Shades of '"Whicker Island"!

Another balmy day in paradise and one on which we planned to take the scenic 'must do' drive to Hana, a twisting two-hour breeze along the Hana Highway, down the east side of the Island ..... officially acknowledged to be one of USA's most scenic routes. Before describing our outing, it has to be said that during breakfast we observed a sudden influx of harbour-bound traffic and casually commented-on this to our server, hoping for an explanation. He shrugged his shoulders and said "Yeah, you're right. Must have heard you were in town!" Funny guy!! Unperturbed, we Skyped our beloved Jenny and received a text from Dave, who reassuringly confirmed that he was still on Earth! Matters of state dealt with and on-a-roll, we took-off for the Hana Highway. Despite employing every trick in the travellers handbook, phase one of the mission was hampered by our failing to locate 'The Picnicstop' ..... an establishment featured prominently on the Tourist Map and boasting fabulous bespoke sandwiches, but no address! Anyway, we failed to solve the clues to reveal the hidden treasure!! Nevertheless, we managed to gas-up the car in the general vicinity of the Picnicstop and found an alternative less-perfect deli, where vitals could be obtained. The drive to Hana turned out to be a real gem and whist its probably only of the order of seventy miles, its narrow twisting switchback turns and single passage bridges make progress 'measured'. The mix of 'local' and (rooky) 'tourist' drivers doesn't help ..... at one spot, I found myself in third-spot in a convoy of five cars when the guy behind me braked and the last car in the group (a monster, black, pick-up) 'took-him-out;! No injuries, just a lot of glass, paper-work, and recriminations ...... I recalled an Incident in Gillette (Wyoming), last year! The scenery was amazing and each turn revealed something new. From awesome ocean vistas ......

.......... to sugar cane fields, dense tropical rainforest settings, brimming with banana trees, cocoa-nut palms, pineapple plants, orchids and much more.

We also discovered the peculiarities of the Island's micro-climates ..... one minute, blue skies and bright sunshine, then several minutes of heavy tropical rainfall. Typical of the Islanders approach to commercial enterprise, there are no shops en route or indeed in Hana. However, at various points in the 'jungle' there are pull-offs for pop-up barbecue camps, banana bread and tropical fruit stalls, and an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven gaff!!!

On the return journey, I observed that every third car seemed to be a Ford Mustang convertible. It dawned on me that this was true for the whole of Maui and explained why the guy at Alamo had asked me if I wanted 'a convertible'. Incoming tourists apparently aspire to stand-out from the crowd and tend to 'up-grade' to a Mustang .... but, just like the Monty Python sketch, there are just too may Mustangs on the Island! Finally and for the sake of prompting my memory at a later date, it has to be said that our 'catch-of-day' dinner was truly memorable ....

........ not least because it was accompanied throughout by a guitar-playing Hawaiian singer, who happened to sing the following version of a a very apt song!