Thursday, January 11, 2007
31 December, 2006
We really struggled waking up- the exhaustion was setting in but we were at our first stop in Hilo on the Big Island so we couldn’t miss that for anything. We forced ourselves to get up and ready and off the ship and we found a tour operator at the pier. We were not sure what we were going to do in Hilo and at that stage didn’t even know about the famous volcanic National Park. We signed up with the tour and got on a minibus with a few other ‘ship’ people. Hilo has a long history as a harbor town, starting with the first Polynesian settlers who farmed, fished and traded goods along the Wailuku River. The tour was really good and we literally saw everything. The guide was very informative; in fact he had verbal diarrhea and a good sense of humor. We went to a good view point of the crater in the National Park but unfortunately could not get close up to the hot lava. The landscape around was all magma and lava that had hardened. Everything was black and there was no vegetation. Apparently the volcano is still active and the island is growing every year. We were really tired so unfortunately I can’t remember some of the interesting facts that were mentioned to us. It all seemed to ‘wiz’ by in one ear and out the other, besides the fact that we were in a totally new, strange environment with an extremely different culture (Polynesians of course) and different language! I remember walking through a lava tube (that is created by the hot lava running into the sea through the mountains), and then stopping by and tasting loads of Macadamia nuts. The best flavor was definitely the Wasabi and Teriyaki nuts. It was a full day and we got back to the ship just in time for sail away. Guess what we did next? Slept again and set the alarm for the show. We could not wake up but we made it to dinner and had some Baileys we had nicked from the plane whilst we waited for the New Year to arrive. There was a fun deck party and free champagne which kept us alive and kicking. We met Cathy and Ken from California and we had a good evening.
We really struggled waking up- the exhaustion was setting in but we were at our first stop in Hilo on the Big Island so we couldn’t miss that for anything. We forced ourselves to get up and ready and off the ship and we found a tour operator at the pier. We were not sure what we were going to do in Hilo and at that stage didn’t even know about the famous volcanic National Park. We signed up with the tour and got on a minibus with a few other ‘ship’ people. Hilo has a long history as a harbor town, starting with the first Polynesian settlers who farmed, fished and traded goods along the Wailuku River. The tour was really good and we literally saw everything. The guide was very informative; in fact he had verbal diarrhea and a good sense of humor. We went to a good view point of the crater in the National Park but unfortunately could not get close up to the hot lava. The landscape around was all magma and lava that had hardened. Everything was black and there was no vegetation. Apparently the volcano is still active and the island is growing every year. We were really tired so unfortunately I can’t remember some of the interesting facts that were mentioned to us. It all seemed to ‘wiz’ by in one ear and out the other, besides the fact that we were in a totally new, strange environment with an extremely different culture (Polynesians of course) and different language! I remember walking through a lava tube (that is created by the hot lava running into the sea through the mountains), and then stopping by and tasting loads of Macadamia nuts. The best flavor was definitely the Wasabi and Teriyaki nuts. It was a full day and we got back to the ship just in time for sail away. Guess what we did next? Slept again and set the alarm for the show. We could not wake up but we made it to dinner and had some Baileys we had nicked from the plane whilst we waited for the New Year to arrive. There was a fun deck party and free champagne which kept us alive and kicking. We met Cathy and Ken from California and we had a good evening.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 9:07 PM 
