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On leaving Molokai, we took a tiny, single propeller Cessna to the Big Island with a short stop in Maui. We all had to be individually weighed and seated according to our weight. The pilots did the safety demo from their seats and when it came to taking off and landing, you could see everything.
The big island was very cool. We stayed on the Kona side which is typically known as the dry side, but while we were there, it was unseasonably raining (and snowing!) Landing at Kona Airport is bizarre. The Kona side of the island is a lava field, literally! It has since cooled so it looks like wavy, black tar everywhere. It was very strange to see this after living in the rainforest and sandy beaches. We had booked an apartment through a discount website and were happily surprised to find that it was a three bedroom, three bathroom condo! It was very luxurious!
We hired a car and drove out to the Volcano National Park. There was snow on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa! We saw Kilauea crater and many newer lava flows. Some of the tourist advice is pretty alarming like 'make sure that when running away from a lava flow, do not run into an oncoming other flow and get trapped' or ' do not consider swimming or stand too close to the edge where the lava flows into the ocean as the water is acidic and hot and will scald you to death.' The active crater was very cool. The Hawaiian islands are geologically new and in a way,it is like going back in time to see how the earth developed. Some of the land on the big island is the newest land in the world and the island grows by a few acres per year.
We also swam at one of their sandy beaches (many are volcanic rock) and the whales were swimming just at the back of the main break! It was very nice to see them and amazing to see everyone stop and look and laugh and cheer in wonder of them.
We visited Pololu Valley. A black sand beach which is home to King Kamehameha.
You had to walk down the side of the hill to get down to the beach but is was really beautiful. We snorkelled at Kealakekua Bay and saw the Captian Cook memorial (where he was killed). The snorkelling was fun,but is was freezing on the day, stormy with rough seas, and I, Claire, got sea sick. I started feeling really sick as we pulled up into the bay. We were eight people on a little boat and the captain had turned off the engines to tell us the story of Cook's death. I very proudly managed to puke during the presentation, without anyone knowing, including KJ who was sitting right next to me!
From the Big Island we headed back to Honolulu and Waikiki. Waikiki is a very crazy place. Millions of highrise buildings with tourists everywhere. Kevin said it felt a bit like Patong in Phuket. I thought it was a bit like Rio and found my self looking up into the surrounding hills looking for Christ the Redeemer! There were plenty of strange things to see... Women posing like porn stars on the beach, many in their brand new Hawaiian holiday bikinis, but posing on the edge of the water so not to get wet. A man traulling the beach with a metal detector, and then after finding nothing, walked into the water and roamed around with it in there. Men prouncing around the streets in their budgie smugglers and one guy walking the main strip with a samurai sword over his shoulder. We even saw a police car that was part of the real Hawaii 5-0.
We visited Pearl Harbour and toured the Battleship Missouri. She was AMAZING! Being pacifists and history fiends, it was amazing to stand onboard the ship where the treaty to end WW2 was signed. This ship took part in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and then in the Korean war. Following this she was retired. When the US began Operation Desert Storm, she was taken out of retirement. It was cheaper to modernize a ship than to make a brand new one. Her only additions were air-conditioning, some extra artillery and improved satellite navigation. Sailors who had fought on her during WW2 and the Korean war were bought out of retirement to teach the new sailors how to use her massive onboard guns! They needed no upgrade at all, a testament to the engineering of the 1940s. It is a very strange feeling standing aboard such a ship. It brings war closer to you, yet makes it more surreal at the same time. It concretes that these moments in time took place, but moments that one wishes never happened in the first place.
We also caught a local bus out to Waimea Bay and Pipeline. The bus took FOREVER! The hostel clerk was like, 'yeah, just catch this bus out there, and this one back. You just catch it out the front...' it was almost a 6hr round bus journey! Luckily the beaches were pretty cool. Unfortunately we missed a big northern swell by about two days so weren't able to see it in its full glory. Though the positive is that Kevin was able to go out for a swim and body surf a few waves. So technically have surfed at Waimea. The whole area is quintessentially hawaiian. They even still had some of the walkways erected from recent surf competitions.
From Honolulu we are off to Kathmandu. Check this out for a flight: Honolulu to Tokyo; Tokyo to Singapore (14hr stop over); Singapore to Kuala Lumpur then Kuala Lumpur to Kathmandu. Yes there are direct flights, but we are on a budget!
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