Mehr und Meer von Maui

Nachdem das Wetter heute doch eher sehr 'westcoast style' ist: es regnet in Strömen, und das wird auch den Rest der Woche wohl so bleiben, haben wir noch einmal virtuell Maui besucht.

Hier und hier gibt es weitere Bilder. Einfach klicken, träumen, schwärmen, und dann Urlaub buchen und nach machen.

Maui waterfalls and vegetation

A must-see in central Maui, just West of Wailuku: In the Iao Valley State park. Only a 5 minute walk from the parking lot you get an awesome view on the Iao Needle, a 2,250 foot high peak dominating the valley, surrounded by lush green. Quite often it is raining or at least embedded in clouds but we were lucky.

You need a thousand words for green to describe the vegetation of Maui. It simply reminds me of the bushes of New Zealand.

Bananas growing wild.

And pineapples too... I wonder where that name comes from since it neither grows on pines nor looks, or tastes like an apple. In German we call them Ananas.

I am a collector of waterfalls, and Maui has an abundance of those to offer. Here are some of my favourites hiking to Waimoku Falls in the Kipahulu Forest reserve.

The two miles hike leads over rugged terrain and can be slippery at times, but is well worth it. Just make sure you have better shoes than flip-flops. A mighty Banyan tree in the middle of the path.

The river is cascading down while we are going up.

Over stone steps and a boardwalk we enter a vast bamboo forest. Its stems create eerie hollow sounds in the wind.

Arriving at Waimoku Falls. It is huge and we are in awe!

Maui's vegetation is as versatile as its beaches. We bathe in the lush greens of the rain forest,

and discover rare Rainbow Eucalyptus,

while only a few miles away we are greeted by a field of cacti.

And high up on the Haleakala crater we could find these beautiful Silverswords, a rare plant only found on Maui, and only growing at the height 2,000 to 3,000 meters.

Unfortunately revisiting the island of Maui didn't help but only increased my wanderlust, or for lack of better (English) terms the German expression Fernweh, which is indeed the opposite of Heimweh (=homesickness). Not sure how it would translate best but the word stands for the aching for far away places, the travel bug, the feeling you get when you read travel guides, plan your next trip, or listen to people telling tales from the road.

I have never experienced home-sickness. As pathetic as it sounds, but when I am traveling, home is where my heart is, and where I can lay my head down. But hell, did I suffer from 'far-sickness', and still do.

Plans for a motorcycle trip (and meeting some fellow bloggers) are in the make, and I hope to explore the West coast some more, maybe this time with hubby tagging along.

View on Kihei as seen from our vacation home

Maui beaches revisited

Beach-bumming bikers, can it get better than this?

And at home we get the typical We(s)t coast weather. It is raining cats and dogs today so I thought revisiting Maui and its nature, waterfalls and beaches would help lifting my spirits.

Northern beach as seen from Hookipa Lookout is a paradise for surfers. The waves tell you that this is the place where competitions take place.

Same spot, later the day: The waves keep crashing although the wind was calming down.

After meandering along the North shore on the windy road to Hana we arrived at Waianapanapa State Park, located in the North East corner of Maui. Its rugged beaches are dominated by volcanic remnants such as lava tubes and black sand.

Looking out of a lava tube, with one eye on the intruding water. The strong surge could pull you out in no time.

The beaches located in the East and South East corner of the island are rough and not suitable for swimming.

This is the surf on a relatively quiet sunny day... scary high waves and white waters.

On the South slope of the Haleakala crater beaches and sand are foreign words. Steep cliffs and rugged terrain still tell the story of the most recent eruption.

Even plant and animal life is scarce. And of course not many people chose to live here. This is far away from touristic centers, and I am loving it.

The wild ocean is still carving out lava rock, and creating wonderful natural sculptures.

But there is the odd oasis in the volcanic desert. Protected just enough from the power of the waters we find a place that missionaries once picked to build their church.

What a difference the West shore makes. The colours have changed from dark volcanic rock to light sandstone.

And not only that: Embedded in a rocky shore the inclined traveler will find the romantic beaches he is looking for.

The West shore as seen from a boat: Lots more vegetation due to higher precipitation, a green paradise.

Next up: Waterfalls and lots of green stuff

Not your run-of-the-mill tourist town

Lahaina (the natives named this place 'cruel sun' due to the dry climate) is an ex-royal domain, ex-whaler town and ex-capital of Hawaii turned tourist attraction.

Front Street offers everything a tourist heart may desire: t-shirt shops, jewelery and fine art, restaurants and time-share condos. But that doesn't harm the charm and uniqueness of this town.

There is a certain buzz, and it is fun to window-shop, watch people or vehicles being shown off. I genuinely liked that place.

 

There doesn't seem to be a helmet law on Maui, or nobody seems to care because I have only seen a handful of motorcyclists wearing a safety helmet, let alone gloves, boots or at least long pants for basic protection. But there there is obviously a rule demanding (male) scooterists only to ride dressed in board shorts and flip-flops. T-shirt is optional. The first thing that comes to mind is a serious road rash waiting to happen.

Crazy Germans

4AM (!!!) in the morning, the alarm clock went off, and four grumpy and unkempt Germans got ready to make it up to the Haleakala Crater just in time to see the sun rise. It is a 90 min drive up a windy road in the dark, but it turned out that we were not the only crazy people with that idea. Tourists!

It was a bit nippy, so we had put on several layers that we would shed as soon as the sun rays heat up the red and black volcanic ash. While smart Andrea even brought gloves, the rest of us flatly refused to bring anything warmer than t-shirts, jeans and rain jacket to Maui. Hence, I must have looked quite funny wrapped up in my beach towel.

Watching the sun rise is always rewarding, and elevates the spirit. Although we were all craving for strong coffee going with the sandwiches we had packed, we took our time and explored the crater some more.

The air was quite thin, and we were a bit out of breath from running around (which we were of course not supposed to do in this elevation) but it was well worth the effort to be on top of the world, well make that on top of Maui instead.

Here I was still in some wrappers but already sans beach towel.

Finally back in the car we cranked up the heat, removed our layers and demanded our GPS to lead us to the nearest Starbucks, stat.