Honeymoon Diary #4

Wednesday 29th July

The alarm went off at 1.30am. Yup, 1.30am. One of the most amazing sights on Maui is supposed to be the sunrise over Haleakala Crater, so we wanted to up early enough to take the drive up to the top. It's not that far but it's a slow drive up the dormant volcano. It's also one of the steepest roads in the world, ascending 10,000 ft above sea-level in just 38 miles. It was certainly fun in the dark (fortunately I left that drive to Darren!) It didn't take as long as expected though – we arrived at about 3.45am, one of only three cars in the car park. It was worth being that early though as there is virtual no ambient light and the view of the stars is magnificent. It was also good to have the time to reflect before the hordes of cars and tourbuses arrived. It was incredibly cold though!

Darren took a quick nap before the main show but I couldn't sleep and had a nice chat with a couple of American kids. We saw the sky gradually lighten and by the time Darren joined me there were about a thousand people who had joined us. The stars went out, one by one and it got colder just before dawn. At around 5.50am the clouds started to glow and then the sun shone out. It is impossible to put into words what the experience was like.

After the main event we drove up to the highest point on the volcano to get more of a view of the crater. It's difficult to have any perspective on how big it is – it's 8 miles across and would comfortably hold Manhatten island. As we drove down we stopped at he various lookout points to get some different views and stopped again at the bottom at a cafe or breakfast. Then it was off to lunch!

Darren had spotted O'o farm in one of the manny magazines we had picked up. The organic farm was created to provide for two restaurants in Lahaina, a town near the resort we are staying at, and the Feast At Lele, a meal / show that we had booked to attend before leaving. The lunch tours seemed right up our street. The farm is on the lower slopes of Haleakala. There were around 20 people on the tour and we were shown around the farm, the various crops and techniques they had for growing as organically and naturally as possible. We had some very interesting conversations about how organic food rarely means local food when it comes to supermarkets – I think they were quite shocked by how far food gets shipped to the UK! We then helped to pick some salad leaves for our lunch.

As well as the salad the chef had prepared the local Mahi-Mahi fish and some tofu (which even Darren thought was tasty!). There was also some lovely chocolate fondants to finish. The atmosphere was very communal and everyone seemed quite interested in our WWOOFing experiences. Wine was drunk (not so much by me as I was designated driver) and we left around 2.30pm.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Tom Barefoot's Tours, a well-respected activities vendor on the islands. Jake (who is Tom's son, yes Barefoot is his real name) was really helpful – we didn't feel as if we were being sold anything that we didn't want, only the tours that were right for us. We booked a Volcano Air Tour for Saturday morning and a complete island tour in a helicopter before our departure on Monday afternoon.

Another of Darren's spies in a magazine was The Melting Pot, our destination for dinner. It's a chain of restaurants but not one that you get in the UK so we allowed ourselves a visit. It's basically a fondue restaurant. We went for the four-course set menu (I say, “set,” there was still a lot of choice!). First up, cheese fondue – once they fired up the hot plate they came to our table with the raw ingredients and mixed the fondue in front of us, leaving us with a lovely gooey cheese mixture and various breads, raw vegetables and apple chunks to dip. Next was a salad of mozzarella and tomatoes. Then the meat and fish course – a bowl of stock was heated on the table and we were given a plate of all sorts of meat and seafood, along with a few veggies and lots of different sauces. You simply dropped the food in, waited a few minutes, then fished it out and ate. We gradually made it through the whole lot (except the potatoes – we put two in at the beginning and they still weren't cooked when we'd finished everything else!)

Last but not least was the inevitable chocolate fondue. There were all sorts of options, we went for dark chocolate with Disaronno. Again there were lots of different goodies to dip (my favourite was the marshmallow coated in Oreo crumbs). It was a really fun experience – I'm amazed there's nothing similar in the UK!

Thursday 30th July

Today we were to drive the legendary Road To Hana. Despite only being 52 miles long the journey was estimated to take about three hours and, with part of the road due to close at 11.30am for roadworks, we had to leave by 8am to be sure of making it all the way. There are around 620 turns and 46 one-lane bridges along the road which nestles between the coast and the rainforest. There was some nice scenary and waterfalls along the way but it wasn't as breath-taking as I expected. Some recommend taking a guided tour rather than driving it yourself but I found the driving much more fun than the viewing!

We stopped just inside Hana at a tiny museum which had a lot of personal accounts of the tsunamis that have hit the east coast of Maui over the last century, as well as an example of a traditional Hawai'ian village. We then went back on ourselves to grab some BBQ chicken from a roadside stall (there are loads of them) and took it to Hana Bay itself. Most say that the destination is a disappointment after the journey. It is small, never having really recovered from the last tidal wave in 1946. The bay itself is a black sand beach and, despite the number of people who travel towards it, was very quiet.

After our lunch we continued a little further along the road. Inspired by the band Gomez we wanted to see Hamoa Beach. It's a lovely little beach, shaded by lots of trees but with quite a strong current. We stopped to lie on the grey sand or a while and I couldn't resist a play in the high waves. I didn't last long though – after five minutes I was exhausted and returned to our spot to dry off!

We were thinking of continuing to the waterfalls of Oheo Gulch but it was already past 3pm and we were still quite tired from the previous day so we decided to head back once the road re-opened at 3.30pm. Darren clipped the car on a side-barrier (good thing it was there otherwise we'd have been down the cliff!) but the journey back was otherwise fairly uneventful. Once back at the hotel we ate at the Tiki Terrace, the hotel restaurant and made for an early night.

Honeymoon Diary #3

Friday 24th July

We had a really early start today. Our tour to the Big Island was picking us up at 5am (although the bus didn't turn up until 5.30am). Once at Honolulu Airport we were shown to our check-in desk where we got our boarding passes. I lost my sunscreen for good this time – I hadn't thought about airport security and the bottle was too big. Fortunately we didn't really need it as most of our day was to be spent at the misty top of a volcano.

After we landed we came through the tiny airport at Hilo to be greeted by our driver and guide for the day. He added a very personal angle to the tour, telling us about his childhood in the town and about the tsunami that struck the town in 1960. I half expected him to start telling us where his aunts and uncles lived! Once out of the town our first stop was Rainbow Falls. Probably not the most exciting waterfall in Hawai'i but probably the easiest one for tourbuses to stop at. We had 15 minutes to take a few snaps and then headed off to the Mauna Loa Macademia Nut Factory.
Macademia nuts are everywhere in Hawai'i. I don't think we've seen a restaurant menu yet that doesn't mention them somewhere. When the driver told us that there we free samples in the gift shop that was where everyone headed first! The samples certainly worked - we bought four packs in various flavours and got a free cool bag. We then had a quick walk around the outside of the factory. You can walk down the entire production line and view what's going on through large windows. There wasn't much to see in the early stages but seeing how they encase the nuts in chocolate (and it's very good chocolate) was interesting.

Finally we were off up the volcano! The Big Island of Hawai'i is constantly growing and has the most active volcano on earth, Kilauea, which is spewing lava into the sea and creating new land. It has two bigger volcanoe, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea – indeed Mauna Loa is the most massive mountain on earth and if you counted the height from the sea floor it is bigger than Mount Everest. We stopped at the Visitor Centre for our first view of the steaming caldera of Kilauea. This was also our lunch stop – a bit early at 11am but I suppose we had been up a long time.

After lunch we drove round Crater Rim Drive past many steam vents (which I thought we were meant to stop at but the driver didn't seem too enthusiastic about them. Definitely a problem with going on a large guided tour). We stopped at the Jaggar Museum. The road is currently closed from this point due to dangerously high quantities of sulphur in the air, so this is the closest overlook of Halema'uma'u Crater. We could smell the sulphur and it was quite awe-inspiring to see the size and scale of both the crater and the caldera. The museum was also interesting, showing how the island chain was formed, the different types of lava and the damage caused by the most recent eruptions.

Back on Crater Rim Drive and past the visitor centre is Thurston Lava Tube. Created 500 years ago, it's a cold, dark, wet walk through quite an amazing feat of nature. Next on the tour was a visit to an orchid nursery. Orchids are another thing you see everywhere in Hawai'i – the leis, the flowers in the hair, decorating food, cocktails, everywhere! The nursery had a plant said to be worth $20,000 – it was perfectly symmetrical apparently. We also thought it was pretty ugly!

Our final stop was advertised as a, “journey to the End of the Road where the lava has most recently flowed into the sea.” It turns out that coaches are not actually allowed down to the end of the road so we actually went to the end of the next road along. Here we walked along a quarter of a mile trail to a black sand beach. You could see the steam from where the lava was meeting the water but it was too far away and there was no chance of seeing any red lava flow. The landscape was kind of eerie though and a surprisingly large number of coconut trees had started to grow on the lava field.

Back at tiny Hilo airport (half of it outside!) we checked-in and passed security without any problems. As we waited to board our plane we were treated to a live musical and hula performance. The hula dance is really expressive and the song was in English which meant I could easily interpret the dance. It was a wonderfully relaxed end to a busy day.

When we returned to our hotel we stopped in Duke's for dinner – I had some really good fish encrusted in macademia nuts and Darren had tuna. Then it was off to bed for some much needed sleep.

Saturday 25th July

We wanted to take a leisurely look around Honolulu. After spending an hour in an internet cafe trying to fix my laptop we took a bus to the Aloha Tower. We browsed around the shops in the mall and stopped for a beer at Gordon Biersch, a brew-pub chain in Hawai'i. We thought we'd have a bite to eat as well, choosing a pork sandwich each. As ever the American portions were huge though!

It's hard to believe in high-rise Waikiki that the 184-ft Aloha Tower was the tallest building in Honolulu when it was open in 1926. We took the free lift up to the top - not an amazing view but it was fun to watch the planes taking off from the airport.

Time seemed to run away from us. It was already 3pm and we hadn't actually got to the historic buildings that I wanted to see. So we walked up to 'Iolani Palace – you can only enter it on a guided tour anyway. This is where Queen Lili'uokalani, the last monarch of Hawai'i ruled from and was then imprisoned under house arrest when the monarchy was overthrown in 1893. The building I really wanted to get to was the State Art Museum. It closes at 4pm so we had just half and hour to have a quick look around. I'm glad we did as we had the gallery to ourselves and saw some really evocative pieces by Hawai'ian and Hawai'i-based artists.

We took the bus back to Waikiki and jumped out on the way to hire a car for the following day. We also went to Hard Rock Cafe for a quick drink and to collect our Honolulu shot glass. Our hotel had an art gallery / shop that we had viewed a couple of times since we arrived and we nipped in again. We've wanted to own an original piece of art for some time and this seemed like the ideal opportunity. We were particularly taken by the work of Steve Barton who uses wavy canvases for his Hawai'ian land and sea-scapes. We sat with Pink Sunset (I think that's what it was called) for a long time in their viewing room before agreeing to take the plunge. I'm not telling how much it cost, but as we had received some money from Darren's parents we agreed that it would be paid for by them (so thank you both!). Breathless but excited, we went to bed.

Sunday 26th July

Inspired by our Lost tour earlier in the week (and still a little annoyed that we couldn't take the full day tour) we hired a car and decided to investigate the North Shore by ourselves. At such short notice we had to go for a more expensive option, so for just one day we were the proud “owners” of a red Mini convertible.

After a few arguments on how to get out of Honolulu (the map wasn't very useful and the roadsigns even less so) we found Highway 2 and were on our way. We headed straight for the west end of the shore. We had a quick drive around Dillinger Airfield where the main part of the Lost plane fuselage used to be stored but we couldn't see anything. Next stop, Camp Erdman, the YMCA camp used as the Dharma village where we took a few snaps, then to Mokule'ia Beach. This was used for a lot of the beach scenes in the first series and it did have a sense of familiarity about it! We spent an hour soaking up a little sun (a little too much as we later found out - the new spray on suncream I bought was pretty hard to apply in the wind and we both ended up with rather unattractive red patches...)

We then headed east to Waimea Falls, another Lost location. We had a bite to eat in the cafe and then set of through the botanic gardens to the 60-ft waterfall. We both had a dip in the pool which was very cold and pretty uncomfortable underfoot – really difficult to get in and out! We had planned to continue east to Sunset Beach and Turtle Bay but we wanted to get the car back before 5.30pm so we decided to head back to Honolulu.

As we approached Honolulu we had an hour left with the car so we took a detour to the Punchbowl Crater. Yet another of Hawai'i's volcanic craters, this one has become a memorial site for those who have been lost in combat but whose bodies have never been found. As well the large monuments to the dead from the Pearl Harbour attack are thousands of marble stones representing many others missing in action, presumed dead. Despite being so close to the city it is incredibly peaceful and we left in reflective mood.

Back into the Honolulu / Waikiki traffic, the mood became frantic, especially when we hurriedly had to work out the procedure of a US gas station. We just got the car back on time and wandered back to the hotel to shower and change for our last meal in Oahu.

This one was on Mum! We originally planned to eat at Benares, a Michelin-starred Indian restaurant, when we stayed in London on the night after the wedding, but decided that spicy food+alcohol+an early start+a long flight was probably not a good combination. As my mum gave us some money towards that we decided to spend it on the closest thing possible in Waikiki. Nobu Matsuhisa has a Michelin-starred restaurant in London which is on our wishlist, and also has an outlets around the world including Waikiki (no stars yet, I'm not sure the judges get out this far!) We went for the Omakase tasting menu – I think it was partly created on the spot so I don't have it written down and I'm struggling to remember what we had! The meal consisted of two cold dishes, two hot dishes, a sushi plate and dessert. First course was crab in a miso wasabi soup – far too hot for me. I also remember an excellent Japanese snapper dish, some Caliornian lamb (which is quite exclusive apparently) and the nigiri sushi was really good. There wasn't really the same “wow” factor that I had at Sansei though until dessert, a gorgeous chocolate and orange creation. Maybe too much of it was just a bit too spicy for me. The cocktails were superb though (which may explain why I can't remember all the courses...)

Monday 27th July

Today was our last day on Oahu and the first on Maui. But not as tremendously exciting as that might sound! After our last buffet breakfast in Duke's, Darren nipped over to an Internet cafe to get the last files together to fix my laptop and I did a spot of souvenir shopping. We packed and then got the taxi to the airport for our 1.30pm flight. The terminal was tiny and we went through security in double quick time! There was just a cocktail bar in the terminal so we had a cheeky drink before walking towards the gate.

The flight got delayed until 2.30pm. Then 3.30pm. We saw our luggage being loaded onto a plane but were then told that it wasn't OUR plane and we had to wait! They must have had a few spaces though because we then got called onto it, a shuttle that stopped at Moloka'i before jumping on to Kahului airport on Maui. I had a lovely chat with a lady who had just moved to Moloka'i as we sat at the back of the tiny plane (I think it held around 30-40 people). It was quite a bumpy experience! We got to see the massive cliffs of Moloka'i as we skirted around the island along with a view of the longest white sand beach in the USA where part of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 were filmed.

Three hours later than planned we landed at Kahalui and our luggage made it as well! We ventured to the car hire desks and miraculously managed to not be persuaded ino hiring the Mustang or the Jeep, instead going for a mid-size, very ugly Chevrolet. The drive to our hotel took about 45 minutes taking in some lovely scenery. Ka'anipali Beach Hotel is not as plush as the Outrigger in Waikiki but it is very charming and incredibly friendly. It has been named as Hawai'i's Most Hawai'ian Hotel and strives to provide it's visitors with the most authentic experience possible. The low-rise property is in a horseshoe shape around the pool and bar area and our room is towards the back which gives us a bit of a view of the ocean through the palm trees. It's very relaxing and peaceful, especially compared to the hustle of Waikiki. After a quick glass of our complementary champagne we headed to the bar for a pizza (an Hawai'ian, naturally) and a cocktail. The bar also has musicians and a hula show every night (which we can see and hear from our balcony!)

We returned to our room to find a couple of problems – the remote control didn't work and the air conditioning was leaking. I went to reception to report them and they promptly sent someone up for us. The air-con wasn't too dfficult a job but the TV is more complicated than replacing the batteries – we're waiting for someone else to come and reset the box for us! Once again I couldn't keep my eyes open past 9.30pm – besides, the bed is just too comfy...

Tuesday 28th July

We joined our hosts for our Welcoming Breakfast at 8am. The Ka'anipali Beach Hotel definitely has more of a feel of a European beach hotel. They explained more about the ethos of the hotel and then told us about some of the trips and shows we could do. We booked a snorkel boat trip to the Molokini crater on Friday and the Ulalena show on Saturday night. We also wanted to book a helicopter flight and a small plane flight over the Big Island lava flows, but decided not to go through the hotel for these.

After breakfast we took a wander down the beach to Whalers Shopping Village. As it was lunchtime (already!) we stopped at Leilani's – I had a chicken cashew stir-fry and Darren had the local version of fish and chips (no mushy peas though!). After a good nosey around the shops we returned to our room to relax and unpack. At 8.30pm we realised we ought to get something to eat but we wanted to be in bed early – we had a VERY early start the next morning. Unfortunately the Tiki Grill at the hotel stopped serving at 8pm so we ended up walking back down to Whalers and conceding defeat to the American might of McDonalds (yes, it tastes the same over here). At 9.30pm, much later than we planned, we got to bed.