Angora Bunny Shearing Massacre!

Before we arrived in Waitomo, our driver took us to a little angora shop. Lovely you think, imagining knitted cardigans, kiwi broaches and other fine souvenirs. But oh no there was something far more sinister going on.
We were all ushered into a small room, with some machinery in one corner. A lady came out of a side door holding an adorable, white angora rabbit. Everyone oohed and ahh'ed.

One Angora Bunny

Still smiling the small lady placed the rabbit on a metal table, where it scrambled about trying aimlessly to get a firm grip. The kind looking lady then took the rabbit's back legs and stretched them out and held them in place with bungee cords and then did the same thing with it's front paws. As the rabbit's heart visibly shook, the lady explained the rabbit was feeling quite content. I took a look around at my fellow travellers faces, we all looked rather concerned.

The shearing begins

The lady explained Angora Rabbits originate in Germany and have to be shaved every 3 months otherwise they will overheat and die. She gave the impression this is just something that simply occurs in nature and kindly old women step in and shave rabbits in the wild.

Does this look like a happy bunny?!

The rabbit looking like a pig on a spit, was then spun around, while the lady commented, "see she's enjoying it".
We then stood and watched in disbelieve as the rabbit was shaved and mounds of angora fell on to the table.
As we walked dazed from the room, we entered another room full of retirees buying angora cardigans and slippers. It was all very surreal.

The Final Look

My Nemesis, the Rubber Ring

I'm not writing these posts in order, the past ten days or so on the Kiwi Experience have been jam packed, so I'm jumping around, chronologically speaking. From Taupo, myself, Suzanne and Silvia joined the "East As" tour. There were only two other people on this section, Miranda (FYI Rosie she's from a tiny village 20k from Deventer) and Lauren. Our guide was called Renee Kiwi, no I couldn't make up a better name.
One of the main reasons Suzanne and myself booked with Kiwi was for the "East As" leg. No other company offers tours to this part of New Zealand. The area is fairly remote and unpopulated, yes even by New Zealand standards. The leg also includes Napier, a city destroyed by a huge earthquake in 1931, a massive 7.9 on the Richter Scale, the city was rebuilt using the popular Art Deco style of the time. I have seen photo's of Napier and was keen to see her beautiful buildings for myself. The first news Renee Kiwi gave us was that from 21st September (the day before) Napier was no longer included in the tour.
None of the Kiwi Experience publications or maps show this change or even mention it's possibility. Suzanne and I explained how for us Napier was paramount to the trip's success. Okay not quite as dramatic as that.
Renee Kiwi (I want to include that name as often as possible!) phoned her boss and suggested we spend the last day doing a walking tour of Napier's famous buildings. We agreed to this and later found out this is actually more than the original itinerary included. Usually the bus would arrive in Napier around 6pm and leave early the following morning.
Our first day involved a visit to Whakatane to pick up supplies and a coastal drive to Te Kaha. The East As leg strays from the usual hostel accommodation and on the first night we found ourselves in a homestead.

View from the hot tub at Te Kaha Homestead.

This is run by the O'Brien family, proud of their Irish and Maori ancestry. A traditional Maori welcome involves touching noses twice. Paul the owner (an intense fellow) strode up to me and I thought "he's getting kind of close". Luckily at the last minute I remembered the nose touch, kept eye contact (as is respectful) and touched noses. I had a very cold nose, it hasn't warmed up since arriving in New Zealand.
I can't say I really enjoyed my stay at Te Kaha. The evening seemed to revolve around drinking as much as possible and singing rude songs. I have no problem with having a laugh, but it all felt slightly contrived, the owner and his friends drank as much as possible and then sang really filthy songs. From what I can tell women don't receive a lot of respect in Maori culture, even though our guide kept trying to tell us otherwise. Although I don't think the evening's entertainment had anything to do with Maori culture.
We did have a lovely meal prepared by Paul's wife and mother, but the women had little else to do with the guests. Which was a shame, because I imagine they would have been interesting to talk to.

The best thing about Te Kaha, the puppy Seeker.

I know Australia is famous for being a quite male chauvinistic society, but I haven't been there so I can't judge. It has surprised me however travelling in New Zealand, how many off hand comments are made as if this is the 1970's. I'd loved to know where this comes from, especially in a country that was the first in the world to give women the vote. Okay I'll get off my high horse and back to the journey.
The following day we travelled further along the coast to East Cape, where the mainland sees the world's first sunrise, they conveniently forget the Pacific Islands. Unfortunately the weather turned really bad as we arrived at a Dutch run farm, Eastenders. Miranda had worked at the farm (she's been in NZ for a year) and was returned for a few weeks before heading back to Holland. On arrival none of us could imagine why she would want to stay.
However the following morning, with clear blue skies we had a glimpse of the beautiful surrounding hills. It was here at Eastenders that we got to try bone carving. It's a popular way to make souvenirs, but takes a really long time, something like 3 hours for one necklace!

Silvia bone carving.

Eastenders Farmstay, Rangitukia

Now only Renee Kiwi and four passengers, we hit the road in search of Anglican churches. No not as dull as it may sound! Anglican missionaries arrived with the Europeans in New Zealand, ready to show the locals the error of their ways! Interestingly the Maori people quickly converted to Christianity as they mistakenly thought they were getting sick from diseases the Europeans survived because the "white" god was a stronger god.
The Churches here have a mix of typical Maori and traditional Anglican architecture, and some are really beautiful.

Anglican/Maori Church

Our third night was spent at a lovely homestay situated right on the beach, just outside of Gisborne. Renee Kiwi had described a natural rock slide in the near by hills we could boogie board down. For some reason, at the time this appealed to me. Only Lauren and I were up for the slide, but we all took the drive out.

Waterfall near the rock slide

Lauren and I were suited up in wet suits, thankfully this time they were comfortable and dry. Dean the homestay owner and local dive master guided us to the rock slide with his young helper, Shane.

The rock slide

We had to walk across the river and then Shane gave us a demonstration. He moved very slowly down the slide on a huge rubber ring. I thought this looks slow enough for me. Dean then suggested all three us (me, Lauren and Shane) climb on the ring and go down together. I did say, won't we just fall out at the end? But Dean insisted it was okay. Of course as soon as the ring started moving, I started to fall off, I tried to hold onto Shane, but by the time we hit the pool at the bottom of the slide, I had left the ring and ended up under the water. Again my system of swimming with my neck extended out of the water was badly compromised. I swallowed a load of water and felt quite sick.
I decided I would try on my own, pretty sure I could stay a float. The second attempt was a success and I enjoyed my rather sedate trip down the slide.
It was on my third attempt it all went wrong. Somehow I flipped up in the air as the ring hit the pool, from an eye witness (Suzanne) I hear I slipped through the middle of the hole, again touched the bottom of the pool, but popped up again in the centre of the ring.
At this point I decided I'd swallowed enough water, it was time to get dry.
That evening we had a lovely barbecue and toasted marshmallows. Silvia and I arranged to go out with Dean and Shane in the morning to feed stingrays. It was a great experience and another highlight to the East As tour.

Me, Silvia and Shane feeding a Stingray

I'm quite far behind with the posting, but should have more Internet access over the next few days to allow me to play catch up.

Jump off backwards you say?

Well as I'm a little behind with posting, I think I'll write about my experiences in Waitomo. It's a very, very small town it's main claim to fame, a series of caves with glowworms in them. You can take a walking tour or do something called Black Water Rafting. Now the latter involves crawling into a tiny space and descending 60ft under the ground, swimming through freezing cold water and jumping off waterfalls using a rubber ring. Being afraid of enclosed spaces, water and eels, oh yes I forgot to mention the caves have giant eels swimming in them, I decided "sign me up!"
I think it is the effect of travelling with a bunch of really young people all bungee jumping and diving from planes and what not, that made me do it. Yes it was a poor reason. I keep thinking if I'm afraid to do these things now, I'll never do them in a few years. I think I need to think more along the lines, I don't need to ever go black water caving, or sliding down a rock slide, but we'll get to that.
In preparation for the Waitomo Caves, we had to don wetsuits. Not just any wetsuits, but ones that have been worn by hundreds of people before you and are still wet! I think it took me a little over three hours to put the suit on and I still didn't have the fitted look. We were given old thermals to put under the wetsuits that looked like rejects from a children's nativity play.

At the start of the cave system.

I was with about 5 other people from the Kiwi bus (others had paid for the longer session and a sensible few had opted to walk the cave system) and a few Canadian tourists. We were driven out to a stream (about a metre deep) with wooden steps and a platform on the bank. We were each given a ring and told we needed to jump backwards off the platform into the raging river, ok stream. But still, jump backwards? I actually laughed because I thought this was some kind of joke. It wasn't.
In turn everyone reached the top of the platform, put their backs to the ocean (okay river), wedged their bums into the rubber rings and either jumped or where pushed off the platform.
I couldn't believe I was going to have to do this, I mean how was I meant to use my system of always keeping my head out of the water when swimming?
I reached the top. I decided I just had to go with it, everyone else was and I didn't want to think the performance of putting the wetsuit on had been in vain.
I would love to say I gracefully jumped with my bum wedged in the rubber ring, but what do you think? Yes I was the only person to somehow become detached from my rubber ring and sink to the bottom of the stream! I came spluttering to the surface, spitting out water and coughing like a 40 a day-er.

I have no idea if this is me or not, but you get the idea.

I was freezing cold by this point, the water had been very cold. We started to hike towards the cave entrance with our rubber rings tucked under arms.
The cave entrance was really small, we had to pass our rubber rings to the guides and slowly descend into the cave. The sound of all the water running was very loud and made me want to pee.
We each wore a helmet with a miners lamp, the small light helped us through into the cave.
At first we were wading through water, up to our knees, okay mid thigh for me. Eventually we had to wedge ourselves into our rubber rings and float through a very narrow part of the cave. The water was high and we had to lie flat with our faces inches from the cave ceiling.

This is the publicity shot that makes you think, oh that looks lovely.

Floating inside the caves, we were able to see the glowworms overhead. Some sections of the caves are very high and it's like entering a cathedral. It's strange how light seeps through from above, creating a stunning effect.
We stopped further into the cave system, snacks were handed around. We were handed chocolate fish shapes filled with marshmallow, they tasted terrible, but I didn't want to drop mine in the water in case it attracted an eel, so I ate it.
Our first waterfall was about 3 metres high, I was near the front of the line. I decided it was best to get this out the way, I knew there would only be two waterfalls, the second being 5 metres high.
After Jade (another Brit from the bus) jumped, I followed. Once again I became detached from my rubber ring mid air and fell backwards into the icy cold water. Again I swallowed a load of water and came up coughing. By the time I got back to my rubber ring, which by now I was feeling a certain hatred towards, I was shaking with the cold.

I have no idea what was so funny, or even if I could re-create this expression, what am I doing?

As a group we were asked to get into the "Eel" position we'd practised above ground. This involved linking, putting your feet on the rubber ring of the person in front. That person then puts your feet under their arms, as each person does this it creates a chain. I created a shaking eel effect, as I was so cold.
For me this was the best part of the excursion as we slowly floated with our lights turned off, looking at the glowworms above and the sudden high cavernous ceiling.
Unfortunately there was still one more waterfall to jump off, backwards of course. Jade gave me some advice, that is pretty obvious but had escaped me. Lean forward! Of course that's why I was falling out of the rubber ring each time!! Why had I not thought of this? Okay that's rhetorical.
Knowing this would be the last time I would ever jump backwards off a 5m waterfall 60ft underground, I edged to the precipice, with bum wedged into rubber ring and thought of nothing else but leaning forward, I jumped backwards.
I floated.

Kiwi Experience So Far

Apologies for the lack of posts, I've found it incredibly difficult to get online and the past week and a half has been really hectic. You'll be pleased to hear I haven't had to do the Macarana, well some of you.
We left Auckland early on 17th and headed to Mount Eden, to get a last look at the city before heading off towards Mercury Bay.
For a city of 1.4 million, Auckland seems to end very fast and we soon found ourselves on empty country roads, travelling through the odd small town. We stopped in Thames for lunch and I had my first taste (no pun intended) of trying to find something without meat for lunch. An Irish woman (Suzanne) I met on the bus is also a vegetarian, we searched together, but we ended up with cakes. Bakery's are very popular here, they mostly sell meat pies and cakes, it's kind of like the UK 20 years ago. Just terrible, there was no brie and grape pannini's in sight! Somehow we soldiered on to Mercury Bay.

Me at Mercury Bay

We hiked to Cathedral Cove and this gave us all a chance to get to know each other. I think there were about 20 people on this first part of the leg and at least 12 were from the UK. Everyone was very friendly (what else would you expect from Brits?) and keen to get to know one another.
Cathedral Cove is very beautiful, the boys played rugby (all anyone ever talks about here), while a few brave souls ventured into the water.

Cathedral Cove

We then headed onto Hot Water Beach. I think this beach is unique to New Zealand, because of the geothermal activity below the beach, if you dig a little hot pools of water are revealed. The water is incredibly hot, but if you create a pool and mix in some cold sea water it can be quite pleasant.

Me, Sylvia and Julie sample Hot Water Beach

We all stayed in a new hostel in Whitianga (Fit-e-ang-a) and had a meal together on the first night. It's nice to be travelling with other people, although it's strange to have no real say in what we do day to day. I do feel I'm learning a lot more about Maori culture than I would have done travelling on my own. I think travelling with Kiwi has been the right decision.

A School Bus Tour of New Zealand

While in Fiji I met a lot of people who are on there way back to the U.K. They all had advice for what to see and do in New Zealand. I've been told by a number of people the best way to get around is to buy a fairly comprehensive bus pass for one of the hop on hop off services in operation. I thought I knew which company to go with, but found out they didn't go to Napier, an Art Deco town I'm really looking forward to seeing. A few people also recommend seeing the East Cape, which isn't traditionally on the tourist route, but is worth a visit.
So after much indecision, even a walk in the rain to Albert Park, I have finally bitten the bullet and bought a ticket for the Kiwi Experience.
This was the one company I thought I could definitely rule out as it has a reputation as a bit of a young party tour. I'm sure I'll be the oldest person on the bus (that's including the driver), but hopefully it won't be too bad. Although who am I kidding? The tour I've booked is called the "Funky Chicken". Is it too late to cancel?
My first day is Auckland to Mercury Bay on the Coromandel Peninsular. From what I understand, the bus stops at interesting sites along the route and even calls into a supermarket before dropping patrons at their chosen hostels. Each day you can ask your driver to book accommodation for that night, and with it still being the low season this should be quite easy.
I like the fact I won't have to cart my rucksack from hostel to bus depot, instead I will be delivered door to door. However this could be at the cost of having to perform the Macarana....

Auckland

I flew into Auckland on Friday. I'm staying in a four bed dorm and typically sharing it with three fellow Brits. On Saturday I spent the day sightseeing in Auckland with my Welsh dorm buddy, Sarah.
The morning was lovely and clear (winter is just ending here, I guess an optimist would say spring is just beginning) so Sarah and I decided to go to the Sky Tower. It was actually a great way to orientate ourselves with Auckland and the surrounding area. I'm not a fan of heights, but managed to stand on the glass segment of the flooring for a little while, well long enough to take a photograph.

Sky Tower

Sky Tower's Shadow

Sarah and I made our way over to the Victoria Park Market, a collection of permanent shops. We both found it eerily quiet everywhere. I'm aware there are only four million people in New Zealand, but it felt like the 1.2 million residents of Auckland where all in hiding. Even the main drag, Queens Street was extremely quiet.
From the market we walked along the harbour (I feel like I'm writing about a harbour in every post at the moment), and decided to go to Parnell. Sarah was keen to see this suburb of Auckland, it has many quaint wooden houses.

View from Parnell Shopping Village to downtown Auckland.

Auckland seems to have a really good transport system, we made our way on the bus and wandered around Parnell before getting some lunch. We discovered a trail running from Parnell to the Auckland Museum, so decided to take a look.
I think I had been warned about the steep hills of Auckland, but like most facts had forgotten it on arrival. Some of the streets are as steep as those in San Francisco. We found we were both ready to collapse when we made it to the Auckland Museum.
We were a bit pushed for time in the Museum, which was a shame as it has so many interesting displays. There are some amazing reconstructions of Maori meeting houses, I'm looking forward to learning more about Maori culture on this trip.

Inside a reconstruction of a Maori meeting house.

They also had a temporary exhibit of Japanese street fashion, in particular Loli-goth. This is a cross between Gothic Victorian dress and school girl scandal. It was pretty interesting to look at, although it made me feel like I was in a gallery in London.
On the way back to the hostel we took a detour around Ponsonby, another trendy suburb with great bars and boutique shops.

The Great Hike

Octopus Bay offers a hike to one of the highest peaks on Waya island. It's billed as a "strenuous" hike and it certainly is that.
Due to a death in the village we walked along the beach, rather than directly through the village. We were asked to remove our hats as a mark of respect.
We had been warned Fijian trails tend to take the most direct route, there's no meandering up a hillside using switchbacks, the path went straight up to the peak. The trail starts out in dense vegetation, with high humidity. We started with 24 hikers and soon lost 8. Don't worry there aren't eight tourists still wandering around the hillside, they all made it back to the resort. I think the scrambling over huge rocks and leaping over puddles deterred some folks.
I was concerned about an American couple in their early 70's. They were in Fiji to see their son's wedding. I thought maybe they hadn't heard the description of the hike.

The peak on the right is the one we hiked to.

The hike to the peak took about two hours, with a few stops for people to catch their breath along the way. Actually at the end climbing up the peak was really difficult, our guides had to help us all up, one at a time.

The last climb.

At the top we all took photo's and stopped to eat fruit and admire the view of the Yasawa islands (that Waya is a part of). Jim (our guide) pointed out Mafia island, where a certain Italian family opened a casino, that was quickly closed down by the authorities.

The now abandoned Mafia Island is on the left.


Me at the top of the peak, looking rather red.

I think we all expected to take a different route back down to the resort, but oh no this is a Fijian trail, so it was straight back down the vertical path. Unfortunately the dirt was loose on the path and I managed to get down in record time, thanks mostly to sliding down on my bum. I was concerned the older American lady might break a hip or something. But it turns out I had no need to worry, they were the bionic pensioners. They marched down the hillside and arrived at the bottom free of the dirt I was caked in. Just for good measure I managed to fall over when I reached flat ground too.

Fijian Time

My flight from Honolulu to Nadi was a night flight, but for some reason they tried to feed us sandwiches when we boarded a little after midnight. I arrived in Nadi at 5.20am, loosing a day crossing the Pacific. It was all a little disorientating.
I waited with an Australian couple for the transfer bus to Octopus Bay Resort.
The bus took us the short distance to a small harbour (Hah-Bah, Gerry), where we signed our lives away before boarding a boat to Waya Island.
I was surprised by how small the boat was and how old it looked. Apparently they are about to replace it. I swallowed a handful of sea sickness tablets I found on board and found my spot on the horizon to focus on.
It was a fairly rough crossing, we seemed to land pretty heavy with each new wave and be jolted about. After one and a half hours of rough water we arrived at the idyllic Octopus Bay Resort. Each boat is met by staff members singing a welcoming song and gently swaying their hips from side to side. This was slightly spoilt on the return leg when an Australian family and a single German man decided to join in, it was all wrong.
Octopus Bay Resort had been recommended to me by Markus, I knew to expect delicious food and the nicest dorm room I'll probably ever stay in. However I forgot to imagine beyond the food and bed to what the island may look like. I was therefore blown away by the crystal clear waters and white sandy beach. The landscape of the island is green and rugged.
After our welcome drinks we were each shown to our rooms, it was then I spotted Sarah in the pool. I met Sarah and Sian in Maui and had mentioned Octopus Bay Resort to them. It was great to know I'd have some company. We are on similar routes so will meet up again in New Zealand and Australia.

Sarah, Sian and Me.

I found my dorm bed, with a welcoming flower and quickly got changed ready to, well I'd like to say swim, but actually to eat.

My dorm bed

The food at the resort was really good, particularly the lunch menu. I'll try not to turn this into a girl eats world blog.
The resort puts on some entertainment in the evening, we had a movie night (for you cinefiles, it was The Escapist), crab races and quiz nights.
Waya Island is very small and before Octopus Bay Resort there was little future for the islanders. More and more Fijian Islands are being emptied as people move to the mainland to make a living.

Crab Racing

The owner of Octopus Bay Resort spent time on the island getting to know the villagers before building the resort. He discovered they would benefit from having access to a telephone and arranged a satellite. Now islanders can talk to relatives who have moved away. I don't think the resort intrudes upon the villagers way of life, but rather gives them a future. The resort has a scholarship fund, every guest is asked to donate $1 per night. This means every child is educated to the level they desire. There are now some local young people enrolled at the university on the mainland.

Pigs in the village

I took a tour of the Nalauwaki village, where most of the residents also work in the resort. Fijian custom means the woman of the home does all the housework and cooking. For some of the women this means they work full time in the resort and then return home to all the chores of keeping a home and family.
The village has one pre-school, unfortunately it was closed when we visited as there had been a death in the village. Once the children turn 6 they attend boarding school on another island. They leave home Sunday afternoon and return Friday afternoon. Once they reach high school age they have to become boarders on the mainland.

Local Girl

The Village.

We were told more of the customs of the village and then our guide mentioned attending church is compulsory for children. It's strange to imagine how the Methodist church fits into the Fijian way of life.
Fiji is the first country I've been too under a military coup (don't worry Mum I'm not aiming to visit more). To be frank had I not read about the coup before arriving I would have been none the wiser. It seems those revolutionary types are quite aware of the bloodline tourism provides for the country.
I can also now say I've tasted Cava. For something that looks like mud, it's not too bad. It actually reminded me of Coco leaves, in that it leaves you with a numb mouth.

Cava Ceremony

I can't imagine ever wanting to drink a lot of it though...

Flaming Peacocks!!

For my last day in Hawaii (my flight to Fiji is later tonight) Markus and I decided to visit the Temple of the Valley. It's a replica Japanese temple just outside Honolulu. For some reason everything "just outside Honolulu" takes at least one and a half hours to get to by public transport. It actually took us three buses and over two hours.
Thankfully the temple was well worth the journey. We managed to arrive between tour buses and had the place pretty much to ourselves.

Temple of the Valley

Inside the Temple

Ringing the bell for luck.

We took off our shoes and wandered inside to look at the giant Buddha. The grounds are really beautiful too, with ponds filled with Koi, quaint bridges and Peacocks. I've never seen wild Peacocks before and was a little frightened of them. On leaving the ladies room, I found I was being followed by three of the damn things. I decided to "jog" away, but ran into at least another five, that were surrounded by tourists all trying to take the perfect photo. I think I ruined quite a few photographs, but managed to get away from the Peacocks, they were definitely trying to follow me, honest.

Peacocks!

Oahu

Yesterday Markus and I took a flight from Maui to Honolulu. Although Oahu is a tiny island, 80% of all Hawaii's residents live here. Taking the shuttle from the airport to Waikiki it felt like most of them were driving.
Originally I intended to only spend a few hours here waiting on a flight to Fiji, however everyone I've met so far has recommended checking out Oahu, mostly for a visit to Pearl Harbour. For you American readers (I believe I actually have a few in Stigler, hello Stigler!), I'm afraid I can't bring myself to drop the "u" in Harbour, it looks all wrong. But Gerry just for you, I'm pronouncing a hard "r".
This morning I got up ridiculously early (6am!), having been woken by a girl late in the night, she had dropped her camera down the shower drain. My groggy response, "How? How? I mean, really, how?"
I still don't know, but I did make it out to Pearl Harbour. I had never seen photo's of the U.S.S Arizona memorial, so the design really took me by surprise. I think as far as memorials go, it's really well designed and very distinct. Like most U.S memorials and parks I've visited it seems to largely survive on donations. Having gleaned all my knowledge on Pearl Harbour from "that" Micheal Bay film, I learned a great deal from the documentary film shown before the boat ride out to the memorial.



U.S.S Arizona Memorial

I'm staying in Waikiki, which is probably a lot like Benidorm, the beach is crowded, there are many shops and high rise hotels. It feels odd to be here after the relative quiet of Maui, and the beautiful quiet of the Big Island. Roll on Sunday, when I land in Fiji. I'm staying at this resort, very excited!

Photo's of Maui

Makena Beach.



Plants around the crater.



Sunrise at Haleakala Crater.


Giant Banyan tree in Haleakala State Park.

Happy 9th Birthday Harry!

Hope you have a brilliant day!!

The Road to Hana

I'm now on the island of Maui. It's more developed than the Big Island, but there are still some beautiful places to visit.
I've been hanging out with a Swiss guy, called Markus. Markus has hired a car, so on Wednesday we drove to Hana. The route to Hana is quite famous, it follows a coastal road that passes waterfalls, caves, lava tubes, black and red sand beaches and some beautiful forests.

Hawaiian Tree, okay that's my way of saying I don't know the name of the tree.

It reminds me of the South of France, everything is very green and lush. We stopped at Red Sand Beach, to sunbathe and swim. It was a hike to the beach along a cliff hugging pathway, but the beach was well worth the hike. I led the way to find a spot on the beach to lay down our towels, I didn't notice the middle-aged naked man when I decided to put my towel down next to him. Markus gave me a funny look, I thought what's wrong with this spot? It wasn't until naked guy got a phone call and decided the only way to talk is to walk back and forth along the shoreline, that I noticed his "lack of clothing".
It was getting very hot and I decided I'd brave the water. I had to wait until naked guy was at the other end of the beach before I could make a dash for the sea.

Red Sand Beach

The water was wonderfully cool and for a while I enjoyed swimming, that was until I noticed a dark shape moving close to my leg. Suddenly I no longer wanted to be in the water, but naked guy was blocking my access to my towel. I was stuck.
In the end I took my chances with the sharks. I'm tough like that.

See it's not just all in my imagination.

Markus is used to driving on tight winding roads, however no matter how far I travel, I still get travel sick. So on the way back to Wailuku, Markus pulled over for me to be sick. Unfortunately as this is a road chocker block with photo opportunities when the five cars behind us saw us pull in, they followed! Someone actually offered to take our photo, as I clung to the road railing, deathly pale.

Church made from coral and lava.