Friday, January 21, 2011

Hawai'i Vacation- Day 6- multiple stops

My last day in Hawai'i was really full.  I wasn't sure if I was going to get everything in that I wanted to do.  So I decided to go to the place that open first.  That was the Macadamia Nut Farm.  All very interesting.  The first pictures shows what a macadamia tree looks like.  The second is was the nut look likes on the tree and the third when it falls in the ground.  The nut is not ready to be harvested until it falls to the ground.  There is a soft outer shell that easily comes off.  Then they are collected from the ground and they go through a device to break the shell.  It takes 300lbs per square inch of pressure to break it.  Learned a bunch here and bought even more nuts.  




Next stop was the Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo.  Saw a few animals I have never seen.





Some type of pheasant and its counter part (below)




Ant Eaters
 Next was the Akaka Falls.



 Next was a drive to my next location.  I stopped for lunch and took a few pictures.



Found a cool antique shop with tons of bottles in the windows. "Glass from the past."

"Glass from the past"

Glass from the Past


 Next was to the World Botanical Gardens and Waterfalls.
On the way to some of the falls were a lot of cows.  This one seemed...angry.




Tree with spikes growing out of it, aloe leaf in place for effect.

Rainbow Tree.  So cool, really these colors.
 The reason for going to these gardens was for the zip lines.  There were 9 of them.  I spent a couple hours zipping through the gardens over streams and valleys getting also a nice narrated tour of plants from the guides.  This last one was the longest of the lines and also two side by side.  So you could race.  The guide took a few pictures of me so I could show of my awesome zip lining skills.  It was fun.



 After zip lining I had some time to kill and stopped a few parks along the way.


Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Cemetery in Papaikou, Hawai'i.



Lots of these types of arrangements seen throughout Hawai'i.

Just had an awesome day and good time over all in Hawai'i.  I was happy to end on a good note.  It was great to go somewhere and enjoy every part of it.  There was just so much to do and see, so many natural wonders here.  There wasn't any hanging out baking on some hot sandy beach every day on a resort.  It was full of adventure, sweat, hiking, blistered feet, nature, exploration and learning; learning about Hawai'i and also a few things about myself.  And each day I came back to my bed exhausted and spent.  It was good.



1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Whoa!! Sounds like a crazy great trip! I'm glad you had good time and shared such good pictures.