Well, my time in Hawaii is coming to a rapid end. I would stay if I could but seeing as my Visa expires on the second of February, the US Government isn't so keen on me staying... Bastards! At the moment I am just trying to enjoy my last days. O'ahu is getting cold again but it hasn't stopped us from skating or swimming in waterfalls. The other day Ethan, Nellie myself and Ethan's house mate Keiran headed out to some un known destination for a hike and a swim. We trekked along a dirt path for half an hour or so before reaching the bottom of a massive waterfall. It must have scaled 50 meters at least up the cliff wall. It left a deep swim able pond at the bottom which was packed to the brim with tourists and my all time favourite... Screaming, snotty nosed little children! Love em. Slightly disappointed with the end result Ethan ushered us all into the jungle off the side of the walking track. He lead us up steep muddy banks and eventually to the bottom of a banyan tree which scaled it's way up the cliff side. We climbed and climbed until we reached the top of the tree, stepped back off of it onto the cliff edge and then began climbing the next banyan. Eventually we reached the top of the cliff and were perched on the edge of the very top of the waterfall. At the top there was another pool (this one was obviously empty since life and limb was risked to reach it) and then the waterfall continued up another cliff, this one about 25 meters tall. The view was incredible, it showed the whole valley all the way to the ocean. We swam and then had to scram as it began to rain and climbing down 50 meters of wet, slippery tree did not sound like the ideal situation. If you don't know a banyan tree, google it. They are incredible.
We haven't really been doing much in the downhill skating department. We have been riding our regular backyard pool fairly often and I am happy to focus on that for the moment as each session could be my last. I have plans to come back here in May but the problem with pools is they have a tendency to be demolished or filled in. Gotta make it count while it's there. We have been to a couple of skateparks too.
It's funny, the definition of lazy changes so much depending on where you are. In Finland, if it was snowing like mad or pouring with rain and freezing cold, lazy would mean leaving the house once to get a coffee from down the road and doing nothing but watching movies all day. I feel like I have been lazy over here for the last couple of weeks but thinking about it now, we have been swimming everyday, skating something everyday, hiking almost everyday. I suppose I'm not that slack after all.
Each day, Nellie heads out for a run up Koko head. I wasn't really sure what a Koko head was so I decided to tag along one morning. Turns out, it's a massive mountain which has old train tracks running straight up the side of it. I don't know if they used to mine something from the top but there are concrete bunkers at the peak which I assume are military (they are ruins now) so perhaps the tracks were used to get supplies up. Either way, it's a hell of a climb! Nellie told me about a friend she took up there who literally crapped her pants half way up!! With that image in my mind, we began the climb up. It' hard walking because you can't just walk normally. The train tracks are surrounded by bush on each side so you have to walk on the wooden beams that support the metal tracks. It is almost vertical in some places. Not only that but it was Martin Luther King day which meant every man and his dog (plus wife, mum, 4 kids and the kitchen sink) were trekking up. Taking children up there is dumb. Nothing short of dumb. In one section the tracks turn into a bridge which has a very substantial drop below it. When I say bridge, I mean they built the tracks over a valley so you still have to walk across while balancing on the wooden beams. It was epic. Really cool though and I am happy that I did it. I made it to the top without pooping my pants which was a plus side for sure! If you are ever in Hawaii and you don't have the kids and kitchen sink with you, climb Koko head!
Whoah, we had a race too. I forgot about it! Race number 5 I think in the Winter Outlaw Series. Death Slalom! Mackenzie Yoshida who is the man behind all these race (there are 6 races every winter) went all out for this one. It was some form of boardercross. Downhill racing, with slalom cones, kicker ramps and obstacles to ollie. I was still sick so I skated a little but didn't enter the race. I got some filming done and snapped some photos though. The hike up to the road took us past a coconut farm which I hadn't seen before. Suffice to say, within seconds Ethan was up a tree followed by two other locals. The race went smoothly, there was loads of time so mess around on the kicker ramps and get used to them. Ethan's mate Poseidon (yes, he is the God of the sea!) was pulling out 360's, finger flips and I suppose you would call it a finger shove it? He was rad anyway. Not much else I can say about the event, it was awesome, Mackenzie did an amazing job, good times were had, people crashed and people did rad stuff. It was a good day!
That's all that I remember for now. Will probably get one more of these in before I leave. It's looking like my plans have changed and I won't be heading back to Europe just yet. Gonna try and extend this skate trip and make 2013 a year of constant adventure. More on that later, we will see if it happens.
We haven't really been doing much in the downhill skating department. We have been riding our regular backyard pool fairly often and I am happy to focus on that for the moment as each session could be my last. I have plans to come back here in May but the problem with pools is they have a tendency to be demolished or filled in. Gotta make it count while it's there. We have been to a couple of skateparks too.
It's funny, the definition of lazy changes so much depending on where you are. In Finland, if it was snowing like mad or pouring with rain and freezing cold, lazy would mean leaving the house once to get a coffee from down the road and doing nothing but watching movies all day. I feel like I have been lazy over here for the last couple of weeks but thinking about it now, we have been swimming everyday, skating something everyday, hiking almost everyday. I suppose I'm not that slack after all.
Each day, Nellie heads out for a run up Koko head. I wasn't really sure what a Koko head was so I decided to tag along one morning. Turns out, it's a massive mountain which has old train tracks running straight up the side of it. I don't know if they used to mine something from the top but there are concrete bunkers at the peak which I assume are military (they are ruins now) so perhaps the tracks were used to get supplies up. Either way, it's a hell of a climb! Nellie told me about a friend she took up there who literally crapped her pants half way up!! With that image in my mind, we began the climb up. It' hard walking because you can't just walk normally. The train tracks are surrounded by bush on each side so you have to walk on the wooden beams that support the metal tracks. It is almost vertical in some places. Not only that but it was Martin Luther King day which meant every man and his dog (plus wife, mum, 4 kids and the kitchen sink) were trekking up. Taking children up there is dumb. Nothing short of dumb. In one section the tracks turn into a bridge which has a very substantial drop below it. When I say bridge, I mean they built the tracks over a valley so you still have to walk across while balancing on the wooden beams. It was epic. Really cool though and I am happy that I did it. I made it to the top without pooping my pants which was a plus side for sure! If you are ever in Hawaii and you don't have the kids and kitchen sink with you, climb Koko head!
Whoah, we had a race too. I forgot about it! Race number 5 I think in the Winter Outlaw Series. Death Slalom! Mackenzie Yoshida who is the man behind all these race (there are 6 races every winter) went all out for this one. It was some form of boardercross. Downhill racing, with slalom cones, kicker ramps and obstacles to ollie. I was still sick so I skated a little but didn't enter the race. I got some filming done and snapped some photos though. The hike up to the road took us past a coconut farm which I hadn't seen before. Suffice to say, within seconds Ethan was up a tree followed by two other locals. The race went smoothly, there was loads of time so mess around on the kicker ramps and get used to them. Ethan's mate Poseidon (yes, he is the God of the sea!) was pulling out 360's, finger flips and I suppose you would call it a finger shove it? He was rad anyway. Not much else I can say about the event, it was awesome, Mackenzie did an amazing job, good times were had, people crashed and people did rad stuff. It was a good day!
That's all that I remember for now. Will probably get one more of these in before I leave. It's looking like my plans have changed and I won't be heading back to Europe just yet. Gonna try and extend this skate trip and make 2013 a year of constant adventure. More on that later, we will see if it happens.
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