Photo time...

In December (too late for Christmas Cards) I decided to drag the kiddos to the photography studio for pictures.  Here are the results.

New school year - new school photos!

Its that time again, school photos are out.

Arran is now in 8th Grade - his last year of Elementary School.  Next year - High School!

Iona is in 4th Grade.  Growing up fast!

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Its time for a hair cut.

Going.  Going...

Gone!

Aloha

So much to share from our trip to Hawaii, so this will be a long post.  We did so much in our two weeks there (first week on the Big Island/Kona and the second week on Maui) , so grab a coffee or tea, pull up your chair and enjoy.

Saturday 8th June was our flight from San Jose to Maui and then took a short flight from Maui to Kona (Hawaii, a.k.a. The Big Island).  Wow, that hopper flight was the shortest commercial flight we have ever taken at just over half an hour flight time.  Kona airport is interesting in that there is no jetway from the plane to the terminal - you get off the plane, walk down a ramp onto the tarmac and then walk into the terminal (which is pretty much an outdoor terminal).  It has a very Caribbean feel to it.

Once we had collected bags and rental car, we headed to our condo in Kailua Kona.  This is the view from our room at sunset.

 The first couple of days were just general exploring of the area and enjoying the pool. The kids really enjoyed visiting a couple of Coffee Plantations where we did tours.  Both interesting in their own right.

   

    

  

Early Tuesday morning, we packed up and headed South to spend a couple of nights at Volcano National Park.  We planned to have the whole day to explore the sights on the way to the park.  From Kailua Kona we headed south to Kealakekua Bay where Captain Cook landed and was ultimately killed by the local Hawaiian people.  

  

Next stop was Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park.  To the Hawaiians, this was a place of refuge and safety as well as a summer palace for the Ali'i (royalty) and a resting place for a number of the Ali's.  The location was beautiful - an oasis of palm trees.  From the looks of it, there was some fabulous snorkeling off shore too.  A lot of historical interest there and well worth the visit.

 

  

From there we continued southward toward the southern most point of the USA.  On our way we passed through Kipahoehoe Natural Area Reserve which contains a wealth of different biomes including a recent lava flow from Mauna which gives an alien feel to some of the roadside landscape.

Hawaii has the most Southern point in the whole of the USA - it is further south than Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.  Of course we had to pay it a visit - just because it was there.  The 12 mile drive off the main road was fun and the area was grassy, windswept and desolate and reminded us of the Yorkshire Moors, but the views at the end were worth the trip there. Some parts are at sea level and some have a steep cliff where sometimes you can see cliff diving.  There was no one diving when we went, but there were several people fishing.  If you traveled south from there, the next land mass is Antarctica several thousand miles away.

 

  

  

Nearby was the famous Green Sand Beach, but we didn't head down there, instead making our way to Hana Hou for lunch.  Hana Hou is the Southernmost restaurant in the USA.  

Next stop was Punalu'u Black Sand Beach where we hoped to spot some endangered Green Sea Turtles.  Another stunning habitat appeared at Punalu'u and, for the longest time, we admired the sand, the ocean and the rest of the scenery until we spied a lone sea turtle eating algae in the rocks.  Yay.  Mission accomplished!

 

 

Time to finish our travels for the day and get to our accommodations for the next two days.  Namakani Paio Cabins inside Volcano National Park half a mile from the Jagger Museum and the crater viewing spot.  The cabins are basic with beds, comforters and towels, but a great place for 'camping' for a couple of nights and perfect for a family of 4.

 

 

After getting our bearings we visited the Jagger House and the steam vents. 

 

 Yes, that is hot, wet steam rising from the earth!  It's an amazing thing to experience.

That first night we ate at Volcano House Hotel.  The dining room has windows which overlook  Kilauea Crater and we reserved a table so that we could watch the glow from the crater at night.  What we didn't count on was the cloud rolling in and blocking the view.  Glow... what glow?  Anyway, here are some views of the crater during the day.  Can you see the rainbow?

 

We popped into Military Camp to get some supplies including wood and s'mores supplies. (Military Camp is a vacation resort for current and retired military personnel, but anyone can use the store, restaurants and amenities).

Unfortunately the weather that night ruled out building a fire and making s'mores.  An early night was in order as Wednesday was a big day - our bike ride down the volcano!  Once we had breakfast, we had time to kill before the meet up for the bike ride, so we walked along to the Sulphur Banks and explored the visitor center.

  

 

  

Finally it was time to meet up with our bike tour : BikeVolcano.com.  We were met at the Visitor Center by Jim and Pretty and then were driven to the Jagger Museum where Jim, our tour guide took us on a warm up hike for a few minutes.  Meanwhile Pretty drove the van to a nearby parking lot and set up the bikes.  After a safety briefing we were allocated our bikes.  

We thought Iona was going to have to use a pull along bike, but Jim and Pretty thought she might be able to handle their smallest adult bike.  So we tried it and she was just fine.  It was the first time she had used a bike with gears and both front and rear brakes.  Apart from an issue with the first incline because she wasn't used to using and changing the gears, she did wonderful. 

We cycled from point to point, stopping to look at the sights and have some wonderful information from Jim.  By the end of our ride, it was starting to get rainy and very windy.  The bikes were packed back into the trailer and we headed to the end of the road for lunch.  The end of the road is where lava has crossed and blocked the road - showing the power of the Goddess Pele.

 

By the crater.

Outside Thurston Lava Tube.

Walking inside Thurston Lava Tube.

Our safety team and back up.

We did it!

The kids wanted to go bowling on the volcano, so we headed to Military Camp and found the bowling alley.  Afterwards we headed to the town of Volcano for dinner at Thai Thai. Then a trip to the Jagger Museum to see if we could see the glowing crater tonight.  Oh yes we could!  Awesome!!

Mauna Loa shield volcano

Kilauea Crater at Night

Back at the cabin for the night, the weather was perfect for a fire so Neil built a fire in the fire pit and s'mores were made.  We met a nice family who had just flown in from San Mateo and driven to Volcano that night (not something I would have liked to do!).  We invited them to join us for s'mores and even gave them our left over firewood and marshmallows so that they could continue to enjoy the night.

Thursday morning was beautiful weather.  We packed up our belongings and headed to Military Camp for breakfast before winding our way around the East side of Hawaii via Hilo.  On our journey back to Kailua Kona, we visited the Mac Nut Factory at Mauna Loa.  It was out of season, so there was not much activity there but still an interesting place.

Rainbow Falls was next on our list of places to visit (this was one place that Iona specifically wanted to see).

    

Then Umama Falls where we walked around the gardens and had a picnic lunch.

 

A while later, we decided we needed a coffee break.  No problem, lets get to the next town and find a coffee shop - this is Hawaii, Kona, famous for coffee right? Wrong!  We tried 4 or 5 coffee shops in 3 towns before we found one that was open. Too funny.

By this time we were at the North end of Hawaii so we decided to drive to Polulu Valley Lookout.  After driving for miles, in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, with no directional signs, we ended up in the right place with a dramatic view of coastline, cliffs and an iconic Hawaiian valley.

 

                                             

Our last stop, before heading back to our condo was the beautiful Hapuna Beach State Park for a play on the beach, swim and snorkel.  Snorkeling wasn't very good there, but it was a stunning beach.  No pictures from here I am afraid, just memories.

Friday! 

Our last day on the Big Island.  

We could have spent more time here, but at least we had another week  on neighbouring Maui to look forward to.  After all the sightseeing and activity of the last 3 days, we took Friday slowly.  Had breakfast, packed, played in the pool and then off to Kahulu Beach State Park for snorkeling.  This place had been highly recommended for snorkeling as it has a natural protective reef and a shallow floor.  Ideal for families and great for having Iona really get to snorkel in a safe environment with lots of colourful fish and our favorite experience, snorkeling with a sea turtle.  (Iona also found someone's gold wedding band there - we handed it into the lifeguards who said it was a common occurrence for wedding rings to get lost.  Again, no photos here - only memories for this place.

We finished the night with dinner at our favorite restaurant in Kailua Kona, Huggo's on the Rocks.  A great place with good food, live music & hula, on the beach with great sunset views.  

 

 

The next morning, we were sad to be leaving the Big Island, but still another week of our trip to go.  Maui here we come.  A short 30 minute inter-island flight at lunchtime had us in Kihei ready to get to our room just before 3pm.  Our room wasn't ready, so we headed out to get groceries and our room was ready by the time we returned.  We had a ground floor room with views over the street to the ocean and the beach at  Kamaole 1 Park.  Nice views, shame about the road noise!

We settled into our unit, swam in the pool, had dinner and then went to Kamaole beach (which was just across the street) to watch the sunset.

(love the panorama mode on my phone!!)

Its Sunday.  Father's Day.

There was an island orientation by the pool by the concierge team. As part of that we won a ticket to see the show Ulalena.  At the same time we planned the rest of our days on Maui.  After everything was settled, we drove south to find a snorkeling spot and ended up at Makena Landing.  That is where we realized that Arran's feet had grown so much, he no longer fitted into his fins.  Oops.  So he borrowed mine and Neil took both kids out into the ocean.  I just enjoyed the view and read :-)

 

   

  

This will be a fun day.  Monday we drove up to Ioa Valley and wandered up there for a while.  This is what you would consider typical Hawaiian  green, steep valley scenery.  Beautiful place to visit.  

                    

With time to spare until our big event of the day, our next trip was in the directions of a local plantation.  Here we took a tram tour around the property where they talked about the crops grown in Maui.  We also had lunch here in their restaurant. 

Up next.....

Yes!  

A helicopter ride over West Maui and the nearby island of Moloka'i.

  

We had great history and commentary from Mike, our pilot, as he flew us over the coast of Maui, through some jaw dropping valleys and back again.  We saw a number of rainbows, including one that almost encircled our helicopter.  By far our best activity on Maui!

   

Maui Ocean Center was our destination for Tuesday.  This is a neat, if small, aquarium in the harbor town of Maalaea.  Not quite to the scale of our local Monterey Bay Aquarium, but lots of local aquatic life and well worth a visit.  Some very interesting fish there.

 

An early start on Wednesday - we had to be at Maalaea Harbor for 7.30am.  We made it in time, enjoyed our breakfast and then boarded our home for the next six hours.  We were on a "Wild Side" excursion with Pacific Whale Foundation.  Our first stop was Molokini Crater, a partially submerged volcanic crater which is very sheltered and home to an abundance of marine life.  The water was so clear, we could see the scuba divers down on the crater floor.  

   

From there we toured around the back of Molokini where the scars remained from when the US Navy used the island for target practice during World War II.  

A bumpy and windy ride further south took us to La Perouse Bay, with some of the last volcanic activity on Maui and some interesting shaped volcanic basalt.

 

Our last stop was Turtle Arches - or so we all thought until it was discovered that the mooring point had disappeared, so we relocated to an area known as turtle town.  There were lots of people in the water when we arrived, but they left not long after and our group had the area to ourselves (and the turtles!)

This was a great trip (the boat wasn't the best, but the trip was amazing).  As well as lots of fish and sea turtles, we saw bottle nosed dolphins and spinner dolphins.

Haleakala is the highest point on Maui at 10,023 ft tall.  You can drive all the way to the summit, which makes it a really easy ascent :-) .  The top is like a martian-scape; red dirt, rocks, silver plants only found here on Haleakala, craters, cinder cones.  Amazing.  This was our Thursday trip.  We did not do the sunrise tour, but went up after we were awake and had missed all the crowds.  Next time we visit Maui we will probably go for sunrise (whilst we are still on CA time though!!)

  

  

Our last full day in Maui was spent packing, enjoying the pool and in a generally leisurely manner.  We did make it up to see Ulalena on our last night.  It is a cool show and tells the story of Hawaii in the style of Cirque du Soleil crossed with a little bit of Stomp.  

A late night, but a fun ending to our trip.  The next day was our flight to San Jose, but we still managed to get  a last play on the beach.  

Just had to end with this too cute photo of Iona and Neil.

Aloha Hawaii, Aloha Maui.  Mahalo for a great vacation.