Holiday to Hawaii in Aug 2013: Day 7 – Big Island

Wow – majorly productive day today. Got up at 5am and packed up ready to go. We were on the road by 5:45. We got as far as Starbucks for breakfast.

After filling up the Jeep with gas, we headed up Saddle Road and onto Mauna Kea Access Road. We stopped off at the Visitor’s Centre to acclimatize at 9,000 ft, then we made our final accent. It was a beautifully clear day and nice and cool up in the mountains.

The trip up the final 6 miles up Mauna Kea was part gravel which meant a 4 WD vehicle was a must. First time for me driving a 4 WD so was good fun. I didn’t bother moving it into low gear 4WD on the way up, and I forgot to turn off the traction control, so we must have been treading water at times!

Getting up there was quite hairy even in a 4WD, and Nige told me on the way down that several Japanese tourists had died going too fast around a hairpin bend. Yeah, thanks.

The air at the top of Mauna Kea is so fresh, but lacking in oxygen so apparently breathing is more difficult but we didn’t really notice that bit. It was like being on top of the world in a lunar landscape.

View from the top was amazing – this was the highest point we had ever been to. Hung around for 20 mins and then headed down, and on to Hilo on the East of the island, which took about an hour to reach.

Managed to find a Starbucks for a quick coffee (it’s an essential part of every day on holiday, don’t you know), and then a Subway for lunch.

The afternoon was focused on volcanoes. Firstly we found Volcano Lodge where we would be staying for the night, and then we did a 4 mile trek down to a dormant volcano crater. As treats to get us through we agreed three milestones: first when we reached the crater floor, second when we had reached the other side of the crater and the last when we got back to the car. The treats were three cookies that Vick had bought at Subway – Chocolate Chip (my choice), Oatmeal & Raisin (Vick’s choice) and a shared one – Raspberry Cheesecake. We had a long debate about how we would share them, in what order, and who was going to break them in to two.

The thing to remember about walking over lava on a volcano crater is to not put your hands too far into the steam – it’s hot! You can feel the heat through your trainers. What a surreal experience this was. The crater is surrounded by the lushest rainforest, packed with vivid tropical flowers and fragrant vanilla atmosphere. The crater floor is so grey and desolate that those flowers and shrubs that do grow there are an assault on your eyes, they are so brightly coloured.

We got soaked from the rain on the trek – it wasn’t pouring with rain as such, but was persistent.

We popped in to the Thurston Lava Tube next. When the lava slides down the mountain, the outer edges of it cool and solidify, creating a lava tube. Nigel was particularly underwhelmed by this, but I was glad we’d walked through it. It was a bit like a wiggly London underground tube line.

The hotel and indeed the Volcano National Park is very similar to the Grand Canyon.  The hotel is expensive and you get minimal facilities, but the view is great. Took some evening shots of the fiery glow.

Ate at Thai Thai in Volcano Village, and were sleeping by 9pm.

Follow the whole story here: Holiday to Hawaii in Aug 2013