Omnium-gatherum
Matt Hanson’s Brain Archive
August 8, 2000
The Black and the White of Hawaii
Pictures taken over the course of the two weeks with Black and White film.
The Volcano
Our second to last day we finally got to see the Volcano. I wish we had spent more time here, especially since the day was cloudy, rainy, and lots of mist obscuring the views. There are a lot of hikes around this area but we were tired at this point and made it a leisurely day. We had fun regardless of course. We checked out the Volcano winery, did a small walk to see some ancient Petroglyphs, and drove down the Chain of Craters Road.
Off road to the Green Sand Beach
With three days left we made our way over to the island’s east side where we had rented a house on the easternmost point of Puna. We took the day to make the drive around South Point and stopped by several interesting spots along the way including South Point and Green Sand Beach.
Kayaking with the Dolphins
During our driving tour around the south of Kona we did some Kayaking, snorkeling and saw a few nice sites. One of them was the City of Refuge, an old Holy Hawaiin place. The Hawaiin religion was quite harsh in it’s penalties - death was the most common form of punishment. There was one possibility to prevent death. The criminal would have to make it to a place of Refuge, and if he stayed there for a period of time his crimes would be forgotten. The City of Refuge was one such place.
Booze Cruise
Kailua-Kona is the largest city on the Big Island of Hawaii. Receiving much more rainfall then the Kohala Coast (though not nearly as much as Hilo), it is a much more green area. We stayed at a bed and breakfast here, seemingly in the middle of a jungle. Kona itself was rather nifty and served as a good jumping point to the sites around that area. This section contains our brief stint checking out Kona, the beaches in that area, and a fun dinner cruise called Captain Beans - affectionately known to the locals as the Booze Cruise.
The top of the Island
Mauna Kea is among the best observatory sites in the world, due to the clear skies and location of Hawaii. The top is barren and moon-like, littered with observatories of all sorts. With snow in the winter it is a unique place. While we were not there in the winter we did drive to the top of it’s over 13,000 foot peak. To finish off the day we down into Waipi’o Valley, where we met up with a friend we had met in our first days. Waipi’o was once a thirving community until it was hit with a massive Tsunami about 50 years ago. There are still people there that tend to their Taro fields. It is no wonder why, as it is one of the most beautiful places on the island.
Spam
A few days into the trip we went on an all-day tour of the northeast part of the island. We drove around the northwest part of the island, Waimea, Havi, Pololu Valley, and the northwest tip visiting some ancient Heiau and the supposed birthplace of King Kamehameha.
August 7, 2000
Paradise
Our first week in Hawaii we spent at one of the resorts on the west coast. Very bizarre place, these resorts. As it’s mostly desert in that region, these huge irrigated lush resorts sort of pop out of nowhere and take you by surprise. While we had a good time while we were there, it was a nice to get out of all the commercialized part of Hawaii and continue to see the back woods area that we had come to enjoy. The first few days here we spent lounging around and going on short drives to areas nearby.
