Category: North America

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Hawaii North America USA

Northern Loop

Pu’ukohola Heiau or “Temple on the Hill of the Whale” in English was my first stop for the northern loop I had planned today.

It is important for several reasons- it was one of the last temples built before outside influences took over Hawaii. The King at the time- Kamehameha I – built it in 1790-1791, after a prophecy that he would have rule over all the Hawaiian Islands- which were not united- once he completed a temple to the war god atop the Whale Hill. This was indeed what happened.

The Heiau or temple was a place where only the highest ranking chiefs could enter. Commoners could not get anywhere close. It is still shut off to public access.

The temple was built by hand –with water worn lava rocks- which came from the coast by way of a 20-mile-long human chain!! Each rock as handled up from the coast!! The King himself laboured on the project.

Just below there was a fortress built to house canons- which the King had learned to use effectively and to his advantage.

Lapakahi is a site that shows how fishing villages were set up pre Europeans. There is an example of grass huts. There is also a construction that shows double roofs for cooling effect. The construction was from bamboo and pili grass cover. The large residential complex has short lava rock walls without mortar, with large grass roofs.

There were huts for storing fishing canoes and ku’ula where fishermen gave thanks for their catch by leaving a piece of fish or catch here. The locals had salt making hollow lava rocks where sea water was evaporated and salt left behind. They used this for seasoning and preserving fish.

Besides these important historic sites there is good scenery along the way- more rolling hills, lookouts along the cliff coasts and lovely historic towns such as Hawi in the very north of the Big Island.

There is a long stretch of the Kohala Mountain Road that is lined on both sides by huge ironwood trees.

The coastal stretch of highway 270 was super busy with athletes training for the Ironman Championship which is taking place in Kona on 12 October 2019-less than 1 week away. Lots of nice legs around 🙂

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Hawaii North America USA

Hamakua Coast

The plan was to do a large loop on the Island- from Hilo via the Hamakua Coast to Honaka’a , Waimea and then through the Saddle Road to Hilo.

The drive starts with a quick offshoot through a short scenic route. It is a narrow road, through thick tropical forests and the location of one of several botanical gardens. I did a short walk to Onomea Bay- a very scenic but rugged bay, through which sugar cane was once exported.

It’s an exciting next stop- Akaka Falls. You drive through a small, very quaint and periodic little village – and a few kilometres down the road is the parking. The walk is a loop, through lush forests including a mini bamboo forest. The first waterfall is the large cascading Kahuna Falls- but they are not nicely visible. The next waterfall is the start of the show- the 135m high Akaka Falls.

The next stop is a rather sombre one- a monument in Laupahoehoe in memory of the many children that died in the 1 April 1946 tsunami. The reason for the deaths of so many children is that their school was a sea level- and the waves came in the morning. The rest of the community was higher, up the cliff. The tsunami was caused by an earthquake in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. This series of tsunamis was devastating due to many reasons-for the whole island. A large portion of the railway line that bankrupt the company who installed it was ripped apart as it lay on the coast. The Waipio Valley became infertile due to being inundated with salt water.

The drive through the Old Mamalahoa Highway was pleasant- through many eucalyptus forests and rolling farmlands. There are cattle farms here. It is again, another different landscape –farmland. Sad, considering hundreds of acres of natural forest would have been cleared for this to occur. 

The road turns into Saddle Road- with the maximum speed limit I have seen on any islands- 60 miles per hour. Saddle Road runs through the saddle that is created between the two largest volcanoes on the island- and in the world depending on what measure you use. Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. You need to remember that these volcanoes summit at > 4,000m and have snow cover in the winter!! YES, in Hawaii there is snow. This volcano is inactive. Measured from the bottom of the sea floor- from where it is created it stands at 9,750m – this measure makes it the highest in the world.

There is a sad reality though- this most popular site and possibility to summit is not available at present as protesters to a new observation telescope are not allowing any visitors to enter. They have actually set up a whole tent city at the entrance. It doesn’t look pretty.

At the time that I was going through Saddle Road the cloud cover was already low with rain starting- however here is a photo taken from Akaka Falls Road, with the Observatory visible on top.

Mauna Loa is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and has a huge volume! It has erupted 33 times since written records have begun.

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Hawaii North America USA

Volcanoes National Park

I was excited to experience the volcanoes that have been creating the islands of Hawaii since I arrived. This was why I dedicated a fair bit of time to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (25USD entry per car for 7 days).

On the way towards the visitor’s centre is a turn off to see the tree moulds. These are created when lava hits trees that have a high moisture content. The lava has a little time to harden around the tree, creating a mould of the trunk, before the tree eventually goes up in flames and leaves the mould.

On my first afternoon I spent time in the visitors centre and watched a short video on the most recent series of eruptions in 2018 of Kilauea. The following is a summary point of the facts and events that took place. Lots of information is also available on USGS (US Geological Survey) website https://volcanoes.usgs.gov. There is also a sign at the door that informs us that there is NO visible lava flow anywhere in the park or on the island at his moment (so I was not going to have another exciting helicopter ride as planned).

 

Mid March increased pressure

26 April lava overflowed

30 April crater floor collapsed
Summit lava lake drops
3 May 1st fissure opened
Within 1 week  10 fissures opened
15 May 20 fissures opened
19 May lava flows towards ocean
23 May ocean entry
29 May from fissure 8 moving NE
KAPOHO BAY massive flow -700 homes damaged in total
In the 2 months created lava delta added 3.5km2 to island

Summit subsidence
Collapse events
June caldera floor collapses rapidly
May to Aug 60,000 earthquakes
62 major collapse events
65m to 488m depth change
> Double diameter

This collapse in crater has caused some havoc in the Park. It has sucked up a large portion of the Crater Ring Road and has eaten up the 500 car parking lot on the opposite side of the Volcano Hotel. There is also a museum and research station on the rim which had to be evacuated and personnel relocated due to the building cracks with all the earthquakes and subsidence.

Early Aug decreased activity in fissure 8 and event was defined as completed in September.

After my time gaining info at the visitors centre I headed to the Volcano Hotel for a great view of the now massively enlarged caldera. There was also a tour in progress so I listened in on the facts and the really small amount of time that this huge change had occurred over. 

 

I also visited the Volcano Art Gallery. It is interesting in that it is hosted in the old original building that was one of the first official accommodation set ups in this area. Viewing splattering lava was a tourist past time since the late 1800s. The hotel had 6 rooms (really quiet small) and the brochures advertise that it slept up to 18 people.

After a bit more exploring on foot I decided to head to my place for the night and come back to explore the next day- where the Craters Road was on the agenda.

This road is 50km in length one way and has multiple stops and lookouts to view the various craters, lava flow events and follow the lava all the way down to the coast. The multiple layers of lava are noticeable in that there are different types of lava that sit on top of one another- pahoehoe (ropy lava) on top of a-a and vice versa. You can also note the different events by colour.

The view is quiet out of this world for someone who is not from a volcanically active area. It is also amazing as to how relatively quickly vegetation is able to take on the lava once it has cooled. The first plants to take root are actually trees, the native ‘ohi’as. They have spiky pompom type flowers. Their roots break up the lava and start the creation of soil for other plants.

It is quiet common that you can be driving through lush tropical forest and then bam- barren lava flows for a few miles. Some of the large pahoehoe lava flows glisten a near bronze in the sunlight- its rather pretty.

I did two short walks along this route- quite a few are out of bounds. The 1st was Devastation Trail which goes past and alongside the large hill created after Kilauea Iki’s explosion. The lava spurted out to a height of 579m!!! The explosion occurred on 14 Nov 1959. The explosion lasted for 37 days, in which approx. 102 million cu meters of lava erupted- more than half of which flowed back into the crater. Part of the new hill that was created (Gushing Hill) fell into the lava lake and now creates the uneven mounds at the bottom of the crater.

The trail also passes through an ‘ohi’a forest. So there is devastation on one side and a thriving forest on the other. ‘Ohi’as actually adapt to environments of poor air quality (such as during explosions) and grow roots from their branches if necessary.

The 2nd walk is a short trail (Napau) in the area where fissure 8 opened up and caused such devastation in 2018. There are great geological features here and I’m really careful and aware of where I am stepping as I don’t want to fall into lava tunnel that has a thin ceiling.

As you drive down towards the coast you pass the multitude of lava flows as they headed down towards the ocean and cascaded down multiple levels. It is like a frozen, multi coloured solid lava flow. There is also a place you can stop and see where the lava took over the old road. A reminder, again, how nothing in this park is too permanent. 

The road used to carry on along the coast for a few more miles after what is now the ultimate stop and viewpoint- of the arch. However, some of the road has also been sacrificed to the lava. This has been the entry point for the lava flow from many fissures/ volcanoes of the past, the iconic photos of lava flowing into the ocean would have been taken here.

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Hawaii North America USA

South Coast

An early morning and breakfast had me out headed towards the south of the island before 7am. My first goal, before it got very hot was to do the walk to Papakolea Green Sand Beach. I arrived at the start at 08h30. The walk is not difficult- it is all flat but the wind is pretty strong and picks up the loose sand/fine dust and gets it in the eyes etc. You can walk along any of the 4WD tracks. I chose the one closest to the sea to get some views. The coastline is rough lava and the waves breaking on it is pretty dramatic. There are only four places in the world with green sand beaches: here, Galapagos, Guam and Norway.

You can see the top part of the caldera which is where the sea broke into and created the green sand beach. The sand is green from a high concentration of olivine- which is olive green. You can walk down the old crater edge with the help of a ladder and “steps” cut into the soft rock by many people’s feet.

There were only 4 other people when I was there- which was great.

After the hike I travelled down to South Point- the southernmost point of Hawaii and also USA. There is also a cliff diving area here. With loads of signs forbidding it. However, there is a ladder and a 1st aid station as well as jumping platform. There were no “takers” so to speak when I was there though. Lots of fishermen here as the strong currents here bring in great catches apparently.

On my way towards Volcanoes National Park I took a diversion and stopped by Punalu’u Black Sand Beach. It was a different sight altogether (I have been to one black sand beach before, close to Auckland, NZ). What was also great were the seven sea turtles that were resting on the beach. It is interesting to note that black sand beaches can be created instantly when lava flows into cold ocean waters and cools at such a rapid rate that it creates crystals which become the sea sand.

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Hawaii North America USA

Kona Coast

I had a full day to explore the Kona coast and surrounds on the Big Island. The plan was to have a snorkelling day as many good snorkelling spots are on this side of the island and I was advised by a Swiss friend I met in Colombia, of a few spots that I may meet up with some dolphins.

My first stop was in Kahalu’u Bay- at 07h30 in the morning- so there were very few people here. The entry into the water is a bit rocky and slippery here, but taking it easy got you great rewards. The water was lovely and clear and I spotted 80% of the fish species that were popular here- I took photos of the identification guide as I still don’t have an underwater camera. Right next to this bay is also the tiny church of St Peter, nestled between some palm trees. It only seats something like 12 people.

The next bay was a considerably further drive down a winding road Kealakekua Bay- I was planning to swim if the dolphins were in the bay or to check them from the shore if they were playing further out. However, the dolphins were reported to be a far way out of the bay and so I gave the swim a miss and decided to head to Two Step Beach.  

Arriving via a very narrow road, down the coastline, I did a loop of the one-way road around two step but didn’t find any parking. So I decided to visit the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park (15USD entry) and leave the car there when I was finished and then snorkel in the bay. The park literally borders the bay. It is an interesting combination of Royal Grounds that are bordered by a Great Wall, with a Refuge on the other side. The Great Wall is a huge structure: 900ft long, 10ft high and 18 ft wide. 80% of it is original!!! That is a huge feat considering the storms and hurricanes that pass through here! The wall is a dry wall (no mortar in joints between the lava rock); this allows large waves to pass through.

Going back to the purpose of a refuge. In ancient Hawaiian times if you broke the law (called kapu) –irrelevant of how small the transgression- you would be sentenced to death. However, if you could get away from the warriors that chased you down, and get to a refuge, then you would be safe there. There was a priest there that could forgive your transgression, and you could live your new life from there. 

The Keawe is a reconstruction from the 1960s and now is being revived again but there is an interesting similarity between the tikis and the Moai heads on Easter Island. After the Queen ate meals together with her son and nothing happened (men eating with woman was against the kapu too!!)  in order to punish the islands or its people they started to question their beliefs. Since nothing bad happened (earthquake, tsunami or volcanic eruption) they determined that their tikis had no power and started pulling down their statues. This was the same as in Easter Island. 

The fish in this area were quiet plentiful- especially the large schools of yellow tang. It was a bit tricky to get over the rocky outcrops as the tide was a little low but I just scraped over the tops of the rocks. There was also a small honu (Green Hawaiian sea turtle) in the shallows of the bay.

In between beaches I took a quick detour to see the painted church. It serves as the local Catholic church. It was built in 1842 in a different location and moved in 1880. One of the parish priests- Belgian, Father Jean Berchmans Velghe. The paintings are depictions from the bible or of saints as the Hawaiians did not have a written language- so it was easier to teach them using pictures. The church is compact- it originally served a small fishing village, but the paintings are beautiful.

My final stop for the day was Ho’okena Bay- also at the end of a narrow and winding road. It is a known dolphin rest area so I was hoping to see them. Dolphins actually rest half of their brains at a time- fun fact 🙂 However there were none around when I was there swimming- so no success with dolphins today 🙁 . I did swim right over a sea snake/ eel looking thing in the shallows and it looked a big frightened- to which I was also frightened as I did not want to scare it into biting me, luckily we both made it out of there unscathed! Another interesting sight, that I didn’t see earlier was a yellow trumpet fish.

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Hawaii North America USA

Na Pali Land & Air

On my full day on the north coast the plan was to go hiking to get some Na Pali Coast views. I had been thinking to do the day hike to HanakapiAi Falls. It is considered a tough hike though and the late morning had flash flood warnings- the whole hike being in a narrow valley with stream would mean quite a bit of danger- so I decided against that and instead just did the moderate hike to HanakapiAi Beach.

My original intention before leaving Europe was to do the Kalalau Trail- 11 miles of track that had been closed for the last year until June 2019 due to the severe wash outs that occurred in the same storm that washed many roads out. However, all the camping spots had been booked out for months and there was no way I could make it as a return track in one day!

I had heard that you need to book parking in advance –so the day before I looked online. There was no parking until 1 week from now. So not very useful in terms of having a hire car and getting around at my own pace. The next option is a 15 USD return shuttle. There was 1 space at 08h30, getting us there at 09h30. Already late for hiking- especially with rain coming in, but hey. When we actually arrived the parking was only about 40% full and remained like that most of the day. 

The hike was fairly consistently uphill and had some good look outs down the Na Pali Coast- however due to the rain clouds coming in, it was largely covered again 🙂 . The return trip was slippery due to the drizzle that had started- but no massive rainfall actually appeared. It took me about 1.5 hours each way.

Due to the fact that 90% of the island is inaccessible by road I decided that it would be fun and appropriate to take a helicopter trip around the island the day I flew out back to Honolulu. The weather forecast looked bleak the night before with 90% chance of whole day of rain. Waking up to sunshine and nearly no clouds I got excited!! Two hours before the scheduled departure time it looked very bleak again with large grey storm clouds rolling over the mountains!!

Luckily the storm did not eventuate and the trip went ahead.

We were 6 passengers and pilot. I had paid a little extra to get a front seat- for better and more guaranteed views. We were in a Whisper Star model helicopter. The journey lasted just under 60 minutes.  We did get some rain-nothing too heavy though and some glare from the windows that’s evident in the photos.

The experience was great and we got great views of many delightful waterfalls in unreachable areas. I got to see the Na Pali coast from the air this time- the waters I had cruised, the Kalalau Trail from the air and the beach I had hiked to the day before as well as Ke’e Beach where I snorkelled. It’s really stunning scenery, and we had some areas pointed out where different parts of Jurassic Park had been filmed.

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Hawaii North America USA

Northern Kauai

After my restless night in my car in Kokee State Park and the sunrise from the lookout I headed on a road trip to the other side of the island. It should be noted that this island is really rather small and this doesn’t take long :). It is about 40km by 53km and is geologically the oldest of the island chain (first to be created over the hot spot).

First stop was Kilauea Lighthouse lookout- with the lighthouse in the background and lots of red footed boobys flying around and stretching their red feet in for landing.

Hereafter I headed out to Anini Beach- where there was supposed to be great snorkelling. I did spot two interesting creatures: a young eel (maybe moray?) and trumpet fish, but again, the visibility was not great and the variety of species was pretty poor. I also saw the national fish with the awesome local name of humuhumunukunukuapua’a fish!!! Now that;s a mouthful1! It can be translated as the pasted together fish as it looks like different fish buts pasted together 🙂 

The Hanalei Valley lookout boasts great views of taro root plantations (used to be sugar cane in the past but this became prohibitive due to shipping & labour costs). I continued down the road to Hanalei settlement through a very traffic congested section due to road closure for maintenance after huge storm damage from a storm of a year ago which did massive damage all along this coast. The town is very tourist- centric, as are most here, and boasts a large protected bay. It was very muddy- far into the bay and thus didn’t have the picturesque turquoise waters. I did have a pizza and iced coffee before heading to my accommodation in the golf course community of Princeville- and yes- it is as fancy pants as it sounds.

A bit off timing wise, on my return to Lihue, I stopped at Opaekaa Falls and Kapa’a town for coffee. The town has an older, historic center that reminds one of old western movies. 

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Hawaii North America USA

Na Pali Coast Cruise

So as I was travelling through the Waimea Canyon I was deciding what to do the next day- go on a hike or take a boat “cruise” along the dramatic Na Pali (Translation: Many mountains) Coastline. Having an included snorkelling trip convinced me to the cruise. I figured that I could do a shorter hike that afternoon or early the next morning.

On a side note I only travelled to Kauai with hand luggage and realised late that my sunblock couldn’t travel with me as it was too large. This meant that I had to bum sunblock off random strangers. Some of these strangers happened to be a large Polish family from Canada that were also doing the cruise, but on a smaller, private boat. So it was a good conversation starter and chatted about my travels.

Anyway, I digressed. Our 32 seater got underway somewhat late due to late guests. It was luckily only about half full, which was a nicer experience. There was another single lady who was travelling alone and we started chatting and didn’t quiet stop. Our guide- Adam noted this and asked if we wanted to sit on the bow of the boat. I asked him if he wanted to kill us, but apparently not 🙂 . So we slid on over and had THE BEST view! It was pretty soon off the bat that we saw our first large pod of spinner dolphins. They were great and started becoming more playful –especially the youngsters. The best bit was that they were swimming around the bow- and thus right under our feet!! What an unforgettable experience!! Short video below. As we turned the corner, heading further north and east we saw stunning Jurassic landscapes- eroded lava flows that are covered in vegetation. More worryingly, there were also heavy clouds in the distance that looked laden with rain!!! We cruised part waterfalls and spotted many boobys…yes they have brown boobys and red footed boobys here!! YAY! There are also two species of tropic birds with their streamer like tails.

We got to the spot that we were supposed to snorkel but the captain broke our hearts when he stated that the water just was not clear enough to snorkel 🙁 my little heart broke. However, life carried on. We pushed on further, where my friend was stating that she hadn’t seen sea turtles yet- and BAM! – just there in the water were two of them! Ask and ye shall find.

We saw loads more dolphins and headed further up the coast and it started to rain…and pour …but we had a vote and decided to carry on…with the hope that it would stop- but these stoppages were short.

We did go into some roofless sea caves- really tight ones and normal caves that were stinky in the back. With the rain came additional waterfalls and what I defined as our above water snorkelling experience 🙂

On our return trip we came across several large groups of birds made up of boobys, shearwaters, tropic birds and others.

With all the continued rain I was reconsidering my hiking plan- and just as well as it continued to rain well into the early evening before our parking meeting of new friends in Kokee State Park. I decided against hiking as there are too many warnings of the dangers of the hiking in these parts. Most tracks are along super narrow ridgelines that hikers slip to their death on after rain and the slippery nature of the soil when wet and soaked. And one will drop a few hundred meters ….no thanks:(

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Hawaii North America USA

Waimea Canyon _ Kauai Island

I flew in from Honolulu into Lihue, Kauai Island in the morning. I was lucky enough that a lovely girl was leaving for the airport the same time as me and had ordered an Uber and said she didn’t mind sharing it free of cost for me. (She was here for work :))

I ordered a rental car to get around- my first time driving on the other side of the road –and it went well. I headed to Poipu, in the south of the island. It allegedly had good snorkelling but upon getting in the water I realised that the visibility was not great. So it was more a cool down swim. I then headed to the nearby Spouting Horn, after checking that high tide was indeed coming in. It is a blowhole that can sometimes put on a show. On the way there I realised that there seemed to be some nice gardens- however I was not willing to pay to 30USD entrance fee for those.

I headed to Kalaheo, where I could check into my accommodation a little early.  Having a look outside it seemed that the weather would hold for the afternoon and so I headed into the nearby Waimea Canyon- the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. The drive is a windy yet scenic trip up into the mountains with many formal and informal lookouts. The views were of a super canyon –with waterfalls and greenery to boot. The soil colour around here is a deep red- reminds me of Central Australia. The rain that the island has seen this season is the highest in a decade-so everything is lush beyond words.

A Couple of hours into my drive/stop and check out the view I got to the “cherry –on-top” lookout which looks onto the Kalalau Valley. At this stage of the afternoon though the low clouds had moved in and it started to drizzle so all that I saw when reaching the top was a cloud of white and nothing beyond it!! I didn’t bother going to the last lookout to find the same- thought I would check it out the next day as I was camping in Kokee State Park.  By camping I mean sleeping in my car as I don’t have my gear with me.

Fast forward one day, it completely pissed down with rain during my Na Pali coast cruise as well as after- so it was an afternoon of sitting in the car by the campsite parking, until the rain stopped that all of us that were in the parking lot got out to chat and stretch legs. We had a newly married couple from US who were spending their honeymoon in a “Rape Van”, a Canadian and another couple who had just completed a 4 year trip around mainland US making/living a Tiny House movement documentary. They were here to attend a wedding and were well and truly stocked up with booze- so they shared with the rest of us.

With the clouds still hanging low that night it was pointless going to the look out. However, the next morning I was up for sunrise and thus set out for the lookouts –holding thumbs that they were clear. They were indeed and they both had great views of the Pacific and the dramatic coastline.

PS –sleep in the car was elusive and I was pretty tired the next day after no proper shut eye.

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Hawaii North America USA

North Shore O’ahu Island

After a few buses I got to the North Shore- or particularly the only other backpacker that is on the island but not in Honolulu or Waikiki! Cheap accommodation does not exist here!

The North Shore is very popular for surfing- but that’s more in the winter months when the waves are allegedly super!! Now- all I have seen is very calm seas.

The exact location is nearly centre of the northern part of the island. So I figured I can explore in either direction by bus. On the day I arrived I took a snorkel in the bay just opposite the road- Three Tables and Ship Cove a little bit down the road. Three Tables had an excellent variety of fish and lots of them too! The visibility was good and not too many people. The area is protected by the reefs and rocks at the mouth of the bay, and thus not many waves make it to shore. Ship’s Cove is a shallow series of water pools that doesn’t have as much variety. You don’t really have to swim-or cannot- just propel yourself along the bottom using your arms. The variety of fish was not great and neither was the quantity.

I really wanted to see some more sea turtles- so for sunset I headed west to Laniakea Beach. It took a while, but a youngish turtle appeared on the beach and we got to learn a few things about the Hawaiian Honu or green basking sea turtles, from the volunteers who patrol the beaches to make sure tourists don’t get too close. They work in shifts.

The next day I went east to Turtle Bay. I was excited to do some more snorkelling. Disappointment hit as I realised that visibility was very poor and I thus gave up. It was a short swim rather than snorkel.

However, there is a silver lining. Not spending too much time here I set off back to Pupukea for lunch and then caught another bus to Haleiwa- surfing capital of the North Shore. It is a quaint town with old style buildings and a surprising large amount and variety of art galleries which I enjoyed browsing.

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Hawaii North America USA

Kailua _ Lanikai Beaches

The beach of Kailua was just like I like it- quiet, long stretch of sand and warm water. My accommodation, though pricey, was right on the beach which was good. It also had a kitchen, so I could do some food prep.

The next day (I stayed 2 nights) I walked to Lanikai to do the Pillbox hike. This is a steep climb to two gun emplacements. I then carried on along the Ka’lwa Ridge and circled the village, coming back down a treacherous hill in the east. The views from this hike were great- you could see the stunning beach, reefs and then on the other side the Pali (eroded mountains) that conjures Jurassic park images.

In the afternoon I tested out my snorkelling gear in Lanikai and saw a green sea turtle within my first 2 minutes- and a few other species but the visibility was not great.

I was excited to hire a car for the next stretch of my trip –mostly to get to see the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden-which was difficult and lengthy to get to by public transport. On my way to pick it up though a lady called and said that they only had minivans, so I resigned myself to not seeing the gardens and changed my plans to go direct to the North Shore. 

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Hawaii North America USA

Honolulu/Waikiki

It was a long flying day- started with 3am pick up – to be dropped off at London Heathrow, then flight to Frankfurt, then Anchorage, Alaska and then finally to Honolulu. I was out pretty quick early that evening!

What I did manage to get is some helpful info from one of my roommates who told me that the Honolulu Museum of Art had its 3rd Sunday free entry (entrance normally 20 USD) and that the Corpse Plant in Fosters Botanical Gardens was blooming- a rare event. So I had two things for my to do list the next day.

My first item to be sorted though was getting at US SIM card for my phone, especially to use Google transport to get around Honolulu and the island. I had a choice- 3GB of data for 35 USD or 25 GB for 45 USD; so I took the 25GB option…def should have me covered. I mention this as it makes data really pretty expensive in comparison to the other countries I have been!

I did a load of walking on these days and got some shots of lots of different aspects of Honolulu, some of which are below.

My first stop – as it neared the midday heat was the Museum of Art- to get into the aircon after a good few kilometres. I was pleasantly surprised at the very large diversity of displays- there was art in the traditional sense but also many sculptures, ceramics, as well as traditional body decorations from many cultures. The museum covers Japanese, South East Asia, Philippines, Islamic, and a light art showcase called GLOW, to name a few. The museum halls are built around central courtyards that are of varied themes- which are also nice to visit.

On the 3rd Sunday there are also activities for the kids around art and there were some local musicians for some afternoon tunes.

After the museum I made my way to Fosters Botanical Garden to see if the corpse plant had flowered yet. It had not fully bloomed at that stage. It only blooms for about 2-3 days and then the flower dies off again. This botanical garden has been lucky, in that this is their 19th bloom since 2013. The flower produces the smell of carrion to attract the insects that pollinate it. This was such a big event that the local news and several photographers were there to cover it!

Besides the corpse plant there are also many beautiful orchids, large old trees and cycads. There is one lonely but colourful rainbow eucalyptus too! An interesting tree was the cannonball tree- it has fruits the size of cannonballs hanging all over the tree and stunning flowers!

It was off to Waikiki from the gardens in order to meet up with Alanah and Trav- ex colleague and friend from Whyalla. They were over for a wedding, so I planned my visit to overlap with their dates too. We met up and had dinner at a Japanese place – very filling! We then walked around a packed Waikiki —-aaaargh!! So many horrid tourists! 

The next morning, we met up at 7am at the start of the Diamond Head Walking Trail- along with 100s of other tourists. This is the walk up one of the iconic volcanoes that is visible from around Honolulu and Waikiki. It is a relatively steep climb, but not long. The view is of the old crater, a lighthouse and of course the Waikiki and Honolulu skylines.

We have a filling breakfast at a Mexican place and part ways…for another year or so? Was great to catch up and talk through what’s happening.