Sunday, February 8, 2009

Battered and Bruised

We did the Nu'uanu-Judd hike on Saturday. It was very beautiful but it left us battered and bruised. It wasn't particularly hard-just very slippery. Not to mention the mosquitoes were swarming and blood thirsty.
Owen and Erica found ducks. I kept telling Owen they were chickens since everyone keeps chickens around here but sure enough, he was right-ducks!
This is the start, we are all clean and eager. We had to cross this stream to get to the hike.
The first bamboo forest.
Some very tall trees.
Hope has the lady bug this hike!
Erik doing the Rubik's cube and hiking.
This very cool rock wall was dripping water.
Look-we have seasons! A tiny patch of orange and yellow leaves.
Find a tree and boys will climb it...until I told them there were probably rat nests in it and you wouldn't believe how fast they got down! This is a big banyan tree.
This section was all roots and extremely muddy-far muddier than Aiea Loop we did last hike. In this section on the way back the boys came running past me screaming, "Dogs, dogs!" I look back and sure enough-3 pittbulls coming out of the thick trees...looking down the path and back at the boys...probably wondering what they were running from.
The second bamboo forest.
The end of the trail. We could see Kailua in the distance. So much lush green gorgeous vegetation.
This is the ship that is STILL stuck on the reef. Do you see how light blue the water is where the ship is-that means it is very shallow! Past the ship is deep water and in front is basically a sand bar where they could pretty much walk to shore. The little tiny boat just behind and to the left of the ship is the dive boat. As long as the weather holds they will still try and figure out how to get it off the reef but as soon as a swell comes they will need to dynamite the reef.
A monkey in a tree.
It rained on us in this section on the way up.
I wiped out hard right here on the way up and here Erik comes down with Erica on his shoulders-go figure.
Back in the Cook pines. These pines are native to The Isle of Pines which is between Fiji and Australia.
More strange trees. Each section brought such a different variety of plant life. It really made for such a beautiful hike.
The pools just down stream from where we crossed over. The boys were soaked after this. I wiped out again leaving here.
Almost done but now filthy and weary.
Crossing the stream and the last slick part. The worst of the mosquitoes waited for us while we changed at the car and then we had a car full of them!

2 comments:

Clint, Tanya, Dane and Kimber said...

Thanks for sharing all of your beautiful pictures... You really are so lucky to live in such a gorgeous place, however I know that skeeters and rain can get old!!!

Amy Kaylor Photography said...

Oh my goodness, that looks like such rich family fun in the most beautiful setting! We are hoping to visit the JW Marriott just outside of Waikiki as we have tons of points to burn sometime this Spring.