The macadamia nut tree is not originally from Hawai'i but was brought here from Australia.
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| Macadamia nut plantation |
After the visit we headed to the black sand beach of Kalapana. The beach is accessible after a short hike over edgy and spiky volcanic rocks and is really black like carbon, very cool!
From one second to the other it started to rain heavily, but we found protection under some rocks and trees on the beach. We quickly learned that heavy rain showers are routine in the eastern part of the island.
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| Black sand beach |
Driving to our air bnb we also learned about the reality of the island and what it means to live on an active volcano. When we almost reached our destination a street sign informed us that the road was closed ahead...in fact a few meters in front of us a massive lava flow from the eruptions of 2018 blocked our way! It was truly impressive to see! We would learn some more about it on the following days...
We reached our air bnb a bit later than expected, but despite the darkness we recognized that we had chosen a really cool place to stay. The house we stayed in was in the middle of the jungle, very isolated and surrounded by a green forest . The road accessing the house was an adventure on its own.
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| Entrance to our Air bnb |
On the following day we visited the Volcano National Park. The Park is home of the Kilauea crater and before the eruptions of 2018 the caldera was filled with lava. Also within the whole park lava flows would be visible and even lava pouring into the ocean. Unfortunately at this time no lava can be seen anywhere in the park. All is gone since last year's dramatic eruptions. But the park is still very impressive and worth seeing even without lava. It is characterized by steam vents all along the crater, old and new lava flows hardened in the most spectacular shapes and originating the most fascinating panoramas. The top of the park is surrounded by the forest and the bottom is surrounded by the infinite view of the ocean! Very impressive!
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| Volcano National Park, sitting on hardened lava from the 60ies |
On the next morning we were awakened by the sound of heavy rain. We had a long breakfast on the patio of the house and then went to Pahoa, the nearest town for some grocery and laundry, always in the pouring rain.
The rain lessened in the afternoon, which gave us the possibility to see the lava trees. Those trees have been surrounded by a lava flow, the lava hardened around the tree trunks leaving big chunks of lava trunks. Very cool to watch!
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| Lava tree |
We also drove by the Leilani Estates (not far away from our air bnb) the neighborhood which was mostly touched by the eruptions of 2018. Different streets were blocked by tall lava walls! On on of the eruption sites, a crater can be seen and there is still steam coming out if the ground. The houses close to the eruptions are abandoned and empty...Very impressive and touchy.
On our last day we drove north to Hilo to the Akaka falls, one of the tallest falls in the US. A short walk into the jungle brought us to the falls and its impressive scenario.
We also stopped at the rainbow falls on our way back to Hilo and back to the airport, where we took our flight in the evening, direction Honolulu, O'ahu, our last Hawaiian Island.
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| Akaka Falls |
We didn't at all visit the west cost of the Big Island, but this will give us an excuse to come back one day!
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