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The first of many waterfalls we saw this day—see a slightly larger version |
Saturday, March 10, the last tour,
and perhaps the best
This would be our last tour, since we planned to spend Sunday just relaxing and resting and working on our journals. Its title was “Waterfall Tour: Kohala Waterfalls Adventure”, and like all the Hawaii Forest and Trails tours that we joined, it was very well designed. But the reason I say that it may have been the best was that we had the most pleasant and congenial group of walkers, and the guide, Matt Pinstein, was right up there, up to the standards that we had come to expect from our other guides.
From my journal: Another tour with the same tour company, this time to loads of waterfalls. We were picked up by Matt, and in the van already were Paul and Shelly, with their daughter Sarah of about 7 0r 8 years. We then picked up a single guy whose name I don’t recall, and an older couple (but still younger than me!), Fay and her husband. The group was extremely congenial, and all in all the best of all the groups we went with.
We drove along the circumferential road to a place where we changed over from the van to a 6-wheel drive military vehicle. Matt said that it was of Austrian manufacture, bought as one of a lot from the Swiss Army (!). It was very rough and jerky and you felt that you really were going native. After a way, we turned off the road and into a posted area. Matt explained that the tour company had the exclusive right to do this, by agreement with the various owners whose lands we passed through.
And that is the end of my journal for this trip! I think that as time goes on, I’ve been getting less and less conscientious about writing, simply letting myself sit back and appreciate the breeze (and the sights). So from here on, I just show you the pictures, and let you enjoy them with a minimum of comment from me.
There were very interesting channels, tunnels, and flumes, built for watering the sugar-cane plantations, and you see some snaps of these in the block to the upper right and the big block below. Mark did not seem too terribly nervous walking across the narrow plank walks above the flumes. At least they didn’t sway.
The last feature of the tour was to have lunch on a bluff overlooking
the sea. It was windy, with wonderful views down the water below.
There were Pandanus trees there, they’re not a palm at all,
I’ve never seen the like. That’s the fruit of one in the lower right
below.
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Before going back, we spent a little time
in Hāwī, a nice little town with some interesting shops to browse
in, and a coffee-and-ice-cream shop that furnished pleasant refreshment.
Then back to the resort, before our last full day in Hawai‘i.
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