The alarm sounded at 03:50 and, following a conversation last night about my inability to just get up, I sat up and dragged myself out of bed.
We climbed into the Oldsmobile and headed out of Kahului. On our journey to Haleakala National Park the interior lights of the car mysteriously illuminated, twice, as if the ignition had been disengaged and the doors had been opened. As we ascended the road leading up the side of Haleakala shield volcano we saw that the rich colours cast by the rising sun were already illuminating the skyline. By 05:00 glorious deep blues, electric blues and stunning oranges emitted warm and enticing glows. We spent the following 1 hour 30 minutes watching one of the greatest shows of my life, sitting outside in the freshest air, with my trousers tucked into my socks, my fleecy hat pulled over my ears, taking shot after shot of the beautiful sunrise at Haleakala's 10,023 feet summit, on Pu'u'ula'ula, Red Hill.
As we waited for the crowd to disperse from the summit we waited in the Oldsmobile and fell asleep. At 07:30 we awoke and finding only three cars remaining in the car park we enjoyed the scenery, silverswords and spectacular views across to the West Maui Mountains, into Haleakala Crater and across to Hawaii in the clear skies. I found that on exercising and elevating up steps I was suffering slightly from altitude sickness and with the combination of that and sleep deprivation I was quite fatigued and short of breath. Sadly, directly above Kahului was a pollution mushroom cloud that obscured the view to Kahului Bay and the West Maui Mountains. When you are higher than the soft, fluffy, delicate white clouds in the clear sky, you appreciate the clear air more. At an elevation of 10,023 feet, I was appalled by the pollution cloud yet at sea level I wouldn't have noticed it. It cast a grim, dirty coloured shadow over Kahului.
We descended slightly to the visitors' centre to absorb some more exquisite views over the crater and thoroughly enjoyed the vista of the many cinder cones that lay before us. Haleakala is one of the most beautiful sights I have seen.
On our continuing descent we made brief stops at Kalahaku overlook and at Leleiwi overlook, where we walked through a semi wilderness area, home to a species of weevils!
On the return road to Kahului, now in glorious sunshine, we got to see what a beautiful countryside we had travelled through in darkness on our way to Haleakala summit before dawn. The roads were lined with beautiful purple trees, like those we saw in Africa, only this time I managed to photograph them! When we joined Highway 37 the road was lined with fields of sugarcane. I wonder if Maui suffers from the odd estuarine crocodile in their sugarcane fields like the Australians? Also reminiscent of Australia were a few dirt devils making play in the dry land preceding Kahului Airport. Although these were clearly nothing like those intense tornadoes which have made a devastating impact on Tornado Alley.
We reached Ruby's Diner a little after 10:00 and took breakfast there. Actually I had a Skinny Eggs and Ian had a banquet all to himself. We then returned to the hotel room and set the alarm for 2 hours later. Sleep was shortcoming.
Feeling refreshed but rather confused we woke ourselves again and drove out of Kahului along the road to Hana. The windsurfers were out in force at Hookipa Beach Park, a premier windsurfing and surfing beach which hosts many international competitions. The road to Hana is said to be the most spectacular in all of Hawaii. It has six hundred twists and turns and fifty four bridges. At nearly each turn in the road there is a waterfall and a new view of the ocean. In reality, on this chosen day, ninety five per cent of the waterfalls were completely dry, almost as dry as the Limpopo river in Southern Africa at the beginning of October. However, the region obviously does get a significant volume of rainfall as the valleys and deep ravines were all shades of beautiful greens. Bright orange African tulips broke up the colour of the canopy. As we drove up to Hana a handful of mini rainbows made appearances in the sea mist in the road and disappeared as we approached them.
Just after reaching Hana Airport we stopped at Waianapanapa State Park to see the natural lava arch at Pailoa Bay. The bay was subject to interesting wave action but I was more interested in the lone cow chained to a tree in the car park.
In Hana I was keen to view the red sand beach, Kaihalulu Beach, albeit from a distance as it too attracts the nude sunbathers like the black sand beach at Kehena in Puna. But the red sand beach trail transpired to be reached by means of trespassing which instantly rumpled my feathers and I refused to go any further, after Ian had already refused to go. The pathway is also noted as being the most treacherous in Maui so that aided my decision not to go. So that was a bit of a disappointment to me.
We filled the car with petrol and returned at quite a pace keen to get off the road before dark. We paused only briefly on one occasion to photograph the African tulips and it was long enough to allow a mosquito to enter the Oldsmobile. A flashback of New Zealand ensued and I tried in vain to eradicate our vulnerable position by hitting the mosquito twice. On both occasions I managed to get an imprint of his wings and legs on my hand but he continued to fly, miraculously. Eventually he succumbed to my generous hand and I think we escaped without fresh bites. Tomorrow will tell.
The sun was setting as we emerged off the north coast of Maui and I observed the beautiful bright pinks that were being reflected onto clouds over Kahului Bay. It was so peaceful. Arriving at the hotel I realised that the beach at the hotel would have made an ideal place to watch the sun set behind the West Maui Mountains.
We drove around Kahului looking for somewhere to eat and settled for an Italian diner. We enjoyed a browsing session at Borders immediately after until we were thrown out, again, it being closing time. We had travelled 190 miles today, all over Maui.
We had seen the sun rise from Haleakala summit at 10,023 feet and set behind the West Maui Mountains from sea level. Spectacular.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.