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Oh my, such brilliant breakfasts - I could really get used to this! On Friday we were joined by new guests from Brazil, plus the lovely Japanese couple who were only staying one more day. Following breakfast Kurt gave us a mini tour of his garden, showing us the plants from which our breakfast came. He told us how he grows/processes the coffee & macadamia nuts & we saw where our bananas & avocado grow. Kurt is very knowledgeable & must have been a brilliant teacher as he made everything so interesting. A very good start to the day, after which we went North from Thomas Cook towards Hawi. We once again travelled across sites of old lava flows along the coast road. The lava beds remind me of open cast coal mines - everywhere is covered in black for as far as you can see. On the way we stopped at Mahukona Beach park where there are the remains of an original Hawai'ian fishing harbour. A very peaceful spot!
We drove on to Hawi, a lovely little place which resembles a western frontier town, all wooden buildings, verandas & hitching rails for the horses! We stopped for an iced coffee & chatted with a couple of travelling Americans from Milwaukee then went on to Waimea. The landscape then changed & became very green in places, almost like the South downs in England! Such a change from the black & bleak lava beds! We drove through avenues of trees & acres of cattle ranches with Maunakea swathed in clouds to our left. Waimea is quite a large town & quite different from others we've seen here. It seems quite modern & new. We only stopped long enough to use the "restrooms" & buy some provisions from Foodland (even on holiday we can't seem to manage to escape the supermarket!) We then headed back to Captain Cook to sample "Annie's" famous burgers, made from local beef. Annie's was a really pleasant surprise - it's in a very small, quite dilapidated looking parade of timber buildings alongside a craft store & takeaway Chinese. It's like a tardis - goes back a long way & has seating that looks out towards the coast where we could see the sun beginning to set. The burgers really did deserve their claim to be "the best in Hawai'i" & we thoroughly enjoyed our meal!
The following day we decided to drive back via Waimea & around the East coast to Hilo. We stopped in Waimea & had a croissant & coffee in (shh, don't tell Kurt!) Starbucks then took Hwy 19 along the coast through lovely green scenery with lots of gulches covered in trees - so different from the West coast, & much wetter, hence the abundance of foliage & trees!
We stopped at Akaka falls & ate our picnic before descending the path through dense rainforest to see the 442 foot tall waterfall. The height was accentuated by the narrowness of the falls & was quite lovely to look at.
As the weather promised to remain good we then decided to take another look at the Kilauea Caldera. A good decision as we were able to see much more clearly this time & the molten magma obligingly spluttered & glowed away at a safe distance from where we were standing. Poor Les lamented the loss of his camera which would have enabled him to take much better photos than I can with my little "point & click"!
After what seemed like a very long, full day we were pleased to get back to the Edge & enjoy a quiet evening relaxing on our lanai with a cup of tea. By 7pm it's usually getting dark & the cicada start chirruping away in the undergrowth!
The cockerels crow at all sorts of odd times here - obviously their internal clocks are malfunctioning! I woke in the early hours of Sunday to the sound of cockerels crowing & thought it must be time to get up. As it was only 4am it most definitely was not! After another delicious breakfast we had a lovely long chat with the daughters via Skype, then left Kana doing our washing (another thing I could get used to!) & went to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (Place of Refuge) In ancient Hawai'i this place possessed 'mana' (spiritual power) which came from the 23 Ali'i (Chiefs) buried in the heiau (temple) This pu'uhonua served Hawai'ians for hundreds of years & is still a sacred place of peace, calm & refuge to Hawai'ians & all those who go there. It's certainly a very beautiful, tranquil place, looking out across the lava beds to the sea beyond. As it's a sacred site it's not possible to eat there so we went to the picnic area half a mile away & munched on our sandwiches whilst watching the huge waves as they pounded the black lava in front of us. We then got back on the very narrow winding road & investigated Napo'opo'o then Kealakekua Bay, the very picturesque little old fishing village where Captain Cook met his rather unpleasant end!
There were new guests at breakfast on Monday - Ann & Mike from Chesopeke Bay where they live on a boat. After an interesting chat over breakfast we decided that the weather looked clear enough for us to go up Maunakea. We optimistically hoped to at least reach the Visitor Station at 10000 feet! We headed to Waimea then cut across towards Hilo, almost missing the turning! As we drove the long, long road we could feel that we were gaining altitude, but we made it to the Visitor Station, where we asked a friendly Ranger for advice about going up higher, to the observatory. He told us that, given Les' medical history it wasn't advisable for us to go any further, but suggested an easy (!!?) walk that would take us up to a good lookout point. So, off we went, coats, hats & sunscreen in hand & discovered that even a small, albeit long incline is rather challenging above 10000 feet, particularly when it's very windy & cold! It was hard going & we had to stop frequently, so we were able to watch the 4x4s & jeeps negotiating the unpaved track above us. When we reached the top of the trail we were at the over 10500ft & beginning to feel the effects of the altitude, so very glad not to venture any further! But it was well worth it! Oh, my goodness, what spectacular views! We looked across the endless undulating landscape through the clouds that were drifting past us feeling on top of tne world! Of course we then had to walk back down the rock strewn track to the Visitor Station where we had a much-needed coffee & watched a film about the history of the observatory & the work being done there. Using the huge telescopes scientists have managed to film planets & stars & discovered an amazing amount of information about them. Quite incredible!
When we'd recovered from all that strenuous activity we were both rather hungry so we drove back to Kona & another visit to 'Annie's' for some dinner. A lovely meal to round off an amazing day!
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Leslie Wheeler Superb journaling !