in November without hurricane interference. Of course, a tsunami would have been possible, but as luck would have it that didn't happen.
Maui's a five hour flight from Portland. This is a far preferable means of conveyance than the twin hulled canoes which apparently carried the original settlers from Polynesia, although there was a bit of turbulence.
I think Janis Joplin said something about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot and by all accounts this has become the state's anthem. I would say the project is about 50% complete on Maui. Oahu has finished the task and the other islands are lined up on a Gantt chart somewhere in Honolulu. That said, I wasn't about to turn back the tide of history single-handed and instead we got stuck into a bit of anti-eco-tourism by picking up a convertible to fluff around in for the week. The white Chrysler Sebring wasn't quite Magnum PI, but with the top down and raybans on, one can at least "live the dream".
Maui is essentially two volcanoes with a valley (isthmus - geography fans) between them. The volcanoes slope steeply so everyone lives in the valley or along the shoreline. Our hotel was in a small town called Kihei on the western shore of the larger volcano. The temperature swung between about 70F at dawn to 85-90F in the early afternoon. It was mostly sunny; being a tropical island there's always a bit of rain, but it usually sticks to the tops of the volcanoes which are almost always lost in the clouds. Surf, sun and sand seem to be the main attractions, but I was mostly drawn by the tropical flora the like of which I had never seen before, except in the supermarket of course. But there they were, coconuts and guava fruit growing on the trees. And pineapples not growing on trees, but on the ground - who knew? And orchids the size of your head. Well, I think they were orchids - judge for yourself below. Meanwhile Rachel was having fun with the exotic fishes thanks to some snorkeling apparatus. Rachel is a fantastic swimmer, but I am rubbish, so I didn't do much of that myself; nevertheless it was certainly amazing to see tropical fish swimming right next to you!
Some photos below, more soon...
Ursula Andress / Rachel emerges from the tropical waters.
A nice paddle in the Pacific. Better than Brighton.
Rachel enjoying the beach.
A lovely bunch of coconuts. You definitely don't want to be standing underneath when one of these drops to the floor. Did you know that the coconut you see at the supermarket is actually the bit inside an incredibly tough yellow/green jacket? I am fairly certain that ancient man must have burned more calories getting into the thing then he ever got out.
A fairly amazing looking flower.
And another one.
Maui's a five hour flight from Portland. This is a far preferable means of conveyance than the twin hulled canoes which apparently carried the original settlers from Polynesia, although there was a bit of turbulence.
I think Janis Joplin said something about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot and by all accounts this has become the state's anthem. I would say the project is about 50% complete on Maui. Oahu has finished the task and the other islands are lined up on a Gantt chart somewhere in Honolulu. That said, I wasn't about to turn back the tide of history single-handed and instead we got stuck into a bit of anti-eco-tourism by picking up a convertible to fluff around in for the week. The white Chrysler Sebring wasn't quite Magnum PI, but with the top down and raybans on, one can at least "live the dream".
Maui is essentially two volcanoes with a valley (isthmus - geography fans) between them. The volcanoes slope steeply so everyone lives in the valley or along the shoreline. Our hotel was in a small town called Kihei on the western shore of the larger volcano. The temperature swung between about 70F at dawn to 85-90F in the early afternoon. It was mostly sunny; being a tropical island there's always a bit of rain, but it usually sticks to the tops of the volcanoes which are almost always lost in the clouds. Surf, sun and sand seem to be the main attractions, but I was mostly drawn by the tropical flora the like of which I had never seen before, except in the supermarket of course. But there they were, coconuts and guava fruit growing on the trees. And pineapples not growing on trees, but on the ground - who knew? And orchids the size of your head. Well, I think they were orchids - judge for yourself below. Meanwhile Rachel was having fun with the exotic fishes thanks to some snorkeling apparatus. Rachel is a fantastic swimmer, but I am rubbish, so I didn't do much of that myself; nevertheless it was certainly amazing to see tropical fish swimming right next to you!
Some photos below, more soon...
Ursula Andress / Rachel emerges from the tropical waters.
A nice paddle in the Pacific. Better than Brighton.
Rachel enjoying the beach.
A lovely bunch of coconuts. You definitely don't want to be standing underneath when one of these drops to the floor. Did you know that the coconut you see at the supermarket is actually the bit inside an incredibly tough yellow/green jacket? I am fairly certain that ancient man must have burned more calories getting into the thing then he ever got out.A fairly amazing looking flower.
And another one.
posted by Richard Tammar at 8:48 PM
1 Comments:
"This is Radio Norwich, and that was 'Big Yellow Taxi' by Joni Mitchell, a song in which Joni complains that they 'paved paradise to put up a parking lot' – a measure which actually would have alleviated traffic congestion on the outskirts of paradise – something which Joni singularly fails to point out, because it doesn't quite fit with her blinkered view of the world. It's 4.37am, and you're listening to Up with the Partridge..."
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