This was an 11 hour day trip and definitely one to be left to the professionals. It is a beautiful scenic 109 km drive, passing over 56 bridges, 46 of which are single lane and has 620 curves through lush, tropical rain forest. All but one of the bridges are still in use, despite being erected in 1910. You can do it by yourself, but it would be easy to miss the spectacular scenes along the way. It starts in the township of Pa'ia and finishes at the town of Hana Bay. The rest of the tour took us inland through some more beautiful sights and up the Haleakala National Park, then back to our hotel.
A rainy start to the day, and a quick rest stop before the windy road starts.
A stop at one of the many waterfalls along the way.
A rest stop at Black Sands beach, which was actually pebbles created from lava flows by the constant pounding of the waves overs hundreds of years.
Inside a lava tube that has started to be eroded by the sea.
We would have loved to bring all these black pebbles back for around the pool, they were so smooth and shiny.
Some of the coastline.
Looking back down over Black Sand beach from the high road.
Lunch was at a Tropical flower farm with many Hibiscus flowers....
....and tropical gingers.
Another waterfall stop.
Always an opportunity to sell something to the tourist, these boot stalls were squeezed into what little parking there was at the waterfall stop.
One of the many large Banyan trees around the island, this one was at a beautiful church that has the final resting place of Charles Lindenberg.
The view down to the sea from the bus window, we were very, very close to the edge of the road and very, very high up.
Another waterfall stop.
At the entrance to the sea from the bottom of the Seven Sacred Pools at O'heo Gulch Pools.
4 of the 7 pools, but due to heavy rain the night before, the pools were flooded and therefore swimming in the pools was not possible. When they are not a raging torrent, it is a beautiful swimming hole, very popular with tourists.
High on a hill in the Haleakala National Park looking down over the coast, on our way back home.
Last stop for the day was at Tedeschi Winery. These statues are carved out of beautiful old trees that were felled in a hurricane a few years prior.
No comments:
Post a Comment