Wednesday, May 7, 2008

After arriving on Maui and meeting some of the rotary members and hosts we were taken to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center (MACC) where we were given a special tour around the modern facilities. We enjoyed a very nice lunch after which we were given a few hours at the beach at Wailea before heading to our host families to settle in and enjoying dinner.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

The team started the day off with one or two individual vocational visits to local businesses/organizations. At lunch we met up at the Dunes Maui Lani golf course for a large multi-club Rotary luncheon. There had been an article in the local newspaper about “the Danes coming to Maui” and there was a crowd of more than 100 people. Including a number of Danes who wanted to show their support and say hi to their fellow countrymen. The presentation went well and we were happy to meet the present governor of district 5000 for the first time and present him with a present from our governor. The afternoon was spent visiting the Bailey Museum, the clubhouse at the King Kamehameha golf course (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). The last stop before dinner was a tour of the KWP Windfarm located on a mountain ridge with some spectacular scenery.

Friday, May 9, 2008

We started by getting a private morning lecture and tour of the Hawaii Commercial & Sugar Company. The sugar industry used to be Hawaii’s biggest industry, but production has moved to low-cost countries in recent years. It was very interesting to see the factory complex. After that we met up at Dad’s Donut shop in Wailuku which was opened this year by a rotarian, Chris Hart, in the honor of his father. The recipe’s are all family recipe’s and we highly recommend a visit. We then had one or two individual vocational visits before meeting for lunch at a restaurant called Da Kitchen which had a nice Hawaiian atmosphere. In the afternoon the team was treated to a fantastic trip to the summit of Haleakala (10,000 feet) by former national park ranger and rotarian Don Reeser. A truly amazing afternoon above the clouds. The day ended with a nice potluck party at one of the hosts house were we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

The first part of this day was set at the Hawaii Nature Center at Iao Valley. Our guide was J. Wyatt and it was very interesting to hear about how the center is preserving this valley as close to how it was when the native hawaiians lived there. Of course one of the problems is invasive species of plants that have been brought to Hawaii, but every summer the center gets young people to come help with the work of restoring the old taro fields and streams. During the hike we had a nice and cooling swim in the river except for Sabrina who sadly twisted her ankle. As a thank you for taking us up the valley we agreed to hep out a bit so we helped clear and sweep the trails. Then it is easier for the center to bring kids up into the valley and teach them how the hawaiians made good use of the resources of land and water.

Later that day Sylvia and Mary were our drivers and they took us to a marketplace and to a winery where we had a winetasting. Pineapple wine is actually good!. Finally we ended the day by having dinner in a little surfing town.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Sunday we managed to get the morning off which we of course insisted on spending on the beach at the town of Lahaina. We had begun wondering whether we would have to go to a tanning salon before going back to Denmark! But we got some sun and had a chance to do some snorkeling . It actually worked out perfectly as we met up with the presidents of the Rotary Club of Lahaina and the Rotary Club of Lahaina Sunrise for lunch. In the evening we had dinner with our host families.

Monday, May 12, 2008

First order of business was a visit at the Dowling Company which is a developer that does new business and housing development with a focus on green practices. We then went to the Hawaiian Health Organization to see how they integrate old and new treatments to help people live more healthy lives. The next stop was a tram tour of a tropical plantation where we got to see many of the local plants and fruits. After lunch we were invited to visit a master guitar maker – John Decker – who is also a rotarian. He showed us his workshop and told about his exciting career in the music world. In the evening we went to a nice theater show in Lahaina called ‘Ulalena which was a tale of the early Hawaiian history.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

This day was focused on technology. We first visited the Maui Technology Research Park where we visited the Hawaii small business development center and Oceanit Laboratories which is in the space industry in the form of e.g. telescopes and satellite tracking software. We also visited the Maui High Performance Computing center which once housed one of the most powerful computers on the planet. Nowadays it is “only” ranked among #20.

For dinner we were invited to a party by the Rotary Clubs of Kihei Wailea and Kihei Sunrise which are both located in the area where there are many resorts and hotels. It was a very lively party and they had hula dancers do a show for us. After the party we checked into the Surfside condo’s for our mid tour break – which sadly only was to last until noon next day when we were set to leave for the island of Hawaii. Sad because the location was amazing.