Å leva som ein student

Å vere fulltidsstudent betyr ikkje berre å jobbe foran pulten med blyant, papir og lærebok. Det er viktig å koble av til tider, og det har eg nyleg gjort. Førre veke reiste eg til Bergen for å ta meg ein ferietur i utlandet.

For to år sia blei eg kjent med amerikanske Lauren, og ettersom eg er relativt god på å halde kontakten med vennene mine, så har me forblitt vener. For ca 3-4 månadar sia flytta ho til Hawaii for å jobbe på ein båt (snorkling og kval-safari). Difor nytta eg sjansen til å ta meg ein tur til Hawaii. Dermed gjekk turen frå Bergen til Hawaii, via London og Los Angeles.

Honolulu. Joggetur i parken. Litt andre trer enn på Evenstad

Enkel humor på Starbucks

Å som me kosar oss

Å kjenne folk som er lokalkjente er gull verdt når ein besøkjer ukjente stadar. Og det har eg merka denne veka.

Fyrste dagen dro me ut på ein tur gjennom jungelen. Me hoppa i "vinelands" som er veldig sprettent og mjukt, deretter følgte me elva via fossefall/dammar heilt ned til sjøen. Ein fantastisk tur som få turistar får oppleve (me måtte gå gjennom ein del privat eigendom).

slik reiser me på Hawaii

ein eigen fornøyelsespark i jungelen

Klare for tur

Seinare var eg med på camping med fleire lokalkjente folk, og me gjorde alt frå klippehopping til utforskning av undervannsgrotter. Adrenalinfylt tur med andre ord.

Etter ei veke på Hawaii er det på tide å reise heim til Noreg, men ettersom me har langhelg denne veka skal eg vere heime i Fresvik for å samle inn data til bacheloppgåva mi.

Dream come true

For years I’ve been dreaming about climbing a volcano and Friday 4th of September I did it. Lauren, my friend from Idaho, went to work, so I had a day to do whatever I’d like. I borrowed her car and drove up to Haleakala National Park. The tallest peak of Haleakala is at 10 000 feet (3000 meters). I didn’t drive all the way up though, but parked at about 8000 feet (2400 meters) and hiked down the crater at 7000 feet (2100 meters). It was so massive, and such an incredible surface. It’s been 225 years since it last erupted. The rocks were all sharp, dark and it was very sandy. The only camera I had with me was an old school one-use camera, but I’m posting some pictures I found on the internet.

Maui. The tall mountain is Halakeala Volcano/Crater

The red line indicates my route

I went without water and food, and that was a rookie mistake. The weather was good, since I was so high up it didn’t feel very warm, but the sun was shining. I left home at around 8ish, and started hiking at 10:15, not long before I usually eat lunch. Anyway, not much I could do about the water/food situation, so I just started running.

I ran on the ash/sand in the crater from west to east and turned after a couple of hours. I went further south and back west so I came back up the tallest part of the volcano. After a total of 4 hours and 16.7 miles (27km) I was so thirsty (and hungry) that it went really slow up the final 3000 feet. Thankfully there was a water fountain there. After drinking «gallons» I asked some people to get a ride to my (Laurens) car.

Back to Laurens house her friends were throwing a birthday surprise party for Kate. Since she comes from a ranch they made a cowboy party. Good fun with horseshoe throwing, tug of war, sack-race, bb-gun shooting and so on. Tomorrow we are a group who are going camping, but I don’t really know where except from that it will be close to the "7 sacred pools"  (link to google search).

7 sacred pools

Maui

I arrived Maui on Tuesday 1st of September after one night in Honolulu. Lauren from Idaho met me at the airport with a alei. It’s been over two years since I’ve seen her (in South Africa) so it was pretty cool to meet her again. The fist thing we did was head to some of her friends house. We decided to hike, and i thought hiking up a volcano would be pretty cool. But it was not going to be anything like that!

Back of the pickup

In the jungle, the mighty jungle

Fist we drove to the jungle, where a family lived. They had made a paradise in middle of nowhere. A big pond, a slackline, a treehut with a climbing wall, a swing and all sorts of stuff. So ofcourse we stayed there for a while before making a move. It was such a hot day, so it was good to cool down, and just chill.

Landon jumps in the pond. Slackline and surfboard in the water.

In the middle of the jungle. Awesome!

Before hiking we had to drive a few miles in the jungle, passing a lot of «NO TREPASSING» signs. Then we were told to behave like ninjas, since we were going through some private properties, and they didn’t like people going through, escpesially not foreigners/mainlanders.

Driving in the jungle. With Lara, Carlone, John and Trent.

Silently and quick we ran to a field of bungee plants. We jumped from one bunch of plants to another. It was so much fun, and it didn’t matter how hard we jumped we didn’t get hurt. The is a sacret place only for the local-locals. Such an awesome start of my Maui holiday, and it was not getting any worse. We got to a river, avoiding some bulldogs (more ninja-work). By the river we got to jump from cliffs and climb walls in the ponds.  After hiking/swimming/jumping down the river we got to the ocean. Here was a massive cave, and by the shore there were coconut trees with ripe coconuts. Our local «guide» climbed up within 10 seconds, kicking down the nuts for us. Then we cracked them opened on the rocks. Coconut water have never tasted better.

Awesome plants. jumping like crazy

Pointing in the next direction we are going

We are everywhere

Hidden ponds in the jungle

So much to see, so much to do

In the end we reached the ocean

We had to head back to the pickups, walking through wasphive, tall grass and more private property. In the end we got back to my new friends house in the jungle, and cleaned up in the pond. Some of the guys went to the shop to buy food. We had a big dinner in the main house and chilled with beer and vodka. By this time I was pretty tired, and when we drove home in the back of the pickup the sky was full of stars and a full moon.

Lauren enjoying a drink from the coconut

It was easier to break the coconut in Hawaii than in Zambia. Landon shows how it's done

Pretty decent view

Lauren coming up the hills. We hiked through the jungle in the background.

The next day

The following day I woke up around 6:30 AM, and I thought Lauren had gone to work, but she was still sleeping downstairs. Her boat trip got cancelled, not good for her, but good for me. She could now show me more of this beautiful island. I made myself some breakfast and when she got up we had a workout in the sunny parkway before going to the shop.  

During the day we went to the beach, had a mai thai (local drink), sushi, and watch the sunset in Kihei before heading back to her house. Tomorrow she is going to work (for sure), and the plan is that I’m coming with her to go snorkeling. Else than that we haven’t planned much.

------no photoes from this day----

Honolulu

For 9-10 years I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii, and now I am here. On Sunday morning, my Godmother asked me if I was excited, but I didn’t really feel it that way. It just felt like I was only travelling from A to B. But today, Monday, when I was leaving LAX I started to get excited. That’s when I kinda realized that I’m actually going to Hawaii.

LAX to Honolulu!