Today was a quiet day given we weren’t sure how our bodies would feel. Surprisingly enough we weren’t feeling to bad. After a lazy breakfast of banana’s, pancakes and bacon we headed out to do the Chain of Craters drive – a 38 mile drive that takes you down to the coast where the flows crossed across the road and stopped coastal access. This was the other side of the lava flow that we had crossed the previous night.
There was amazing crater pits on the drive, very very deep, thankfully we didn’t hike those ones! We also stopped off to see the petroglyphs, a short 1.2mile hike, but it was blimmen hot. Amazing though that these petroglyphs can still be seen.
Then we got to the end of the road, well where you can park at the end of the road, you then have another mile walk to actually see where the lava flowed across the road. It is a very dramatic coastline, huge waves beating against the side of the cliffs. Quite majestic.
We had great plans for the afternoon (well I did), however by the time we got home around 1.30ish I was feeling very tired so we just had a relaxing couple of hours before heading off to try and get a SIM for my phone. You would not believe how hard that is. It is just about as physically exhausting as hiking across the lava for 6 hours! You can get plenty of top ups but no actual SIMS, well unless you want to buy a $50+ plan.
Tonight is our last night at our little cottage, it has been a lovely stay. Well set up, with a beautiful basket full of papaya, pineapple, apples, bananas, macadamias, chocolates, pancake mix, fruit buns, through to all your toiletry needs like shampoo, conditioner, shower gel etc and of course the wonderful hot tub.
Tomorrow we drive to the other coast, but first will visit the Thurston Lava Tube here in the National Park before it gets busy, then the Farmers Market, Botanical Gardens and the scenic coastal route to our next spot. Another busy day!