Hawaii: April 25-May 9, 2006

Craig and I just returned from a great 2 week trip to Hawaii yesterday. We are only in Japan for 3 weeks more, weeks which promise to be hectically busy and filled with farewells and packing, an art show and a birthday and no doubt a bit too full in every way. We've been having a productive and stimulating and good life in Japan for a while now. Craig has been doing translation work for the Saitama Government for just about 3 years now, and it's been just over 2 years since we started our own English school, ABEL. ( http://www.abeleikaiwa.com/) ABEL was an exciting project, lots of work involved and lots of things learned. It was fulfilling, surprising, challenging, consuming, stressful, and rewarding. And we just sold the school last month, to a guy from Canada who is married to a Japanese woman and has 2 kids here and has been running his own school for a few years. The transition of ownership and everything just finished in the end of April, about 4 days before we left for Hawaii.

Hawaii was wonderful. I've wanted to go there for ages, especially while we were living in Japan which is a bit closer and cheaper to get there, and while we have some friends living there. Some friends had already left the islands, but Dahvid (who we met in NZ) has been there for 11 years and is a pilot for the local airline Island Air. He lives on the stretch of surf mecca coast in Oahu known as the North Shore. The first day he picked us up and we drove about 1 hour out of the city to his house which felt so deliciously spacious after our apt. here, in Japan. A two minute walk from his place goes over a small river and through a neat tunnel of forest to a beautiful, empty, secluded beach. The first day in Hawaii was almost the best day as I just hadn't expected to luck out so much. We hit the beach a lot and then rode these cool island cruiser bikes along some bike paths bordered by colorful hibiscus, past the big surf beaches, coves and little beaches with sea turtles basking in afternoon sun. We spent half of our trip close to Dahvid's house, swimming, walking, biking, reading, napping and eating. It reminded me a bit of all these years of family trips to Cape May Point, that beach vacation rhythm, but lots of unfamiliar bits of culture and nature to explore as well (and a good bit cleaner than New Jersey beaches too of course). We've had a busy, often stressful time in Japan, mainly due to running our school ABEL, so it was great to give ourselves this present of a trip.

We also spent one week on another island, Kaua'i. We luckily got some free tickets to this island from Dahvid the pilot, and headed out to explore a bit of "the Garden Island" which we had heard a lot about the gorgeous nature there. Hawaii's a bit of a car-loving traffic-filled place, lacking in much decent public transport, so we had to rent a car for our first 2 days there. We didn't really arrange or plan anything before going over, and somehow ended up renting this total bomb from a place called Island Cars (I wouldn't recommend them to anyone!). Thinking we were lashing out a bit with the rental car, we got this falling-apart big white van, hole in the muffler, no key, windows frozen, mostly rolled up but one stuck down, wide open. This was after Dahvid had carefully explained what a problem car theft and break-ins were. We explored the island a bit and arrived at our campsite on Ha'ena Beach pretty late. Thought we'd take advantage of the large van and just sleep in there, but the back was filled with other people's trash, and we lay down for a bit only to hear a scurrying sound and wake to two large cockroaches next to my face. Not the best night's sleep. The next day we rented kayaks and explored up a river, through a bird sanctuary, and back down to the sea for a swim. That was a lovely, slow day, but my lower legs blazed crimson sunburn in the evening, streaked with purple blood blisters and definitely the worst sunburn of my life. We spent the night at a B&B owned by a Hawaiian man (indigenous) and his wife from the mainland. They were leaders in the Hawaiian land rights movement, we learned a lot from them about the plight of indigenous Hawaiians and the usurpation of power by the US. These guys considered the islands to be an occupied land, and we watched a documentary made about them and when their house, built on native trust land, was bulldozed and they and other supporters spent some time in jail for civil disobedience. They had taken their case to the Supreme Court and to the UN Security Council and are still active trying to change things for the Hawaiian people.

Dahvid came over to Kaua'i the next day and we returned our luxury rental car and headed up on the bus to start our hike through the Na Pali State Park. We spent 5 days hiking the precarious Kalalau trail. We had heard it was among the most difficult trails in the world and it was a pretty intense hike. The whole trail is 11 miles one way, snaking in and out of valleys and gorges, crossing many rivers, tottering on cliffs, the trail only a foot wide and often totally overgrown by brambles. We started in the late afternoon and hiked the easier part 2 miles in to a beautiful beach by a river mount. All along the hike are various warning signs about how many people died here or there. Strong currents and rips at the first beach warranted a sign about how 82 people had drowned there. People also died along the trail, falling off cliffs and over raging river crossings, and at the final beach destination of the trail, Kalalau Valley, and by falling rock walls etc. We were kept on our toes. We hiked the remaining 9 miles mostly in the rain, sliding around on the mud and slippery rocks and roots kept us going about 1 mile per hour. Craig (and pack) fell in at the first river crossing, we lost Dahvid's boot at a later crossing (and he did a good bit of the trail barefoot) and I was safe but petrified and exhausted. The landscape was amazing however. We had about 12 river crossings, saw some waterfalls and walked through dense green jungle, over cliffs with towering yucca trees and dry exposed cliffs along the coast, and bluffs with vibrant red-orange colored soil/rock and green grass clinging. Wild goats populated the second half of the trail, you could usually smell them before you saw or heard them. The fluted mountains and cliffs at Kalalau Valley made for a truly mythical landscape. We spent a day recovering, swimming and exploring before doing the hike out again. There are a bunch of people who actually live back in this valley, some staying in there for weeks and months, hiking out for food. There's even a big oven made from huge iron skillets where some crazy hippies make pizzas. We didn't meet too many of the people really living back in there but we had some interesting interactions with people, including an older woman named Linda who had been there 16 days, she barely made it in and had decided she couldn't hike back out so she was waiting for a jet ski to come and pick her up. She had in the meantime given away all her gear, tent etc. included, so we fed her for a night (even though she was on a raw foods diet and had been fasting on water and fruit the whole 16 days she ate our m&ms, Skippy peanut butter and chilli?) and she slept huddled next to Dahvid's tent. The hike out proved to be much easier now that we knew what to expect and also as it did not rain. So, we had extra energy to make a jaunt up a side trail to an amazing waterfall that drops in a mist at an abrupt and sheer cliff. A pair of white birds with really long tails circled around and it felt like we would see a unicorn bound out of the forest at any moment. I wish I could send you all some photos of the hike but we were too afraid of taking our camera, and we took Dahvid's but he hasn't sent us photos just yet. Here's a link to some images of the scenery though: http://www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/dsp/NaPali/na_pali.htm

Finally, we finished the hike the next morning, having had some amazing laughs along the way, and ended at a beautiful beach with a shallow sandy lagoon. We dove in and scrubbed the mud and sweat away with sand, lots of fish swimming amongst us. Ke'e Beach was beautiful, and we took a cold beach shower and hitchhiked and bused on back to the airport (about 2 hours away). We changed into our fancy clothes (as we were flying on free passes we had to dress up to represent the company) and checked in all our grungy bags and then Dahvid asked for a free shuttle to a very fancy hotel, the Marriott I think. What a total contrast, to then find ourselves amongst tall columned grand buildings, with manicured gardens and opulence everywhere. Just behind this hotel was a big restaurant sitting out on the water where we had our post-hiking feast.

Back in Oahu, we spent more time relaxing at the beach and met up with another friend Annie (we met in Japan 11 years ago), and spent the last afternoon checking out the tacky Waikiki beach as we hadn't actually been anywhere very touristy yet. It was a great trip.

So, now we are soaking up the last of our time here in Japan. I have an exhibition with two friends starting on the 19th and have not yet made a single thing, so the next 8 days are all devoted to getting creative. Then we've got to pack and say our farewells. I've also been enjoying studying washi (Japanese papermaking) and shiatsu (Japanese massage like acupressure) and will try to enjoy those things before we go.

We leave for about 6 months of travel, on the way back to Australia eventually. On June 4th, we head for 3 days visiting friends in Korea. Then we will be in Germany for the rest of June and early July, for a friend's wedding and the World Cup of course. We actually have tickets to two games (Spain vs. Ukraine and winner Group E vs. Runner-up Group F) and are excited to be so near to all of the action. We'll meet up with a bunch of friends from Melbourne then too. July we'll start to make our way over to Scotland, via some traveling through yet undecided places, maybe France and Sweden where some friends will be. We're planning to be in Scotland from August for about 3 months, where we'll be working and living with Craig's family. They own a caravan park: http://www.lighthouseleisure.co.uk/ on the coast of South Western Scotland. We'll also use this as a base for trips through Ireland, Greece, Italy and more. If anyone plans to be in Europe over the next six months then please let me know. Or if you know anyone you think we should contact or stay with then all information is welcome. Hoping to spend Christmas in the US with my family before reversing our steps through Scotland, Germany, Korea and Japan on back to Melbourne in January or Feb. of next year.