Last island-hop to Maui, the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands.
Expected highlights: road to Hana and sunrise on Haleakala crater. But the sunset from Kihei isn’t a bad start, either.
Tag: sunset
(Not on) Mauna Kea
Mauna Kea is one of five volcanoes of Big Island, its peak is 4’207.3 m above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaii. Most of the mountain is under water, and when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world measuring over 10’000 m.
There is an access road to the peak, resp. to the 13 telescopes, and it is possible to drive from sea level to 4’200 m in less than two hours. The peak is also famous for sunset self-drive tours, which we obviously also had in mind.
We couldn’t make it however. The access road was closed during our stay. Either it was snowing or the winds were too strong (over 50 m.p.h.). At least we could watch the peak from our hotel on a clear day, which is actually not so common.
And… the sunset from our hotel wasn’t that bad, either… and a bit warmer than -3°C.
Coconut drinking / Sunset!
Enjoying honeymoon with snorkeling, coconut drinking, seafood dinner and sunset photographing.
Cast Away Island
Beautiful weather, 31°C air temperature, 29°C water temperature, snorkeling and coconut drinking – why can’t every morning be like this?
Sea life 
Nudibranch (?)
In the early afternoon we went on a short trip to the island where Cast Away (starring Tom Hanks as modern Robinson Crusoe) was filmed – also with great snorkeling possibilities. Fun fact: the island is not that remote, Tom Hanks could have swum to the neighbour island and enjoy a cold drink. 😉
Cast Away corals 
Snorkeling in a natural aquarium
Wonderful sunset in the evening – no photoshop involved!
Auckland
Auckland’s Sky Tower is 328 meters high, observatory deck is at 220 meters above ground level and offers a great view over the city.
Auckland was built upon volcanoes: the Auckland Volcanic Field counts 48 (dormant) volcanoes. Why not climb on some of them?
We took the ferry to Devonport and walked on Mount Victoria which is fortunately only 87 meters high, but providing a good view on Auckland’s skyline.
Next one was Mount Eden with its very obvious crater.
After a Mexican dinner we enjoyed the sunset and a light show from Sky Tower (again).
Coromandel
First stop today: Hot Water Beach. Well, that was literally hot! You need: low tide (plus/minus 2 hours), a shovel and you’re ready to dig your own hot water pool. The water pouring out is either cold, warm or boiling hot. But you’ll realize it soon enough.
Close to it is the Cathedral Cove. Very picturesque – very touristy. But again, just do the side-walk to a lookout and you’re alone.
On partially unsealed roads we passed the Waiau Falls (good for a short swim) and reached our campground at Shelly Beach near Coromandel just before the nice sunset.
Te Anau
A driving day to the Fiordland National Park, and an escape from the rain, too. Ironically, Milford Sound (our next destination) is the rainiest point of New Zealand! But forecasts are very promising… the sunset in Te Anau (pronounced similarly as the Italian “ti amo” just with an “n”) at least made us hungry for even more sun.
New Year’s Eve on Whitsunday Islands
Our sailing ship “Prima” accommodated 11 (out of maximal 12) guests plus two crew members (captain Sas and cook Beke). We had a cabinet for ourselves – small but with a little bit of privacy. Before noon we set sail towards Whitsunday Island. Captain Cook discovered it on a Whitsunday (German: Pfingstsonntag), therefore the name. We traversed the hook passage, went snorkeling and anchored for the evening.
After a nice dinner at sunset we were in good mood for games (Twister and “Eat my box”).
To our big surprise (and shock) a squid joined the party – believe it or not, it jumped out of the water into our boat, just to be accidentally being stamped by one of the guests. A black trace of ink was a lasting proof. Our fellow travelers showed how to make a good meal out of the poor guy. Dinner out of one instead of “Dinner for one”. Happy New Year!
Christmas eve at Kata Tjuta (Olgas)
December 24 – “So this is Christmas!” We had to get up at 03:50 in order to reach a good spot to watch the sun rising behind Uluru. Wonderful!
We then visited Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas), another impressive domed rock formation and did a hike into the Valley of the Winds.
Next, we travelled to Kings Canyon to our campground to celebrate Christmas: helping in the “kitchen”, baking a damper (bush bread) in the bonfire, drinking some beers and listening to “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” at 35° C. What an experience!
Another night to sleep in swags. We were visited by dingoes and also heard them howling in the night.
Ayers Rock and Uluru
We flew to the small town Ayers Rock and joined a group of 22 guests on a three-day trip through the Red Centre. From the plane we could already watch the landscape incl. Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock).
On a cultural walk, Cecilia, a lovely aboriginal woman, explained many things about their culture, paintings and certain locations around Uluru in her native language – fortunately we also had a translator.
It was close to 40° C, fortunately it cooled down a little bit at sunset, supported by a glass of Champaign.
Almost as good as the sunset was the moon rise (we had full moon that night). The group helped to prepare the dinner (kangaroo) – delicious – and then went to sleep, as we had to get up VERY early next morning (03:50). Steffi and me decided to use the swags and to sleep under the stars. Check.