Hawaii – The rest of the Big Island

So when not hiking across, climbing up and just watching things that produce lava the rest of our time was spent exploring what else the island had to offer. Those spots on the island not affected by the hot red stuff, and there are some, are lush and green – it seems to rain a lot here, well drizzle! We camped out in Hilo for a few days in a cool little hostel’s back garden before heading north to check out the area. Rolling green hills and dramatic cliffs fall away down to the pounding surf along the coastline. Little old villages built in a 20’s American kinda stylie dot the roadside before the road abruptly ends at Waipio valley. A steep track takes you down over 1000ft to the valley floor and a black sands beach, it is surrounded on 2 sides by high cliffs and it runs away inland through thick green vegetation before hitting another cliff face with a beautiful, but very hard to get to, waterfall. If coming down the track was painful on the knees going back up it was just painful…and sweaty…and hard! From the north eastern corner we headed west and to the most popular beach park on the island, Spencer Park, a beach fronted area with one of the only swim friendly areas on the island. Although there are lots of so called beach parks the surf and volcanic rocks make them pretty uninviting. On the east coast we checked out the town of Kona, went to see some cool Hawaiian wood carvings at a historical centre and then went snorkelling with turtles. This involved a 2 hour trek down to the bay that Captain Cook first sailed into when he discovered these island and the same place he later perished fighting with the locals – he might of known his way around a boat but he was obviously stupid! To pick a fight with these locals you’ve got to be crazy, they are some of the biggest and scariest people around! We also visited a beach down on the south coast and saw some more Hawksbill turtles, this time out of the water, they come on land to lay eggs. Feeling lazy from being in a car too much it wasn’t long before we headed back inland and went for a trek around the base of Mauna Lao, it was a neverending path where we thought we’d got lost trying to follow small cairns and random ribbons tied in trees, but we finally found our way back – was meant to be a 7 mile loop turned out to be about 11! We also took a drive back north but this time from the western side of the island and to the Pololu Valley – a little like Waipio on the neighbouring side. Stunning cliffs gave way to a beautiful beach and valley that runs into the hills behind. And that was pretty much it, we circumnavigated the island without picking fights with locals unlike famous explorers, we stood on the highest mountain in the world without a lung breaking trek to get there and we most amazingly of all saw actual lava flowing into the ocean.