We had a very civilised flight time which was at 10:00 so we didn’t have to leave the hotel until just before 8am as it is only about 15 minutes to the airport, although we haven’t heard the planes during our entire stay. We delivered the car back to the hire company then went over to check in. Slightly worryingly we had to leave our bags by the side of the road although they had been tagged it seemed a little strange not seeing them vanish off behind a curtain! We grabbed a drink then went off to the gate to wait for our flight. They don’t hang around on Hawaiian airways, we were scheduled to leave at 10.05 and we were taxiing down the runway at 10.04 to make sure we hit our takeoff slot. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy so we didn’t get much of a view of the island as we were flying over it. This is one of our longer flights, almost an hour then it was off the other end and after collecting our baggage the painful process of collecting the hire car, if I was still working I would offer myself as a consultant to work out the collection process as it seems to take an unnecessary amount of time to actually get the keys. I am not quite sure why but we seem to have a Red Dodge Charger which looks very butch and quite different to the grey Nissan type cars we have had up until now, after loading the bags we set off for Lahaina which should be about 30 minutes from the airport. Unfortunately as has been the case on all of the islands we hit a traffic jam and it ended up taking us about an hour and a half to do 13 miles! We eventually got to the town and found a parking space then set off on the historic walk I had found in the book. Our first stop was the Baldwin house which is the oldest house still standing on Maui. It was built as a four room single level structure for the Revenrend Ephraim Spaulding in 1834, but he was taken ill in 1836 and returned to Massachusetts, Reverend Baldwin and his family who were already on the island moved in. They had eight children although two died in infancy and they expanded the house as the family expanded. It was interesting in that all the rooms were very large and the rooms facing the ocean had larger windows to make good use of the breeze that come form the sea. After we had walked round the house we went to Hale Pa‘ahao which means stuck-in-irons house and was Lahaina’s “new” prison in the 1850s. During the peak of the whaling era, the small village of Lahaina was rampant with rowdy sailors who were ready for fun and relaxation along with villagers who were willing to play and trade with them. The need for a prion became apparent but it would seem that it wasn’t particularly hard labour that they endured in the prison as we read the account of one prisoner who seemed to be happy that he was fed and could lie back and smoke and play chequers with other inmates during the day. After stopping for a bit of lunch we went to Wo Hing temple which was created by a group of Chinese who had settled on the island. The bottom floor was used for celebrations, weddings, funerals that type of thing, and the upstairs was the temple. Unfortunately health and safety wont let people go up to the first floor as the guide rail is very low so we had to be satisfied with the pictures that were downstairs, however, on the grounds they had converted the cook house into a theatre and they had films made by Thomas Edison documenting Hawaiian life in the 1890s it was quite interesting as they had film of streets we had walked down in Honolulu. We finished the walk around the old town down by the sea and after watching some surfers we ended up at the Banyan tree which was planted to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the missionaries. I love Banyan trees, they spread and provide shade an cover but also seem to grow spurs and additional trunks so they can support themselves. By this time it was about 5pm and the humidity was starting to take its toll so after a quick stop for supplies at Safeway we went to the hotel. They seemed to think it was our anniversary and have provided us with a bottle of Champaigne, not quite sure where they go that idea from but I am not going to disagree so we parked the car, unpacked and sat on the balcony watching the sun go down and having a few of the beers we had brought – the Champaign was a little warm so we will have that tomorrow when it has fully chilled!
