Sorry folks; I've lost my appetite for blogspot.com. Posting takes over two hours and last time I tried, I lost all the photos I re-sized and pasted. Until I learn how to use the site more efficiently, I'll have to pack it in and enjoy life. Email me if you'd like a few photos or to exchange news.
Cheers,
Mike
mklazek@shaw.ca
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Waipi'o Valley and the drive through Hilo to Volcano village - pictures later
December 9
Leaving our Hula Girls and their pet ants behind, our route took us east and then north to the lush and beautiful Waipi’o Valley. In the past, the valley was the breadbasket of Hawaii; in earlier times, it was a sacred place reserved for Hawaii’s royalty and priests. Entrance to the valley in those times was by out rigger canoe. After 1830, missionaries and farmers used horses or donkeys to descend the steep grade into Waipi'o. Now, there is a winding narrow track. It’s a 25% grade and steeper in places. Although there is some pavement in sections, it’s not classed as a road and vehicles without 4-wheel drive are prohibited. The jeep had a workout in low range for a change, and had more fun fording a few rivers at the bottom. We drove right on through the shallower streams but when one crossing looked to be axle+ deep, we waited for someone else to try it first.
The whole valley was destroyed by tsunami’s in the middle of last century, and now the people who live and farm there are all folks looking to get away from the regular world. The land is loosely divided, rather than owned outright. Think Lasquiti Island moves to Hawaii. Solar power, wood stoves, etc. Semi-wild horses, liberated from their owners by the tsunamis, have formed two loosely divided groups that the locals call Bush ponies and Beach ponies. There is camping down by the beach, a beautiful river runs through to the sea, and the valley is bounded by high, wild cliffs.
Next: on to the tall Akaka Falls, surrounded by jungle, including big banyan trees and tree ferns.
If ever you are driving down highway 19, be sure to stop at Baker Tom’s roadside stand for Malasadas. Mmmm,mmm!! Portugese in origin, they're like big donuts with sweet or savoury fillings. Between malasadas and ukuleles, the Portugese really made their mark on Hawai'i. Middle-aged Baker Tom is Canadian and lived in Vancouver. He’s quite a character, and chatted on with us…even though he didn’t have his teeth in that day!
We finished our drive through Hilo, stopping only long enough for Michele to buy a Kindle E-reader (on sale that day at Target) and for us to replenish our supplies at Safeway. Our destination is Volcano Village, just outside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and our home for the next 3 nights is Hale Aloha. It’s at 4,000 feet elevation and is set in a rural neighbourhood of lush manicured jungle.
Arriving in the rain, just as it got dark, we were very pleased… a new, beautifully kept home, with all the amenities we could want, set amidst grounds lush with tree ferns and ohi’o trees. The wrap-around upper deck looked great for birding. We were surprised to be so chilly. The portable oil heaters were used to heat our bedrooms and the fire in the big living room hearth kept that area warm….. Yes, fireplace in Hawai’i. The ohi‘a tree is one of the first plants to sprout after a lava field cools down. The wood is very dense, heavy and dark. It burns with high heat and you only have to add a stick every 30 to 45 minutes once it gets going.
Next, hiking in around Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.
Leaving our Hula Girls and their pet ants behind, our route took us east and then north to the lush and beautiful Waipi’o Valley. In the past, the valley was the breadbasket of Hawaii; in earlier times, it was a sacred place reserved for Hawaii’s royalty and priests. Entrance to the valley in those times was by out rigger canoe. After 1830, missionaries and farmers used horses or donkeys to descend the steep grade into Waipi'o. Now, there is a winding narrow track. It’s a 25% grade and steeper in places. Although there is some pavement in sections, it’s not classed as a road and vehicles without 4-wheel drive are prohibited. The jeep had a workout in low range for a change, and had more fun fording a few rivers at the bottom. We drove right on through the shallower streams but when one crossing looked to be axle+ deep, we waited for someone else to try it first.
The whole valley was destroyed by tsunami’s in the middle of last century, and now the people who live and farm there are all folks looking to get away from the regular world. The land is loosely divided, rather than owned outright. Think Lasquiti Island moves to Hawaii. Solar power, wood stoves, etc. Semi-wild horses, liberated from their owners by the tsunamis, have formed two loosely divided groups that the locals call Bush ponies and Beach ponies. There is camping down by the beach, a beautiful river runs through to the sea, and the valley is bounded by high, wild cliffs.
Next: on to the tall Akaka Falls, surrounded by jungle, including big banyan trees and tree ferns.
If ever you are driving down highway 19, be sure to stop at Baker Tom’s roadside stand for Malasadas. Mmmm,mmm!! Portugese in origin, they're like big donuts with sweet or savoury fillings. Between malasadas and ukuleles, the Portugese really made their mark on Hawai'i. Middle-aged Baker Tom is Canadian and lived in Vancouver. He’s quite a character, and chatted on with us…even though he didn’t have his teeth in that day!
We finished our drive through Hilo, stopping only long enough for Michele to buy a Kindle E-reader (on sale that day at Target) and for us to replenish our supplies at Safeway. Our destination is Volcano Village, just outside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and our home for the next 3 nights is Hale Aloha. It’s at 4,000 feet elevation and is set in a rural neighbourhood of lush manicured jungle.
Arriving in the rain, just as it got dark, we were very pleased… a new, beautifully kept home, with all the amenities we could want, set amidst grounds lush with tree ferns and ohi’o trees. The wrap-around upper deck looked great for birding. We were surprised to be so chilly. The portable oil heaters were used to heat our bedrooms and the fire in the big living room hearth kept that area warm….. Yes, fireplace in Hawai’i. The ohi‘a tree is one of the first plants to sprout after a lava field cools down. The wood is very dense, heavy and dark. It burns with high heat and you only have to add a stick every 30 to 45 minutes once it gets going.
Next, hiking in around Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Kipolo Bay to Mauna Lea Summit
Last post, I mentioned that I would find some rambutan and lychee pics......
If you were a fuzzy furry (pile Velcro) wandering animal, these giant burr-like seeds (hook Velcro) would love to use you for seed dispersal
They peel and taste about the same as lychees, (longan)
Travelling companions sometimes reveal their alien tendencies
So many choices, so little time
Planning for Mauna Kea summit at sunset, we were left with the morning free for exploration. Hours of discussion over MaiTai’s and wine last night led us to choose the Kipolo Bay area. Turns out that today is the first day of the Kipolo Bay State Park re-opening after a several month closure for renovations, and a ranger met us at the entrance with a map and info. The beach is beautiful, with rocky areas reminiscent of Hornby Island’s rock shelves, only made of black lava looking like it was just poured over the area, as well as black beach pebbles and grey sand. The ancients (again, those busy Menehune’s) built a huge breakwater to create a lagoon for the king’s fishing. The lagoon is fed by the freshwater ponds found here. Sadly, a later volcanic eruption destroyed some of the breakwater, so now the lagoon has a sizeable opening. The cold fresh water enters the lagoon and sits on top of the warmer sea water. Sea turtles swim up the man-made canals to rest at night in the ponds, and also crawl onto the rocks to warm up during the day. Unfortunately we didn’t know to look for them and so only saw a couple. Mike and I carried our snorkel gear all the way, but ended up with not enough time to swim. (Took a wrong turn on the way out to the lagoon and ended up up walking across an old lava flow in the mid day sun for about an hour). The walk back to the parking area along the beach took another hour, and we were late enough to worry Trevor and Michele, who had stayed to snorkel closer to the park entrance. They said the water was murky and there were no fish. And still they were in a good mood; what great friends.
Bath reserved for the queen (ali'i nui). If you tried this as a commoner in the old days, it would be off to the sacrificial stone for you.
I tried to flip this cocnut past the surf to see if it'd 'Wilson' out to sea, no luck.
Home made hawaiian beach god
Yellow-billed cardinal - an easy lifer
Local fishers
The King's fish ponds
On the way back from 'lost on the lava' we see where we could've veered off to the lagoon
From sea to summit, bathing suits to toques, 0 to 13,796 feet in about an hour and a half. Mauna Kea is so high that ears pop and heads spin. The visitor centre, at 9,000 feet. is a good place to hang out for at least a ½ hour to (somewhat) acclimatize before heading the rest of the way up. Also, a good place to pull out all our sweaters, gloves and toques. Astronomers from all over the world live in this area and then in one of the more unusual commutes, drive up to the office each night for work. The temperatures in the telescope buildings is kept cold to reduce distortion. A little walk through the Silversword garden there was nice. These plants live up to 50 years, throw up a three-foot flower spike once, and then die!
Started out in clouds but it cleared as we got above 11,000 feet
Click to see silverbrows among the silverswords
Good to have our 4X4 Jeep, ‘cause you’re not allowed up this road without a 4X4. Jeep does a good business on the island, supplying the rental companies. The road has been recently upgraded to really quite good but there's a bit of Malahat fever (substitute underlined part with Coquihalla, Groat Road Hill, Cochrane's Big Hill, Vancouver street with snowflake on it, or other local overblown driving hazard). Great views on the way up, including the area where astronauts trained for their moon missions. We left the clouds below and were amazed at the transition to High Def vision due to the dryness and thinness of the air. Very futuristic landscape with many observatories dotted around the summit. Trevor and Michele and Mike gasped up the short but steep hike to the absolute summit. Susan was feeling a bit dizzy, so stayed behind and documented their ascent from below. As sunset approached, many vehicles and even a tour bus of Japanese in their matchy-poo parkas gathered to watch the sun drop below the clouds, accompanied by the recently-learned ukulele playing of a Norwegian tourist next to us.
Good to have our 4X4 Jeep, ‘cause you’re not allowed up this road without a 4X4. Jeep does a good business on the island, supplying the rental companies. The road has been recently upgraded to really quite good but there's a bit of Malahat fever (substitute underlined part with Coquihalla, Groat Road Hill, Cochrane's Big Hill, Vancouver street with snowflake on it, or other local overblown driving hazard). Great views on the way up, including the area where astronauts trained for their moon missions. We left the clouds below and were amazed at the transition to High Def vision due to the dryness and thinness of the air. Very futuristic landscape with many observatories dotted around the summit. Trevor and Michele and Mike gasped up the short but steep hike to the absolute summit. Susan was feeling a bit dizzy, so stayed behind and documented their ascent from below. As sunset approached, many vehicles and even a tour bus of Japanese in their matchy-poo parkas gathered to watch the sun drop below the clouds, accompanied by the recently-learned ukulele playing of a Norwegian tourist next to us.
Reaching the road summit
Our red Jeep at the end of the road
This is what air feels like at 13,000+ feet
The summit trail
Another cinder cone (hopefully dormant) beside the summit
Susan's water bottle at 13,800 '
Offerings to the summit gods were all over this cairn
Sunset at Mauna Kea summit
Not bad for only a few days on the uke.
Our final adventure of the day was worrying about running out of gas! On our way up the hill the computer estimated that at current usage rate we would run out long before we got home.Tilting of the tank sensor caused a misreading. Of course, once Trevor coasted his way down hill and almost back to the Hula Girl, the computer said “Ha ha, just fooling…. You’re good for another 35 miles. In the meantime, conversation in the car had been very focussed on possible outcomes and plans of action.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Hawai'i - the Big Island
Evidently, you can be ‘in’ Hawaii on any island, but when you’re on Hawaii’s biggest island, you’re ‘on’ Hawaii. All a bit confusing. With friends, Trevor and Michele MacHattie from Sooke (and the renowned Sooke Philharmonic) we arrived at the Kona airport, skimming over expanses of black gnarly lava before landing. We picked up our vehicle for the holiday… a red and black 4x4 hardtop Jeep Wrangler. All set for any backroad. And where did we go first? Costco. It's by all accounts the cheapest place to buy provisions for our rental house, including groceries, gin, wine and Mai Tai mix.
Our first rental house, found on the Vacation Rentals By Owner website, is called the Hula Girl? Okay,.. from the website we thought there were murals in every room depicting hula girls, and we had often seen murals of local themes in tropical hotel rooms. So, turns out they're cheapo sarongs that you can buy at any roadside stand for $5 and they are tastefully stapled to the wall with big staples spaced 1mm apart. Although we can see the ocean a fair distance from here, the surf sound is provided by the traffic on the highway below us. Once we made peace with the indoor ants, we moved outside to eat and drink - very pleasant, with plumeria trees, hibiscus and palms, and in the morning several good birds in the untended yard. A flock of Grey Francolins, a type of pheasant, forages through with zebra doves and cardinals.
Today we explored the northern end of the island. We took the interior road through Waimea and turned north on the Kohola Mountain Road. The road rides the side of the defunct Kohala volcano and divides the top of the island climatologically into arid and dry on the west, and wet and jungly on the east. Our drive took us through old lava flows and huge ranches, including the Parker Ranch, one of the largest in the U.S. We didn't actually see any paniolos (cowboys) but we got a shot of a guy coaching polo at a high-tone (obviously, if they have polo fields) private school. The advantage of limited vegetation is expansive views, and we could see the coast for miles. There’s also not much heavy cover for wildlife, like the flock of wild turkeys that Michele spotted. As we climbed to the sleepy little town of Kapa’au the vegetation changed to lush, green, and floral, and the weather turned cooler and misty.
We took in the sunset at Hapuna Beach…no green flash tonight - too many clouds at thr horizon.
The birding was pretty good on our first day…. Wild turkeys, Red Capped Cardinal, a flash of Nene (state bird), Zebra Dove, Grey Francolin, Chestnut Manakin, Saffron Finch, Black-Necked Stilt, Black-Crowned Night Heron, etc.
Tomorrow, a beach visit then a long uphill road to Maun Kea Visitors' Center, international observatories and (hopefully the 13,000+ foot summit).
Our first rental house, found on the Vacation Rentals By Owner website, is called the Hula Girl? Okay,.. from the website we thought there were murals in every room depicting hula girls, and we had often seen murals of local themes in tropical hotel rooms. So, turns out they're cheapo sarongs that you can buy at any roadside stand for $5 and they are tastefully stapled to the wall with big staples spaced 1mm apart. Although we can see the ocean a fair distance from here, the surf sound is provided by the traffic on the highway below us. Once we made peace with the indoor ants, we moved outside to eat and drink - very pleasant, with plumeria trees, hibiscus and palms, and in the morning several good birds in the untended yard. A flock of Grey Francolins, a type of pheasant, forages through with zebra doves and cardinals.
Today we explored the northern end of the island. We took the interior road through Waimea and turned north on the Kohola Mountain Road. The road rides the side of the defunct Kohala volcano and divides the top of the island climatologically into arid and dry on the west, and wet and jungly on the east. Our drive took us through old lava flows and huge ranches, including the Parker Ranch, one of the largest in the U.S. We didn't actually see any paniolos (cowboys) but we got a shot of a guy coaching polo at a high-tone (obviously, if they have polo fields) private school. The advantage of limited vegetation is expansive views, and we could see the coast for miles. There’s also not much heavy cover for wildlife, like the flock of wild turkeys that Michele spotted. As we climbed to the sleepy little town of Kapa’au the vegetation changed to lush, green, and floral, and the weather turned cooler and misty.
Polo coach
Wild turkeys
At the eastern end of the road is a look-out over black sand Pololu Beach with cliffs and green valleys beyond. The guidebook says the view is better from part way down the trail, so off we went, down the trail, taking photos all the way of the gorgeous black beach, high cliffs and islands beyond and lush steep mountain sides. Trevor picked a pocketful of pepper along the trail, straight from the pepper trees which he recognized from a trip to Turkey. Little red berries that taste sweet at first, and then peppery when you chomp the seeds. The black sand beach was soft but we weren’t tempted to swim since we were already wet from the tropical downpour. That’s ok… the sun came up just in time to broil us on the way back up the trail…. And then the rain soaked us again before we could get back to the car! A warning….. Never do this trail in the rain. It gets very slippery.
BTW, you can click on these photos and they will enlarge.
BTW, you can click on these photos and they will enlarge.
Picking peppers on the Pulolu Valley trail
No shortage of warnings at the top of the trail
These sketchy looking ropes held all four of us
Along the river delta in the valley bottom
Big bird
Back at the top just before the rain started
African Tulip Tree blossom
Ice cream at Tropical Dreams in Hawi (they say ha-VEE) rewarded us for our efforts. Both Hawi and Kapa’au (cappa-OW!) are towns left over from earlier sugar-cane days. Now they’re full of little artsy shops and restaurants. The houses are wood and painted friendly colours, with gardens full of tropical plants and flowers. A surprise was seeing a number of huge old Indian banyan trees, one with a treehouse built into it. Trevor and Mike avoided the gallery stop by walking up the road and buying some lychee nuts and rambutan from a couple of hawaiian babes.
(I'll put a picture of rambutan in later, when I find it)
The once powerful King Kamehameha was born in and ruled from this area, so one of the places we visited was the Mo’okini Heiau (temple). To get to it, our tough little jeep was put to the test. The road led down to the coast, and then 1 ½ miles along it on a sandy, rocky, potholed track.
The ‘temple’ is basically made of piles of lava stones, originally about 30 feet high, 250 feet long by 125 feet wide. The interior seemed to be divided into rooms. Legend has that it was built by the mythical Menehune people who formed lines of 18,000 of them to pass rocks from one to the other from Pololu 9 miles away. They did it in silence in one night…no tools and no dropping the rocks!
Basically the King and his priests liked to exercise their fearsome power and keep people in line by sacrificing Hawaiians to the gods on the stone out front of the temple. Thousands of people died at heiau (Hey-OW. On our visit no one died. In fact we were treated to a brilliant rainbow…a good sign that we’d make it back OK along that wretched road.
The once powerful King Kamehameha was born in and ruled from this area, so one of the places we visited was the Mo’okini Heiau (temple). To get to it, our tough little jeep was put to the test. The road led down to the coast, and then 1 ½ miles along it on a sandy, rocky, potholed track.
The ‘temple’ is basically made of piles of lava stones, originally about 30 feet high, 250 feet long by 125 feet wide. The interior seemed to be divided into rooms. Legend has that it was built by the mythical Menehune people who formed lines of 18,000 of them to pass rocks from one to the other from Pololu 9 miles away. They did it in silence in one night…no tools and no dropping the rocks!
Basically the King and his priests liked to exercise their fearsome power and keep people in line by sacrificing Hawaiians to the gods on the stone out front of the temple. Thousands of people died at heiau (Hey-OW. On our visit no one died. In fact we were treated to a brilliant rainbow…a good sign that we’d make it back OK along that wretched road.
We took in the sunset at Hapuna Beach…no green flash tonight - too many clouds at thr horizon.
The birding was pretty good on our first day…. Wild turkeys, Red Capped Cardinal, a flash of Nene (state bird), Zebra Dove, Grey Francolin, Chestnut Manakin, Saffron Finch, Black-Necked Stilt, Black-Crowned Night Heron, etc.
Sorting peppers on the lanai after dinner
Tomorrow, a beach visit then a long uphill road to Maun Kea Visitors' Center, international observatories and (hopefully the 13,000+ foot summit).
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Vatican and Colosseum
There’s some advantage in being on a group tour - mainly, that you enter major attractions by the group tours entrance. Some of the line-ups we saw were over one hour long. Temperature was 32C.
St. Peter’s square, Basilica, Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel all contain amazing art. Each of us wore a little radio receiver around our neck with an earpiece plugged in and listened to our guide, a local specialist, explain the details. Knowing something of the history of the church and what is preached compared to what is practiced by those who preach, and seeing the incomprehensible level of opulent luxury lived by the top administration of the outfit, I found myself as perplexed as ever with the state of human nature.
Giant pine cone - symbol of Roman hospitality
Square (piazza) inside the Vatican Museum
Sculpture gallery contains art 'acquired' from all over the world
Fig leaves were added during certain regimes.
One of several ornate ceilings in the Vatican Museum
The gold standard of Pietas. Michaelangelo's consumate masterpiece.
Different marbles from near and far.
Entering St. Peter's Basilica
"Spare no expense!"
Dome of St. Peter's Basilica
Letters on band of pure gold leaf are 7 feet high. Click to see people above.
There were thousands of paintings too, but photos not allowed except for mosaics.
Holy water font at one entrance
Vatican Guard is still a career option for a young Swiss.
Impossible for us to capture the size of St. Peter's square.
This giant poster commemorating the beatification of my favourite Pole, is about 5 stories high.
In the late afternoon, Susan, Louise and I took the subway (Metro) downtown, then a cab, back to the violin shop only to find that the two instruments made by Claude Lebet had gone home with some one who wanted to buy them. As a consolation prize, the good maestro offered Susan an Italian 1765 violin and me a viola made in 1863 in the north of Italy. They don’t normally rent antique instruments so we were very happy with the arrangement. Susan actually liked the Lebet violin which she had tried yesterday more, but for me, this older viola, being a bit smaller in body size, was a better fit. As he listed them at 30,000 Euros each on the contract for insurance purposes, we very gingerly walked out on to the cobbled streets and decided to taxi home rather than jostle with gypsies on the Metro.
But first, we took a nice walk along the Tiber river. It has wide (20 feet) walkways on both sides and a few people were walking or biking along while restaurants and vendors of all sorts were completing their set-up for the evening’s business. We had a nice drink and light dinner at a table by the water. Very exclusive, four staff and we were the only customers because it was so early - 7:30 p.m. Most Romans work 9:00 or 10:00 until 1 or 2, then shutdown for 1 to 3 hours and return to work until about 7:00 p.m. Then they go and get ready to go out for the evening. Doesn’t seem to leave much time for bike riding or birding. Due to lack of green space and bike lanes, my guess is that Rome is one of the least likely cities in Europe to encounter a biker or birder.
Tomorrow, off to Pisa and Florence.
But first, we took a nice walk along the Tiber river. It has wide (20 feet) walkways on both sides and a few people were walking or biking along while restaurants and vendors of all sorts were completing their set-up for the evening’s business. We had a nice drink and light dinner at a table by the water. Very exclusive, four staff and we were the only customers because it was so early - 7:30 p.m. Most Romans work 9:00 or 10:00 until 1 or 2, then shutdown for 1 to 3 hours and return to work until about 7:00 p.m. Then they go and get ready to go out for the evening. Doesn’t seem to leave much time for bike riding or birding. Due to lack of green space and bike lanes, my guess is that Rome is one of the least likely cities in Europe to encounter a biker or birder.
Tomorrow, off to Pisa and Florence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)