Of fire and water - Hawaii

We started this trip with a one-way ticket to Cairns, Australia. We had a rough idea what we wanted to do and when, but like to keep our option open. So about halfway we figured, that since we'd fly home a week before Christmas, we might want to book something asap, so we wouldn't end up with very expensive tickets.

We looked at several routes. The most straightforward thing, would be to have a stopover in Asia, and then home from there. But that didn't feel right. What about going in the other direction? After all, New Zealand is so far away, there's no 'detour', and it would be cool to finally do that round-the-world thing. 

As it happened Air NewZealand had a special: to Hawaii. Now that sounded like a plan, and here we are!

City of refuge, Kona

Now to be honest, Hawaii didn't blow us away. That might have something to do with these three things:

• High expectations.
  There's nothing like high expectations to quickly turn any experience into a deception.
• The weather.
  We simply ran out of luck with that one. As we arrived we'd hoped that it would clear up, but it didn't. It had been raining in Hilo for 10 consecutive days, and the storm was forcast to linger over the island for another week. Roads were closed due to snowfall and flash floods, tours cancelled and the Hawaiian weather even made it onto the news back home in Europe.
• Feeling poorly.
  That does change your experience. Flying in, I was coming down with a cold, that lasted a full week. Nauseous, head aches, runny nose, sore throat, overall lethargy, the works. We still did some stuff, but things like going on a proper walk, were just too much for me. We went out every day, but I wasn't enjoying it as much as I know I would have otherwise.

Having said that, we did do some pretty amazing stuf! Like what? Here's some of our highlights.

On day 2 we drove up an active volcano, Kilauea, and watched the lava in the crater splatter and blow. We were told that we were lucky, since quite often the lava isn't visible at all, because its normal level is a lot lower. That night after dinner we went back to the crater and saw the lava in the dark of night which was even more spectacular. Especially because it was a lot quieter that during the day, and we could actually hear the spatter and howling going on. Talk about force of nature...

Kilauea crater

From Kilauea lava still continues to flow down to the sea, the island grows when it solidifies in the water. The hike to the ocean entry point takes approximately 2 hours on way: too much. But we did see the massive steam plume from a distance. Usually there are boats to the entry point, but those didn't go out because of the high winds. We decided to do a short petroglyph walk instead, and that was pretty special too. 

Big steam vent where lava flows into the sea

Now day 3 was definitely a highlight: we had booked a manta ray dive. This was really the reason we went to Big Island. Luckily I only had a sore through and some mild headaches that day, so I could make it (or maybe I just suppressed the rested since it came back with a vengeance the next few days). We headed out of the marina at 3pm, and saw some dolphins on the boat ride to the dive spot. We started with an easy afternoon dive, on which we saw some cool stuff: moray eels, garden eels, a Pacific barracuda, a small turtle, some big crowns of thorns, both yellow and grey trumpetfish, black long-nosed angle fish, very weird lizard fish, and a massive Neptune's cockle. 

Trumpet fish

After 65minutes we surfaced, it was a really nice dive, though not spectacular. Saying that, I think we must consider ourselfs spoiled. Read that final line of the last paragraph again. Seeing all that, and then labelling a dive nothing spectacular. Hmmmm... We might need to abstain from diving until we've got our perspective back. 

But first, it was time for supper. The crew had layed out different wraps and cookies, which we ate while watching the sunset. When it got dark we got a briefing for the main event: the manta night dive. During the briefing we saw the first big manta shadow under the water's surface, the exitement rippled through the crowd.

Lizard fish

The general plane of this dive is that you plunge in, swim to a designated sandy spot, and wait at the bottom for whatever shows up, while pointin your torch over your head. We got a few extra kilos of weight in our BCDs, so we would easily stay put, because the swell had come up even more. To attract the mantas, there would be lights from the surface down, and the bottom up. The mantas feed on zooplankton, and those zooplankton gather in light beams, thus making an easy meal for an intelligent manta.

Me with torch

There were 4 groups of 4 divers, each with their own guide. We were in the second group to descent, and gathered at a spot at about 10m deep. We each had a small torch, but the guides had places bottom and surface lights near our spot, and boy, those lights sure were bright. It kind of felt like a circus arena. But within seconds we saw our first manta ray. What a sight! She flew over our head into the beam, summer salting on her way back for a second helping. We could look right into her open mouth, seeing the gills on the insides. Spectacular.

We huddled together trying to stay stable in the swell. That was tricky. Our guides had told us to pick up one of the boulders strewn around if we had trouble. I flinched at the thought of picking up a rock, bare-handed even, but couldn't think of another option, so I did it anyway.

With my new found stability I could really enjoy the show in front of me. Thousands of silver fish swam in vertical shoals around us. A manta with a wingspan of 2.5-3meters flew into the light, and disappeared again into darkness like a ghost. During feeding it came so close that it actually brushed our heads. I sometimes simply forgot to breath.

Manta ray up close

After about 50minutes our dive guide decided our time was up, and we needed to go back to the boat. Getting up the first thing I saw was a rock fish, right next to where we had been sitting. These are highly venomous, and one of the reasons you do not pick up rocks! 

Another reason are the sea urchins that I suddenly noticed all around. We swam towards the boat, watching some nocturnal fish hunting. On the boat we had a nice hot shower and instant cocoa with biscotti. But who cares about that, we just saw a manta ray up close, feeding, for almost an hour!

Another great experience was going up the Haleakala Volcano on Maui. Seeing the sunrise from the summit is supposed to be spectacular, so on our list. We spent 3 nights on Maui, and had looked online for the best day to do this. Day 6 looked promising. We got up at 3am to make the 2hour drive from Lahaina to the summit, some 3000meters higher. As we drove up the volcano, it was a lovely clear night. The stars were very visible in the sky, and the towns below glowed in the dark. 

We were just in time for one of the last spots at the parking lot, when we arrived at 5am. It was close to freezing when we stepped out, so we decided to have a nap in the car for the hour we had to wait. As we woke again at 6am the clouds were drifting in... So unfortunately no clear sky sunrise for us, but it turned out to be impressive nonetheless. 

Haleakala sunrise

After an hour or so, we went back to the car and had breakfast. We had planned to do a hike down the crater today, but I really didn't feel very fit. But didn't want to miss out either. We figured we would just slowly start to descent, take many breaks, and after an hour or so would start walking up again. It was only 8am and we had the rest of the day to do this. That turned out to be a very good plan. What a magnificent landscape...

The track was easy, but reasonably steep. And every turn revealed different perspectives and more colours. 

After slowly making our way up again, we drove back down around noon. And that's when my problems began... My ears simply would not equalise. When this happens while diving, I go up again, but we could hardly stay on the volcano. We did stop for a while, and after some time I was able to 'pop' them. But it hurt. And I heard sound I've never heard before, that was unnerving. 

I've always had pressure-sensitive ears, and I figure I must've put them through a bit too much. These last 6 days: 4 flights, 2 scuba dives and 3 drives up over 2500m. And all while having a cold. To make matters worse, my next flight is in two days. A trip to the pharmacy provided a fairly aggressive nose spray, let's hope that does the trick.

Keanae peninsula on the road to Hana

On day 7, our last day on Hawaii, we (more accurately Rodie) drove the road to Hana. A narrow, winding road with many one-lane bridges. Though not nearly as narrow as the road on the north east coast we drove on day 5. The views were really nice, the waterfalls pretty and the greenery spectacular at places. Honestly I did not think it was all that it's hyped to be. But Rodie really liked it, and we usually like the same type of things, so I blame my stuffy head for that. In retrospect I maybe should've stayed in bed. But then again, I'm not in Hawaii that often, so wanted to do as much as I could. 

Day 8, we're flying to San Francisco, fingers crossed that the ears make it in one peace too!

Oh and we've lost our cord to get photos from my camera and upload them, so this post will be edited sometime in the near future with more photos...

Walking in the wet - Abel Tasman Coastal Track

New Zealand is all about the outdoors, especially when hiking, or tramping as the Kiwis say. The country even has 9 Great Walks. These are multi day hiking trails, which supposedly have the bast views and divers landscapes.

Now, we are by no means avid walkers, but we felt like we at least had to try to do one of these trails. I mean, being in the country for almost two months, and not do one of the walks....? That's like missing out on the essentials of the country.

Start of the Abel Tasman from Maharou

After done online searching, we decided to walk the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. We chose this one for several reasons:

• Supposedly it's the easiest of the Great Walks, so manageable for leisurely walkers. 
• It's very accessible, so if you decide you cannot take it anymore, you can even decide to take a water taxi out.
• You walk a trail from hut to hut, where you spend the night. So the distance between two huts determines how far you have to walk each day. The Abel Tasman has 'extra' huts, so you can chose to walk the whole track in 3,4 or 5 days. (This whole track is 60km.)
• This area usually has really good weather: one of the sunniest parts of the country.

View over Tinline Bay

Because the huts have limited space, you have to book them before you start. By the time we thought about booking them, some of them were already fully booked. So this limited our options, both in length and dates. An attentive option would be you camp along the trail, but then we'd have to hire (and carry!) camping gear too. That's a bit too hardcore for me.

We would walk 3 days, from Marahau to Awaroa, staying 2 night in huts. 

Because the trails are all about nature, you can't buy anything en route. You have to carry all your food , clothing and sleeping gear with you.

The huts have drinking water, flushing toilets and cold showers. No heating or electricity, but some sort of heating would be available.

Walking the first day

At our hostel we arranged for a water taxi to pick us up at Awaroa on day 3, and hired an extra sleeping bag (we travel with just one) because the nights get pretty cold!

We headed out on the 6th of November. Just as one of the infrequent bad weather fronts rolled in... Well , if you let the rain get yo you, you can't do anything in New Zealand! But look at the sky in that first photo, imagine that the start of you three day walk....

Start of day 2, Drizzle at Anchorage Bay

On that first day we walked just over 13km. Most of it in lovely weather, and those views... Simply amazing. But our bags were pretty heavy, were of used to more than a day pack. And there were a couple of pretty steep climbs that day. 

We stopped for lunch at Appletree Bay, a lovely little cove. But the tide rose very quickly, so we climbed up again and walked to the hut at Achorage. The first real showers started after lunch, and about 20 minutes before we got to the hut it started to storm. We were utterly soaked by the time we reached the hut. 

The rain stopped about half an hour after we got there... So we spend a lovely few hours sitting in the sun. As soon as the rain stopped, the birds came out. A few ducks, some quail and even a weka! 

Day 2: rain

Achorage hut had 4 separate door rooms, with 4 bunks each (sleeping 8 per room). The matresses were plastic wrapped foam. Not the most comfortable ever. But hey, we weren't doing this for comfort.

Someone lights the fire, we rinsed our socks and shirt, and hung our clothes next to the fire to dry.

Our dinner consisted of a salad with avocado and a tin of teriyaki chicken each. Dessert was an energy bar. 

The huts don't have cooking facilities and we figured that hiring and carrying a portable gas stove was too much of a hassle. 

We had some nice chats that evening, prepared our overnight oats, and by nine o'clock everyone was in bed!

Start of day 3 at Bark Bay

We were looking forward to day 2, it was forcast to be a lovely sunny day, and our pack would be not as heavy.

Imagine our deception when we woke up to the sound of rain... 

We took our time eating our oats (that had turned out quite nice!) and staring out the window. Around 10 we figured we might as well start, it didn't get any sunnier as far as we could tell. And we were right unfortunately.

It rained all day long. We didn't stop for lunch, because we were quite sure our rice cake would fall apart from the moisture. 

A good thing that even in the rain, the track is gorgeous. But of course we would have preferred some more sunshine.

A tui, one of the most common birds on the track.

We reached Bark Bay hut at around 2pm, having walked again 13km. Since it had been such lovely weather (ahem) we had decided to take the high tide route and a detour to Cleopatra Pool.

But we did gave a lot of fun that afternoon in the hut. We chatted and laughed with some of the other walkers. Taking turns of making fun of each other's food turns out to be a good way to pass the time. (Our dinner was ready cooked rice, mustard tinned chicken, red peppers and tinned olives.)

Bark Bay hut was a little more basic than Anchorage: the same plastic matresses, but this time in 2 bed rooms, each sleeping 14 people in platform bunks. What is a platform bunk? Two platforms above each other, both with 7  matresses, right next to each other. It has been a while since I've slept that close to a stranger...

The creek just before Tonga Quarry

But what a nice surprise on day 3. We had given up hope, but the sun made it at last! What a gorgeous day it was. We had only 10km to walk today, and our pack was almost empty.

We saw so many birds that day and the sunlight made all the views just made all the little creeks glitter. Because of the rainy days the waterfalls and creeks were tumbeling.

Day 3: sun at Onetahuti Beach

At Onetahuti Beach we had a break, we watched the oystercatchers and red billed gulls at the beach, and staring at the sea, we even saw some seals in the water!

After Onetahuti we walked through an estuary and then got ready for our last hike uphill. Walking down we realised we were very early for our water taxi. We had booked a 3pm taxi, and we arrived at noon. We decided to walk to the beach, just in time to see the earlier water taxi arrive! 

We stepped aboard and 1,5 hours later we were back where we started.

Boat ride back

There and back again - Hobbiton

• Now who's a good nerd?
• Me! Me!

So no way around it, is there?
One MUST go to Hobbiton....
And so we did.

First look at Hobbiton

When we decided to visit New Zealand, the main draw for us were its impressive and diverse landscapes. That happen to feature prominently in the Lord of the Rings movies (and many, many others).

One of many hobbit holes

During our time here we will visit several of these landscapes, but we also went to Hobbiton. This is no landscape, but a fictional village: the actual movie set of the Hobbit village. Kept and maintained as it was during filming. Of course the owners are making a fortune doing tours of it, and it is pretty touristy, but also so much fun!

The Party Tree and Sam's house

We booked our tour online, and waited at the Shire's Rest (I know!) for our guide. Everyone gets into a big coach, and we drive onto the farm where the actual set is. During that short drive they show a short video telling a bit about the logistics of filming, and our driver pointed a few things out in the landscape. And then we are there, out of the coach we walked into the village through Gandalfs Cutting.

Bag End

It really is nice, seeing the whole village appear around you, even when it is quite full of tourists. The little hobbit holes all around, all the detail that went into making it look like a live village, and those particular features (the party tree, Bag End, the Green Dragon Inn, etc.) that look so familiar due to the movies. Needless to say we loved it. 

Green Dragon, bridge and the Mill

And they really do make an effort to keep it top notch. All the flowers and gardens are meticulously kept, smoke comes out of the chimneys and they re-leaf (new verb!) the one artificial tree every few years. 

After a walk around the little lanes of Hobbiton, shooting all the obligatory photos, marvelling at the different holes, and learning new trivia facts from our guide, we headed down to the Green Dragon for a drink. 

Inside the Green Dragon

During filming this was just a façade (Hobbiton was an exterior set), but for the tourist tours they built the inside of the Green Dragon as well. The inn is pretty much identical to the one in the movies, and again, it's well done. We sat down to enjoy our beers (ginger beer and stout) in front of the fire. Before long it was time to leave the Shire, and go back to the real world.

Back to the real world

Pelican party - Monkey Mia

We came to Monkey Mia to watch dolphins, who are known to visit the beach every day. After we parked the campervans, we decided to enjoy a beer on the beach, while staring at the sea.

I can see you...

And, joining us on the beach were a few lazy pelicans. Now, since I really like Pelicans, I thought I'd treat you to some random pics of 'em. 

 

Heeeeeeey!

And I really feel that they're not the most intelligent animals around, but correct me if I'm wrong in that one. 

Does this make me look smart?

But they are very amusing to look a at. One even did a little random dance, just for us I think.

Doing a random little dance

We had fun watching them, hope you do too!

Beak stretching 

Jurrasic Tracks - Broome

Our alarm was set at 5:30am, today we would search for dinosaur tracks! Not that this search would take all day, but the 135-million-year-old tracks are fossilised at the beach, and only visible at very low tide (less than 1.60m). The resident birds were kind enough to wake me an hour before the alarm with their 'friendly chirps' right outside our van. Anyway, we were up as the sun rose, and after a quick run to the amenities we decided to just drive off. It was too early for breakfast.

Sun rise over Gantheaume Point

At 5 past 6 we parked near the lighthouse at Gantheaume Point. Broome's tourist brochure had a sketchy little map with the location of the 3 sets of prints. We had expected, or kind of counted on, other tourist to be huddled around the prints and lead the way. On our tour yesterday we were assured that would be the case. But we were the first ones there! Getting up early doesn't make sense at all. This was going to be a proper treasure hunt. 

As we changed our footwear, a taxi stopped and offloaded three girls, we weren't alone anymore. 

Our treasure map

We then walked past the lighthouse to the cliffs. Since the prints are only visible at the lowest tide, they must be near the waterline. But jumping down 2 meters onto slippery, barnacle covered rocks before breakfast did not seem like a bright idea. We decided to scout the route a bit further to the right. And we both made our way down, just one scratch, and fifteen minutes later our search was on! The girls followed suit 5 minutes later.

Clambering over rocks

We tried to make sense of our treasure map and find locate landmarks. One of the girls had a slightly different methodology: Pokemon Go. One of the track was a Pokestop. And a Pokestop only becomes active when you are in its direct vicinity, thus when the Pokestop is active the dino print is close. Now that's what I call modern archeology!

Just visible when the tide receded

In the end though, our deduction-theory that we should look closest to the tide line beat Pokemon. We found the middle print first. But it wasn't very defined, so we weren't completely sure if it was a print. But if it was, 17meters out or in should be another print. Looking around we saw a little plateau in the receding tide. Could that be...? It was the outer print! Three well defined dinosaur footprints. Minutes after we found it, the tide came in again. It had been visible for maybe 10 minutes. 

Having found two prints the third was easier to locate. This turned out to be the Pokestop print. However, the girls had already left so couldn't share in our excitement.

Pokestop dino prints

We made our way back up around the other side, which turned out to be a lot easier and were back at our campsite at 8:15, just in time for a refreshing shower and some breakfast. 

A few prehistoric looking animals 

Een sponsordag

We hebben van een paar vrienden een 'dag vakantie' kado gekregen 😊

We mochten €150 uitgeven deze dag, en het moest wel een leuke dag worden. Voor 18 juni was de weersverwachting goed, dus dat ging 'm worden, op basis van een wisselkoers van €1 = A$1,45 hadden we dus A$217,50 te besteden. 

Goede voorbereiding is t halve werk. Boodschappen voor ontbijt. 

Voor de administratie, we hebben maar 3 van de 6 eieren gebruikt en niet alle stroop, dus dat wordt natuurlijk gecorrigeerd!

   

Omdat het toch een beetje feest is: pannenkoeken!!!!
   

Zelfs met wat fruit, 't moet tenslotte een beetje gezond blijven.

  

Ons 'uitje' van vandaag is... dat we voor de lunch naar bills gaan. Dit is het restaurant van Bill Granger, een chef waar Lis fan van is.

We besluiten naar de oorspronkelijke bills te gaan in Darlinghurst, via Rushcutters Bay Park.

Daar gaan we, heerlijk zonnetje erbij, op naar de koffie. 

(Die is $3,80 en we delen altijd, lief hè?)

   

Lekker koffie gedronken bij de marina van Rushcutters Bay. Tussen alle uitgelaten honden.

En de mega lawaaiige kaketoes en kookaburra's. Echt waar, meeuwengekrijs is lieflijk gezang....

 

En dan is het er tijd voor..... bills... Van de zenuwen lopen we gewoon bijna verkeerd 😎

Maar gelukkig, we vinden het toch. Als goede toeristen lekker veel foto's genomen...

Omdat we weten dat er in het weekend regelmatig wachtrijen zijn gaan we op maandag. 

We zijn er om ongeveer kwart voor 1 en er zijn dan maar een paar tafeltjes bezet. 

Het wordt tijdens de lunch steeds drukker.

   

Helemaal blij met d'r eten.... Maar we hebben nog niet eerder zo duur geluncht!

Aan de andere kant valt het ook wel weer mee. Dit zijn hele normale prijzen voor een ontbijt/lunch hier, vandaar dat we meestal zelf koken. Ondanks dat het een bekend restaurant is, zijn de prijzen dus niet bovengemiddeld. 

   

Na de lunch liepen we naar de stad, ongeveer 20 minuten. 

Meestal wandelen we behoorlijk wat op een gemiddelde dag in de stad, dan zie je tenslotte het meest. 

Hier in Sydney zie je momenteel overal midwinterfestivals, en het is 20 graden! 

Ter demonstratie staat Rodie in een bak vol smeltende sneeuw 😎

  

We hebben lekker mensen gekeken en bij de fontein gehangen in Hyde Park.

   

De kerk van vandaag is St. Mary's Cathedral. (en St. James' Church, maar die is niet zo fotogeniek)

 

Na Hyde park liepen we naar het Queen Victoria Building. Erg gaaf gebouw. 

 

We hadden gepland daar een taartje te eten (nogmaals: het is feest hè) maar we zaten nog te vol van de lunch.

Dus besloten we maar een flesje water te kopen en verder te lopen. 

We moeten tenslotte nog over de Harbour Bridge lopen.

   

Daar gaan we, en het is zo'n gezellig voetpad!

   

Maar het uitzicht maakt dan wel weer een hoop goed.

 

 

Hierna hadden we niet zo'n zin meer om terug te lopen, dus de trein genomen naar Town Hall.

 

Toen hadden we eigenlijk wel zin in die koffie met gebak.... Maar waar zouden we gaan zitten?

Na wat rondlopen zijn we uiteindelijk terecht gekomen bij de Starbucks in Darling Harbour.

Uiteraard hebben we onze koffie en carrotcake weer gedeeld. Zo zijn we.

    

Na even uitgerust en te hebben liepen we weer verder. Even met water gespeeld in de Chinese Garden of Friendship (echt leuk!) 

En toen door naar Chinatown / Haymarket. Bij restaurant Mamak stonden de rijen al buiten, altijd een goed teken!

Zo vlak bij Chinatown kozen we uiteraard voor Maleisisch eten. Roti, curry en saté.

   

Het slagveld na afloop. Het gesprek tijden het eten bestond voornamelijk uit: 

'Mmmmmm...' 'Oeh!' 'Deze dan!' en 'Ah...'

   

Na deze buikbollende maaltijd gingen we weer naar het hostel. Te voldaan om nog te lopen.

Helaas was er geen budget meer voor een biertje 's avonds 😢

   

 

De samenvatting is dan:

Ontbijt	$   9,73
Koffie	$   3,80
Lunch	$ 57,60
Water	$   1,30
Trein (2 pers.)	$   6,76
Starbucks	$   9,25
Diner	$ 57,50
Trein (2 pers.)	$   4,72
Hostel	$ 65,10
Totaal	$ 215,76

Natuurlijk konden we alleen binnen budget blijven omdat we veel gelopen hebben. 

Eerst 10km en daarna ongeveer 4km.😱 

Je moet iets doen om al dat eten een beetje te compenseren....