The further out we got the more surge there was so we were bobbing up and down quite a bit.  The plan was to go out past the point and as far around to the next beach as we could, however after about an hour of being pummelled by the surge he who must be obeyed decided it was time to head back.

 

I confess to being rather pleased as my passionfruit jam, raspberry jam, and orange juice from breakfast where thinking about coming back up!  All in all we were in the water for a couple of hours and saw quite a few fish and got a good work out.

Headed back home for a shower and then down to the local shops for lunch, I had hoped to go to the Japanese restaurant but unfortunately they only do dinner so we ended up at Just Tacos.  Q ordered calamari as the starter, it would have fed about 20 people, it was huge, we both then ordered chicken tacos.  They were just okay, the food was very brown, brown tacos, brown rice and brown refried beans, not very appetising looking and nothing like the tacos we have at home.  But then they were probably much more authentic.

I only ended up eating one, luckily I loved the strawberry lemonade and filled up on a couple of glasses of that and then had room for an ice cream.

We then had a couple of hours at home before we headed off for a drive of about 75 minutes to go to Mauna Kea for the star gazing programme.  The plan was just to go to the Visitor Information Station where they kick off with a talk and video about the programme around 6.30ish and then the telescopes are rolled out and you look at the Stars.  The visitors station is at about 9000ft, the summit at 13000.  To do the summit you need to have a 4wd or do a special tour and need to acclimatise yourself on the way up etc.  Too much fuss for us!

We can see Mauna Kea from the resort and see the top of the summit and the observatories up there, it is quite a spectacular looking mountain.  All was looking good until about 50 mins into our drive when clouds arrived, blackened and rain started.  As we got to the base of the mount and started the 6mile drive up to the visitor station it got foggier and foggier, not looking good for star gazing at all.  On the way up there was the most interesting looking flora, it was like everything had been petrified.

The temperature changed by about 35F between the resort and the visitor centre.  We had packed thermals etc as everything we read said it can get very cold up there.  It wasn’t actually too bad, but it was very very foggy, raining and not looking good for star gazing at all.  After about 15 mins we decided to head back down while there was still a bit of daylight so that we could see where we were going as it was a pretty narrow windy road.

On our drive back we looked back towards Mauna Kea and could see the thick layer of cloud covering the visitors station however the summit was bathed in sunshine.  Crazy.

Our hike kicked off at 3pm and we had about an hour drive to get there, so after a light lunch and a reapply of sunscreen we were on our way.  Just a note here, the man in this picture is my husband it is just that the sunscreen we got is so thick that one looks like a ghost after applying it, as if his legs weren’t white enough already!

We met our guide from Volcano Discovery Tours; Neil at Kalapana at 3pm.  The 1986 eruption flow destroyed the majority of this town, engulfing houses, roads and everything in it’s wake.  No loss of life as the lava flows slowly enough that people have time to evacuate, and in some cases uplift their whole houses and move them.  This eruption created a whole new coastline, in the last few years people have started building on the lava as land is cheap, however there is always the risk of new flows and in 2010 one of the newly built houses was destroyed, leaving 35 remaining.  Even with the land being so cheap ($5,000USD), and the ocean views it sure isn’t somewhere I would like to build.  It is so barren, nothing but black lava.

The biggest fear for me, other than the falling on the razor sharp lava and cutting myself to pieces was the no toilet facilities whilst walking the lava.  It is highly recommended that one uses the toilets at Kalapana before heading out on the hike, I was expecting proper restrooms, imagine my horror and dismay when I was directed to the portoloos, something I have never every used and was never ever planning to use.  I think I struck it lucky as they had just been cleaned, but still not an experience I need to relive.

Disappointingly the flows into the ocean had stopped two weeks ago, that is one thing with mother nature and Pele there can be no guarantees.  This meant a couple of things, firstly that the telephoto lens my husband had spent a small fortune on was not required, and secondly we had the choice to make of still hiking down towards the ocean where the flows would still be happening, just not into the ocean or a longer hike where a new flow had started up.  While the shorter option sounded good we went with the longer as the expectation would be that there would be no one else at this spot but lots at the ocean one.

While the hike round trip was only about 15km we were on the Lava for over 6 hours.  I do not think that anything could prepare you for just how hard it is to hike on.  There are no smooth surfaces, some of the surfaces are covered in a very sharp and brittle crust that breaks under your feet.

Half way along we twigged to the fact that we were being followed by another couple of people, Neil got us to stop and wait for them to get past us as he did not want to share this new spot of lava flow with them, even though they asked.  As Neil explained this was how he made his living, and as I explained I had paid big money for this tour so if he wanted to use the expertise of my guide he needed to pay half!  They were idiots, they were ill prepared for being on the lava and as Neil had said to them, if you don’t know where to find it you probably shouldn’t be here, two people have died from dehydration after getting lost in the last couple of months.

It was very hot and very hard work, however it was well worth it when we got there finally.  I am not going to say too much more and will let the pictures and video do the talking.  The video is of our first experience of seeing the lava, there is a small crack, then the pressure builds up, the crack bursts and the lava flows.  It is hot, so hot you could not imagine, and you are able to stand as close as you can bear it.  The photo of us with the lava behind was taken at the start, by the end of the night when we were leaving the spot we were standing on had disappeared and the lava had added another couple of feet to the landscape, just amazing.

P.S.  The good news is, it didn’t matter that there weren’t any toilets, I sweated like a pig and so all the water that went in came out, meaning no need to use the portoloo at the end.  Yay!

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!