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Hawaii - Aloha!

After a veerryyy long day of traveling I finally made it to the beautiful Island of Maui in Hawaii!  LAX was a complete nightmare and I have never been so glad to get out of somewhere.  My flight was on time and I got to Honolulu without a hitch.. After waiting 4 hours for my next flight I made it to Maui where I met up with the Banana Bungalow crew at the airport.  They took us (2 other girls) back to the hostel where we all dumped our stuff and prioritised by heading our to grab some cold beers for that evening!  It was fairly relaxed and we just mingled with all the other hostel guests and staff outside in the communal garden area where they have hammocks and a hot tub. 

We all signed up to go on the tour the following day to a place called Makena beach to spend the day and watch the sunset.  It's a weekly ritual for people here and I have to say it was an experience alright.  The day began with copious amounts of sunbathing and swimming in the glorious crystal clear waters.  The beach as clothing optional, which unfortunately I decided not to take part in.. I just wasn't 'feeling it'.  The majority of people (many of whom were retired i'm sure) did however, which was quite an eye opener.  I didn't really bother me I have to say.. when you go to a place like that you have to respect everyone's way of life, the only time it became too much for me was when I was biting into my sandwich and turned round to get a real 'eye full' you might say I lost my appetite!  The day/night went on and soon a band began to form with instruments people had brought along with them.. before long it had attracted hundreds of people from another beach and everyone was dancing and joining in.  The atmosphere was great.  As the sunset there were many acts being performed, mainly with fire.. even 6 year old kids were doing it! 

I got a bit too much sun on my face that day as I spent so much time in the water.. so didn't plan on going out that night.. just chilled in the back garden for an hour or so before heading to bed.  There's a girl in my room from Glasgow, who is also on a world trip, also left on the 1st of June and who's first stop was Vancouver.. I tell you.. what a coincidence!

Today it's peeing with rain so I have decided to make good use of the time and book my hostels in Fiji and catch up on emails (and this!).  Heading on a hiking tour tomorrow which should be fun! I have somehow managed to catch a cold .. I think it might be something to do with all the Greyhound trips I did before leaving the States.. yuk. 

Update.... This morning I met a great couple from Glasgow called Nicola and Chris.  We all went on the hiking tour to Hana... it was such an awesome day! We left fairly early around 8:30am and piled in the van for our 3hour, exceptionally windy road trip to Hana.  En route we stopped by Black Sand beach which has fresh water caves.. some of us went swimming in them and followed a somewhat precarious route through exceptionally small holes and vertical slippery walls to some secret caves.. it was lovely but slightly freaky as you couldn't see a thing apart from the guide's head lamp.  When we arrived we hiked through a bamboo forest and over several rivers before making it to a beautiful 125ft waterfall in the rain forest.  The hike took a couple of hours so we couldn't stay for long as on the way back we visited Red Sand beach which had a huge rock pool from the sea .. A few of us went swimming it was so refreshing after our long hike.  We all sampled some local cuisine from a stand nearby and headed back to the hostel.  That night we got some beers from the local shop and had a great night 'chewing the cud' in the hostel garden with some of the other guests.  I met a girl called Anna from California.. great girl.. the four of us hung out that night.

The next day we went on a snorkeling tour.. it was brilliant.. I saw a sea turtle.. so cool!!! Managed to be a complete numpty however and forgot my disposable camera.. darn it!  I also managed to cut my shin on some coral.. not too sore but I have since been warned profusely about not letting it get staff infection.. apparently something very easy to catch in Hawaii and it's very serious.. needless to say i've been cleaning it like a maniac.  We hung out at the beach in between times and after a few hours headed into the town centre to soak up the atmosphere.. a few happy hour beers and the sunset!  Was a wicked day!

The next day we went snorkeling again to 'Big Beach' I couldn't snorkel because of my leg but Nic and I did play volleyball with other hostellers.. excellent game.. Nic and I did pretty well for not really having a clue what we were doing! That night.. seeing as it was our last Nic, Chris, Anna and I decided to hop into the hot-tub .. it was very relaxing but it wasn't long before Nicola and I turned into prunes and had to get out.. Chris however stayed in the for another hour or so.. don't know how he did it. We relaxed (as per) with a few beers in the back garden but I didn't last long as was knackered from that days (and previous) events so headed off early around midnight.  The next morning I was up bright and breezy and I had to get all my gear packed, shower, check-out and have breakfast before out tour left at 10am.  Managed (somehow) to get it all done and we headed off to what was supposed to be Twin Falls (two large waterfalls in the rain forest)  At the last minute the tour guides changed plans and we went on a rather more challenging hike to four other falls (can't remember the name).  The hike took us all-in-all around 2 hours each way.. and when I say it was challenging.. it was.  Pretty much every single step was a balancing act over slippery wet rocks (it had pee'd it down that morning).. I'm surprised no-one broke their neck! We climbed up 20ft vertical, wet, slippery walls with a rope and a good push, hiked through bamboo forests, waded through rivers, scrambled up extremely steep muddy hills and finally swam through rivers to get to waterfalls .. and then did it all again on the way back.  great day to wear a skirt eh!  We made it back just in time for me to grab a shower before heading to the airport to catch my flight to Fiji.. 

Bye Hawaii.. it was fun!

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