Travelling back from the east coast to Honolulu you have the choice of either driving around the coast or driving back through the Koolau Range. Ever since first seeing the spectacular scenery and tunnels on "Hawaii Five-O" Mum has wanted to drive through the tunnels . There are 3 highways that link Kaneohe to Honolulu, the H3 (the John Burns Freeway) and routes 61 (the Pali Hwy) and 63 (the Likelike Hwy). The H3 is the most expensive road in cost per mile ever built, about US$80 million per mile. It was built to be a high-speed link between the Navy and Air Force bases at Pearl Harbour and Wickham with the Marine Corps base at Kaneohe Bay. That's Kaneohe Bay in the first picture. The base is on the peninsula that juts out on the left. Also in the bay is Coconut Island, the site where the first episode of "Gilligan's Island" was shot; it is where the SS Minnow was wrecked. The Koolau range runs right down the windward side of Oahu. It is the remains of an ancient volcano and both sides are extremely steep. The only way to get a road through is to tunnel. The H3 is the longest at 1.5 kilometres. On the windward side you approach the tunnels on a 10 km long, high 10 Km viaduct that runs along the Haiku valley, crossing over several Hawaiian sacred sites. Naturally, that led to much angst when the H3 was being built. We travelled all 3 roads and the H3 Tetsuo Harano tunnels are one of our Hawaiian highlights.
Labels: Hawaii
Continuing with our coastal drives around Oahu with Kirk, here are some images of the north coast. The first is the "other side" of Ka'ena Point (see 2 posts back). Once again, the road ends in a rough carpark near a large seabird sanctuary. Second is Dillingham airfield. At the time of the Pearl Harbour attack this was one of the small airstrips where P-40 fighters were deployed away from the major airfields, and was one of the few places where US fighters managed to take off and attack the Japanese raiders. Today it is mostly used for skydiving and glider operations. We always have lunch at Hali'ewa Joe's when we are in Oahu. While the Oldies sample the local fodder, I sit on the lanai rail where I can watch the boats in the marina and kids on their way to the beach. At the north-eastern point of Oahu is Turtle Bay resort, one of the top ones on the island. Rather than having an expensive lunch there, Kirk took us to a pretty beach for a picnic. This had great spots for small bears to rest in the shade and watch birds and dolphins. Of course the north shore is best known for the huge surf that surfers come from all over the world to try. Well, that sort of surf is seasonal and this was not the season. As you can see, in all of our photos from this last holiday the surf was nothing spectacular. I mean, just look at the last image; that is the beach at the fabled Banzai Pipeline where the dangerous waves can be as tall as 6 metres. That day it was flat as a tack and not a surfer in sight.
Labels: beach, Hawaii
