ROAD TO HANA!

Me, hannah, kisrtena dn kate set off early around 8am, stopped for a starbucks and then headed on our journey....the road to Hana. This road started upper north of the island at Pa'ia and goes all the way east to Hana. It winds around the mountains and barely has a straight section of road!

STOP 1 - Ho'okipa beach. The best beach on the island for windsurfing, kite surfing and ... basically... surfing! The waves were massive, we climbed down to the rocks for a better look and it was amazing seeing the surfers on the waves. We didn't get to see any windsurfers as they were not allowed in the water until 11am but i couldve been there all day!

STOP 2 - Twin Falls. We treked through a small section of rainforest, took us about half an hour to reach one of the falls. It was really pretty, a small waterfall coming into a swimming lagoon, definately worth the mozzie bites! It poured the whole walk back to the car and my white linen trousers did not make it back alive...they were shortly thrown out!!

STOP 3- Look out point. Amazing, could see for miles across the coast and down the valley. There was a fruit smoothie stall, and home made instrument stall...very odd locations for these stalls!!

STOP 4 - Painted Eucalyptus Trees. We were driving through the Nahiku road and came across the most beautiful trees. They looked as though they had been painted in orange, purple and lime green!! We stopped to have a closer look and later found out that they were called painted eucalyptus trees. They even had wrinkles!

STOP 5 - We stopped at one of the many bridges adjoining the mountain peaks to have a look at an amazing valley. It was so lush and green, just how i would have imagined hawaii to be. I caught sight of a massive butterfly too, so check out the pics!!

STOP 6 - Bamboo Forest. We came across such a thick forest of Bamboo that not one person would be able to fit through its walls! We had to stop to have a look and take photos! Me and Kate also ran down the road to have a look at a small stream.

STOP 7 - Kaumahina State Wayside. We stopped off at these restrooms and saw that the view was gorgeous from here. We walked up a small trail which lead us to this amazing view overlooking the Ke'anae Peninsula....we followed it into the forest where the massive trees created steps with their roots, it got a bit more dense and turned into slight rain forest territory.

STOP 8 - Pa'iloa Beach. We managed to find this beach only due to the fact that we knew once we came to a certain mile marker and saw a mud track - head down it!! It was a black sand beach, with a small fresh water lake next to it, very beautiful. We had a little rest there, we couldn't swim at the waves were rough it was very stoney.

STOP 9 - Ke'anae Coast. This was one of my favourite stops! So so so beautiful. We found small sections of black lava rock and massive waves crashing against them, it was an incredible sight. We found a good place to watch the waves and have some lunch. We got a bit adventurous and walked around the rocks to see more rock pools. I watched the waves whilst the girls played in the rock pools. As i was watching the waves i noticed that they were getting bigger and bigger! Eventually they were getting closed and closer..... i shouted to the girls that i think we'd better get out of the rocks and as soon as we'd lef them the waves pretty much covered the rocks we were playing in! lol

STOP 10 - Waikani Falls. We stopped on a bridge stop point to see the three falls, very pretty.

STOP 11 - Hana Bay. Very disappointing! Coming into Hana was really pretty, the houses were really lovely, when we got to the bay it was drab and lifeless. We headed back straight away. Kirsten wasnt wasting anytime driving back as we really wanted to get to the south of the island to watch the sunset. All those windy roads...me and hannah were rather car sick when we arrived! We managed to catch the last coloours of the sunset in Kehei, then headed west to Lahaina for dinner at mooses.