The Hanauma Bay tour dropped us back at Fairway Villa and after changing clothes we hopped in the car to check out Waimea Falls. So far any attempts we made to find a waterfall had been unsuccessful and now we were determined to find one. After all, what’s a trip to Hawai'i without waterfalls?
I didn’t realize as we set out that the Falls was located in the Audubon Center, I just knew we were looking for Waimea Valley. We found the turn off and drove down a little road lined by big , beautiful trees. After parking, we walked to a little building where we picked up the literature and we learned we were at the Waimea Valley Audubon Center. We were told that we were in the right place and that the falls was an easy ¾ mile walk down the dirt road. The volunteer gave us a map of the Valley and wished us Aloha.
Right off the bat we spotted an ‘Alae”ula or Common Moorhen. I had never seen one before but it was right there in front of us matching the picture in the brochure. According to the brochure there are less than 500 of these birds left and they are found only on O’ahu and Kaua’i and yes they are considered endangered.
We’d been seeing a small, red headed bird with a crest all over the island but we didn’t know what it was. Sandy thought it looked like a cardinal but it wasn’t all red and it was much smaller than our mainland cardinals. As we strolled along and looked at the material they gave us there it was, in the brochure! And almost on cue one landed in a tree right near us. Sandy was right, it was a cardinal. They are called Red-Crested Cardinals.
As we walked along we passed bright spots of red ginger and restored traditional Hawaiian structures, part of the Historical Conservation project. It was a pleasant walk.
After walking up a mild incline, the trail leveled off again and there was the falls. To my surprise, people were swimming under it! I don’t know why I never considered that but it had not crossed my mind. My first impulse was to jump in too but I’d changed out of my bathing suit before we headed out and there were warning signs posted. Not warning you not to swim, but warning you not to swim if you had an open cut. I guess that some kinds of bacteria grow in fresh water in tropical areas. It never gets cold enough to kill them off like it does in New England so the warm fresh water makes a good environment for them to grow and florish. I had some blisters on my feet so decided that it was smarter to resist the urge so we just sat and enjoyed the ambiance for awhile.
Eventually we headed back to the car and pointed it in the direction of Honolulu. We tried a different road back and it led us to a tunnel through the Ko’olau Mountain range and past the turn off to Pali Lookout. The Island was starting to feel familiar.
Back at the condo we decided to spend a relaxing evening and order pizza in. The Pizza was good but this is one time I have to say it was way more expensive than the mainland. It was just a basic pizza, no special toppings or anything but the bill was $27.00! Well, we were on vacation so I guess it was OK. J
2 comments:
Oh darn you didn't put in the Ficus tree. Or how ever you spell it. Your right it was the easiest walk that we had there. After all the lighthouse was trying on our souls. LOL I still have that bird shirt. It does fit a bit better now than when I first bought it. You do such a good job of putting all this together and into words.
I thought about the Ficus tree story but I couldn't remember the insurance comapany that had the ad and I figured trying to explain it would just be too long. Do you remember the name of the Hamburger place we ate lunch in Honolulu?
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