Wherever you go, there you are

Theme song – Hawaii Five Oh

“Where am I?” I thought, as we drove through the quaint cottages of an old Kunia plantation blasting the theme from Hawaii FIve Oh. Earlier that day, Chris, Jennifer and I convened at the old Volcano Joe’s near UH with the intention of heading for Laie Falls. As clouds rolled in, we decided we would be better off heading west, so with Jennifer navigating and only a very vague idea of where we were going, we hit the road.

We eventually found our chosen route blocked by huge dirt piles. Long story short, we stealthily parked the car at the slightly shabby golf course down the street and set off to see what we could find. Just when we had concluded that we were hopelessly lost, we encountered the Honouliuli Preserve. The moss-covered huge rocks and trees felt like Oregon. Some time later, and with some adventures, we reached the crest of a ridge with a spectacular view. I don’t think we were anywhere near where we intended to be and we probably weren’t supposed to be there, so I’ll leave it at that. But it was an excellent hike. We congratulated ourselves on our accomplishment with burritos from Taco del Mar.

What to do on a rainy day on Oahu

We planned to conquer “Hawaii’s Matterhorn,” Olomana, today, but woke to pouring rain. Acknowledging that discretion is the better part of valor, we convened at the Manoa Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf over Stuart Ball’s Hiker’s Guide to Oahu. We dismissed all Windward options because of the weather, considered the North Shore and Waianae, and wound up at good old Koko Head stairs.

Alex and Jennifer admire Conrad’s new camera atop a bunker covered with interesting graffiti.

Heading to Kona Brewing Company. Which, BTW, must have gotten a new chef or something. They have new menu items and the old ones are way better. Try the “Puna Pie,” a pizza with two kinds of mozzarella, gorgonzola and chevre and whole cloves of garlic.

Hike Club in search of lava on the Big Island

There’s been lots in the news lately about the volcanic activity over on the Big Island, so Hike Club went to check it out. A helicopter tour over the latest active flow was fascinating, even though the flow is mostly underground and so not as spectacular as hoped for.

The active flow is north of the Hawaii Volcanoes State Park, actually outside the park boundaries, starting from Pu’u O’o and flowing down to the ocean. Much of the area covered by the new flow was formerly residential, but already destroyed years ago by lava. Some new land was also covered, however. Somehow, the crazy “bed and breakfast” standing alone in an area surrounded by lava (and featured just this past December on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations) has once again survived, although their road through the old lava was cut off by new lava.

Much of this flow is underground now and all you can really see are steam vents and billows of sulphur dioxide. But if you look closely at the pic below you can see some glowing lava through a hole in the surface crust.

The best part of the helicopter ride turned out to watching whales breaching just offshore. Unfortunately, didn’t catch any pics of the whales though.

The helicopter doesn’t actually go over Kilauea Caldera, so drove down there the next day to see what was happening. Halemaumau Crater has been putting out a lot of sulphur, resulting in the closing of roads within the park. There was an explosion in the crater on 3/19 and the plume had been gray with ash, but currently it is just putting out billowing white clouds.

Consequently, the visit to the park proved to be short. That left time for the Pana’ewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens, right outside Hilo.

Namaste, the white Bengal tiger.

A two headed goat.

Peacocks courting (this was peacock porn just a few seconds earlier but I didn’t get out the camera in time).

Got great coffee and a yummy bagel sandwich at Hilo Coffee Mill, and brought back a variety of coffees from the budding local industry which is growing up to rival the Kona coffee dynasty on the other coast. Puna coffee – who knew? It’s good. And hanging out in Hilo was surprisingly fun. It’s amazing that the awesome old buildings have survived years of earthquakes, tsunamis, and economic challenges.