Tag: waterfalls

Road to Hana

Every guidebook on Hawaii lists the Road to Hana as a must-do on Maui. Usually, they also warn you not to start driving late, so we set our alarms to 6 a.m. Still, we were not the first ones on Hwy 336, which makes things a bit… hectic. The road’s purpose was to connect smaller towns around the island and not to achieve a touristic target. This means: many one-way bridges, hardly stopping / parking possibilities at the points of interest and sometimes dangerous traffic situations. Also, some spots are difficult to catch, even with google maps app running, or they are on private property and are now closed for public.

Nevertheless, it was still a joyful ride to Hana and beyond. Waterfalls, rainforest, beaches, lava tubes and valley overlooks – it was worth the time, even though we didn’t even get out of the car in Hana as we gave up finding a convenient parking space.

  • How to park
  • Waterfalls
  • Black Sand Beach
  • Sea arch
  • Stay out!
  • Road to Hana
  • Lava stalactites
  • Waterfalls

Rainbow Falls

Second island hopping: from Kauai to The Island of Hawaii (better known as Big Island) via Honolulu, Oahu.

Second island hopping to Big Island

Unfortunately, a flight from (finally) sunny weather into the rain. It wasn’t that bad, we quickly visited the Rainbow Falls which are close to Hilo, but at our time of visit in the late afternoon no rainbow could be seen at the falls.

Rainbow Falls (without rainbow)

Doors-off Heli Flight

Kauai is a beautiful island, but large part of it is de-facto inaccessible. For once we ignored the ecological conscience and booked a scenic flight with a helicopter. There are many companies, but Jack Harter adds a special thrill: doors-off flights with a Hughes 500.

Doors-off heli flight

We didn’t have cloudless sky (hardly ever occurs on Kauai) but still good flight conditions. First highlight was the flight over Manawaiopuna Falls, better known as “Jurassic Falls” (helicopter landing sequence in the first Jurassic Park movie). The pilot even played the movie theme – marvelous!

  • Jurassic Falls from above
  • Jurassic Falls

Soon, we reached the Waimea Canyon (see earlier blog entry), now from above and much closer to some great sceneries.

  • Waimea Canyon
  • Waipoo Falls

We again crossed one of the wettest places on earth (once more hidden in dark clouds), but soon the sky opened: we have reached the Napali coast. Postcard scenery again!

  • Napali Coast
  • Napali Coast

Fortunately, that was not yet the end, also the flight over the Hanalei Valley was breathtaking. And for once the clouds somehow fit into the scenery; dozens of waterfalls within a rainforest-like landscape, coming out of misty mountains… a perfect fit for any fantasy movie.

Hanalei Valley

Indeed, the list of movie sequences shot on Kauai is long! Just to name a few:

Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jurassic Park (1, 2, 3), Jurassic World
King Kong
Six Days Seven Nights
Tropic Thunder
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Descendants

Wairere Falls

Another day, another hike, or, as the Kiwis say, good time to tramp. The Wairere Falls are the highest waterfalls of the North Island. It is a nice, but quite steep track. It took us three attempts to see the falls: the first time we skipped the lookout intentionally, on our way down we missed the side-track but finally on third attempt we saw the falls. We also saw where we have been before: at the edge of the creek, just before the water falls 153 meters down.

Wairere Falls (153m)

We ended the day in a hot-water pool near Matamata.

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.

Hot Water Beach

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.

Sailing Rock

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.

Shelly Beach

Taranaki Falls and Glowworms

We just did a short morning hike (2h) to the Taranaki Falls before heading to Waitomo.

Taranaki Falls

It was a hot day (30°C) and we waited on the campground for an evening adventure. On the Ruakuri Walk you can also see glowworms after sunset. Yep, we spotted them – it was like walking in a fairytale forest. And it was for free! 🙂

Glowworms for free!

Forgotten World Highway

To fill our day we first visited Mount Taranaki again in the morning, but from a different entrance. He was hidden within clouds but we enjoyed the short walks nevertheless.

Mount Taranaki – disguised

Stratford is the beginning (or end) of the Forgotten World Highway, an old scenic route with four “saddles”, a tunnel, little towns, a few detours and an unsealed section. A curvy (yep, New Zealand…) but enjoyable drive. A short walk to the Mount Damper Falls was a worthwhile break from driving.

Mount Damper Falls

Todays destination was Tongariro National Park Village where we booked the shuttle for tomorrow’s big hike.

Mount Taranaki

After a rather boring ride towards Egmont National Park everything changed to the good. The impressive (and active) stratovolcano Mount Taranaki (2518m) – often hidden within clouds – got rid of his disguise.

Volcano Mount Taranaki

Mount Taranaki’s last major eruption was 1854, some scientists say the next one is overdue. From the visitor center we started to hike on the Wilkies Pools loop and extended it to the Waingongoro Hut. You walk within a “Goblin Forest” and we understood why. A forest from a fairytale, indeed.

A “Goblin Forest” from another world

Another highlight was the one-person-only swing bridge over a deep canyon, offering a view on Mount Taranaki.

  • Swing Bridge
  • Mount Taranaki

Before returning to the campervan we also visited the Dawson Falls.

Dawson Falls

We spent the night in Stratford, where we enjoyed a “Glockenspiel” (play of bells, but they used the German expression, too) and a walk in the park.

“Glockenspiel” at Stratford