Roberts Hawaii, Round the Island Day Tour
We three were picked up at 7:40 yesterday morning by the tour bus. After several more passenger pickup stops we loaded up about 10 more people from the airport who had flown over from Maui just for the tour that day.
Our first stop was at the Kamakua macadamia nut factory. Big glass windows provided a view inside the operation where the nuts were being prepared and made into all sorts of things, cookies, candies, flavoured nuts and so on. (It takes 300 lbs. pressure to break open Macadamias). Then as you make your way past the windows, what awaits but a gift shop where you can purchase any of these delights you wish! The nut brittle is to die for! As we had to travel over 250 miles that day we didn't linger long and were back on the bus heading up past the Parker Ranch and Waimea (Parker Ranch is the largest cattle ranch in Hawaii) where you traverse up hill from the Kona (dry) side to the Hilo (wet) side of the island. We could see the Maura Kea volcano top wearing a coat of snow. It sits at 13,796 Ft above sea level. The lush growth of trees, vines, ferns and other tropical vegetation is fantastic on the Hilo side. We went down into Hilo town for a quick tour and then carried on up to Rainbow Falls for a photo and walk up to a viewing platform. Leaving there we had lunch at the 'Imiloa Astronomy Centre.
Next on our journey was Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Here is where the Kilauea Caldera is located. Right now it is sending up lots of smelly sulphurous steam and ash, but from the visitors Centre during day time you can't see too much of the lava mass. Since I was last here two new cones or caldera have opened which is carrying lava down to the sea. Kupaianaha Caldera flows down to Kaimo Beach while Pu'u O'o Cone is sending a lava flow down to Kamoamoa where it enters the sea. I'm not really sure how active either of those flows are right now. We spent about 40 minutes there and were off again to stop for a hike down through the Thurston Lava Tube! The path down to the opening takes you on a walk through giant tree ferns and lush tropical foliage. The lava tube itself is lit and fairly wet inside so care must be taken walking through. It must have been quite the flow to create such a huge Tube. Back to the bus....
Continuing on our next stop was at Punalu'u....black sand beach where we were privy to seeing 5 large green turtles pulled up on the shore having a peaceful nap in the sun. You can take photos but the area around them is blocked off to give them the peace they require while there.
The highway carried us past the road to Ka Lae which is the southernmost tip of the USA. We travelled a fair distance over several old lava flows, one from 1868, another from 1887 and the most recent 1907. These flows were from Maura Loa. Further up the coast near Captain Cook you can see the very large 1950 lava flow, again from Mauna Loa.
One last stop at a coffee plantation with taste testing and....surprise surprise, a gift shop! When we arrived back home it was almost 6 so a bit of a long day but the drivers of these tours can talk almost non stop about their island and they really are informative and interesting! Our Hawaiian driver was an artist and we all received a card or magnet with one of his drawings. I got a turtle which I love. He also made a dried frond rose which he presented to one of the ladies and a small fish on a stick for the men. He said he was going to make one for everyone....oh no, how long would this take? I was going to suggest that I would drive the bus while he worked on them, but it turns out he had made a whole bunch the night before so we weren't delayed!
Photos...first...Kamakua Macadamia Nut Company, 2 Rainbow Falls, 3 'Imiloa Astronomy Centre, 4 Kilauea Volcano Caldera, 5 about to enter the lava tube, 6 walking through the lava tube, 7 Black Sand Beach, 8 the sun going down through the VOG on the way back home.
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