I left Mx at the hostel as I embarked on the road to Hana. Mx is carrying on with her own itinerary, but really she's leaving so I can get some peace and quiet and so she can stop getting me in trouble by taking photos of half naked women and putting them on my website.
The road to Hana is said to be the most beautifulest road in the world (ain't that a surprise). Apparently it has 600 corners and 51 single track bridges. The road takes you across the top of the island around to the far east side where Hana is located. It is pretty stunning. On your left side you have the ocean far below and on your right you have craggy cliffs with waterfalls cascading down at every bend.
After about an hour and a halves drive we stopped at a roadside shack for striped marlin kabob's (delicious), coconut candy (surprisingly tasty) and a packet of ruffles (traditional Hawaiian fare).
We continued on to a red sand beach which was formed from crumbling lava rock and the contrast with the blue of the ocean is stunning. It wasn't sand and my poor feet took another pounding as we swum in the ocean. Maybe I am a girls blouse.
Eventually this old fella turned up. You know the type? Floppy straw hat, long hair, scraggly beard and dressed in colourless clowns clothes. Anyhow he got out his mystical stick (it looked like a broom handle) and started flattening the sand in front of him. We got talking to him and it turns out that he has been coming down here nearly everyday for 11 years to preserve the sacred spirit. Cool, weird, but cool. He was doing a cracking job until the bird from the picture walked straight through todays sacred patch. This guy was fascinating as he chatted away about the spirit of the ocean etc and then he let his whole argument go to pot as he pulled out his sacred jewellery and tried to flog us sacred necklaces for a sacred $225. In a matter of minutes this guy had gone from mystical man to del boy. I guess he was trying to live the american dream or maybe he was just dreaming. At least I still had my new mate Dave with me on this planet.
We continued the trip up to the Kipihulu pools and took the river hike. We had a good hour hike through a bamboo forest to Waimoku falls. We sat at the base of the 400 foot falls, eating the fresh guava picked from one of the trees. We headed back to the bottom of the trail and had a dip in the 7 sacred pools, although there's more than 7 pools and they're not sacred. Apparently someone had the fantastic idea of naming them something exciting to attract the tourist. A very american idea, which clearly worked and they were lovely.
We weren't done yet as we stopped off at the freshwater Waianapanapa caves and a black sand beach before heading back. It was a long 12 hour day, but it was great and I ended it in the Jacuzzi. Well it beats working for a living.
