Oli Reveals: III

Another installment of Olis round-the-world emails:

Oloha from Maui!!

I’m writing this before I HAVE to catch the bus to the airport, the
weather’s 25oC, sunshine and I’m surrounded by the beautiful landscape that
Maui has to offer, coupled with some great swell to surf!!

From when I last emailed, I went to the north shore of Ohau (or however you
pronounce the main island of Hawaii, poor memory!!). The North shore is so
beautiful, driving with pinapple and coffee plantations everywhere you look.
As I drove away from the south (where Honolulu and Waikiki are), the
buildings fade out, and all that you’re left with are fields of vegetation
and little to no people/ road traffic. The north shore is so laid-back and
peaceful, as well as green and kinda makes you think how Hawaii was before
tourism took over. Here, we found a cool hostel village where we rented out
a couple of bunks in a wooden bungalow, with kitchen, bathroom, living room
etc…it was basic but at the same time, it was all we needed. Checked out
Waimea bay and spent the rest of the day there, snorkeling, playing frisby
and chatting to a couple of guys from Surrey that we met on the bus. For our
last day on the north shore, I hired a bike and cycled the whole north
shore, stopping at a few secluded beaches as well as the world famous
“Banzai Pipeline” and “sunset beach”. @ banzai, I just watched pro surfers
do their thing for a couple of hours, with a few pro photographers taking
some snaps. The pipe waves that are produced were so big and amazing, I
couldn’t even imagine most surfers having the guts to go in the sea there!!
Put it this way, swimming was banned, and there were no bodyboarders, just
the best surfers I’ve ever seen. Sunset beach was also banned from
swimming, due to the collosal 10-12ft waves at Banzai, so I didn’t swim at
all that day. Yep, the north shore’s tranquility, the laid-back surfers I
was staying with in the house, the beaches…my favourite part of Hawaii…

…which moves me on to our stay in Maui. We flew out to here 3 days ago
and couldnt believe the bus runs 3 times a day to the airport- the
international airport of the island!! We stayed in a town called Wailuku
which is one of the strangest places I’ve ever seen in my life. It felt
like some crazy dead western cowboy town that you’de only enter if your car
broke down and needed to make a call. It felt really eerie, where the only
place to get groceries is the fuel station. The hostel we stayed at is run
by an alleged drugie, who seemed cool enough. Our stay at that hostel felt
like we were in someone’s home, where there were domestic arguements over
the phone, us reminded of common-sense things like washing up and a bunch of
characters that all basically live there and commute to work, rather than
passing through tourists. I was thinking “did you guys get stuck here!!?”.
Oh yeah, and a haunted house was on the floor below us, so we could hear
screaming through the floorboards. Got outa there sharpish the next day and
spent our last two nights on Maui in the Whaling town of Lahaina. Beautiful
whaling town with period buildings, it is full of tourists and associated
shops, bars, restaurants…but it was a welcome change from out last place!
During our stay here, I did some bodyboarding all afternoon with some hot
dutch girl, sunbathed and cycled 38 miles down Hawaii’s biggest volcano.
For that, we had to get up at 2am, get to the summit for 0530 and see the
sunrise at gone 6. The starry night sky I saw from the summit is something
my dad would’ve loved to have seen, as it was incredibly clear (10,000ft
above sea level!!), so the whole sky was full of stars, like someone had put
a firework is a tub of white paint and let it explode onto a black sheet of
paper. Saw loads of shooting stars too. Anyways, the bikeride down was
very touristic (something I dont normally do) but was great to see the
panoramic views, the valleys below us, the clouds below us and the
cornifer/ Eucaliptus forests. For $110, it was not worth it, but I know I
would have only regretted it if I didn’t do it. It’s like going to Paris
and saying that you didnt see the Eiffel tower, people would think that
you’re crazy, it’s a must.

So, that’s my diary to you guys up to date for now. Maui is definately a
place worth going to in Hawaii, once you have had enough of the craziness of
the south shore bars that make Waikiki. Hawaii is a very beautiful place of
surf, beaches, towns and plantations, but be prepared to travel around to
appreciate just how nice these islands are, don’t be fooled by Honolulu!!

Write in a week!

Oli.