Day 19: Waimea to Hawi

December 5, 2014

Cattle came to Hawaii when Captain George Vancouver gave some to king Kamehameha in 1793. They roamed over this North Kohala area, and eventually came to terrorize the residents. In fact, the Scottish botanist David Douglas (after whom the Douglas fir was named) was gored and killed by one. Kamehemeha hired John Parker to harvest the rampant cattle, and Parker was eventually able to assemble the huge ranch that bears his name today.

All this is a well known story, but what about turkeys? This land has lots of wild turkeys roaming around. Were they brought for Thanksgiving and New Years by nostalgic New Englanders?

Our ride today began with wild turkeys, who were walking around in front of our cottage. However, we did move on quickly to cattle, and also horses. What we were doing was skirting the Kohala mountain and parts of the Parker Ranch, and heading ultimately down to the Hawi, near the sea on the north coast. We realized finally that the hills here most remind us of western Montana, in the narrow slice of the Spring, when the grass there is green. Our road, the Kohala mountain road, is reknowned for its scenery. At first we had a view of Mauna Kea, with its observatories on top, and to its right, Moana Loa. Then we could look down on the road that heads straight to the coast, at Kawaihae. Ultimately, we could even spot Maui, though it was mostly hidden in clouds.

We kept looking behind us, because we expected the other cyclists, John and Cindy, to come steaming past us at any time. It turned out they left a lot later than us, though, and we easily beat them to Hawi. On the other hand, one of our backward glances revealed a lone figure, and soon enough we got passed, by a runner! To be fair, she had gotten a lift up on to the mountain. But this does not detract from the fact that she was able to blow past us.

The road lead from Waimea continuously upward, for 12 straight kilometers. By the time we reached the crest, we were at 3564 feet! Now came the crazy part - 20 km straight down. Straight down means we did not have to pedal, at all. Even pokey us, leaning on the brakes, could easily go 40. It was a little freaky, because I kept thinking how tiring it would be to be climbing up this thing, And to be fair, we had climbed it, because we started at sea level at Laupahoehoe. So now we were just collecting on our previous effort. For anyone thinking of cheating, though, this would be the one for getting a lift to the top and gliding down!

The road was quite narrow and winding, and often with little or no shoulder. On the other hand, drivers seemed very careful, and many all but stopped behind us to wait for the safe time to pass. The one exception to this happened just as we were entering Hawi. There, construction created an alternating one lane situation. We were forced to take the lane, and this anyway was the instruction from the flag person. But some goofy driver managed to insert himself between me and Dodie, and he proceeded to breathe down her back all the way through. Watching his behaviour from behind, I almost decided to pull abreast of his window and to bawl him out. Fortunately, we all arrived at the end of the construction before any conflict escalated. The guy floored it and blasted off. Still, I am on the lookout for him and his car in town. The appropriate proverb for this is "You may own a car, but you don't own the road!".

We were on the lookout for the place where we had booked two nights, from home - the Kohala Village Inn. We did not want to pass it and then have to climb back up to get to it. Fortunately, it is smack in the middle of town. We were very pleasantly surprised, because while it is not as elegant as the Jacaranda, it is very very pleasant. In fact, the Inn was our introduction to a style and an attitude that we think characterizes Hawi, and that makes it possibly our favourite place on the island. The style could be characterized as some combination of wood floors, trims, tables and furniture, with wicker and bamboo around as well, tropical plantings, and a pastel palette for painted surfaces. Things are not new, but neither are they run down. The attitude is one of friendliness and accommodation, with no hint of what are you doing on our island.

After ditching our stuff in the room ($75) we headed for the Bamboo restaurant, which we had read about in our guidebook. Here again were all the style elements mentioned above, in a spacious 100 year old, renovated building. The food was some form of Pacific fusion, and we really liked it. The dishes we chose were both some form of chicken on vegetables with coconut sauce. Mine had sticky rice and Dodie's had soba noodles.

Our next step was across the street, to Tropical Dreams ice cream - again highly touted in our guidebook. I got something like "lava java" and Dodie got ginger. These ice creams were excellent, though (or, and) not overly sweet. That could make them not so addictive, but still good.

As we walked the block long centre of town, we came on the locked bikes of John and Cindy. So, they had eventually made it. We did eventually catch them as they returned to their bikes, and got to compare notes once again. Obviously, that great downhill run was one of the hot topics!

Hawi is a town that had fallen into disuse and disrepair, but that got revived by tourism. We had experienced the benefits of this, in the accommodation and food that we tried, but now we cruised some of the gift shops and galleries. I began to think, if this is all just a tourist construct, how ultimately interesting is it? The answer for now is "interesting enough". The evidence is that we bought a pile of stuff in those shops and have already mailed it home, with the help of a very friendly and accommodating mail service man.

One other tourist thing that we would have gone for except that it is only on some weekdays, is a tour of three local farms - one mixed field crops, one exotic fruits, and one chocolate. At each would have been the chance to see how they do it, and to sample the product. Even if this technically would be a bus tour (well, mini van), we think it would have been great. At least, we have hit it right for the farmers' market, which is tomorrow and right across the street from where we are staying.

Hawi has a sort of twin town, Kapa'au, 4 km further along the coast to the east. The road then continues a further 6 km, before dead ending at the Pololu Valley. So tomorrow we will check out the market, and Kapa'au, and then meander further east a bit. Only after that will we head south (the next day) along the Kohala Coast. This is the section of the island that we looked down on from the air and thought "hey, it's summer down there and we can pedal to our hearts' content". That cycle will end at Hapuna white sand Beach, said by some to be the best in the world. But, that's getting ahead of things. One day at a time, eh!

Photos... soon!

News Flash

Yesterday we passed a parked truck that had its door open and radio on. A news flash came over the radio: "This is a Civil Defence announcement, Volcano eruption and lava flow". Just then, some pesky traffic blew past, and we never heard the announcement. "Hey, what if lava is headed our way!", I exclaimed. "Don't be silly", said Dodie. Actually, she was right, but today we saw yesterday's newspaper. The Pahoa lava is continuing to advance, now rather rapidly. Again, there is a prediction game going on - when will the highway be cut, and what houses are at risk? By the time any sparks really start to fly, we should be back in Canada. However, we will keep watching, especially since Pahoa and surroundings are still so fresh in our minds.

Mauna Kea - you can see the observatories if you look carefully

Houses line the road to Kawaihae, at the coast

Not as many flowering shrubs as on the Kona Coast, but these are pretty

Sure, this lady was fast going up, but we were fast going down! I guess there are not so many bragging rights with that.

The Bamboo story. If you click on to enlarge the photo, or zoom your browser, you will be able to read this if you like.

This gecko was on a counter at the ice cream shop. We just love the colouration.

Yesterday's paper, with the news about the lava flow situation.

Who would have thought there are so many kinds of bananas here. And this shot is only part of the poster.

Only a part of the story on mangos. Wow.

The area we are in for the next couple of days. If you zoom the photo you will see all the famous areas - Waimea, the Kohala mountain road, Hawi, etc.

Today's ride: 33 km (20 miles)
Total: 583 km (362 miles)

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