ALOOOHA! Back in the bosom of the Garden Isle. Let’s do BIRDS.
Looking the other way toward the state park, around the corner, with extremely popular camping sites.
The weather was inclement as you can tell by the lack of visitors but we did get time to eat our picnic and 5-10 minutes to sit out in chairs and ENJOY.
Regular visitors to Anini know that you can’t trust the weather and bring various shelters or find themselves a spot in the trees but these guys are just letting it happen.
Spotted Dove (also called the Mountain Dove, Pearl-necked Dove, or Lace-necked Dove).
April 22
From the Library and Research Center at the National Tropical Botanical Garden we looked down upon the McBride and Allerton gardens which are wonderful to tour but today we’ve come to visit the exhibition of amazing botanical prints from the Voyage of Discovery series, originally created during Captain James Cook’s 1768-1771 voyage around the world.
Nice.
They had a film that ran about an hour telling the story of the journey and how the British Museum finally printed 100 sets of the more than 700 plates 200 years after they were made. It was well worth a visit.
We had some dang tasty lunch at a local café and then went to the Kukuiolono Park to enjoy the Japanese garden.
Back at the house, splashing around in the river, a Muscovy Duck.
I didn’t know the name of this duck so I googled ‘duck ugly red head’ and found the exactly correct entry. From Brigitte: “Muscovy duck is known as Barbary Duck in culinary terms….. Mighty good in the pot! Mmmmmmm”
The gardens around here are blooming their little heads off. The blooming really kicks off around the end of April so it’s great to see something different every morning. Oh, look at this one! we say all day long.
April 23
The newest, and a profoundly influential bird of Hawaii, the Great Silver Bird. In the middle at the top, there she flies on her regular migration through the sky, holding the economy together.
“Hey whatever…we’re in the SKY.”
Beyond the heiau, that’s the bridge and the river’s mouth that I can see from my bedroom window.
In the afternoon we went to a tour at one of the local farmer’s markets. It was interesting and informative and fun too.
April 24
More Very Aloha.
I just finished reading Michener’s Hawaii and I want to share this story, The Meaning Of the Rainbow from hawaiianlife.com:
“The rainbow is the celestial path that the Hawaiian Gods use to come down to earth from the cloud islands. … The rainbow is also perceived as the pathway that the souls of the dead take to travel to the heavenly realms. …
“The rainbow is thus a symbol of transformation, and those who can freely travel between the upper world and the lower reaches live like gods among humans, enjoying earthly prosperity and abundance.
“Featured as a pathway between dimensions in Hawaiian mythology as it does in various cultures round the world, it also acts as a footstool for Malanaikuaheahea, the wife of the legendary transpacific voyager and astronomer whose name, Maliki’i is also the Hawaiian term for the Pleiades star cluster from which the first Hawaiians came to earth.”
I took the above picture from our seats in this lanai, my favorite Happy Hour, at the Oasis on the Beach restaurant and bar.
April 25
We had another nice dinner party at the house today.
I didn’t take any pictures but I snagged this off Curt’s phone. It’s a professional picture of one of the outriggers that Curt built. This one is in Japan. He’s done a few others too. Very travel-brochure-aloha I think.
cc.
April 26
Wildlife in the garden, since I haven’t got a new bird in a while.
It had been raining a lot overnight, enough to raise the river many inches. In the bottom picture, usually the dock is flat. The dock on the top is next door, fitted out with a lawn chair for your sunning pleasure.
We took a late afternoon pop up to Camas and Curt’s place. I love their kitchen. These are the two that got married last year in June and Sharon and I changed our annual trip from spring to attend.
From this kitchen emerged a full-on Hawaiian luau dinner: chunky chips and nuts, poi (of course), laulau, fall-off-the-bone meaty baked ribs, lomi-lomi, pan fried purple sweet potato wedges that I must make at home, mashed potatoes like I make them, kimchi, green salad, haupia pie, lilikoi pie.
Koa, Curt, Camas, Steve, Sharon
April 27
Haven’t looked up these guys yet – they surely have long necks. We think they’re probably nene since we haven’t seen any other geese-line guys.
Copied from kaneiolouma.org:
“The Kāneiolouma Complex in Poʻipū, Kauaʻi, is considered sacred to the Kanaka Maoli culture, and is a historic landmark. Until recently, hidden by overgrowth, this site remained a complete mystery. Now the ancient village can be glimpsed from the road.
“The feeling of the power and mana of this sacred site is clearly felt by island visitors. In the near future, this new cultural center will be the opening of a new chapter for the Kanaka Maoli culture of Kauaʻi and the world.”
This scene is exactly next to the one above. Copied from thegardenisland.com:
“Four 16-foot kii, representing the four corners of Honua, the pillars in ancient Hawaiian astrology, were placed on Saturday at Ke Kahua O Kaneiolouma.
“The four kii — sometimes mistake for tiki — are the Hawaiian gods Kane, the god of the sky and creation; Ku, the god of war and male pursuits; Lono, the god of peace, rain, and fertility; and Kanaloa, the god of the ocean, who represent the next phase of Ke Kahua O Kaneiolouma restoration work.
“This is not about religion,” said Randy Wichman, historian for Hui Malama O Kaneiolouma, a group organized to care for and restore the historically significant site in Poipu. “This is about navigation, the stars, fishing, and even agriculture.”
I’m not sure how you separate gods from their religion, but of course this guy wants to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.
…and a farewell lunch at the fabulous Beach House Restaurant. This was the view from our seats.
We had to get out early for our tour of historic Waimea, first landing of Captain Cook in 1778, sugar town and early port for whalers.
A charming woman with 80+ years of long, fine stories rich in all that is Aloha and life in Kauai was our guide. She didn’t take us around the town as I expected…but it was fun anyway and the town itself has an historic walking route with great signs for all the stops. Next time we’ll do that.
Hawaiians are nuts for genealogies and our guide was no exception. During the tour of her church’s graveyard we learned how she was related to all the families represented.
Having just finished a second reading of Hawaii and a third time through Unfamiliar Fishes I’ve got a ton of Hawaii stories buzzing around in my head. Thankfully, I did not interrupt the guide.
That building has a story and I forget what it is.
Our tasty lunch stop, Wrangler’s Steakhouse, with a small collection of Paniolo memorabilia Paniolo being the Hawaiian cowboys.
The Hawaiians got some cows from Captain George Vancouver in the early 19th century. King Kamehameha put a kapu on the cows so they multiplied like crazy.
“When “Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) visited California, then still a part of Mexico he was impressed with the skill of the Mexican vaqueros, and invited several to Hawai`i in 1832 to teach the Hawaiian people how to work cattle.
“Even today, traditional paniolo dress, as well as certain styles of Hawaiian formal attire, reflect the Spanish heritage of the vaquero. The traditional Hawaiian saddle, the noho lio, and many other tools of the cowboy’s trade have a distinctly Mexican/Spanish look and many Hawaiian ranching families still carry the names of the vaqueros who married Hawaiian women and made Hawai`i their home.”
At the pier once in use for whalers and sugar transport vessels now just something to look at for the tourists.
More from the pier. That’s the private island of Niihau there on the horizon.
Here’s some of the story from Ms Wiki: “Elizabeth Sinclair purchased Niʻihau in 1864 from the Kingdom of Hawaii and private ownership passed on to her descendants, the Robinson family. … The people of Niʻihau are known for their gemlike lei pûpû (shell lei) craftsmanship, and speak Hawaiian as a primary language.
“The island is generally off-limits to all but relatives of the island’s owners, U.S. Navy personnel, government officials and invited guests, giving it the nickname “The Forbidden Isle.” Beginning in 1987, a limited number of supervised activity tours and hunting safaris have opened to tourists. The island is currently managed by Bruce and Keith Robinson.”
We took a swing by the Hanapepe Salt Ponds Beach. It is not particularly obvious how to get there and hence most popular with the locals. Hold on little girl!
Then we’re home for a nice quiet second-to-last night on the river.
Mount Wai’ale’ale, 99.9% of the time shrouded in clouds. But we check every morning anyway.
A last lunch and we decided to have it at our favorite, Brick Oven Pizza, with leftovers for breakfast to make it double good. Pepperoni pizza, whole wheat thin crust, and the crust gets brushed with butter and garlic.
YUM!
Camas came over to schlep the boards so we could go for a paddle and it was wonderful. We went twice as far as last time and I rode through the skiers’ wakes standing up (last time I sat down…) so yay me.
A wonderful finale to a wonderful time in the Garden Isle – MAHALO Sharon!
sp.
