"ALOHA" Hawaiian Adventure #8 North shore and Farm tours

Friday our last full day in Hawaii, we enjoyed a very informative North Shore tour with our friends.  Our bus driver was very talkative and told us much about the History and the people of Hawaii. 

Below is one of the very lovely scenic pictures of O'ahu as we got away from the big city/beach area of Honolulu and Waikiki.

We headed North to visit interesting Farms etc.  The first stop was a Green World Farms where I got to see my first coffee tree, blossom and beans.  This was a coffee farm.     

In the gift shop or building we not only got to sample different flavors of coffee but see the beans from start to finish,  read all about the trees, the beans and roasting.  

There were way too many flavors to chose from so I just chose the original roasted fresh coffee beans as a souvenir for both our coffee lover daughters.   I will never forget that fresh ground coffee smell of those just roasted coffee beans.  

Below as we walked through the coffee trees or bushes,  I tried to capture pictures of the coffee blossoms, the beans in different stages of ripening and the size of the trees.  

The green machine in this picture is used to roast the coffee beans.  

I hope these posters will help explain the coffee process. 

Stop #2 is self explanatory. 

We certainly enjoyed our time at the DOLE plantation.  I had never seen a pineapple growing either so this was another first for me.  Very interesting place with a very beautiful garden and train ride.

To the left is a little pineapple just starting to grow.

Below is a 3/4 grown Pineapple

Very interesting facts about the Pineapple plant.
 Each plant will only produce 3 Pineapple and has to be replaced at 33 months.  

Jeff in the garden reading all about the pineapple, planting and harvest. 

Time for an informative ride on the Pineapple Express open air train.

We drove by beautiful garden area, the maze, which non of us did, many pineapple fields and equipment, trees and other Hawaiian plants.  Everyone working at this Dole plantation wore the same pattern shirts.

Pineapple fields.  Each pineapple has to be planted by hand. 

More and more pineapple fields and I am sure we only saw a small part of their acreage.

Above is just some of the beautiful view from the DOLE plantation.  The mountains were spectacular with all the cloud cover and sun peeking out from time to time. 

More Pineapple as it grows.  There were many trees and flower bushes along the train ride. I will try show some of them in a latter blog of plants of Hawaii. 

Once back from the train ride,  we had time to look at the gift store and indulge in a very delicious ice-cream treat. 

YUMMY!  This was some good pineapple ice-cream with fresh pineapple on. 

Jeff and I shared one and it was plenty enough,
after all we were also stopping for a noon meal.
 I love the way Jeff's yellow shirt matched everything. 

Above, Jeff and I in front of the Dole store.  Below is a map of the plantation garden,   notice the big giant pineapple garden maze that we did not take part in.  
I am sure it was fun for younger people and children. 

Hawaii has many wild chickens in the rural areas away from all the people and city life.
We enjoyed watching many wild chickens, roosters and chicks. 

Back on the tour van and we drove by Turtle Bay .

This is the Hawaiian North Shore where the waves get up to 40, 50 feet tall. This is often the area you see on TV for the big surfing competition.  This really gave us an Idea of the powerful waves of the ocean and 

this particular day the waves were only at 15 feet.

We were told not to get too close to the ocean as the waves were deceiving and not always predictable.  I would not want to be out in those powerful waves but I must admit they were very beautiful and the blue colors are unbelievable. 

Jeff and I with our friends on the North shore. 

On the tour van again and more very beautiful green landscapes.  

A closer look and this is a wind electric farm. 

NOON TIME!  TIME FOR LUNCH!    No better place to stop then a SHRIMP FARM.  

They had this awesome  road side drive in like, fast food, fresh shrimp restaurant with a car 
port thingy covering a bunch of picnic tables.

This tree growing right in the eating area not only had interesting blossoms but I could
 not get over all the graphite carved on the leaves.

I just had to share a few pictures of the delicious fresh shrimp.  Above was Jeffs Garlic shrimp. Below is my fresh coconut shrimp and I can't remember what our friend had but they all looked and tasted scrumptious. 

Back on the tour van. Next stop was the KAHUKU Farms. We all got a fresh fruit blended smoothie at the farm store for our dessert. (part of the tour).  I must say we definitely were full.  

Above is a special kind of coconut tree that grows the coconuts close to the ground.

Below is our farm tour guide who is a member of the KAHUKU family.  We road on a wagon pulled by small tractor to see many parts of their farm.   This dread lock look is not at all unusual for this younger generation of Hawaiians.

Very nice looking garden.  Grows year round.

They had a lot of fruit trees and I am sure it was some of this fruits that made our smoothie.

Below is a big banana blossom at the left and big bunches of bananas in different stages of growth.

 

Papaya Trees.  The biggest challenge is keeping the birds from the fruit.

Back on the tour van and more beautiful landscapes.  It was foggy now with light rain.  We also saw cattle and horses. 

I loved these big umbrella spread trees, the white fence and the sharp edge mountains. 

NEXT STOP!   MACADAMIA FARM OUTLET.  

Above, friend Arnie checks out this Macadamia nut tree.
  This was another "first" for me.

We had the opportunity to crack our own Macadamia nuts and taste them.  YUM!

This is what they look like, about the size of a walnut.  These have a double very hard shell that is hard to crack.   The store had so many flavors of sugar/ honey coated Macadamia nuts.  

This wood carving outside the store are 
of Harry and Mary Lake. 

Back on the tour van and headed back to the Hale Koa Hotel  for our last night stay. 

I just had to snap a picture from our tour van as we past by this cemetery.  This was only the second one we saw the whole time we were in Hawaii.  This reminds me that even though many people call this Hawaiian place paradise, people, everyone will one day die. Death is a consequence of that first sin described in Gods Holy word Genesis.  I give thanks for Gods great love for us sinners to send His Son to take our sins on Himself and pay the price of death so that through Jesus Resurrection we also conquer death and can live forever in Heaven.

Psalm 103:14-16King James Version (KJV)
¹⁴ For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
¹⁵ As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
¹⁶ For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

When we see a cemetery or visit a grave of our loved one we remember the words of God.  

Mark 16:16 (KJV)

 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.