Work To Live

Today we decided to tackle the second National Park in Hawaii, Haleakalā National Park. Haleakalā is the third largest volcano in Hawaii and its mass makes up approximately three quarters of Maui.  Most people visit this park at sun rise to watch the amazing view and then cycle down from the top of the volcano. We didn't fancy waking up at the early hours whilst on holiday, its hard enough to do that at home. We also doubted any company would be that happy with Sam cycling down hill with her brakes on the whole way, like she does at home. So we opted for the more leisurely drive to the top of the volcano and then back down again.  It took us about an hour and a half to get to the entrance to the park, and then a further hour to drive the 10 miles to the summit, this includes about 30 minutes of stops and short hikes. Our hotel was sea level and the top of the summit was 10,023 feet, so it was quite a climb!  It was a very warm day, reaching around 28C as we left the ...

We'd eaten so much food the night before that we ended up having a quiet night, heading back to the hotel rather than have any post feast drinks. This was probably a good thing as we needed to get up early to try to complete the Road to Hana.  The Road to Hana starts in the town of Pala, a 40 minute drive on the other side of the island from our hotel in Lahaina. We had done quite a bit of research before the drive and the most important tip we came across was to start early. There were several reasons: Some of the stops get really busy and you'll end up not finding a space to be able to stop to view the sights. We missed Twin Falls as the car park was full when we drove past and on the return journey, it was closed. We weren't too bothered as we saw lots of amazing waterfalls during the trip.  Most people drive down the road to Hana, then turn around and come back. Some areas of the road are single track or very tight for 2 cars (especially American sized cars). If you sta...