Hawaii

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Blog by James Grieve My brother

12th June.
Honolulu my first island of Huwaii was way cool! American though and
through; big and flash. I stayed at a hostel on Waikiki beach. My hostel was
one street back from the beach front and the beach was absolutely kraking!
It went off from morning till late into the night! I arrived at the
backpackers after lunch and had a well needed and fully deserved shower and
a short nap, lugging that baggage around was no mean feet I tell you! I left
for the beach that afternoon and spent the rest of the day on the sand or
catching the sites; I think I’d been awake about 40 hours at that point but
wasn’t feeling tired in the least. When darkness fell followings an amazing
Hawaiian sunset I strolled the boulevard along the beach side till quite
late that evening being the total tourist I am I took pic’s of absolutely
everything. For beer money and to live the Huwaiian dream of surfing locals
seem to set up little stales along the main drag and do what ever it was
they did best for tips from us tourists; donations to be politically
correct! Lol! A homeless guy came up to me and asked for some change; after
he haggled me I gave him a US $1 I was walking away when the thought struck
me; hang on! I’m the fucking homeless one you sun of a bitch! He fully duped
me lol! James you sucker! Anyway I got back to my room after walking the
street raw and fell asleep in less then a seconds flat fully dressed! Woke
up the next morn and went straight back to the white sands, warm ocean and
palm trees. Hung out till later that arvo on my towel until I needed to head
back to the airport.

13th June - Mark and I weren’t able to catch up in Honolulu because our
phones didn’t want to communicate but we met up before catching our next
flight to Hilo on the big island of Hawaii. Traveling really is an
experience which I love and am really starting to learn to fully appreciate
again. We arrived in Hilo at 7.15pm and Kiya picked us up from the airport,
she was one of our mates from back in Ananda. It’s been really good catching
up with her and her family, her dad being Michael Gornik whom is running the
internship program. We will be staying at their home during our stay.

14th
We are on the wet side of the island so it’s all very green. When a recent
volcano blew, lava flowed around a section of heavily vegetated land and
rather then burying it under layers of rock it flowed around forming an
island surrounded by a sea of luva. This being the crazy chunk of land we
are living on. The road runs along the islands perimeter and when the waves
pick up the road floods in areas totally cutting off traffic; don’t you just
love the Island life. I'm told the ground is so fertile things will grow at
an approx of a million miles an hour (actual figures)😉
Both me and Mark are sharing a Pagoda bedroom which is set in the forest,
there are about seven of these bulies around the main house. Only three of
them are being used at the moment. Each Pagoda has a timber roof and floor
and walls are made of mosquito netting and wall hangings. It really is an
awesome place to stay and with the added benefit of having electricity and
real beds I’m sused for all needed creature comforts.
This morning we woke up and after breakfast went down to the new centre
Michael is building on Pole Star's land, we are not staying within ‘Polestar
gardens’ as its still a fledgling community; being at the moment only a
large section of land with a building under construction. There are a few
full time families who look to be a part of this future community living
within the same area as us but they are all people whom I’ve never met. Kiya
and her brother Abram I guess are the only other young person at the moment
that we know form back in Ananda. Early days still, during the internship
and reunion (18th July - 5th Aug) I hear we are expecting about 30 people.
We helped erect the roofing on the new community centre then went for a swim
at the local beach, volcanic black sand and huge waves! Huge dangerous waves
that whip you around with vengeance, a natural rollercoaster ride if I’ve
ever been on one. Funniest of all though, half the hippy locals (cause they
are all hippies) don't ware clothes on the beach. A group of them were
rubbing paw-paw juice all over their bodies then finishing the fully body
treatment with volcanic sand; crrrrazzzyyyy! But seriously; how much fun
would that be! The nudists aren't like in NZ, they don't give a damn ay; not
shy in the least! The guys run along the beach and frolic in the waves with
there bits bouncing all over the place and the women are even worse! I guess
these dudes never heard the word modesty; only freedom, abandonment and
clean natural fun!

15th
Michael has a running arraignment with a few people on the island for a few
games of volley ball every Friday evening. Needless to say I manned up and
worked on my ball skills cause I can tell there is going to be a lot of
volleyball to come. I’d nearly forgot how much fun it is to play in the
sun😊 Needless to say I forgot to put on sun block and I cooked myself
alive. Luckily after a healthy application of Alo goooo from an actual plant
I felt heaps better and surprise, surprise I woke up this morning with an
even browner tan... you aren’t going to even be able to see me in the dark
soon! Lol
Its community living so we all get a chance to cook; lucky for us pizza was
on the menu and it was deeeelishhhh! Unfortunately for Mark he followed the
always reliable five second rule and ate a slice of the goodness which had
dropped on the floor; he spent the rest of the night puking and the next day
in bed; poor guy!

16th
Went to the public pools with Michael and Kiya and did some laps; I’m told
thirty six laps equals a mile and that’s supposedly the shisel… if you can
nock that out in about an hour then you can move along from office boy
status to rank of superman. My mission; super, super human strength! Lol.
Well 30min lata I’d done 22 lengths - not laps; which is there and back! 22
lengths and I was worn out. So not only was I beaten by a girl but it would
seem I’ve got some work to do. After the swimming marathon we went to some
natural steam vents which are really close to the house. Get this; the steam
comes straight out the earth, being heated by the volcanic activity bellow
the ground. We scaled down into a crater and into a shallow underground
cave; towel shut the entrance and roasted alive. You can actually feel the
earth breathing!!! It’s trippy; like being in a dragon’s mouth! That evening
we went to a local loo-ow which is organized every week by this local
community/group (a larger festival every 3rd week) and they put on a show.
After a home cooked buffet the musicians in the community and the kids from
the local school (which teach alternative skills for life played native
Hawaiian music and dance routines. The hole thing was damn cool and I left
feeling stoked.

17th
The following day we fixed some mountain bikes lying around the house and
went for a wild ride round the island; all fun and games till my chain
broke. we finally fixed the problem but managed to reposition it wrong
leaving me stuck in only the highest gear! An intense ride home but all the
exercise was so goooood! We then went to the local shanty market which they
set up every week which was absolutely awesome. I spent the arvo being the
biggest tourist looking at all the stalls and taking photos of it all!
Fruit, vegetables, trinkets; massage, art, hippy music; they had everything.
We got home and I decided I’d done enough exercise to last me the remainder
of the trip so I pulled out the laptop and watch a movie; this being a major
no, no as TV’s aren’t the in thing in the community lol! Sneaky James,
sneaky!

18th
Michael’s 51st birthday and he wanted to work on the house to celebrate!
Yay; what fun! Work; aaaaarrrrrrgggg! So we spent the day cleaning with
vengeance; I must’ve sweated a bucket by the end of the day. They organized
a birthday dinner which was much fun and we rapped it all off with sing
along around an open fire! Honestly what a bunch of hippies are we! Lol

22nd June - 25th June.
A few weeks back we had the family campout. Drove out to a black sand beach
on the other side of the Island and set up our tent along the shore line on
the beach. We booked out the entire campsites and took over😊 Volleyball
nets, Slack line, body boards we even made a floating barge out of four
lengths of 2x4 timber and two very large tractor inner tubes. After screwing
and strapping it all together we swim the floating death trap out deep into
the ocean and eight fun loving individuals jumped on with a valley ball.
Hours of fun in the tropical water was had dally by all! Fifty eight bumps
was our grand total; sacrifices were made by all to keep the ball in the air
but even accounting for the sun stroke, scrapes and bruises received by
everyone brave enough to join in it was agreed it was a ‘rad’ game and we
kept going back for more.
Hours of volleyball games in the morning and evening cause once the sun
really come out the black sand turns into a hungry molten sea which loves
nothing more then cooking up roasted feet. Solution to the raging sun; we
put up the biggest shade cloth known to man! American style; which of course
had the capacity to not only save our white boy back sides but also totally
block out the sky, view and stars, lol.
The beach was located bellow a volcanic cliff riddled with old lava tubes
which go back miles into the earth. We of course took it upon ourselves to
bravely go were no sane man had gone before; deep down into an active
volcanic mountain. Half way in all chickened out but a few of us hardened
individuals who fear no evil; Mark, myself, Abram and Kilil; the fearless
four who needing nothing more then our two dollar flip flops and half dead
flashlights… I estimate we made it about a km into the earth through tubes
that fluctuate from between 3m all the way down to a maximum of 500mm in
diameter. Crouching, toe stubbing, back scraping, spine bending stuff… but
we made it back into the fresh air, victorious!
Each evening we finished the day with a camp fire, sing alongs, chants and
stories. And on the last we had no talent night! Which is pretty self
explanatory; you don’t need to be talented to participate! Me and Mark
planed out a fight seen; basically we each took turns kicking each others
asses and then finished it with a Kuta. 2Z sat on top of Kiya and pretended
her legs were his own; funny stuff when your watching him doing his
stretching regime. Guitar solo’s, jokes, stories from the Buguvugita…. The
list goes on.
Did I mention the food? Well all the food was supreme! Mexican to die for
plus fruit of all kinds and quantities. Needless to say it took three trucks
(crazy big American muscle machines) filled to the brim, packed solid to do
the camp out properly. Three days of the easy life!

7th July - 9th July
Last weekend was Michaels and Ann’s wedding anniversary, they made plans to
spend the weekend at a fancy shmancy resort up near the top of the Island.
Travis, Kiya, Mark and I decided it was a good opportunity to see some more
of Hawaii’s sites.
Our tip really began while we were eating lunch on the drive up; I
encountered my first crazy man. A real life demon possessed individual who
would haveeen on a bit of a acid binge for to many years and was in a scary
place. He had had cut a crucifix into his forearm and had a long scars
across his throat. Dressed in last months trash, his palms outturned, eyes
wide and a scary demonic grin plastered on his lips he began to preach,
cackle and rave. After a sneak preview into his life, hearing something
about machines taking over and being on the run from hell I knew we needed
to get out of there. The scary part being every second sentence his lips
moved but no words coming out. During the pauses he just stared at you with
fierce eyes and trembling lip. At one point I wasn’t quite sure if he was
about to cry or kill us all. Needless to say we dropped nuts and vamoosed.
Not all bad cause it turns out we had been touched by the sun and he blessed
our tip as we drove off. Craziest nutter I’ve ever encountered.
After a long drive around the Island we met Michael and Anne at their
resort. A massive place that you could picture tourists once arrived never
leaving. The place was good for a few pictures, a swim in their pool and a
bit of a walk about then we were off to find our own camping spot for the
night. After three to four weeks of being totally alcohol free we all
decided to exercise our naughty bones and we bought a box of the cheapest,
nastiest beer we could get our hands on (thanks Mark Mk Screwdge) and then
took great pain in hiding so as not to be discovered by Michael till the
opportune time, what rebels! After guidance from up above we took a 4x4
trail we saw by chance on the side of the road looking for a place to sleep
and cook supper. The road made it’s way over a sea of fractured luva, after
miles of tracking through the unknown we stumbled onto a pristine beach just
as dusk was falling. Huraaaaa; what luck! We had the beach to ourselves and
we were ready to drink our beer and chill out for the night. It turns out
the beach was located directly under the local airports arrival path. Gazing
up through palms trees watching the belly of a passenger airplane roaring
over you was quite the experience and we talked shit till the beer ran out
and the star sky was a calling. After throwing down a tarp on the beach we
slept under the stars and I tried to figure out why I couldn’t’ spot any
consultations?! Lol. Turns out we had by happenstance camped near one of the
most beautiful beaches I think I will ever see. After a hike across the most
barren volcanic landscape we came upon an atoll of lush white sand and palm
trees. The sand was the fluffiest white and the water ranged from baby blue
through to a deep and dark purple. We had brought our snorkeling gear and
believe it if you can but the underwater life was even more breath taking
then the beach. The tropical fish were only of the brightest colors,
rainbows of colors and of all shapes and sizes. After hours in the sun we
were famished for a real meal so we drove out for a well deserved lunch in
the areas buzzing tourist drop spot. Huge luxury liners and tourist all
around drinking Kuvu and spending money. I’m sure it wasn’t just me who felt
more like a locals then one of the tourists after bumming it on the beach
the previous night and spending the remainder of our stay so far here in
Hawaii with our shirts off and no sun block on😉 lol. This fact being the
most amusing when people come up to us asking for directions… ya right! lol
Our next stop was the island best snorkeling spot. Lucky for us it was only
accessible by foot and reaching it required a 1200foot decent over a two and
a half mile trail. The walk down was beautiful and the snorkel as before was
breath taking. Luckily for us Kiya had brought her underwater camera and
took shots of the marine life. As was expected the trip up was an entirely
different story😊 and rather then taking it at a slow and pleasant pace we
attacked the trail with vengeance, we pulled out all the stops and motored
up that hill in record time. After collapsing in our own sweat at the top a
sense of achievement was shared by all.
That night Michael arranged for us to stay in a little bungalow along the
coast line. Used as a meditation retreat the house was filled with the most
amazing vibrations… with mosquito nettings for windows the house didn’t for
even a second attempt to separate you from the outside environment which is
just so perfect. The out door shower was illuminated with Christmas lights
and the hot water and electricity was generated by means of solar power. We
divided some chips and begun a game of Poka, a good habit I brought over
from NZ and we didn’t stop until I’d taken a fiver off everyone at the
table! James wins and kicks everyone else buts! Lol
The next day we headed to South point, named as it’s the point located
furthest South in all of the United States - Borrrinnnnggg! All we cared
about were the huge cliffs and cavers which we jumped off and threw into the
sea bellow. The cliffs were shear and once down you needed to get back up.
What was left of a hundred year old steel ladder was placed for that very
reason and we all took turn jumping, diving and in Marks case flipping off
the 35-40 foot cliffs into the sea bellow.
Because by this stage we loved hiking our next stop was the infamous green
sand beach. Accessible with only a kick as 4x4 we had no option but to leave
Michaels bucky behind and take it by foot. The walk was much fun and once
there we found actual green sand. Yes… green sand; not black or white. This
beach was formed in the side of a huge sedimentary obtrusions which has been
thrust up during some form or other of tectonic activity. Kiya in passing
mentioned she had seen someone jumping from a section of this protrusion
into the see bellow so Mark thought it a good idea to do the same. We
calculated it being approx 65feet. The impact at the bottom stung my feet
and our screams were heard by all!😉 Taking into account the running start,
precise trajectory and minimum clearances which were required to save life
and limb I’m happy we made it through to tell the story. After exiting the
ocean other beach goes told Mark that we were crazy; I can’t with total
honesty say they weren’t totally delusional. But really; what fun! Luckily
Kiya had her camera ready and took shots of our jump.

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