Driving in Maui

Driving in Maui is an adventure. Many of the roads follow the King's Pathway - a pre-European-contact foot path that circumnavigated the island with trails off it leading up to important sites. As a result, the narrow paved roads follow the line of least resistance rather than being engineered for safe vehicular travel.
However, there are lots and lots of helpful road signs, that even the cattle obey.

Traffic coming the other way is instructed to sound their horns as they come around this tight corner.
Those nets really do work.

We got caught in a downpour and the road became a river. We had heard stories of flash floods and cars being washed down into valleys and out to sea and we could see how that could happen.

After the down pour of rain we appreciated what 'Dip' could transform into - a river across the road!
There are lots of one lane bridges, narrow sections of road and no shoulders. When 2 cars are approaching 1 pulls over if possible to let the other pass. Where there is no space to pull off the road a little, 1 car backs up to the next scrap of a pull out.
People who love driving find this all very exciting. Nervous passengers are a wreck at the end of the trip.

Hiking Maui

Our journey through the bamboo forest was en route to the highest waterfall we had ever visited.
The signs had dire warnings....

...but the views were spectacular. This is the lower waterfall.

The original trail was established early in Maui's human settlement history then smoothed, widened and kept clear by the US National Parks system.
A banyan tree on the trail.

Our destination. It was too high for my point 'n' shoot camera to capture in one shot.
The air was full of calming hydrogen ions released by the falling water so it was a real 'feel good' place.

Bamboo Forest

Another adventure we had on Maui was walking through a bamboo forest.
The towering stalks had the effect of making me feel the size of an ant. It was dark and damp. The leaves rustled and the stalks clacked when the wind blew overhead but no breeze reached ground level to disturb the still humid air.

The stalks were so close together I was sure there would be no ninjas fighting amongst them.

I had wanted to walk in a bamboo forest after seeing the 'Flying Daggers' movie.
On the rainy north side of Maui (wettest place in the world getting 400 inches of rain a year) the bamboo forests are vast.

Frolicking on Volcanoes

While on Maui we took a boat tour of volcanic formations along the shoreline where lava had flowed from craters and vents to the sea shore.

The nimble pontoon rafts on a calm day were able to get close enough to the basalt were we could have reached out and touched it. We ventured inside compression chambers and wave built caves.
The most recent lava flow was 200 years ago and the area is overdue for another.
A bonus on the trip was seeing dolphins and whales close by and snorkeling with turtles. It was an exciting day on the water and made up for having to get up at 5:30 in the morning.

We moved from our apartment on the beach up to a B 'n' B in the mountain area, known as Up Country. We drove up to 10,000 feet to the top of the crater then went hiking. It felt like we were on top of the world. I must admit I had a headache which was probably caused by the altitude.

The weather changed every few minutes with clouds coming and going, adding to the special atmosphere of the place. It felt like the place where I was born, the volcanic area in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand.
I loved the whole experience.

Maui Shoreline

And across the Pacific, about halfway, are the Hawaiian Islands, that also have exciting shorelines.

Here are some images of our recent visit to Maui where we spent time exploring the shoreline of the island.

Steep volcanic cliffs, wild waves and unique vegetation kept us exploring even when the roads were narrow (one way in sections), winding, and rock strewn.

I collected a wide range of different coloured volcanic soil to stain paper.

West Coast Storm Watching

We had a few days on the West coast of Vancouver Island last week. Our mission was 'Storm Watching'. I want to see those power-pole sized logs being tossed like toothpicks high up the beach as though it was a game of pick up sticks.
But once again the weather was way too pleasant, though one night we did hear thunder and see lightening and we found a small newly-arrived log resting on the beach.
We got in lots of walks along different beaches and explored the area more.
It was a most relaxing time.

Some Inspiring Music

I am working on finding inspiration for my BA studies.
I found this performance to be inspiring.