Kaena Point - the jumping off place for souls

It rained a lot overnight and was gloomily cloudy this morning, so we had to revise our plan to hike the Maunawili Trail. Instead, we drove up to the North Shore and hiked out to Kaena Point, the westernmost point of the island. For Hawaiians this is a sacred place. It is believed that as the land meets the sea the distinction between earth and ocean—life and death—begins to blur. Thus, Kaena Point is considered to be a "jumping off" place for souls.

For us it was a great hike - 10 kilometres along a very rugged coastline with the mountains behind us. The wind was wild and the sun was pretty strong. When we got to the Point we had our picnic lunch sitting on rocks with our feet in the water.

On the way home we stopped off first at Haleiwa for a snack and then at the Dole Plantation just to have a look. It's a trashy tourist place, but the rainbow eucalyptus trees (see the detail in the extra photo) are stunningly beautiful.

Tiziano was exhausted by the time we got home. He definitely felt muscles that he didn't know he had. So I cooked a veggie curry with rice and I'm sure it will be an early night for all of us.