Thursday, January 10, 2008: Taking TheBus around Oahu.
Bob: We decided to stretch our bus passes and circle Oahu Island by combining the bus 52 route up to the northern shore of the island with the 55 bus route returning to Honolulu along the eastern shoreline. Oahu is essentially two mountainous ridges running from northwest to southeast, separated by a low saddle of relatively flat land. The 52 bus route was basically up this saddle in the middle of the island to the north shore and then following the shoreline to the east. We stopped off at the Waimea Valley to see the Audubon Center there and particularly Waimea Falls. Monika made a brief visit many years back on a working trip and had always wanted to go back with some more time to see it right. I certainly wanted to see the falls, so we walked maybe 1/4 mile from the bus stop back into the valley where the center is located, paid our entrance fees (Senior rates start at 60!), and entered the park. |
Monika: I had wanted Bob to see the Weimea Falls on the northside of the island. When I was on Oahu for business I had taken a tourist type trip around the island and enjoyed the falls, so, of course, I wanted to repeat this with Bob. We found out that two buslines circle the island, one going clockwise, the other clockwise. We went onto the bus that went first between the two mountain ranges to the northside of the isle. Of course, this took much longer than on a tour bus, since we made a lot of stops. But it was interesting to see who all rode TheBus. We saw a group of Special Needs Adults and also a group of kids going home after school, and of course lots of other locals. We encountered a traffic jam just when we turned onto the road going along the northside beaches. It was a 10 mile long gaper's block which was explained by heavy surf at the northside beaches. So everyone had to look at the surf and the crazies that were surfing in it. |
Bob: To me, "Audubon" means birds, so I wasn't too surprised to see peacocks strutting around and occasionally giving their godawful screech, but I was surprised to find that most of the park was actually dedicated to horticultural exhibits. In fact, I found garden sections dedicated to the flora of other Pacific Island groups like Fiji, Samoa, and so forth. Everything was of course carefully labeled and all the plants seemed to thrive in the wet, lush conditions. Despite the fact that we were visiting in January, many of the plants were blooming, and some of those blossoms were the strangest things I've ever seen. One resembled a white starburst, another resembled a red flame, and one resembled the tail of a lion insofar as it resembled anything I've seen before at all. |
Monika: We got out at the Weimea Valley Audubon Center. It turned out that the falls were at the end of a kilometer long park with tropical plants from all over. There was a section for South-America, for Guam, and of course a lot of Hawaiian plants. |
Bob: The road we followed through the park ended in the very pretty Waimea waterfall. The waterfall fell about 25 feet into a circular pool with craggy sides of dark basaltic rock. The water was clearly warm enough to swim and in fact several youngsters and a couple of adults were swimming in the pool beneath the waterfall. |
Monika: . 15 years ago, they must have bused us directly to the falls and back again. I am glad, I came again to see the whole center and take pictures of all the unusual flowers. The falls itself were pretty but not as large as I remembered. |
Bob: On the way back from the waterfall we detoured to an old religious site which consisted of a roughly square platform or terrace of lava rocks. Down the path a ways was some recreated old Hawaiian houses. Two small "grass shack" buildings recreated the men's and women's dining areas for the village; men ate separately from the women and children and even had different permitted foods in their diets. Women, for example, could not eat pork. Apparently the old Hawaiian religion really had a lot of taboos that served to keep the people in line. |
Monika: There also was a small old Hawaiian village that had some of the old houses recreated. We enjoyed particular the women's cookhouse, where the MEN cooked for the WOMEN who then ate in the women's eating house. |
Bob: After a quick lunch at the restaurant just outside the entrance, we visited the gift shop and bought a Christmas ornament, a thimble, and a book on how to pronounce Hawaiian as I was having a devil of a time trying to pronounce a lot of the longer words or place names. Back at the main highway we crossed over to watch some daredevil surfers and swimmers brave waves cresting at about 20-25 feet. Very impressive. The bus drive home was a pleasant way to see much of the northern coast of Oahu. |
Monika: We had a quick lunch at the snackbar, and then went out of the valley across the street to the beach to ogle at the surf and the surfers and of course take pictures. It was really amazing how long some of these guys stayed on their surf boards. The surf churned up the beach and kids that were right on the water's edge were repeatedly dragged under by a big wave hitting them. I remembered being tossed about by much smaller surf and really had no wish to go in and get seawater and sand into mouth, eyes, and nose. After Bob had gotten one final movie of a guy riding a wave all the way to the beach, we went back to the bus stop. We had thought about maybe getting off again, but by this time, we were tired enough. So we decided to just enjoy the ride home. Unfortunately, the windows on the bus were rather dirty, so, although we could look outside, picture taking was impossible. We saw a few more beaches with high surf, but once we had circled the top to the east side, the surf was markedly down and no one was out in the water anymore. It was interesting riding along this side of the island. The mountains came down to the road and it was rather sparsely settled, except around some of the more touristy areas, like the Polynesian Culture Center. Our way back wound itself through the mountains, where a tunnel had replaced the old curvy road to the top and back. |
Bob: We even returned in time to see another hula music and dance session at Waikiki Beach just after the sun set. This time, however, I remembered to take a movie of the hula dancing! |
Monika: After we got back, we went back to the beach at Waikiki and encountered yet another hula dancing group. |
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