Had a leisurely start to the day with a sleep in and Mark made us all breakfast of bacon and eggs. Headed off to look for a nice beach that we had been told about by some people in the pub. Ended up on a track that challenged even our 4WD. Eventually found the 69 beach (named after the 69 mile post nearby) and had a relaxing few hours lazing around in the sun. We drove down to Kona and visited Walmart (just to say we'd been there) and we down to the marina to ...

Rose early for the drive to Kilauea Volcano National Park. We drove to Hilo on the east coast then down to the town of Volcano before entering the park. We went to the Visitors Centre and decided to do the walk down into the crater Kilauea Iki which erupted in 1959. This was a huge lake of lava that has now solidified although there are still spots where steam vents to the surface. It took an hour and a half to walk through the forest down to the barren crater fl...

We drove to the northern tip of The Big Island today over some very green rolling hills, the Kohala Mountains. Eventually came to the town of Hawi and then on to the Pololu Valley Lookout. There was a steeply decending walk down to the black sand beach below which took about 30 mins each way. The waves were pretty strong here so we only paddled. Had morning coffee at Kapa'au and visited a nice craft/gallery shop. Continued on down the west coast and eventually c...

Woke early and after breakfast headed for the highest mountain in Hawaii, Mauna Kea which is almost 14,000 feet high! The Visitor's Centre is at about 9,000 feet and we dropped in there and watched a video and looked at the sun through a special telescope. It is recommended that you stay there for at least 30 mins to get used to the reduced oxygen level. There are many dire warnings about the road from the visitor's centre and how dangerous it is. In fact, Jacob...

Awoke to a nice day and decided to drive down the west coast of The Big Island. Found a nice beach at Kailua and had a swim there. Bought some lunch at an ABC shop which are everywhere. We had got a cooler box from the resort so put our lunches in there for later. Wandered around the shops for a while then drove further south towards the spot where Capt. Cook was murdered and where there is a monument which seemed only accessable from the water. We went swimmin...