The last few days: Hiking on the moon?

After the Big Island tour, the next day was one to relax.  There was nothing planned, and I didn't go out of my way to find things to do.

But before I get to that, apparently there was photographic evidence of my foray into Hawaiian dancing at the Luau.

Thank you Paul, who read my blog, and was more than happy to provide the evidence.

Monday - Labour Day - started with the big buffet breakfast, after which, I discovered a new "happy place".

It's a lovely terrace overlooking the grounds, with a shady breezy corner, comfy chairs and relaxing music piped in: excellent reading corner.

After spending the rest of the morning there, I went back to the room and prepared a little lunch on the balcony, which consisted of some of the foods I picked up yesterday on the tour: the poke and white pineapple were the highlights.

...and of course, the day-old Portuguese doughnuts.

The day continued on the quiet and relaxing theme.  I did stay awake long enough to get a good picture of the palm trees just before sunset though.

Next day - Tuesday - last full day in Hawaii before the long treck home.  Needed to go out and explore this lava rock terrain, so off we go on a hike.

You can see right away the difference between hikes in Kauai (the wettest place on earth) and hikes on this part of the Big Island.  The highlight here is the vast fields of lava rock.

It did have its charm though.  As you get closer to the ocean front, we came across lots of white rocks mixed in with the black rocks.  This is coral which was washed up from the sea.  With some of the formations, it's very obvious.

Then we came across a black sand beach, which is formed by the black lava rock.

...and under all those palm trees in the distance, a nice, refreshing fresh-water pond.

Sadly, it was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, so we couldn't really take a dip.  Something about it being Private Property, and "kapu", which means "forbidden" in Hawaiian.  Oh well, who needs it, when you have this...

All in all, it was a very hot, but pleasant hike...  my pedometer claims we did about 8 km.  It was a great way to explore this terrain.

Tuesday evening we had a birthday dinner for Yuki - after all, her 50th is the reason that we are all here.

And then came time to say goodbye and embark on the long journey home.  Hawaii was more than I expected - very diverse in nature, and lots to do to keep you occupied.  Wonderful trip!

Mahalo Hawaii.

Days 6-8: The Big Island

I think I'm at Days 6-8...  or maybe 7-9...  I'm kinda loosing track.  In any case, we've been on the Big Island of Hawaii for 3 days now, so it's time for a blog update.

This island is very different from Kauai. It has many different climates: of the earth's 13 different climates, this island has 11 of them. We landed in the desert zone - a big field of lava rock.  As you're landing, you can't help but wonder why did we come here?  It looks like the moon.

Got to the resort and checked in.  Of course, there's more greenery here, and lovely sunsets.

Next morning, we went on a petroglyph hike.  There's a petroglyph park adjacent to the resort, and they provide informative walks through the park. It has many markings on the rocks left behind by the early inhabitants of the Hawaiian Islands, who arrived anywhere from 200 AD to 800 AD...  I've heard and read different dates since I've been here.  Here are a few shots of the petroglyph markings taken along the way.

Then Paul and I did a session of yoga and meditation on the lawn in front of the ocean.  Sorry, no pictures of that - use your imagination - a young woman giving a yoga class that consists of Paul and me.  We didn't ask for a private class, but nobody else showed up.

That evening (we're at Saturday by the way), we went out to a Luau.  Here I am sporting my new Hawaiian shirt.

Before dinner, the Hawaiian boys unearth the pig that has been roasting in an underground oven all day.

As they prepare the pig, and all the other food, for the buffet, I take advantage of it to get another lovely sunset picture over the Pacific.

Here's a shot of Paul with some of his, and now my friends, waiting for the feast to begin.

After the feast, the show begins: a series of traditional Hawaiian dances which tell various stories, performed by the locals.

...and of course, the hula.

At some point in the evening, I might have gotten up to join them on stage, and performed a Hawaiian tribal dance with them... but since I have no photographic evidence of that, I can't be sure.

In any case, it was a great evening and lots of good food and fun with great people.

Sunday is the day that we booked a bus tour of the Big Island..  Volcano Day !!!

Highlights of the day were the Pololu Valley Lookout, which is on top of a North facing cliff, with a great view of the valley and beach below.

We continued our drive along the North coast, and had to stop for Malasada, which is a Portuguese doughnut which somehow founds its way to the small village on the North coast of the Big Island - they were absolutely sinfully delicious.

After a few more food stops (market for fresh white pineapple and Poke counter for a local raw fish based dish - Hey, Yuki organised this tour, so I'm not surprised there's a big food theme...  I have no problem with that), we're off to the volcano.

More specifically, the Kilauea Crater. This crater has been in a state of "eruption" since January 3rd, 1983. It is not an explosive eruption like you think of when you think of a volcano...  more of a constant heated gurgle and overflow.  Nonetheless, it is constantly changing the landscape of the Big Island by destroying existing land and settlements, but adding more.  Over 500 acres of new land has been added to the island since this eruption.  Enough education - on to pictures.

The first thing you come across are the steam vents.  These are caused by water that is collected in the ground from rain, and is heated by the underground lava, and is released as steam.

You can walk up close to it and feel the heat and smell the sulphur being released from underground. 

Of course, all this steam creates a lot of fog and mist, so not great for pictures, but here is one of the crater taken from a lookout point.

Of course, the real highlight is viewing this in the dark - then you get a feel for the fire which is burning beneath this earth.  We came back after dark, and although we did not see any active lava flow, you certainly get a sense of the intense heat from the red glow in the sky.  Here are a few shots, which obviously don't do it justice, but give you a sense of power of this crater.

Here is the Halema'uma'u crater, which is a crater within a crater, with steam rising and glowing from the underground red-hot lava.

...and my best attempt at a close-up. 

Fascinating visit and educational day.  You truly get an appreciation for the forces and powers which are constantly forming this world.

Day 4 and 5: Island treats and blow holes

Day 4 started out as a lazy day - well, for me anyway.  You know - get up, have a leisurely breakfast, do some reading, suddenly it's 11:30...  You know how it goes.

So the we decide to head out and do a bit of exploring - take in some of the "must-see" attractions on the south side of the island. 

It's a fairly windy day, so the surf is great.  Not that we did any surfing, but we stopped and took a few photos of the great waves.  And yes, there were plenty of surfers out there enjoying this rough ocean.

Heading down the coast a bit more, we come across this lovely covered part of the highway.  You drive right through this canopy of trees.  We had seen this from the helicopter yesterday.  It's really a nice stretch of road.  As an aside, the Kauai Marathon is being run this weekend, and of course, they will be running along this stretch of road.

We stopped for lunch in Koloa, historic town that was built around a sugar mill.  All week, I've been seeing these "Shave Ice" shops and decided I had to try it.  It's quite a treat.  It consists of shaves off a block of ice that they pack into a container until it's really high, then they pour various fruity flavoured syrup on top...  oh, and there's a scoop of ice cream under the whole thing.  And just in case it isn't sweet enough, they sprinkle this red sweet powder on top.  Here's what it looks like...

And yes, I ate the whole thing...  yummy!!!

Then it was on to see some of the sights we ventured out to see.  Here is the Spouting Horn Beach Park.  The water comes in and get forced up this little hole in the lava rock, creating this great water spout on a regular basis.

...and here's what it looks like when it's not erupting.

Finally, back at the condo, snapped a shot of the sunset.  We were facing west, so we should have had some spectacular sunsets, however, almost every night - no - every night, there were clouds on the horizon, so we didn't get to appreciate the full effect...  however, this is still kinda nice.

That night, we walked over to the St-Regis resort, which is right next door, and enjoyed their beautiful 5-course tasting menu, with matching wine pairings.  So, next day - we had to go on another hike.

This time it was not raining - bonus.  And we went for one of the hikes listed under "Activities", and not "Adventures".  It was a 2 mile hike round-trip, with two waterfalls along the way to rest and admire.  Here is the first one...

...and here's the second.  We brought a few snacks with us, so we sat by the second waterfall and had a little picnic before hiking back out.  It was a great hike - hot, but well worth it.

Finally, back at the condo, we decide we're eating in tonight.  Picked up some local fish and vegetables for the barbecue.  While getting ready for dinner, we pass the time with a little game of dominoes.  The condo has a set of 15-dot dominoes... most standard sets only have 9-dots.  So, it made for some very long and intertwined chains of dominoes at the end of each round.

Our visit to Kauai ends here...  tomorrow morning, we're off to the Big Island (in fact, I'm there already, but doing this blog posting a little late).  More to come later.

Day 3: The helicopter tour

Today, Tuesday, we booked a helicopter tour of the island of Kauai.  There are parts of this island that you simply cannot get to by car or foot.  Options are by sea or by air.  And based on what we saw today, it's a must-see.  So, air it was...

First, on the way into town, there were two "must-see" sights, according to my guidebook.  Both of these were waterfalls along the way into where we had to catch the helicopter, so we made the little detours. 

Both beautiful waterfalls, but not Niagara.

We then stopped for lunch at an old sugar cane plantation.  Lovely lunch in a garden setting.  Afterwards, I bought a Hawaiian shirt...  I'll post a selfie with that shirt the night of the luau.

After lunch, we had about an hour to spare before the scheduled helicopter tour, so consulting the guide book, closest attraction was this fish pond, which was created for some princess that was living around here some time ago.  It's now in a state of neglect, and is classified as a "might-as-well-see-if-you-have-some-time-to-spare" attraction.

Then, onto the helicopter.  It was a no-doors helicopter, with 4 passengers and the pilot.  So you're strapped into your seat, and its completely open beside you.  Here's a series of photos taken from the helicopter. Needless to say, it was stunning.  Great weather allowed great visibility.  Amazing!

The coast shortly after take-off.

Some of the many waterfalls around the island.  This one was used in the Jerassic Park movies, so it's been renamed Jerassic Falls.

Several little falls.  Not an uncommon sight, especially after heavy rain - which is almost all the time.  Did I mention this is the wettest place on earth?

We flew through canyons...  referred to as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

The coastline on the west coast.  This whole area is not accessible by car.

Stunning rock formations...

...and secluded beaches.

Both, together...  breathtaking.

...and again.

This a view of our condo from the air.  Our condo complex is the white building on the left side of the photo. The other white building is the St-Regis Resort.

More waterfalls from the air.

And here we are, safely back on the ground.

Absolutely amazing experience.  This island is beautiful. Referred to as the Garden Island, it is filled with lush greenery on stunning rock formations, and agricultural plains in the middle.  I don't have enough words in my vocabulary to describe its beauty.