The road to Hana

Saturday 25 February
Today we left our accommodation and set out on the road to Hana, one of the “must do’s” if you go to Maui! The road is a 64 mile long stretch along the north coast, linking Kahului to Hana in the east. That may not seem that far, but the road is quite narrow, very windy, and passes over 59 bridges, most of which are single carriageway. There are about 620 curves along the road, almost all through lush tropical rainforest. Not only that, but there are so many sights to see along the way, including numerous waterfalls, and the Garden of Eden arboretum (see extra collage of some of the flowers and trees there). Then there are the numerous fruit, smoothie and banana bread stands! So it is not a road that you can or should wish to rush! Because it is tropical rainforest, you have to expect more rain and cooler temperatures on this part of the island, but we were quite fortunate today with the weather.
A lot of people get an early start and do it there and back in one day, but we wanted to take our time, and so were staying two nights in Hana, giving us an extra day to explore. It’s a frustrating road in some ways, since there are numerous places, where you’re dying to take a photograph, but there’s nowhere safe to park! By the time we reached our accommodation, overlooking the sea, it was rather grey and cool, and we enjoyed a cup of tea, sitting on the balcony before going for a walk down to the rocky beach, and then along the road to a disused harbour and park.
Step count: 12,284