Week 1 - Keeping Myself Busy to Combat Homesickness

Okay, It seems that I may not be all that good at keeping a travel blog... though I am going to try to update it weekly :)

First and foremost, that you all so much for your comments - it is so helpful to hear from people I know and love when I am so far away.

After a long day of flying and stop-overs, I made it onto the Big Island of Hawaii around 8 pm (3 am NS time, meaning that I was awake for a full 24 hours by this point) on Sept. 29th. I found my way to the hostel and crashed for the night. Unfortunately, falling asleep so early led to my waking up around 5 am local time... let's just say I got a lot of reading done that morning. I decided to spend the day exploring getting to know the city and also doing some relaxing at the beach. It proved to be a good idea - I felt pretty comfortable here by the time I went to sleep.

Foolish, really, getting comfortable here in Kona, because I woke up early Thursday morning and took the 6:30 am bus to the other (a.k.a. 'rainy') side of the Island (Hilo). Enter the homesickness. I arrived at my campsite to find only one other person - the owner. Fortunately, I didn't have too much time to wallow in self pity because another girl arrived within a couple of hours and we went for an exploratory walk together - only to be caught in a torrential downpour (the type of which, it turned out, are quite common for this side of the island). My clothes still aren't fully dry. It was as I stood on the side of the road, soaking wet, that I decided to rent a car for a couple of days. This decision proved to be a good one, as it allowed me to explore the eastern side of the island in relative comfort.
My first excursion was down to a beautiful, mystic, black sand beach. To get there I had to traipse over layer upon layer of hardened volcanic lava (incredible to see, and hard to believe that all of these islands have grown from this hostile environment). I then drove on to a very popular spot where you can 'see' the lava from the active volcano flowing into the water. It is a lie. You can't see it at all. There are barriers everywhere that don't allow you to get any closer than 1200 m. It was still nice to look at the steam though, as it glowed red against the dark of the sky. Anyway, back to my tent to survive the first night of rain.

By Friday morning I managed to meet a couple more nice girls and we all decided to take a road trip around the North-East and North side of the island. We spent the whole day exploring rainforests, beaches, look-offs etc. It was a pretty good time - most of you know how much I love a good road trip. We did make it all of the way to the West side in time to catch the beautiful sunset before heading back east to spend a second night in our tents in the rain. Did I mention that one of my tent poles broke while I was gone during the day? Thank goodness for duct tape.

Saturday I made my way down to the incredible Hawaii Volcano National Park. I hiked a trail that led along the ledge of a volcanic crater and then down into the crater itself. Incredible... I really can't get over all of the hardened lava. I also made my way underground into some volcanic lava tubes... when I got far enough in, I turned off my headlamp. Darkness like you can't imagine... creepy. Night three of pouring rain - my little tent is starting to feel the pain.

I decided to make my way back down to Volcano National Park again on Sunday. I drove all the way down to the end of the 'Chain of Craters' road to where it was ruined by a volcanic eruption in 1994. Got some pretty neat pictures. I also visited some ancient petroglyphs carved in the stone and then made my way to the museum - a nice set up. Back at the campsite we had a girls movie night before turning in. Did I mention that it rained all night?

I did some reading in a park on Monday morning and then had to return the rental car, putting a limit on my self-exploring. I signed up for a tour to the top of Mauna Kea (the highest mountain in the world if counting the portion of it that is underwater) for sunset and stargazing. Unfortunately, there was quite thick fog for the entire way up, though it did clear a bit in time for sunset. Unfortunately again, at this very time, I succumbed to a debilitating round of high-altitude sickness and had to wait in the van :( On arriving home this time, we were advised to take our tents inside - as flash flood warnings had been set for our side of the island. Ironically enough, I don't think a drop of rain fell this night.

Finally, after being unsatisfied about the 1200 m distance between me and the lava flows, I decided to sign up for a boat cruise up to the actual spot where the lava flows into the sea. This was a great little trip, as I got to take part in both a boat cruise and seeing an incredible sight.

Back to Kona (sunny) side I go... but I think I had better wait until next week to fill you in on these adventures.

I hope that this hasn't been to long and dreadful for you all to read... please send comments and suggestions for how I can make these entries more enjoyable!

I love and miss you all!

P.S. Photos to come!

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