The Big Island

The Big Island of Hawaii is named properly. It’s a heavyweight. The Big Island is larger than the other Hawaiian islands combined and the biggest island in the United States. The benefit of size is an incredibly diverse landscape. Downside is traveling from place to place takes forever.
We stayed in Kailua Kona on the western side of the island, home to the Ironman World Championships. If you’ve ever watched the one hour recap of the race on TV, they make the run and bike course among the lava fields seem gruelling. After seeing the stretch of road they race on, I can confirm that those contestants are insane. It’s completely out in the open with the sun beating down on the pavement and black lava rocks.

We rented a jeep and took advantage by braving the rocky and potholed roads Waipio Valley. Waipio is known as the Valley of the Kings as it used to be the home of the rulers of the Big Island. Unfortunately the sun wasn’t cooperating with us on this visit so it wasn’t  as spectacular as our first visit four years ago, but still an amazing place.

The next day we spent on the east coast, visiting the farmers market in Hilo, found some beautiful "off the beaten path" beaches, and visited the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory.

That evening we trekked up to the visitors center at Mauna Loa, one of the volcanoes that formed the island. It’s the largest volcano on earth in terms of volume and area covered and last erupted in 1984. We arrived to take in the sunset at the visitors center- 10,000 ft above sea level!

Dana among the volcanic rocks shivering. At 10,000 ft, even in Hawaii it’s cold.

Hawaiian Churches

You can tell a lot about a place's history and character by its churches. Italy has large, ornate churches. New Zealand has many tiny classic rural churches that fit in with the country’s farming roots. Hawaii’s churches stand out for me with the amazing natural settings that surround them.

The Waioli Huiia Church in the town of Hanalei on Kauai:

The Painted Church – St. Benedict’s in South Kona on the Big Island:

Keane Congressional Church along the Hana Highway in Maui. Built in 1856 and the only building in the area to survive a tsunami on April 1, 1946:

Lahuiokalani Kaanapali Congregational Church. Built in 1859:

Kauai by Helicopter

If you’ve never taken a helicopter ride, put it on your bucket list. It is expensive, but well worth the money. Kauai is packed with breath-taking sights from the Nā Pali Coast to Waimea Canyon, beautiful beaches, huge waterfalls and lush green forest. Our helicopter trip took about an hour and circled the entire island. While the pilot wasn’t inducing G forces like the pilot for Fox Glacier (see previous post), he got us unbelievable views. Dana always has the lucky position of sitting either in the front seat or next to the window, so credit goes to her for all the great shots.

Waimea Canyon

Waimea Canyon

Nā Pali Coast

Nā Pali Coast

Nā Pali Coast

The pictures can’t portray the size and impressive nature of the Na Pali Coast. The cliffs are 3,000 feet high. As there aren’t any roads that circle this part of the island, it is just filled with natural beauty. These huge valleys were once home to ancient Hawaiians.

Mom and Dad Morris Loved It

There were companies in Hawaii that operated flights with the doors off (which could yield some even more amazing photos), however they were booked up for the day we wanted to do it…..next time. Go find an amazing landscape and splurge for the helicopter ride. At the end you’ll be wondering why you didn't do this sooner. This was our fourth helicopter trip and it never gets old!

Kauai

The first two weeks in June we worked on our tans, swam in the ocean, feasted on coconut, and temporarily satisfied my obsession with Jamba Juice. It's true, that description doesn’t sound anything like New Zealand in June. We met up with Mom and Dad Morris for two weeks in Hawaii.

We started on Kauai, spending more time exploring the island than soaking up the rays (we'd save that for Maui).

The beaches in Hawaii offer a lot of diversity. There are white and black sand beaches, green sand beaches, red/pink sand beaches, and rocky beaches. Basically any type of beach that you could draw up in your mind, it probably exists somewhere along a Hawaiian island coast. Kauai has it’s fair share of beautiful beach spots.

Lighthouses always make for a great photo opportunity.  Kauai has the Kilauea Lighthouse on the northern part of the island located in a wildlife refuge. The endangered Nene geese live there along with a number of other sea birds that nest on the nearby cliffs.

Kauai is also home to the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" – Waimea Canyon. This canyon is unique in that it wasn’t carved out by a river; it was formed when the volcano that created Kauai collapsed.

We also took in a number of beautiful sunrises and sunsets. This one was from the beach outside of our resort.

Kauai is named the Garden Island, making it a good host for the National Tropical Botanical Garden. The garden is pretty expansive and has native plant life as well as plant life that early Hawaiians brought to the islands. The garden is housed on a settlement of early Polynesians with archaeological sites. The organization that manages the gardens also runs the Bread Fruit institute. We were first introduced to Bread Fruit at the exotic fruit farm tour we did in Queensland Australia. Breadfruit is a very starchy fruit (more like a potato in taste than actual fruit) and was spread throughout the Pacific islands by Polynesian settlers thousands of years ago. The institute believes breadfruit could be a solution to world hunger as it’s easy to grow in warmer climates and one tree can produce enough breadfruit to feed a family annually.

Next post I'll highlight our fantastic helicopter ride over Kauai...