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| An alien planet? No! Lava at sunset. |
Hawaii Island, or "The Big Island", is known for its jungles, manta rays, and being an active volcano. Generally speaking, half the island is lush tropical jungle/farms, while the other, decimated by lava flows, is classified as a desert due to the low amount of rainfall it receives every year. The island has two airports, one of which is in the middle of a very large, very black (non-active) lava flow. Landing on lava seemed akin to landing on another planet - having now done so I feel mentally and emotionally prepared for a Mars landing in the increasingly likely event earth is destroyed in the next decade.
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| The entire years' rain fall (seriously) caught us unaware in the middle of a hike to see turtles. |
For our Big Island adventure, Eric and I opted to hire a car and stay in various AirBnB's so that we could move around and sleep in proximity to the many attractions on the island. The several locals we stayed with were friendly, had nice back-yards, shared their baking, and had good suggestions about where to visit. They were also very knowledgeable about the island: Fun Fact - most of the tropical plants, including the fancy flowers and coconut trees, are actually imported to Hawaii! The native plants closely resemble what can be found in NZ, including a Hawaiian version of a Pohutakawa tree.
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| A man-made pool, filled with ocean water, and heated with lava/some sort of natural energy. Even the fish enjoyed it! |
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| Our AirBnB hosts directed us to the best snorkeling spot on the island - a series of large connected rock-pools, formed by something to do with a volcano. They were teeming with fish (puffer fish!), coral and the occasional (rumored) turtle. |
The top attraction on the Big Island is a small area in the South, where lava flows from an active volcano into the ocean. At the edge of the park, locals set up stands and hire out bikes so you can cycle the ~6km through lava fields to get to the viewing point (an area where the park wardens have set up a "don't cross this" piece of string). There were at least another hundred people cycling with us to view the sunset, who we we raced each way (though they may not have realised it).
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| Cycling through Mordor on fancy bikes. |
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| The lava is not so visible during the day, so the trick is to get there at sunset to watch it light up as darkness falls. |
The second best thing we did on the Big Island was visit the national park, slightly north of the lava flow. The park contains several volcanic attractions including one active and one dormant volcano caldera. There is also a very large lava tube to walk through, caused by geology science I don't understand. The park had some decent hikes, and contained native birds that had adapted to nest inside the cliffs of the active volcano, so that introduced predators can't reach their nests. Fun Fact - Mongoose were introduced to the Big Island to kill the introduced rats, however rats are nocturnal, and mongoose are active during the day. Now they work in harmony around the clock to eat all the native bird eggs.
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| Walking through a caldera that was active in the 60s! We were a little concerned it would explode again. |
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| What is this? Africa?! No! Its the drier northern end of the island. |
Prior to my arrival I was hoping to spend a good amount of time on the beach, but hadn't really thought that through as the island does not have very many sandy beaches - mostly rocky coasts. The Big Island is an adventure holiday spot, and requiring considerable travel and (sometimes exercise) in order to reach the major attractions.
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| Rainbow falls near the major city Hilo. Tropical! |
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| We got lost on our way back from the magnificent Waipio valley, on a gravel road that led to a forest commune. On the side of the road we passed some construction/commune workers with large machinery, and an abandoned white car riddled with bullet holes. Spent 20 minutes convinced we were going to die. |
Overall it was a good trip. There are a lot of unique things to do and see on the Big Island, especially volcano related things. However, if I ever get the opportunity to go back to Hawaii, I will opt for the resorty-beachy experience in Maui or Kauai.
Bonus pic:
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He went for coffee but found a following. All hail lord of the chickens.
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