VOG?

haleakala 10,000ft maui, hawaii. does the landscape remind you of anything whippet man??


running trail on hawaii. how scenic!! the tiny bit of green on the left is the $400/round golf course.



volcano rock graffiti

got back on the weekend from 10 days in lovely hawaii.
7 days on maui then 3 on hawaii ('the big island').
(all ATO people please note) official visiting reason was 'work conference'.
glad a friend of mine got me into this wilderness medicine thing: conferences in colorado (week after hardrock), hawaii/mexico (dive) and utah for those who like skiing (not me).

highlights...
* watched sunrise at haleakala (10,000ft) on maui. though at 7 degC i knew i shouldve brought more than 1 jumper with me to hawaii. this dampened the romanticism of it a tad.
* arriving at the big island in 'VOG': volcanic smog. driving to the hotel from the airport i got the impression that the whole island was a series of roads on volcanic rock. didnt see a single shrub or tree until the next day when we drove around the whole 'big island' and there is plenty of greenery elsewhere.
* the place we stayed at in TBI. absolutely fantastic. the 'hayman island' of the US. unbelievably had a pool with eagle rays (sounds like ray james) and heaps and heaps of fish in it. never snorkled at a hotel before! and turtles swam just outside the front. glad we paid for this place months ago before the dollar hit 65 US cents tho!!
* hearing the medical guy from hawaii ironman speak. he asked how many in the audience were endurance athletes - 20% put there hands up. then asked how many have done an ironman (of course he had!) - noone. then asked how many wanted to - noone. then rather cheekily started calling us pussies. i was thiiiiiiiiiiis close to putting my hand up and quoting my friend tim 'triathlon is for people who cant run the distance' but thought better of it ;)
* incidentally i was thinking what a great place the big island would be for an ultra or big AR and then found out about this: http://ultramanlive.com/
hawaii is just too nice a place to not go 'off road' on. ironman? what where they thinking?? :)
* was interesting to be there during the election. never knew that they held all elections on the one day: 1st tuesday on november. this includes state and local/council.
* also have 'referendum' type questions in most states: gay marriage, gay adoption and abortion were a few things up for voting. anna bligh should take note if this with repect to daylight savings in queensland. ...but then again maybe its too controversial ;)
* although we didnt see any 'obvious sign' of a recession hotel occupancy rates were apparently down 15-20% as are local sales (from last year). US unemployment is 6.5% as it tipped to top 10%. general motors is going broke. when the US stop buying fricking huge cars you know the economy is in trouble. strap yourselves in people if you havent already.
* it still amazes me how insular americans are: they were gobsmaked when they found out australia has been metric since 'before i was born'. they playfully suggested that only the US and liberia werent metric. my response: i think liberia went metric last year. youre the only ones. wasnt in a playful mood ;) the world news in the paper has the first 2 stories on something happening in the US and the 3rd in mexico.
and yes, africa is a continent (sorry - sarah palin joke, couldnt help it).

and why do i find lying on a beach for 10 days so damn tiring? :D