After baby steps we managed to make our way there, while we couldn’t see anyone else there was one other person as we could hear them talking on their phone.  Certainly not a place to be on your own in the dark, unless of course you had a torch!

It is surprising just how cold the wind is at the park, the temperatures are about 6-10C cooler than in Hilo, and the wind is like our southerly.  I went up there with a thermal, a jacket and a blanket wrapped around me, still it was cold.  Of course my husband would say otherwise.

The views were spectacular and very different to what we saw in the day as the photos will attest.

For $2 you could buy a little booklet which had all the information about the trail, there was 15 markers along the route and at each marker there was a page in the booklet talking all about what happened during the eruption.  As Quentin pointed out, just like an audio tour, but in paper form!

Along the way there was lots of interesting flora and fauna, koru fronds just like at home, and this amazing one that was just a stick with the folding front on the top.  Quentin touched it thinking it was a sculpture but it was a real life plant, lots of lovely wild orchids and an amazing number of wild ginger plants.  Just like at home the wild ginger is incredibly invasive, in fact I thought it must be an accepted plant there is so much of it around.  However on the trail they said it was a pest and they were trying to eradicate it.  Good luck with that, as the plants line the highway everywhere, and are all through the forest.

They also have this lovely bird called an apapane which is a beautiful red bird with a really lovely voice.  I would show you a picture that we took however every time I see one Quentin isn’t quick enough to look and has yet to see one, other than on the internet!  One day he will learn to jump when I say jump, or should that be look.

There is also a lot of Ohia trees which are part of the same family as our pohutukawa, very pretty.

After walking down to the base of the crater floor (which was originally 800ft deep, however the lava flowed, set and raised the level to 440ft) there was a pile of rocks like in this picture, and sitting on them were some flowers and a parcel the size of a basketball wrapped in something like banana or taro leaves.  Me being culturally sensitive as I am commented on the offerings that must be left for the gods.  Further into our walk the below conversation happened

Me:  Wow there certainly are lots of these offering rocks around, strange that only the first one had the flowers and parcel.

He:  They are actually trail makers.

Me:  Oh that makes much more sense.  (duh)

It was a perfect day for the walk, it had rained over night, there was a bit of a breeze and with the early start it was still a little cloudy so we weren’t in the beating hot sun.  Mind you we had still walked up a sweet by the time we got back up to the top.

After completing the hike we headed home for a shower and change and headed back to the mall for some more supplies.  We really needed more chocolate, clothes and shoes!  After such and exhausting few hours at the mall we stopped at Baskin and Robbins (31 flavours of ice cream you know!) for an ice cream.  I couldn’t make up my mind so while my husband had boring mint chocolate chip I had this yummy Baseball nut flavour (vanilla flavoured ice cream and cashews with a black raspberry ribbon.) and  another one that was vanilla with salted caramel and nuts, very very yummy.

No dinner needed tonight!

Once this delicate operation was done it was off to Koru for some breakfast and to await our boarding call.  Flight on time, arrived early to Auckland (couldn’t believe it, saw about 4 people from my Air NZ days on the plane – none of who work for Air NZ now), walked across to the international terminal and then straight through immigration.

Next thing I know my handbag was being attacked by a dog, a gorgeous lab who was sniffing away, had his head stuck right in the bag.  Instantly I started to feel nervous, I had no fruit or any food I shouldn’t, but then what would that matter, we were leaving NZ not entering, no drugs, honestly no drugs.  Works out he was a money dog, and sniffs out currency.  I want me one of them!  Luckily,while  I was carrying a little more cash than normal it was nothing to worry about and we were allowed on our way.

We didn’t have much time between flights so it was pretty well straight to the gate and boarding.  The flight was long and very hot and stuffy, but other than that fine.  We arrived about 10 minutes early, long queues to clear immigration, finally got there, and I was told to put my right hand; four fingers, on the pad for finger printing, okay, so I put my other right (aka left) much to the derision of Q and the customs guy.  After realising the error of my way, changing hands, and scaring the bejesus out of the customs guy by telling him I was doing all the navigating. We were on our way to a very balmy 26C and it was 10.30pm.

Stayed at the Ohana Airport Hotel, perfectly adequate, was actually in walking distance.  Threw our bags in the room and then had a walk around the block for 15 minutes just to get some fresh air.  Fell into bed after midnight, air conditioning cranked which was lovely and cool for Q, bloody freezing for me.  About 4am I decided the room needed to be a little warmer, quietly got up, changed the dial (in the dark) so that the room wasn’t quite as cold.  Only problem was it was the wrong dial and next thing you know the fire alarm in our room is screeching and Q was awake.  Ha, my plan worked, air conditioning turned off, no noise and no freezing air, and no more fire alarm screeching!

Saturday morning a quick breakfast at the hotel, a huge bowl of yummy fruit for me, melons, strawberries, pineapple, just yummy, a huge cooked breakfast for the other half…well it had been about 8 hours since he had last eaten!

Back to the airport for our flight to Hilo.  Airport was very busy, it is a long weekend here so people were travelling to the outer islands for a break.  Very quick flight all of 37 minutes, amazing scenery along the way, we passed over lots of different islands and could see everything on them which these photos will attest to.

Picked up our rental car and hit the mall, only thing was it was so hot that yours truly couldn’t be bothered shopping.  Yes maybe hell has frozen over!  Went to Walmart got a few bits and pieces we needed and then headed to the supermarket to buy supplies for dinner and our breakfast and then to our cottage which is just gorgeous.  Set amongst the trees, nice and cool and a gorgeous hot tub that I plan to jump into very soon.

After a bit of unpacking on my part, and a play with a new camera lens on his part, we headed to the National Park while we still had daylight to visit the Jagger Museum and see where the viewing platform was for Kilauea, for when we go back in the early hours of the morning one day to see it in the dark.  After very hot in Hilo (over 30c) we suddenly hit 16C but with a very cold wind that made it seem more like minus 16 (well to me anyway!).  Here is a photo of Kilauea letting off smoke in the daylight.

Back home, a relaxing dinner and planning our activities for tomorrow.  Gosh this holidaying is exhausting!