Hawaii 50 - Big Island Part 1

The flight from O'ahu to Hilo was really simple and really quick, almost like getting a bus. Before we knew it, we were picking up our car and planning how to spend our day.
First, we headed to Rainbow Falls which was located in the town of Hilo. It was super easy to get to and the car park was a short walk to the look out. The falls cascade 80ft over a lava cave that according to legend, is home to the ancient Hawaiian goddess Hina, the goddess of the moon. She wasn't in when we visited.
We then headed north on the Māmalahoa Highway, a scenic road which circles the entire island. This took us to ʻAkaka Falls State Park. Here we paid $20 total ($10 parking, $5/person entrance fee) to hike the 0.4-mile round trip through lush rainforest, to see two more waterfalls. First was the 100-foot Kahuna Falls and then the 442-foot ʻAkaka Falls. The cost was definitely worth it although after the steps from the previous day, my legs weren't impressed with the number of stairs.
We then hopped back onto the highway and continued north. The road wiggled around gorges and often we saw waterfalls, although I never seemed to have my camera ready! We headed down a side road which took us down a gorge to Laupahoehoe Beach Park. This was a rock beach, with lots of lava and massive pieces of concrete for sea defences. Still, there were families sunbathing on the concrete and kids playing in the pools. This beach actually has a very sad story and we learnt about it through an infographic next to a monument detailing the names and ages of those who had perished. In 1946, an earthquake in Alaska caused a tsunami on Big Island, 159 people were killed including 21 schoolchildren and three teachers in Laupahoehoe, only 2 children and 1 teacher from the school survived.
We continued north, we were aiming for the Waipi'o Valley lookout. The Waipi'o Valley is a mile across and over five-miles deep, and surrounded by cliffs up to 2000-feet high. It's inaccessible by car and can only be viewed from this lookout, by hiking, helicopter or by boat. Unfortunately the road to the lookout was closed so one to come back for in the future!
We got over our disappointment with a beer at the Big Island Brewhaus in Waimea. Then we headed onto Saddle Road which would take us back to Hilo.
Saddle Road is a bit special. It cuts between the two volcanos Mauna Kea (dormant) and Mauna Loa (recently exploded!) for 54 miles and during that time, it gives you everything - rainforest, desert, pastures, lava flows, and you get to see every type of weather - wind, rain, sun, fog. It is a surreal experience seeing so many different terrains and weathers in just one journey. Our videos is mostly driving from this point as we didn't get out and hike and aside from pulling over and taking pictures, it is a very remote landscape.
One fact we found out when we visited Volcano's Nationwide park (more on this in our next post), the Mauna Loa 2022 November - December eruption caused lava to come within a mile of this road. There were so many people wanting to see the lava flow, the Nationwide Parks service created a road which would allow people to safely get a view. Unfortunately Mauna Loa had blown herself out by the time we visited so all we could see were the lava fields.
Once back in Hilo, we checked into our B&B, the Hilo Honu Inn, where Gay and Koa took great care of us and shared with us the history of their house, and some interesting stories and facts about the town of Hilo and the islands. We learnt a lot about the impact of invasive species on the birds of Hawaii and how the noisy Coqui Frogs were accidently introduced to Hilo in the late 1980's from Puerto Rico on imported nursery plants. Without natural predators and despite the locals best efforts, they grew in numbers quickly and are now keeping everyone up at night.
The town centre was a 10 minute walk from the B&B and there were plenty of bars and restaurants to keep us busy for a night. We had a lovely meal in Pineapple's Island, which was a cool place to sit and watch the torrential downpour that started just as our dinner arrived. Apparently this is quite common for Hilo and explains why all the parks in the area are like rainforests. The rain stopped by the time we had finished dinner and after checking out a few bars, we headed back to the B&B for a good nights sleep.
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