Maui....

After our trip to Kauai, we had picked up a taste for traveling (again!) and decided to also check out Maui. The plan when we came was to see all the major islands, so now we just need to get over to the Big Island to see the erupting volcanoes...

Maui was absolutely gorgeous. Nick's vote so far goes for Kauai because it is so lovely, quiet, and peaceful. But for me, there was something about Maui that I just loved. I can't even put my finger on it and decide what exactly it was, but I was overawed with the variety of the landscape: the atmospheric mists of the Iao Valley (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/maui/html/sites/iao_valley_state_park.html) the lunarscapes on top of Heleakela (http://www.nps.gov/hale/), the quaintness of LaHaina and that incredible banyan tree (http://www.visitlahaina.com/) ,the surfing beaches of Paia and the GREAT lunch we had there, watching the whales in the distance as they blew and breached all over the place with Lanai as a lovely backdrop...and we didn't even get to the Hana road which is supposed to be stunning...guess we had to leave something for next time! Safe to say, I loved Maui.


We arrived late on the Friday evening and checked into a rather drab and dreary hotel. We had known it wouldn't be great when we booked it, but as we didn't check in until 9.30 and we were leaving again around 4.30 to see sunrise on the top of Haleakela, we figure it wasn't worth driving over to LaHaina or paying a fortune for a hotel...we should maybe have opted for the hostel though! Early the next morning we set off as planned and were surprised with a beautiful setting moon over the ocean...

The drive to the top of Haleakela wasn't too bad though the darkness of the night didn't help on the winding, climbing road now the moon had set. The road climbs from sea level in Kahului to 10,023 at the summit of the volcano: in just over thirty miles...Incredible...from sea level to more than the elevation of Crested Butte in just over 30 miles...Talk about vertigo! At the top, we joined hoards of others also intent on seeing the start of a new day from a high point in the middle of the ocean. It actually turned out to be a little cloudy, so we didn't see the sun until it cleared the ocean level clouds, but my what a view...and the colours were gorgeous...everything was bathed in pinks and subdued shades of red and orange. Beautiful.






As soon as the sun cleared the horizon, the majority of people left (seriously, IMMEDIATELY!) and so we were pretty much left alone to linger and enjoy the colour sweeping over the landscape. We had brought our boots and headed out on one of the shorter hikes in the Park. The hike didn't take long, just 3 hours or so, and we were surprised how quickly we were actually able to climb back up out of the crater. Obviously living in Crested Butte expanded our lung capacity, because the altitude hardly bothered us! The views were great - the landscape was like the moon and there was very little growing other than some of the signature silver swords that only grow in this area. You could see the ocean on every side too which was pretty cool - and the Big Island with it's twin volcanoes off in the distance...shame it wasn't a really clear day - you would have been able to see forever!

















From Haleakela we headed down and got lost in the winding valleys at the foot of the volcano. The villages were lovely. Small, intimate, relaxed and sleepy...everything we ever thought Hawaii would be...and a world away from Honolulu! After watching the surfers hitting the waves near Paia, we had a fortifying lunch in a great restaurant and then headed for the Iao Valley. The Valley has been called the Hawaiian version of the Valley of the Kings in Egypt as many of the royals were buried here...it was also the site of a huge battle in 1790. When we arrived, the Valley was shrouded in mist which added to the atmosphere. Unfortunately that also makes it hard to get good photos! Hopefully we will get back in the summertime and arrive early so we can get some hiking in...











After the incredible Iao Valley, we headed over to our hotel in LaHaina. It was pretty pricey so we were hoping for something nice: and
fortunately we weren't disappointed...although we had to make our own coffee in the morning and they did run out :( ...!









Anyway both LaHaina and the hotel were great and we spent a lovely early evening relaxing on the lanai and then spotting fish in the crystal clear ocean waters from the balcony seat in the restaurant were we ate dinner. The next day we slept in after our early morning start the day before and relaxed on the lanai before
heading out to take photos of the incredible banyan tree in down town LaHaina. from there were went snorkeling and then sat in the shade on the beach for a while and just soaked it all up while watching the whales. What a great weekend!

Can't wait to go back and see more!