Travis travels to Hawaii

G'day. Aloha!

Sooooo much has happened! I absolutely have to tell you at least a little bit about it. But I'll try to keep it short so it doesn't get too long.

So, I flew to Kauai! Of course not alone, but with my two older ones and “the children”. But it was a helicopter and just the four of us, actually five of us, of course, and the pilot Nick! Of course I can't forget that!

And now comes the best part: we flew with no doors!! That may have been windy, I can tell you. Everything had to be securely fastened, my older ones couldn't have anything in their pockets. Of course, Travis was also secured! Luckily my oldest strapped me in well!

So I'm telling you. Maybe that was an adventure. But the view from above of this wonderful and partly wild landscape of Kaua'i (the "Garden Island") was worth every drop of my fearful sweat. I'll show you what I mean:

We also saw a waterfall, which was important in a "Jurassic Park." I don't know this park, but everyone else probably knew what to do with it.

Despite all the enthusiasm, in the end I was quite happy that we had arrived safely back on the ground.

As you can see in the photo, everyone also had life jackets around their stomachs. Things like that always calm me down. I didn't have one myself, they probably weren't available in my size.

After this excitement, the flight with my two older ones to Maui was no longer so special for me. The “kids” stayed on Kaua’i for two more nights. The three of us have already gotten our first impression of Maui. We went on a hike at the foot of the Haleakala volcano.

We saw a lot of humpback whales on the way out. Half of the North Pacific's humpback whales come to the waters around Hawaii, especially Maui, at this time of year to give birth and raise their young.

And imagine, soon we'll take a special boat trip so we can see them even more up close. This is called “whale watching”. Logical. Oh, I'm so excited just thinking about it!

After the hike we looked at the Iao Valley and the so-called Iao Needle. When you see the mountain, you immediately know why it is called that.

The next day the “children” arrived in Maui around noon. Of course we picked them up from the airport. Because we all live together in a slightly larger apartment and also have a shared car.

And today we were all on the volcanic mountain together. It's 3000 meters high! We had to make a few turns until we were at the top. I wanted to count them first, but there were so many great views along the way that I kept getting distracted and then forgetting where I was. No matter, we drove through the clouds and then the sun shone again above. Like flying!

But the biggest attraction up there is of course the view into the volcano crater - even though Haleakala hasn't erupted for a long time.

There is also a plant growing up there that can only be found here. That's what you call "endemic," my oldest said. The plant is called Silversword.

It is probably around 50 years old and only blooms once. We only saw one or two of the already withered specimens up close. The flowers themselves actually look red.

On the way down the sun was already quite low. The clouds over the sea shone particularly brightly. Almost as if they were made of gold!

At the end of the day we watched the sunset over the sea and the whales in the distance from the roof of our building - that's what we call the rooftop here. Such a wonderful day!

Speaking of which: Have I already told you that I really love sunrises and sunsets and love watching them over and over again? Especially - although not exclusively - when they take place by the sea.

Tomorrow we'll drive the "Road to Hana". Everyone says this is another highlight here. I have no idea whether the light will be particularly bright there. But of course I will let you know when I know more.

Until then, love from Travis the Buddy Bear