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This is how Toby spells it (Hawai’i), and he’s been spelling it a lot recently due to uncontainable excitement. Walter set us up on an awesome adventure for my ‘special’ birthday on the Big Island. It wasn’t special… it was spectacular! Thanks Walter, my Alehe-ka-la 🙂
First stop: VOLCANO!!!!
Since we were functioning with 3 hours ahead jet lag, we took advantage of waking up at 4am to do the 2 hour drive to Volcanoes National Park. We got our first real taste of all the different types of a lava.
On the way to Volcano. Tobys favourite activity this trip.
Constantly steaming, this caldera is the home of Pele. Shes not too angry right now, just a little irritable.
The steaming caldera sits in a huge expanse of an old lava flow. This area has filled up considerably since the 1800s.
The boys didnt seem fazed by the steaming vegetation around them.
A high point of the trip for the boys was going through a lava tube. These tubes are formed when a lava flow solidifies on the top and sides. This insulates the lava flowing inside, and when the eruption ends, the lava inside flows out. Apparently there are many tubes on the island, with more being discovered and kept quiet by the locals. The Thurston Lava Tube is the most famous. The beginning is lit, but the second, longer part requires flash lights.
Entering Thurston Lava Tube.
The lit part.
The tube dead ends here. Very claustrophobic!
Spot the boys in the dark.
We tried turning our flashlights off at various points. Utterly pitch black, and the boys didn’t last long till they turned them on again!
Next stop, black sand beaches. We stopped at Punalu’u, ont he way back from Volcano (that’s what all the signs say- just Volcano). The sea turtles like to nap on this beach, probably because the sand is nice and warm.
Stopping for a picnic lunch.
Not feeding the wildlife.
They seemed to pull themselves just out of the water and plop down fast asleep.
They seemed to just plop themselves by the water and play 🙂
The contrast! I also noticed both boys have inherited their fathers fine feet.
These snails moved around very slowly in the rocks. They have all evolved to be lava coloured.
After some lunch (by day 2 the boys were on a sandwich strike! Who doesn’t like sandwiches???) and playing on the black sand beach, we journeyed to Pu’uhonua : the “place of refuge”. In wars, women, children and the injured could come here to wait out the fighting, and they would be safe. People who had broken the ‘kapu’ (taboos) could also come here to be cleansed (breaking kapu would invariably mean death), which usually took a couple of days with a priest. There is a big ancient wall built out of lava rocks, which has the bones of chiefs placed in it. Needless to say, we weren’t allowed to be messing with it.
A close up of the big wall made out of lava. Perfectly flat and square.
- Repro hut, with 2 boys resting from the heat.
Another rest, and some contemplation. The grasses hanging from the top were used to brush the fish into special ponds around the area.
Toby is very into Tikis. Maybe they remind him of him?
On the way back toward Kona, we stopped to see the “Cook monument”. See that pokey white thing in the distance? That’s the monument placed where he was killed by Hawaiians. It’s only accessible across the water. So there’s your pic.
Cook monument.
Some sights on our drives:
On the way up to the arid part of the island we caught sight of the volcano on Maui- Haleakala. Walter and I were up there nearly 13 years ago.
Haleakala!
On the arid area around Waimea, we had lunch on a rugby pitch. And there was Mauna Kea, with its observatories twinkling at us. You can hike to the observatories, but they’re at 14,000ft, and it’s not recommended to take children up and down. Next time!
Mauna Kea observatories.
We took a trip to see the Puako petroglyphs. No-one knows what exactly they represent, or why they are where they are. After seeing them, I think they were at the end of some rite of passage.
Ally makes a good petroglyph too!
We had to get there through the Forbidden Forest...
We could walk around the petroglyph bed.
There were a lot of figures like this in various poses.
Any petroglyphs on the path had circles of rocks around them for protection. We added to a few.
A lot of the highways on this island go through lava beds. The lava is piled up on the sides. Somehow, people bring white rocks and make words and pictures. A new kind of graffiti.
This is what we saw all along the roads.
Our last night on the island featured a treat. We met a couple at our birthing class for Ally, and got to know them a bit. Their son was born just before Ally. They moved to Hawaii 7 (?) years ago to be with B’s mum. Walter got in touch, and they kindly came to a (gorgeous) beach to have a picnic dinner and catch up. Their other son is a year younger than tobe, and they all seemed to get on swell!
W and B
After some boogie boarding, the boys got right down to sand business.
Then came some boogie board dinner.
...followed by a sunset swim for the boys.
Final rays of sunliness....
The day we flew back we actually didn’t have to be at the airport till tea time. We drove around a bit and then stopped at a beach to relax. It turns out it was a lovely quiet beach that would have been perfect for snorkelling if we still had our gear. Next time! It was part of the Kaloko-Honokohau Noational Historical Park, which unfortunately closed at 4pm. So we didn’t see the park and history, but we did have access to the beach. It still had fish traps, which meant some quieter water.
I looked up form napping on my towel to see this bird. There are a few flightless species due to the lack of predators. They are gradually getting closer to extinction due to the cat population. I had a run in with a woman who was putting piles of cat food out on the side walk at a resort for the (at least) 15 feral cats I saw. Her response to “You shouldn’t feed feral cats- they kill native wildlife” was “well I like to do it”. Awesome woman.
Spot the native walking bird!
This is a view of the heiau (sacred place) at this beach. People come here to conduct ceremonies, and its illegal to interfere with these places.
We finally saw a rainbow on our last beach trip! We never had a chance to do the trek to the wet side of the island.
A couple of happy campers before coming home.
I lovelovelove the Big Island. I’d love to go back one day 🙂
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Dude, where's my country? 
lovely photos, it all looked wonderful, and you all looked as you were having a marvellous time.I liked the commentary with each pic.Can’t wait to talk to you and those lovely boys. Love Ma.xxxxx
Comment by ma and pa April 17, 2011 @ 11:34