Hawaii Part 4

Mokoli'i Island, photo by Benjamin

One day, we drove to the North Shore of Oahu. At certain times of the year, the North Shore is where all the really big surfing goes on. When we were there, the waves were pretty small, so no surfing. But we did go snorkeling. No pictures from that, unfortunately.  We stopped at a park where you could see Mokoli'i Island. Benjamin had kayaked there on an excursion with members of his program.  This time, we just observed from a distance.

Mountains to the south of Mokoli'i/Kaneohe Bay.

Here's a red-crested cardinal that we saw at the park. Neat - not native, but neat.

We were staying in the Manoa Valley, where the University of Hawaii at Manoa is located. At the top of the valley is the Lyon Arboretum, a university-owned arboretum. Of course we had to visit it, and we did, on our last morning.

This was a little more like what I was expecting from Hawaii - tropical, rainy jungle. We didn't get to see nearly enough of the gardens, since there were tons of little paths wandering through the forests, and we had to stay on the main one due to time constraints. But what we saw was very cool.

This is a Thai-style walking Buddha statue in the gardens.

Manoa Falls. Photograph by Benjamin

 Right next to the arboretum was Manoa Falls. I didn't get a chance to take the hike, but Benjamin did with some of the other people in the program. No-one paid any attention to the danger signs. Including Benjamin.

Photo by Benjamin

This is a statue of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China. Although this was a Chinese cemetery, there is no explanation of why the statue is there. There were a lot of statues around Honolulu though, so I guess it isn't really out of place.

And one last look at Benjamin, standing by the Center for Korean Studies on the University of Hawaii campus. He was in Hawaii for three weeks for work purposes before I came to visit and bring him home.

Now that I am done with my Hawaii pictures (I took a lot more, of course, but I won't subject you to those unless you come to visit us) I will have to find something else to blog about. Ah well, fall is almost here, and with it (slightly) cooler weather, so hopefully we will be able to do some hiking soon.

Hawaii, Part 3

One of the days in Hawaii, we drove out to the westernmost tip of Oahu, to Kaena Point. It just goes to show how different the various areas of the island are; Honolulu and the Manoa Valley are pretty lush, while this side was much more scrubby and dry.

 The point is a sort of wildlife reserve, specifically for birds and Monk Seals. Because the birds that nest in the area did not evolve with predators and nest on the ground, they are vulnerable to introduced pests, such as mongoose, so this fence was built across the point to keep them out.

To get to the point, you go through this air-lock like contraption. Pretty cool actually.

There are tide pools and some vegetation on the point, and presumably, at the right time of year, birds. We didn't see anything nesting, since it was the middle of August.

We did, however, see some Monk Seals. They were sunning themselves on the rocks, and weren't particularly active.  It was the middle of the day, after all.

After we hiked back to the beach from the point, we took a cue from the seals and sunned ourselves and floated in the water. I didn't like everything about Hawaii, but I did enjoy having the ocean so near, and I could easily get used to floating in the ocean every day.

Hawaii Pictures Part 2

So, as I said previously, we are big nerds when it comes to arboreta and botanical gardens.  On our honeymoon, we managed to spend about 5 hours in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and every time we go visit my parents in Bellevue, we have to stop by the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. And it is not uncommon for Benjamin to stop on a hike to examine a tree (hey, his dad is a forester and he was a forest fire fighter in college. He comes by his interest honestly).

Benjamin, trying to blend in.

 All that is to say that we are pretty used to looking at trees. But the trees in Hawaii, wow. I have never seen so many enormous trees. The one pictured above is big all right, but it probably wasn't the biggest. And the other thing about these giants is that they are not really that old. Most of the gardens we toured weren't planted until the early to mid-20th century, so they were, at most 120 years old! Just. Wow.

 

Not only were there enormous trees, there were also some very weird trees. Like this one, which is only improved by the signs. According to the self-guided tour flyer we had, the cannonballs are bluish inside, and smell really bad.

  

These things really are about the size of cannonballs, and it would be extremely unpleasant to be conked on the head by one.

 

One of the gardens had a ton of epiphytes.The tree in the picture below is actually all epiphyte, just hanging out on a dead stump.

I had no idea how many different varieties of palms there are. The ones we probably all think of when we hear "palm tree" are Caribbean Royal Palms, and as their name suggests, they are from the Caribbean. I didn't really get a good picture of one, because they are so tall, and pointing a camera into the sun isn't really a good way to take photos. But they do have a very strange, um, appendage called the crownshaft, which we noticed on some trees on campus before we got to the gardens, and which we both thought looked rather phallic. Benjamin doesn't really have a dirty mind, so if he saw one and thought that, well...

Anyway, returning to other palms - there are many, many varieties in the world, of all shapes and sizes.  Some are short and stout, while others are reeeeeeaaalllly tall.

 

And finally, since I seem to be going all classy today sarcasm, here is a photo of a sausage tree too.

Yup, those things that look like corn dogs are actually fruit, hanging on peduncles (which is now my new favorite word). Apparently baboons and giraffes like to eat them.

Next time I will give the flora a rest and give you some scenery.