OUR LAST SUNSET

Since we flew to and from the Kona airport, on the opposite side of the island from Hilo, we decided to stay on the Kona side for our last night. As a surprise, I had gotten us a room at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, about 17 miles north of the airport. When I had looked for rooms on the Kona side, this resort hotel was comparable or a few dollars more than other, much lesser places. What a place! I felt like we were in a Polynesian theme park. Here's what the website blurb has to say about it, "Nestled within 62 oceanfront acres, this Big Island Hawaii hotel has everything - a four-acre swimming and snorkeling lagoon, three freshwater swimming pools, sun-drenched beach, interactive dolphin encounter program, waterfalls, exotic gardens, trams, canal boats and more than $7 million in Polynesian and Asian artwork. " They aren't kidding. After we checked in, we boarded a tram (monorail type) which stopped at each of the three towers (over 1,200 rooms) and the convention center. We stayed in Ocean Tower which was the farthest away but had the best ocean views.

Right out front from our room was this walkway along with ocean with sunbathing pavilions.

Jim took advantage right away.

Not far away was "Buddha Point:"


I was dying to ride on the canal boat and took a complete loop trip, which took about 1/2 hour. Here's a view of the convention center from one of the boat landings.

As sunset approached, a Hawaiian man wearing a lava lava stood at the point and blew a conch shell three times, then proceeded to run from torch to torch, lighting them all,


and people gathered to watch the sun hit the sea.

We were lucky and had a perfect view from our lanai.




A perfect end to a wonderful vacation.

Audrey

LAVA!

Several days after Jim and I went exploring north of Hilo and found the fabulous Botanical Gardens, we decided to poke around to the south of Hilo on the side roads. The first thing we came across was Lava Tree State Park. This park has the remains of O'hia trees forever encased in lava which flowed several hundred years ago. The lava left behind these vertical, hollow lava tubes.

One thing I noticed is that ferns seem to be one of the first vegetation to return after an eruption. This was a type I hadn't seen before.

Right near the entrance to the walking path was this large chasm or fault, which was created during a particularly explosive eruption in 1790.

The vegetation which has grown back from earlier eruptions makes a very lush canopy. Most of the tall trees are Monkeypod.

On down the road a bit we came across this.

This used to be Highway 130 (Kalapana-Kapoho Road), but a recent eruption (July 2010) of Kilauea has made it impassable.

Unfortunately it was not viewing hours, but we did see this from the same spot.

We took the other fork in the road and came to what was left of the village of Kalapana, which was set up for tourists to see lava. After a nice lunch (Ono fish and chips!) I set out on the trail, hoping to see the source of the steam, leaving Jim to enjoy a nice cigar in the shade.

Later I learned that I was walking toward Kaimu Beach, famous for its black sand and for being buried under 50 feet of lava (along with the town of Kaimu) in the 1990 eruption of Kilauea.

As I walked along, the steam got closer and I had hopes of seeing lava flowing into the sea.


If you look closely in this photo (double clicking will enlarge it) you can see the "river" of steam coming down the mountainside, starting in the upper right, near the horizon and shadowing the treeline.



For something so destructive, the lava certainly was beautiful in texture, color and shape.



Here was my first glimpse of the new shoreline at Kaimu Bay.


And this is as close as I got to the steam, as I decided not to hike another mile or two to get closer.

As always, I am impressed by the tenacity of life. Twenty years later and there are all kinds of plants growing right out of the lava,

including the ubiquitous fern.

Many people who travel to Hawaii go to Volcanoes National Park, and I am sure it is wonderful, however, I can't help but feel like we got a more personal look at lava, and without the tour buses!

Next, we splurge for our last night in Hawaii.

Audrey

48 MILES IN 8 HOURS, PART II

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens, Part II:

Jim and I made it to the bottom of the botanical gardens and took advantage of the beautiful ocean front benches for a bit of a rest.



Continuing on up the path we came across this tiki god in the jungle.


And, a little farther along, an aviary with Macaws.

I can't even begin to describe the stunning greenery which abounds in these gardens.


These three are versions of the same thing, but look at the variety:


Rose Grape, from the Philippines.


Near the aviary is a large, beautiful koi pond, fully stocked.

Who knew there could be such a rich palette of purples in nature?


This one, Persian Shield, from Burma, is my favorite.


On our way back out of the gardens, we spotted this oddball, called the Cannonball Tree.

When we emerged from the gardens I felt like we had been deep in a primordial Garden of Eden (without the serpent) crossed with Jurassic Park (without the dinosaurs) and I was tired but quite refreshed. By this time we were really hungry so we continued on our 4 mile scenic route and found a roadside cafe where we had Ono wraps (my personal goal is to eat Ono at least once a day) and passion fruit smoothies.

Finally, over four hours after starting our 4 mile scenic detour, we arrived back on Highway 19 and continued northbound. We took every scenic turn off and finally arrived at the Akaka waterfall.

It looked like there was a nice trail to the falls but we had worn out our feet in the botanical gardens so just admired them from afar.

8 hours and 48 miles later, we finally turned back toward Hilo after finding this lovely ocean-front park.

Next, we walk on lava.

Audrey