Member Since: 10 Aug 2017
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 6754
Just don’t watch White Lotus
5th Feb 2023 7:17 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73089
Today was a day on one hill, Moana Kea. Well once checked out of hotel and hunter/gathered breakfast (Mickie Dees) and tanked Gerald (Gerald the Jeep) up. Then drive up the road that cuts through the island, off right on the observatory road, saw some Nenes (endangered goose) and headed up.
You just don’t get any idea of height from the main road, remembering that Moana Loa is the biggest mountain on the planet!
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And Moana Kea isn’t exactly a tilldly hill!
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The this sign to warn you what lies ahead.
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It’s nice gentle tarmac up to ~9,000ft
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And up to the observatory support station/visitor shop where you get the 5th degree (rightly) re your car (must be 4x4 and have low box), any altitude symptoms, been diving the day before, know how to go down hill without riding the brakes and have more than half tank of petrol gasoline. All tick. Ranger checked us at the start of the restricted bit and saw Gerald was full and was in 4L (luckily it’s just put it in N and pull the low box lever, easy peasy), talked about brakes and keeping seat belt on, tick. Then we were off. We could both feel it a bit airless at that height but not too bad.
Now heading up a mountain on a dirt road with the sights as follows results in lots of pics, apologies to those paying for data by the Meg!
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Up high goes back to tarmac.
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Moana Loa in the background, remember it’s the biggest hill on the planet!
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tbc, dinner time!
OK, normal service resumed.
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A might nippy at the top.
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And a little high.
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A light dusting of snow, and we’re not that far N of the equator.
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Couldn’t have done this without Gerald, the Mustang we had booked wouldn’t have cut the mustard. I did see a pickup pull up at the checkpoint, it looked the part but was turned away as it was only 2wd. He should have ticked the right box on the options sheet.
Gerald posing at the peak.
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Gerald’s dark grey cousin.
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And no pic = wasn’t there.
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Was a fantastic trip up to the top, lots of engine breaking on the way down and equally great views. It was clouding over and was great to get up and down in sunshine. And strangely we both found far less effects of altitude at almost 14,000ft than at 9,000ft, just that bit of acclimatisation at the service station really helps.
Gratuitous pano on the way down. When the ranger checked our brake disk temp with his laser temp checker gizmo he was surprised how cool out discs were. Well I didn’t have any worries engine braking all the way down, it wasn’t my engine!
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And back down to sea level. Much warmer. Mpg is for imp gallons, I went into settings and changed consumption to MPG(imp) and degC, now that’s going to really confuse the next driver! Not bad consumption considering the driving.
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And watching a cruise ship heading out from our hotel room’s balcony.
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Sun is down, wine is consumed and flopping before the adventure continues tomorrow. Hopefully seeing whales.
6th Feb 2023 3:26 am
Journeyman
Member Since: 27 Sep 2020
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 292
Brilliant trip! Very envious of the trip up the observatory! Thanks for sharing your travels.Cheers,
Jez
Discovery 3 HSE Stornaway Grey
MY 2008 2.7 TDV6
Discovery 2 2003 - gone
6th Feb 2023 7:49 am
biskit
Member Since: 23 Dec 2009
Location: in my Mancave.
Posts: 1376
Loved the trip up the hill, thanks Dell. Fantastic views you sent us. Mantec sump guard.
Prospeed tree slider/steps.
Flack duel battery system.
18"Compomotive/AT3 tyres
Brembo 4pot front brakes
6th Feb 2023 9:01 am
Rescue01
Member Since: 14 Jan 2008
Location: Aberdeen
Posts: 2519
Great photos Derek. I honestly never thought you’d be sending snow pictures from Hawaii
Did you not find a wheelie bin Its not the height of the fall but the sudden stop at the bottom that hurts!!
6th Feb 2023 10:13 am
Gareth Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26775
Incredible. That’s quite high. I remember driving up to 7500 feet in Morocco in Betsy, and she wouldn't pull the skin off a proverbial rice pud at that altitude!
Great experience your having.
6th Feb 2023 11:46 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73089
Morning folks from a sunny/rainy Hilo! Yesterday was a day driving across and round the island looking for whales. Saw lots of them, breathing (technical term = puffing), breaching (= jumping), fluking (=waving good bye) and hitting the water with the tail (= hitting the water, don’t know why). That was mostly on the W of the island where it was sunny and warm, it had been chucking it down this side. Then when we got back to hotel we saw more out beyond the breakwater, plus saw 2 or 3 green turtles.
No good pics of whales, they were far too far away for my phone, but this was one of the viewing places.
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Random pics, some very long and stringy trees along the road. Really tall!
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Green turtle from balcony.
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And good chunk of a full circular rainbow about 20 minutes ago. Yes that means it’s raining!
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PS And today local stuff, incl the Akaka State Park, in our speak the Alaska State Park. I only mention this because yesterday we saw a pickup truck with Alaska plates. We didn’t see any AK plates in Canada or across USofA and last place I expected to see Alaska plates was Hawaii!!
7th Feb 2023 6:02 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73089
Rescue01 wrote:
Did you not find a wheelie bin
Strangely enough there were some wheelie bins up at the top but no snow in them coz they actually used them! Very strange peeps.
7th Feb 2023 6:16 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73089
All stop, it’s absolutely chucking it down. Cruise ship Pride of America is in that frame, somewhere!
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7th Feb 2023 6:39 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73089
Good morning folks, and greetings from Kona International Airport! Back to flying as it’s a long swim to Maui and the whales were not around to give us a lift. Glad to be on the sunny side of the island, we’ve seen enough rain to last us the rest of the trip. We just did a bit of driving yesterday and the Alaska Asaka State Park. We’ve renamed it from Tropical Rain Forest to Torential Rain Forest!
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Couple of shots from the road across the island. Moana Kea with the observatory golf balls visible.
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And more volcanoes.
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It was a minor relief getting from one side of the island to t’other that way as Moana Loa had a mini eruption last Dec that almost got to the road. Also fun watching 2 x Chinooks and 2 Blackhawks warming up at the Army Field near the middle.
Catch y’all in Maui.
PS And a new aircraft type for us, a 717 which I didn’t even knew existed until booked these flights. Looks suspiciously like a DC-9!
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8th Feb 2023 8:10 pm
HairyFool
Member Since: 04 Jan 2023
Location: North Essex
Posts: 686
You wouldn't be wrong
Wikipedia
"The Boeing 717 is an American five-abreast single-aisle airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The twin-engine airliner was developed for the 100-seat market and originally marketed by McDonnell Douglas as the MD-95. It was a shortened derivative of the company's successful airliner, the MD-80, and thus the fourth generation of the DC-9 family. "A visitor from the dark side, my other vehicle is an is still an EV. Strictly speaking its SWMBO.
8th Feb 2023 9:12 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73089
Blast from the past.
And a rather nice cargo 747 arrived just a little while ago, for fellow plane spotters.
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Note blue sky! Something of a novelty for us recently!
8th Feb 2023 9:24 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73089
Greetings from Maui, where the breeze is warm and the sun is out! And no rain.
Was an interesting flight. We took off, I ordered a vino (it was included) then after 2 schwigs we were heading down. And for an old a/c type it certainly has a lot of fancy screens! Plus it’s really sad when the flight deck peeps look like they’ve just out of school.
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Our flight was early so we were able to catch an earlier bus than expected and it linked with the bus to here, Lahaina. Gratuitous bus pic.
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Apart from the resident loons riding in the bus it was a great way to get to the hotel on the W coast. Plus we both got 2x senior discounts (2 buses) so only $1 each per hop. Not often Senior Discount starts at 55 but we’re not complaining. Nor are we too proud to take it!
A few pics from here. This is the harbour where the whale watching boats go from, and we’re out on the big one on the left at 6:30am tomorrow! It’s going to be an early start.
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As we repeatedly say, the little ‘uns get the best T-shirts. This was one of the best, almost as good as the “brown bear (little pic of a brown bear) - black bear (little pic of a black bear) - gummy bear (and, you guessed it, little pic of a gummy bear)” T-shirts we saw in Canada.
Wonder if they do Mac and cheese here.
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We had to settle for fish & chips fries and coconut prawns shrimp, with a Peña Colada. And no, that wasn’t each, we shared. Body being a temple and all that. Deeeeeeeelish!
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And a SWEEEEEEEEEEET old car with a Goldie in the passenger seat. Sadly we were in the wrong side for a good Goldie shot.
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Catch y’all tomorrow, will hopefully have some good whale pics.
9th Feb 2023 4:28 am
ianm27
Member Since: 02 Jun 2016
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 2154
Great pics Del
hope the sun stays shining for you and the whales stay in the water Uncle Ray's spare wheel protector
Limo Tint
Blackvue front & rear dashcam
Cruise control switch pack
Bodsy's remote for FBH
9th Feb 2023 10:29 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73089
They did indeed stay in the water, when they weren’t jumping.
More pics later but more whales than you can shake a stick at.
Gorgeous Maui dawn.
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Whales, humpback variety.
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And not forgetting breakie, it’s hard work watching them thar cetaceans.
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