The meaning of Aloha

Well, I would have written this entry several days ago - but the 'Maui time' and the slower pace of life seems to have taken its toll, and we are now cruising along at a slightly more chilled out tempo.  It's Most enjoyable too!
Arrived at Kahului airport 4 days ago.  Or was it 5.  Hmmm, either way, we are nicely settled in now, and have already been out 'n' about exploring the island. We are staying in Paia, a hippy-town which is on the north coast

of the island, and is considered to be the windsurfing mecca of the world.  Incessant trade winds blast through the island, between the 2 mountainous areas, creating the funnel effect that is ideal for all watersports!  You may have seen the famous wave 'Jaws' on TV - it's the world's largest wave  and surfers have to get towed out to it by a jetski.  That is just around the corner from our place, although the gi-normous monster waves don't start til Nov - which we are pretty happy about, as even the current puny waves (by local standards anyway) are making us

a bit nervous!   (However would be cool to see the nutty surfers brave Jaws one day)
The weather here is just fantastic.  Clear blue skies every day, and hot hot hot, with a healthy dose of humidity too.  Felt like we entered an giant oven when we first arrived, but think we're used to it now, and the wind cools us down quite pleasantly too. 
Have been super fortunate on this trip, as we had a contact here in Maui before arriving - and she has just been marvellous!!  Tracey is the lady's

name and she is a tough nut alright - a world class windsurfer, triathlete, mt biker, paraglider , talented artist, cabinetmaker, and seems to know just about everyone on the island!!  She hooked us up with a friend of hers who had a spare room in his coastal cottage, so we're paying mate's rates, and thus avoiding the exhorbitant Maui accomm prices (everything is outrageously expensive here).  Jay is our flatmate, and he has been great too, and also hardly ever home, so we've had the home to ourselves much of the time.  It's fab and a stone's throw from the ocean too!
Did some exploring the first few days, on our bikes (they had to come to Hawaii too of course!).  It's not really a mt bike mecca, but it has some trails, and plenty to keep us occupied.  Done lots of swimming in the clear blue ocean, and seen some colourful tropical fishies too.  Yesterday was an awesome day, and

just demonstrated the fantastic 'aloha' that we have been shown since we've been here.  Aloha means hello and goodbye, but also means warmth and affection.  Everyone has been very friendly and welcoming.  So, we started the day yesterday biking over to Tracey's neat beachside studio, where we hopped in to the truck of a friend of hers - Chris.  He was going to teach us how to surf!!  Great!!  Found out that this guy actually surfs 'Jaws', the giant wave... (what were we letting ourselves in for...) Yet another fit, bronzed and tough athlete! This is the land of the fit, healthy and attractive people, for sure! It was heaps of fun

anyway, and even though I spent more time falling in to the water than standing up on the board, I really enjoyed it!  Brent had a blast too, and seemed to pick it up instantaneously.  Are we surprised?  Nope!  He must have had a good 6 or 7 runs standing up on the board.  We have been told we can use the boards whenever we like, so perhaps once our arms/shoulders/ribs stop aching (from the paddling out -exhausting), we will give it another go!
After the surfing, we went to Chris' huge house (with a mean view of the island) for a delish BBQ, along with about 8 other people, and enjoyed some more 'aloha'! Aren't we lucky buggers.
Today was another good'un.  6 of us ventured out to Twin Falls, with our mt bikes, and biked the EMI track.  It was a 4WD track which followed an old irrigation channel built by Chinese workers back in the 1900s.  On private land too, so was lucky we had some locals 'in the know' with us! Stopped for lunch at a stunning waterfall, which you could dunk your head under.  Definitely got wetter, greener and lusher the further east we got, so experienced a bit of drizzle - and some awesome views of the rainforest and deep valleys.  Out on the ride for about 5 hours or so. Was a fab day out, and hope to go there again for some more exploring!
So we've got lots of activites lined up for the next few days - we have got a cabin booked in the crater of Haleakala Volcano (10,000 ft), which will be a good 10 mile hike to get there.  Have never slept in the crater of a volcano before!  Lots of snorkelling, swimming, surfing is in the pipeline and might try some stand up paddle boarding too :-)   Keen to try some more local foods too.  We have eaten heaps of tropical fruit (papaya, mango, guava, strawberry guava, yellow passion fruit, etc...) which you can just pick off the trees!  We are having a great time, getting to know some wonderful people and enjoying some Hawaiian aloha....  B & E