I get home and have breakfast and off we go - where - the Highway to Hana.
"They" say that the Hana Highway is a 60 mile stretch of road that connects the small town of Hana to the rest of Maui. We heard it was a 9 hour trip but we head out anyway - at 10:15. The first part of the trip was was not too bad. The first town we went through was Pa'ia. The buildings were quaint - art galleries, boutiques and specialty shops. It is right on the coast so of course there are surf shops. As we climbed up from Pa'ia we saw beautiful properties on the slopes down to the ocean.
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We continued up. The scenery was breath taking - lush jungles - tight turns - single lane bridges - waterfalls - ocean views complete with waves crashing onto the rocks.
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| Hana |
We stopped in Hana for lunch and a drive down to the bay - the sand was so black. There were kids playing in the sand and they were covered. Lunch was at the Hana Hotel Restaurant.
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| At Hana Bay |
Lunch done - we contiued south and around the island. In places the pavement turns to dust and narrows right down and you have to hug the cliffs. Eventually we are through the jungle and on the back side of volcano. There are a few ranches and cattle and goats on the hills. The landscape looks very dry and there are outcroppings of volcanic rock. At one point the whole side down to the ocean is just black old lava flow. This is part of the Haleakala National Park.
We finally come around the south end of Maui and you can see the valley between the two mountains and both shorelines - Kahului Harbour and Ma'alaea Bay. To get back to Kihei you have to drive through the centre to Kahului, then cut back south. We arrived back home at 3:45 or there abouts. Definitely a long drive, definitely worth it. I can see why it might take you longer - we did NOT speed - you could NOT speed but we did only two stops. One at a roadside tourist place and in Hana. There are lots of places to pull over and hike up waterfalls.
Lovely!
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