Earth 2010

Somewhere over the rainbow.... the north shore of Mau'i

276 days since selling up, 132 days until the grand return. Paul Twocock recording.

David's just too tired from walking along miles of beaches, lava-rock coastlines and watching the sunset while scouring the horizon for jumping whales to do the blog tonight, so I'm having a go.

We left concrete jungle of LA for the green shores of Mau'i on 18th Jan. We were returning to an island we know and love. In fact it was on the way back from Mau'i in 2009 that we decided we had to put the house on the market again and get away for a year. And for a treat (well above budget) we returned to Cliff's Edge - a special place on the north shore of the island. You sit on a deck perched on 300 feet cliffs overlooking the Pacific, palm trees sway, all you can hear is the surf crashing and the occasional passing bird, and as showers come and go rainbows arc across the sky.

 



























 

It was just as beautiful as we remembered. The north shore of Mau'i is away from all the hotels and condos. The road winds around high cliff faces, the rainforest and waterfalls reach right to the coast and things move more slowly. We settled into home for a week: relaxed, read books, wrote books (I finished the last chapter of my first draft - hooray - and have now gone back to the beginning to start re-editing the whole thing). The surf started getting high on day two so we cruised down to Hookipa Point where all the surfer dudes of Mau'i hang out the next big one. Sorry Bradley and Hugo - you would love it here.



























 

 

We took a day to drive slowly along the famous road to Hana - the winding road along the north shore - stopping at waterfalls, stunning black sand beaches with lava out-crops covered in palms, lookouts to the ocean and cool ponds surrounded by forest. At the end of the road we rewarded ourselves with a Mahi-mahi sandwich at our favourite (and I think the only) restaurant in the sleepy town of Hana on the far east coast of the island. There are lots of pics of waterfalls and pools in the album, but here's a taster:















































 

 

 

 

Last time we were at Cliff's Edge we became fast friends with Lucy, a lovely old spaniel who used to insist on sharing our breakfast every morning at 7am sharp. Although still around, Lucy is the grand old age of 17 and has lost her hearing now, so wasn't as sprightly as before. But she did have a new friend, Maile, who seems to have replaced Lucy as the dog entertainment at Cliff's Edge. I know because I have the scratches to prove it. Quietly swimming in the pool one day, 25 lengths done, 25 to go and suddenly when I get to the end there's a big dog waiting to play with me. As I swam she ran around the pool to greet me at each end, and then in a sudden fit of courage launched herself off the side of the pool, right on top of me. Now it was a swimming race and she wanted to swim right up close and personal - her doggy paddle paws digging right in! Then out she'd get out and dive in again. We played for a while but when I could take no more playful scratches I retired back to Bali Cottage. She followed me home and so from then on started joining us for lunch. With such a sad face and mild-mannered patience, she always got her egg mayonnaise or chicken sandwich - I'm sure it can't be good for her...

 

































 

 

 

 

 

 

David got his own minor injury later in the week when we made our way to one last waterfall just down the road from us. It was a pleasant twenty minute walk through palm groves and forest to Twin Falls, but what we hadn't counted on was needing to wade through the river to get the best view. Intrepid adventurers that we are, the shoes came off and we were knee deep walking gingerly over round, spiky and slimy stones, but the effort was worth it: it was a lovely clear falls into a pond at the bottom of an eroded lava tube. Looked a bit like a grotto. Although if you look carefully below you can already see in David's eyes that he knew all those little black bruises were forming on the soles of his feet!









 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh and I forgot to mention we made it up to the top of the volcano - Haleakala - for the most awesome sunset you are ever likely to see. We made it up the crater road with minutes to spare to see the sun dip into the sea of clouds that stretched out below us. Being at the summit makes you feel like your flying. Such fun!



San Francisco and driving down the Big Sur

266 days since selling up, 138 until the grand return.  David Jones recording.

Well it's a little confusing because we are currently in Hawaii enjoying island life, which means lazing around, watching the surf, soaking up the rays, watching the surf, eating, drinking, reading and watching the surf.  Book fans: Agatha's on the last chapter (drum roll), now looking for an agent! Know any?

Let's give you a quick catch up. Had a brilliant time in San Francisco; we had both left our hearts there on a previous visit, so picked them up at the train station and I think lost them again on the drive to Los Angeles down the Big Sur.  If I could, I think I would live in San Francisco. It's a beautiful city: just so beautiful and unique.  The Golden Gate Bridge, the hills, the cable cars and trolley buses, pastel buildings, the bay and the Pacific Ocean, stunning!

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

  

We stayed at a Travelodge in Marina District, near Presido Park, the perfect place for us: near the marina and an easy walk to the bridge, and down a quiet, quiet road.  Slightly longer walk to Fisherman's Wharf but easily do-able.  Cable car or trolley bus to the main shopping district.  Whilst in San Francisco, we did all the sights, including some we hadn't done before.  We saw the brown bison in Golden Gate Park, the Painted Ladies - a famous row of Victorian houses that survived the 1906 earthquake and have the city skyline shimmering behind. Virtually lived in Chestnut St near our hotel, doing most things there: eating out, getting our haircut (thanks to the ladies at FLiP), doing our laundry (in the coolest laundromat on the west coast - thanks Missing Sock!) and going to the cinema (Black Swan - but I wouldn't bother...)

 

After three days we then moved on to spend the next five days driving down Pacific Coast Highway to Los Angeles - the highlight was the Big Sur - 100 miles of spectacular mountainside driving right by the Pacific.  We saw stunning scenery and wildlife, including the McWay falls (pictured below).

 

We then experienced a surprising beach full of elephant seals (look below, and then look again - they are seals not boulders!) They were making such a noise, like giant woopee cushions.  We listened to them, hudreds of them, shouting and burping and playing as we watched the sun set into the Pacific ocean: so romantic! We also spent some time whale watching looking for the tell-tale sign of a spurt of water in the ocean (there are photos in the album).

 

 

On our journey we also visited Hearst Castle, the amazing home of William Randolf Hearst, the publishing millionaire.  It was like an ornate Mediterranean village.  It was very 1920s, and apparantly lots of famous stars and personalities of the time stayed there (Charlie Chaplin, David Niven, Gary Cooper, Amelia Earhart, and Hearst's mistress the actress Marion Davies). We had a brilliant tour guide - thanks Diane - and if you want to get a sense of the time, Diane recommends watching 'The Cat's Meow' - an Eddie Izzard film about an incident on a boat in the 1920s including W.R. Hearst and his mistress, Marion Davies. We have a copy - but it's deep in the heart of the lock-up, ask to borrow sometime in the summer.

 

 

 

We continued on our journey until will arrived in Los Angeles, the day after the Golden Globes.  We didn't see anybody famous, but took a whistle stop tour of all the sights.  LA has never been my favourite place, but at least this time it was hot and sunny, the other time I had been here it was cold and rainy like Brighton on an August bank holiday.  From here we caught our plane to Hawaii, such fun!

 

New Orleans and then on to San Francisco by train

259 days since selling up, 145 until the big return.  David Jones recording.

Well we have successfully left Central America and arrived in the US.  It was quite a relief to not worry about what to eat and drink.  The greatest joy was to be able to brush your teeth with tap water.  It's amazing how much you take for granted. Well let's talk about New Orleans. One of America's party towns, but it seemed like quite a quiet place in early January, everybody had done partying.  But what they say is true, it is the Big Easy: everyone's laid back, things move slowly and there's the sound of a saxophone always floating down street. And there were some gorgeous buildings, although we found out the famous French Quarter is actually mostly Spanish. And the famous Mississippi on a grey January day could be mistaken for the Thames at Deptford.

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

Although we were way too early for Mardi Gras, we did help the good people of New Orleans celebrate Joan of Arc's 598th birthday. Apparently the Maid of Old Orleans is revered just as much in the new city. As soon as the sun set a troop of citizens dressed in medieval garb processed through the French Quarter to the golden statue of our Joan with the rest of us following with 598 candles, which kept blowing out in the breeze. There was even a group of minstrels to help us along the way (not the chocolates!). Joan looked like she stepped out of the High School Prom, but it was fun and Paul got lots of pics. See the album some of the least blurry ones.

From New Orleans we caught Amtrak's famous Sunset Limited train through the bayous and across the desert to Los Angeles.This was my first sleeper train and I was excited. We had two nights and two days in our bijou roomette! Everyone in the sleeper car got to know each other as we crossed America, sharing our life stories over breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining car. It wasn't quite like a cruise where you go on as passengers and come off as cargo, but we were certainly kept well fed. We spent the days gazing at the scenery and trying to stop ourselves from dozing off. Oh and and Agatha got on with more of the book - first draft nearly done, apparently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The train was good fun. The scenery was stunning. And it was all very relaxing, even if it was quite difficult to sleep! We arrived at Los Angeles Union Station an hour late. We had a few hours in the gorgeous Art Deco station and the boarded the Coast Starlight - the pacific coast train to San Francisco. No roomette this time for the 10 hour journey up the coast, but we did have two lovely recliners on the ocean side of the train and did a lot of chilling, watching the beach, surfers, pelicans, cliffs and waves go by. I sent Paul down several times to the see the out of work actor in the snack bar to keep us fed and watered, and we arrived at Oakland just before midnight. It was freezing - really! It was only just above zero, and the bus driver who was to take us across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco didn't turn up. So we broke the budget and got in a taxi to whisk us across and settle in to our Travelodge not far from the Golden Gate - home for the next four nights... such fun!



Some statistics so far!

258 days since selling up.

146 days until we return.

Since November have visited 5 countries: USA, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

We have been on 18 planes.

We have travelled on 13 buses.

We have travelled on 5 trains. one of them for 48 hours.

And had one hair cut!