December 23, Sunday to December 31, Monday

December 23, Sunday  to  December 31, Monday

 

 “The end of the road,  this will be my last blog posting."

Technically, my “ROUND THE WORLD” trip is over now that I have reached North America. 

I’ve travelled all the way around the world, visited 29 countries, met so many people, made so many new friends.   I have so much to be thankful for.   I thank my many guardian angels who have seen me safely through my travels and kept a watchful eye on me. 

I’ve seen so many wondrous things.

South America:  Venezuela, Columbia, Perú, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brasil

Africa:  South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya 

I missed Egypt and the Middle East due to political unrest. It will have to be for another time, another trip.

India, Nepal, Hong Kong, China, Tibet, Japan

Indochina:  Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia

Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia: Java & Bali

Australia & New Zealand

Fiji   (Had to forego Cook Islands, Samoa, Tahiti & Easter Island….  Another trip maybe?)

And my consolation prize for missing the above islands was a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands. (Yes, I’m counting that as # 29 since I’ve never been here before.)

What an adventure it has been and how I’ve grown.  Well not physically, although I have regained quite a few pounds that I had lost earlier on during my travels.  But I’ve grown emotionally, personally, spiritually.  I think I’ve been able to recapture the carefree spirit from my early 20s when I first travelled through Europe for 4 months, just me and my back-pack.   

I smile a lot more now.  The stress of a hectic work life has long gone.  I won’t ever create that level of stress again for myself.   I think back to the years I spent with Gilles, my husband, and to the long hours doing the book-keeping for his business while taking night classes at the University of Ottawa and holding down a full time job.  So much work crammed into my 38 year career. 

These past 15 ½ months have been my reward.  I LOVE TO TRAVEL; it’s in my bones and in my blood.  I come from a long line of travellers, all the way back to the 1750’s when my ancestors left the shores of France to travel to “the new world” and start their lives all over again.  My parents, Nelson and Rachel, also enjoyed travelling.  I learned at a very young age how to read maps on my daddy’s knees while he planned our summer road trips across Canada.  I learned geography with maps and jigsaw puzzles and by travelling.  I learned history by reading.  I learned about different cultures and different countries by watching television programs and reading National Geographic magazines.  (I had to get rid of 30 years’ worth when I emptied my house; it nearly broke my heart.)  

My life has been filled with experiences, both good and bad, building up what is my character, what is my essence, what is ME.   I can actually say that I like myself and who I have become.   Just before I retired, one of the women I worked with took me aside and commented that I was often too outspoken.  Wow, now there’s an understatement.  But it made me think about how harsh I had become during my last years at work, and I had to admit that I did not much like the person I had become.  It was time to retire and rediscover myself; my true self.

I think I’ve managed to do that during these past months.  I am richer now than I have ever been in my entire life.  Not money rich obviously; but rich in the experiences of life, in the places I’ve seen and the people I’ve met along the way.  I’m rich in the family I have, not just brothers and sisters (although they have sustained me throughout my life and my travels) but with my many cousins, aunts, uncles and distant cousins who are still very much a part of my life.   I don’t have a huge amount of friends, but the ones I have are lifelong friends.  

I love you all dearly.  Thank you all for being part of my life, and for sharing my travels with me.

   Aline

December 22, Saturday

December 22, Saturday

Back in Honolulu Harbour this morning. 

We docked by 7 am.  Only thing left to do is go for breakfast and get off the ship, unfortunately at 8:20, for my 10:30 shuttle to the airport.  At the appointed time I made my way down to the pier to locate my luggage.  Both suitcases were there, however one of the big outer pockets has been almost completely torn off.   Some of my booklets are still there, along with a few other items, but I have no idea if I’m missing anything.  CRAP.  I did not have anything of great value in that pocket since it does not lock and I would probably have a hard time identifying what was missing, if anything, so I decided to just take my suitcases and make my way to the shuttle buses.  It’s not worth wasting time here when everyone is busy unloading luggage for all the passengers who were onboard.

I’m in luck, there is a Roberts Shuttle leaving for the airport every half hour, and they don’t seem to be checking their list of names, so I am able to get on the 9:00 shuttle without any problems.  There are still many empty seats.  

The ride to the airport was quick and in no time I’m dropped off at the “United” area and get in the general line for their flights this morning.  I’m just at the end of the line when a lady comes up to me to tell me my bags have to first be scanned and tagged for the Agricultural verification.  Back out of the line, with both huge suitcases, and return to the scanning area I somehow bypassed.  Both suitcases get scanned and I haul everything back to the line, which thankfully hasn’t grown much since I left it.  I’m half way through the line when I notice that my flight isn’t showing on the “United” departure schedule.  I turn around to talk to the couple behind me and say that my flight isn’t showing.  The lady says that she used to work for airlines (many years ago) and asks to see my flight confirmation documents.  She points to the area where it clearly states “United” and the tiny script underneath it that says “Operated by US Airways”.  She tells me to go check at the counter while she watches my luggage.  Sure enough, they confirm that my flight to Phoenix is with US Airways and that I have to walk over to the next area for the check-in.  Crap, I’m unable to get a luggage cart, and I’m stuck hauling the cases again.  I’ve got the big one on wheels and decide to but the big black soft sided bag I bought in New Zealand (the one that now has a ripped pocket) on top of it so I can push the whole thing along and pull my backpack on wheels behind me.  I make it to the “US Airways” area only to find that there isn’t a soul around.  Seems I’m not the only one who got misdirected; only a short time after I got there a trail of other passengers who had gone through the entire “United” waiting line started arriving.  The signs indicated that the counter would only open 3 hours before the flight was scheduled to leave, so we still had over one hour to wait.  As we reached the ½ hour mark, an airport lady came by to tell us we were supposed to be outside waiting in line for the agricultural check.  When we pointed to our purple tags from the agricultural check for “United” flight she told us those were only good for California, there was a separate check for Arizona.  So I had to move my luggage yet again.  We were getting different information from different people as to which line we should get in.  I decided to stay smack dab in the middle between the two line-ups until I was SURE which line I needed to get into.  Turned out it was neither one!   A new line was just starting to form for the “US Airways” flight and I moved my luggage into that one and waited yet again.   The 3 hour mark came and went and still we weren’t moving.  Turns out the scanner for the agricultural check wasn’t working and we would have to move to another machine.  Noooooo !    Luckily it was just the next machine over and the lady ensured that everyone stayed in the same spot in line for the switch.  Finally, I got through the agricultural check, loaded up the luggage yet again to get to the US Airline check-in counter.  Paid my extra luggage fee and…. Had to move the luggage yet again since the belt wasn’t in the same area!  Of all the times not being able to get a luggage cart, this was the worst day.  I had about 2 hours left before departure and went to have a bite of lunch.  In no time at all it was time to get through security and make my way to gate 20.

I definitely will NOT be missing this part of travelling: airports are always a nightmare.

My flight to Phoenix left at 2:10pm and is scheduled to arrive at 11:15 pm in Phoenix, although it is only a 6 hour flight.  My inner clock is already completely screwed up; this should be interesting.

I caught a glimpse of Maui and the tops of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on the Big Island in the distance as we flew over.  This past week wasn’t exactly the island hopping I had planned, but I’m glad I got to see the Hawaiian Islands.  A few more check marks on my bucket list. 

The 6 hour flight was extremely rough the entire way; the seatbelt sign was on almost the entire time until we reached the coast of California.

When I came down the escalator at the Phoenix airport, my brother Bruno was there to meet me. 
The first familiar face I’ve seen in 15 ½ months.  It’s good to be home….  Family is home.   

It’s so good to be home and get my hugs in person.

December 21, Friday

December 21, Friday

Last day in Kaua’i.  I had an excursion booked to go to Hanalei (of “Puff the Magic Dragon” fame) but I’ve decided not to go for many reasons:  1) it leaves at 7 am, which means that I have to get up at 6 am to go have breakfast and be off the ship at 6:45.   2) it’s a 5 hour excursion, the bulk of which will mean that I will be stuck on a bus with maybe half an hour at our destination.  3) It’s on the north shore of Kaua’i, and it usually rains there.  Decision: Stay on board the ship and relax.

I woke up early (as usual lately, which means around 5 am) and read for awhile, but managed to go back to sleep this time.  By the time I woke up again it was almost 9 am and time to go for breakfast.   I spent the rest of the morning reading on my balcony.  Went down to the internet area to send off a few last emails.  DRATS!  I waited too long to go pick-up the colour coded luggage tags and I could not get a late de-boarding.  I’ll have to be ready to get off the ship by 8:20 instead of 9 am.

The ship left the harbour at 1:30 and we headed out to sea for our return to Oahu.   Not sure why we are leaving so early, since Kaua’i and Oahu are next to each other.   I spent the afternoon writing up my notes from the various excursions I’ve been on during the cruise, as well as annotating my e-photos.    At 5:30, the island of Oahu is in sight.   ? ?  Already ? ?  No, I find out from the people on the balcony next door that the captain has sailed around the island of Kaua’i.   We are seeing the Northwestern side of the island; he sailed by so one side of the ship would get the view, and then came back around so the other side of the ship would see it as well.    

 
 
 
 Spectacular views.  You can see the ancient lava flows so clearly.  No wonder they filmed parts of Jurassic Park on this island.

 A rainbow forms out over the water.

I find out later that it is called the Na Pali Coast.   Wow; what an amazing sight.   This is about the best viewing spot unless you are in an airplane or helicopter.  Very rugged coast line.

  Goodbye Kaua'i

   The sun sets as we leave the island

This evening I had to pack up my bags and place them in the hallway before going to bed, so that they would be waiting for me on shore tomorrow morning.  

December 20, Thursday

December 20, Thursday

We arrive in Kaua’i this morning and dock at the Nawiliwili Port in Lihu’e.  I see the sun rise over the ocean.  This has been our furthest distance travelled in one night, since the Island of Hawaii is at the southeast end and the island of Kaua’i is at the Northwest end of the Hawaiian Islands chain.  We did not get to stop in on the islands of Moloka’i or Lana’i which are in between Oahu and Maui. 

Kaua’i is called the “garden isle” of the Hawaiian Islands.  Kauai is the fourth largest island,  geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands and the northern most.   It is considered by many to have the lushest greenery and most distinctive natural beauty.  The entire population of the island is only about 70,000 (not counting the tourists).

My excursion today leaves at 8:30, but I don’t have to worry about taking a boat to get to shore this time.  I’m heading for Waimea Canyon, the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” according to a Mark Twain quotation.  It’s a 5 hour excursion and of course there are some obligatory shopping stops along the way.  I’m really sick of these; they should have shopping excursions for those who want them and regular tourist excursions for the rest of us who want to spend more time seeing the natural wonders instead of wasting time in shops. 

We are on highway 50 for the first part, then turn off on highway  520 towards Poipu and its fabulous beaches. (where Elvis Presley danced in Blue Hawaii)

 Maluhia Road (Tree Tunnel). These eucalyptus trees were planted in 1911 by a Scotsman who began cattle ranching in South Kauai.

We drive through “Old Koloa Town” which has old style Cowboy Western style shop fronts, a huge golf course where the championship Kiahuna Golf Club is located (where the PGA tournament of Champions used to be held)

  Kiahuna Golf Club

We continue on to Poipu where there is some type of archeological / historical site, but our driver never tells us what the name is and I have not been able to find it on the internet. It could have been one of the following: (but there also seemed to be a monument dedicated to Father Damien on the grounds)
-  The walled Kihahouna Heiau (temple) that once existed near Poipu, Kauai was 130 feet by 90 feet; dedicated to Kane, a major god of Hawaii. Three hala-lihilihi-ula trees situated on the outside of the naupaka hedge mark the heiau perimeter.
-  Stone and coral tools found at Keoneloa Bay, meaning “long sand”, helped archaeologists determine that early Hawaiians used the area between 200 and 600 A.D. as a temporary fishing camp. Later Hawaiians left remnants of heiau, or temples, and ahu, or altars.
OR

-  Lava rock walls near Hapa Road indicate that Hawaiians lived on Kauai in the Poipu area around 1200 A.D., although the road dates to the late 1800s.

 

 

 We follow the coastline and stop to see the famous Spouting Horn blow hole. “Called puhi by early Hawaiians, water from the Pacific rushes under a lava shelf, up through an ancient lava tube, and blasts upward at heights of 50 feet into the air.”

We are stopped ½ hour at the Kauai Coffee Visitor Centre / coffee shop to sample some of their coffee. One of the rare plantation areas where coffee beans are harvested by machine. And it’s not Kona coffee. I don’t care for the taste of it, so I’m outside in less than 5 minutes, by-passing the shop and going to walk among the coffee shrubs and flowers.  

 A tiny bird's nest in one of the coffee bushes

One of the coffee fields where the beans are picked mechanically

Back on the bus we continue along highway 50, heading west along the southern part of the island, toward the driest part of the island.  Kaua’i is the wettest of the Hawaiian islands and we are told that you rarely get to see the two main mountains: Mt Wai’ale’ale (5,148 ft) and Mt Kawakini (5,243 ft) which are located in the middle of the island, because they are always shrouded by clouds.   Kaua’i's volcanoes are extinct. 

We continue west past the town of Waimea, where there’s a statue of Captain Cook,since it is one of the locations where he landed.  Busy guy!  

This canyon along route 50 was used in the filming of Jurassic Park.  Other movies filmed in Kauai: Pirates of the Caribbean, Soul Surfer (in Hanalei), Avatar, Raiders of the Lost Ark, South Pacific. and many more.   TV programs were also filmed here:  “Gilligan’s Island”  and parts of “The Thornbirds” (yes, surprising since the book is set in Australia).

We turn off on the 552 north to Waimea Canyon.  It’s about a ½ hour drive up to the Waimea Canyon Lookout along a winding road from sea level up to a level of 3,400 feet. 

 The colours are spectacular.

The Canyon is 10 miles long, 1 mile wide and more than 3,000 feet deep.  “The mammoth chasm with four million year old lava rock reveals variegated hues of red, purple, green and blue.” It was carved thousands of years ago by rivers and floods that flowed from Mount Waialeale's summit. The lines in the canyon walls depict different volcanic eruptions and lava flows that have occurred over the centuries.

Our stop here is only ½ hour.  A 5 hour trip, the bulk of it on a bus, for a ½ hour stop.  I’m thinking of the excursion I’ve got booked for tomorrow, another 5 hours..... and I’m wondering if I really want to spend my last day in Hawaii on a bus….   NOT.

Teeno, our driver provides us with a lot of information about the island, but his attitude towards us gets on my nerves; he is arrogant, asks us if we know the answers to his questions, then berates us when we don’t know.  But, he does provide us with a lot of details about the flora and fauna. 

PS:   Gas costs on the island = $4.41/gallon for regular and $4.52 for the higher octane.

Our drive back to the ship only takes about ½  an hour once we are back on highway 50.  I can’t wait to get off this bus.  I’m back on the ship in time for lunch and head back to my room to enjoy my balcony.  The sun is out, but my balcony is in the shade and it’s not too hot.  I indulge in a few hours of reading before guilt gets me to take out my laptop and start writing out the notes for my blog and annotating some of my photos.  The download doesn’t work as easily with this new camera.  It wants to use a different program and I want to use the same one for all my e-albums.  It seems to take forever to get them downloaded.

There is a Luau on shore this evening, but I’ve opted out.  The last one caused me to be sick for more than 24 hours and I don’t want to risk a repeat performance on this cruise.  I’ve also seen quite a few of the Polynesian Shows now and they are much the same from one area to the next.  I’ll go to the dining room instead, which should be a lot less crowded than usual, and have a nice meal with some wine and go listen to some music after.

December 19, Wednesday

December 19, Wednesday

We arrived in Kona this morning, the sunnier side of the “Big Island” of Hawai’i. I have my 2^nd excursion on this island today with a different company:  The “C Big Island Tours”.   The ship is not moored to a dock and we need to take “tenders” to get from the Cruise Ship to the pier. 

They are actually using the “Pride of America” life boats to get us to shore; kind of neat. 

 Pride of America outside the harbour

 My instructions tell me to exit the pier area and locate the huge banyan tree with a bench under it for the pick-up location. I’m the only one there when a guy shows up with a sign indicating “Waterfalls and Rainforest Tour”. I introduce myself and Grady tells me that I’m his only customer today; I’m getting a private tour!
LOVE IT.Grady, my driver and tour guide for the day goes to get the SUV and we head out on highway 19 and 190 up the northwestern coast of the island.To my surprise, I find out that we are actually returning to the Hilo side of the island, which is where the rainforest is located.I tell him what I saw the day before on my tour and he confirms that we are going to see different sites today, some of which are on private lands when no other tour company has access. It’s so nice to be in the front seat and be able to take as many photos as I want. Plus, Grady is willing to stop whenever I want (and it’s safe to do so), and you know how I love to take photos.

Driving out of Kona

The first part of the drive is through arid country where there is only scrub land and remnants of old lava flows.

I can see Mauna Loa in the distance


and we are driving right below Mauna Kea
 

  Cinder Cones as big as mountains dot the area
 

 

We then reach the northern coast and continue on towards Hilo.   .

 

We are now getting into the rain forest area

 
 We have almost reached Hilo when we stop at Kolekole Beach Park, in a rainforest gulch.

A cave in the cliff face and a small waterfall tumbling down into Kolekole Stream

We drive upstream for about 11 miles and reach Akaka Falls.   There is a nice looping trail here that takes you through a rain forest.   The Kolekole Stream begins on the upper slopes of Mauna Kea, winds its way past Akaka Falls and reaches the sea at Kolekole Beach Park.

 Walking along the trail we come across a huge bamboo that has fallen over the trail.  It is the biggest bamboo I've ever seen.  Bigger around than Grady's thigh.  Everything was so big that I felt like a small bug wandering through this area. 

 The trail is well maintained and it starts raining.  Good thing I have my umbrella.

 We reached the lookout and I got some great pictures of the falls.  Akaka Falls 442 feet (135 m) tall waterfall, highest freefalling waterfall in Hawai’i (Twice the height of Niagara Falls, but Angel Falls in Venezuela is the tallest in the world at 3,212 feet.) 

We finish the loop back to the parking lot and continue on our way.

Walking trees…. “want to play Tarzan?”

We retrace our route back to Hwy 19 passing through the town of Honumu, where two GIANT banyan trees are a major tourist attraction.   The town is very quaint and the storefronts look like your driving through a western town. 

  the town of Honumu

 Check out the sign!   Someone borrowed the Indo-China expression for their shop.

two GIANT banyan trees

We leave highway 19 and drive on to a private property owned by one of Grady’s uncles.  One of the scenes from  “Predators”  was filmed here.

 
Zooming in on the falls.  I haven`t seen it, but if there`s a scene with a waterfall in it, this is the one!

We drive on through the Mamalahoa Scenic Road

It's a pretty drive and it leads us to the ocean side.

 
This little cove was just beautiful.
We drive into Hilo, and I get to take photos that I was not able to take yesterday from the bus.

 
 The streets of Hilo

 Statue of King Kamehameha  

 Tulip Trees are in full bloom 

 Hilo waterfront

 Liliuokalani Japanese Gardens
As I'm taking photos of the gardens a catch movement at  the edge of my vision on the left side

Mongoose ! ! !   They are vicious little critters and I'm told by the grounds caretaker that this is just a young one.

There are Monkey Pod Trees everywhere in Hilo (or rain trees because of their umbrella shaped top, also known as tamarind, which I first saw in Peru and Brazil.)  These were introduced to the Hawaiian Islands to provide shade and is now considered an invasive species.

There are also many Acacia Koa trees (part of the acacia family, it is the tree the Hawaiians used to build their carved canoes and is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands.). 

While Grady goes to gas up the SUV, I get to visit the market area and buy something for lunch.  Nice freshly baked croissant roll filled with ham and cheese, and I buy some apple-bananas.  They are a small variety, which have a bit of a tart taste to them.  Everyone raves about them being really sweet, but I did not find that they were.  Maybe they weren`t ripe enough.  They were good and did taste a little like an apple, but mostly because of that tangy taste.

We drove out of Hilo, just north of Rainbow Falls to an area called Wailuku "Boiling Pots". 

Must be the wrong time of year because the creek at the bottom of the gorge had some small rapids in it, but no boiling pots that I could see. 

Well, maybe with the zoom, in kind of looks like a pot of boiling water.

It started to rain while we were here.  We had been very lucky with only a few drizzles near his uncle`s property.

Our last stop was at Kaumana Caves, another lava tube. 

 Down some steep steps to get to the entrance of the cave

 And there is another cave entrance on the right side as well.  We don't enter the lava tunnel this time since Grady doesn't have a flash light and there is mud in the cave.

 Back near the parking area I notice the lava flows that are underfoot.

Amazing to see it everywhere around us.
We picked up one of Grady`s brothers here as well as his sister, who were returning home to Kona.  It was now pouring rain and Grady`s older brother quizzed him on what he had told me during our drive.  He added other information about our drive along the central Highway 200, which was taking us from the eastern side of Hawaii to the western side. 

 The scenery along this highway is spectacular, passing through hardened lava flows that date as far back as 1855, but as recently as 1984. SCARY !  

 Look at how high the lava is past those tall trees!

 It's so impressive; lava lava everywhere

As we started our descent and we were returning to the sunny side of the island, the skies cleared up and we passed between Mauna Loa on our left and Mauna Kea on our right.

Mauna Kea or White Mountain (4205 m / 13,796 ft above sea level) only 35 meters above Mauna Loa, is the highest volcano and second largest on the Hawaiian Islands. It actually rises over 30,000 feet from the ocean floor and would therefore be the tallest mountain in the world. It is dormant, having last erupted about 4,000 years ago, and does not have a caldera on top.

I realize that today, I’ve driven all the way around Mauna Kea.

Mauna Loa is finalling peeking out above the clouds.  It is the largest volcano on earth (4170 m / 13,681 ft above sea level) it rises almost 9 km (29,568 feet) above the sea floor; the weight of the massive mountain has depressed the oceanic crust down by about 8 kilometers.  In mass, it is the largest mountain in the world.

 As we were making our way to highway 190 we see a huge dust devil that my “tour family” called a tornado! I turned around to Grady and said: ”You didn`t tell me this was going to be a tornado chasing tour.” We all had a good laugh.   

 Our highest elevation on this route was 6,632 ft.  

 We've had all sorts of weather today.  A cloud of fog will soon envelop the car.

 Coming down to Highway 190

 The landscape keeps changing all along our route.  The Big Island of Hawaii is simply amazing.

We got back to Kona at around 2:30 pm where the sun was shining again and I was back onboard after taking the tender back to the cruise ship.  

Back in Kona, I catch the tender back to the ship. Some little kids spotted some dolphins playing in the water, but I was too far away from that side of the boat to take photos.

 There's a little elephant on my bed to welcome me back aboard ship

 Lifting the tender back onto the ship.  Someone's in the Christmas spirit.

 It had been a long day. After watching them getting the tender boats back on board, I decided to just eat at the buffet area instead of the dining room.

 Good bye Kona,  Good bye Big Island

Sunset aboard ship, on our way to Kauai