Day 7: Captain Cook to Manuka Wayside

January 17, 2016

The Manago Hotel is best described as "funky". It is old and run down, but judgng from the guestbook, everyone likes it. It is still owned and managed by the Manago family. We think the young lady that we dealt with at the desk was a great grand daughter of the founders. In the common room are display cases with various artifacts, like an old doll in fancy dress. One large case houses twenty or more large baseball related trophies. Their inscriptions are very faded, but they seem to be from the 1950's and to related to a team called the Captain Cook Pirates. I asked the young lady for the back story, and she had no idea. She guessed the trophies might be related to her grandpa, and she allowed that if anyone had told her about it, she would by now have forgotten, having no interest in sport. Sad, we thought. At least our grandkids can one day consult this blog, assuming the technology is still compatible, or they can find a web browser in a museum.

We hung out at Captain Cook until 9 a.m. because of a sign adverising a farmers' market right at Greenwell Garden, Sunday 9-2. We rather thought we might be wasting our time because we had no way to know if the market would really happen and if it would be worthwhile. As it happened there were a large number of tents and the vendors were genuine local growers and crafters. There was even breakfast pizza being made on site, and sausages as well.

We did the circuit of the vendors and got to talk to a beekeeper, a woodworker, a coffee grower, etc.We realized that actually as far as coffee goes, this farmers' market right in the middle of the Kona coffee belt was pretty much ground zero. So even though we really don't think this Kona coffee is that great, we bought some green beans from one of the growers. That way the people back home can have the adventure of roasting their own Kona coffee. We had been told that green beans can not be taken off the island, because Kona has an infestation of borer beetles. But apparently in small quantities it's ok. We are sure that we will not disrupt the coffee growing industry of Seattle or Victoria anyway!

Admiring Koa cutting boards at the farmers' market

This sign is behind the counterat the Manago

The farmers' market at Captain Cook. We decided this was the true centre of this agricultural region.

Buying green coffee from a local grower.

The great grand daughter of the Manago founders.

Reluctantly, we said goodbye to the market and to Captain Cook village, and headed off for points South. Of course, we did not get too far immediately, because we soon arrived at Royal Kona. The people there remembered us, and were suitably amazed that we intended to cycle right the way around the island. We bought another banana bread and settled in on the lanai with all the tasters and the ocean view.

There is a brand of coffee sold by Royal Kona called Lion Brand, which I like because of the bold lion logo. This is clearly not Kona coffee, but its claim to fame is that the antioxidant rich skin is not polished off the beans. I tried some, and .. meh. Dodie says I must really just not like coffee, else I would be more impressed by all these highly touted products.

Again reluctantly, we left our lanai, said goodbye to the Royal Kona people, and finally really set off South.

As we knew it would be, the going was easy for the first 16km. At the turnoff to the (now closed because of Dengue) Hookena Beach Park there is a public water spigot. This is an important community resource, because the area ahead is covered by lava flows and water is scarce there. We refilled our bottles, knowing we would find no more water for 24 hours.

The road to this point had had some signs warning of narrowness and winding, but actually the shoulder was pretty good. Traffic was also a little lighter, maybe because of Sunday football on TV. But from this point, the shoulder started to have spells of quite narrowness, and rental jeeps on the road began to thicken up, joined by speeding and noisy pickup trucks, water tankers, and goodness knows what else. We noticed that regardless of the width of the shoulder, safety was lessened by the amazing tendency of drivers to cross the white line when rounding an inside corner. I watched in dismay at one corner as 100 percent of 15 vehicles crossed onto the shoulder at the curve. A cyclist or pedestrian around that corner would have had no chance at all.

After Hookena, the road also began to have its ups and downs. Whereas last year this had given Dodie a lot of trouble, this year she just rolled through (or over) it. Yes, we pushed the bikes on occasion, but nothing significant. Dodie credits having gone to the gym six days a week since our last trip with the improvement.

The south end of the island is quite barren, what with all those lava flows, and while the environment is still pleasantly tropical, there is now a shortage of bright flowers. Around a corner we did come to a last vestige of tropical goodness, Juicy Judy's little fruit stand. The fruit is from Judy's land or picked by her at neighbours. Judy thought we were being very brave with the cycling, and it seemed to earn a free cut up avocado!

This sign is sort of accurate, but the shoulder often improved when we saw one of these warnings.

Churches here are not at all the grand structures that we have seen throughout Europe

There are many section of road with decent shoulder, and many sections with inadequate shoulder.

Avocado picked right there and free, is the best!

While we were at the stand, a friend of Judy's was there, with a two year old in the back of an old SUV. The friend was telling Judy a long tale about some kind of family problem. What we noticed was that the SUV idled the whole time of this quite long visit. This could not even have been to air condition the two year old, because all the car's windows were open. Is gas really that cheap here?

A lot more upping and downing at last brought us to Manuka State Wayside. We had camped here last year, and really appreciated the roofed shelters. There is some water here, but last year we learned that this comes from none too sanitary rainwater cisterns. Down below the main parking and picnic area there is a single, large, stone shelter. A sign seems to indicate that people (with permit) can camp in the shelter. It's tricky, because picnic tables are chained in the centre of the covered space. They must expect people to sleep, unscreened, on stone ledges around the outside?

We left all our stuff in this rather out of the way spot, and went for walk in the upper area of the park, toward where they have an extended nature walk. Returning in under 15 minutes, we were a little dismayed to see that a car had driven over the rough ground, and was installed right at the entrance to our hideaway. There was nothing for it but to strike up a conversation with the Hawaiian couple who were now our neighbours. We had just begun this, when a beat up SUV bounced off the highway and also climbed to our position. This one contained one Hawaiian lady of very large proportions (with a lot of those proportions hanging out of her garments), and one contrasting very skinny one. Then there were three highly cute little kids. The larger lady went over to the spigot by our table and turned it on. Then she just let it run while she organized the first of the kids to have a shower. Finally, one by one, the kids got washed, but wth a lot of water wasted. I wonder if the lady knew or cared that this was not an unlimited supply. Still, it was clear to me that this spot we had commandeered is a local community resource, like the Hookena spigot. Our new neighbours - more like our new extended family now hung out for a long time, talking to us and to each other. Even the old SUV joined in the fun. When it had first arrived, it had its radiator thrown open and spent some quality time steaming. Finally it got a long drink from the community spigot and was ready to go

Our first visitors left us with some just picked oranges and grapefruit, and a lot of good wishes. It highlights a cultural difference. Canadians in any sort of camping situation are generally there for solitude. Hawaiians view parks, spigots, fireplaces as gathering points.

When our friends had gone, we set up our tent and returned to our solitary reveries. As I type this, it is absolutely pitch black, because there is no habitation anywhere for kms. Too bad the sky is overcast, or maybe we would have one of those famous Hawaiian views of the stars.

Tomorrow we will start by cruising into Oceanview, or more properly H.O.V.E. - Hawaiian Ocean View Estates - a grid of streets hacked out of the lava and sold 40 years ago for super cheap. Now people have made a home of it, and there is even a grocery store. Hurray!

Here is one car that took a corner too fast! (The jungle held others as well).

We are now entering an area dominated by lava flows from Moana Loa

So many drivers were cutting corners like this!

This steer was sharing a field with some buffaloes. Strange.

We made it to Manuka where we intend to wild camp. But we anyway would need our lawyer to properly interpret this sign.

Suddenly our hidey hole became community central.

Our water spigot might be the only shower for miles.

Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 176 km (109 miles)

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