SOTR-Hawaii

February 2020

A 50th birthday that just keeps giving with an unexpected and unplanned trip to Hawaii 😊
Not a destination on our current bucket list but definitely looking forward to some much needed rest and relaxation, and an opportunity to explore somewhere new. Read more

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Traveler SOTR-Hawaii
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- Feb 7, 2020
- ⛅ 21 °C
- Altitude: 118 m
- Australia Victoria Hume Tullamarine Airport -37.668354, 144.84617637°40’6” S 144°50’46” E
Day 1
And so a new adventure begins.....
February 7, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
How exciting!! Have fun! We’ll have to pick your brains on your return as we’re thinking of going there in July!! Xx
2/7/20Reply
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Traveler SOTR-Hawaii
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- Feb 7, 2020, 5:00am
- 🌙 19 °C
- Altitude: 11 m
- United States Hawaii Honolulu County Mokumoa Island (historical)Honolulu International Airport 21.335159, -157.92411821°20’7” N 157°55’27” W
Day 1
Time traveling
February 7, 2020 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
Waiting for our connection to Kona before we even left Melbourne.....the wonder of travel through time zones.
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- Feb 7, 2020, 12:01pm
- ⛅ 24 °C
- Altitude: 5 m
- United States Hawaii Hawaii County Mahaiula Kona International Airport at Keāhole 19.735371, -156.04130619°44’7” N 156°2’29” W
Day 1
Day one goes on and on.....
February 7, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
We left Melbourne at 4.30pm Friday afternoon to arrive at Hawaii big island at 10.30am Friday morning via Honolulu.

After picking up THE BIGGEST car I have ever been in we set off to our accomodation at Kailua-Kona. Not wanting to give in to get lag we offloaded our bags and went to explore.Read more
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- Feb 7, 2020, 10:00pm
- 🌙 16 °C
- Altitude: 226 m
- United States Hawaii Hawaii County Honaunau-Napoopoo Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary 19.454012, -155.89115919°27’14” N 155°53’28” W
Day 1
......and on and on
February 7, 2020 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 16 °C
Stopped at some roadside stalls to pick up some awesome macadamia and banana cake and huge avocados.

And a visit to St Benedict’s Painted Church overloading Kealakekua Bay.

Picked up salmon for BBQ dinner and ended the night soaking in the jacuzzi under a star lit night. And awesome and LONG first day.Read more
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- Feb 8, 2020
- ☀️ 23 °C
- Altitude: 19 m
- United States Hawaii Hawaii County Hillcrest Kahului Bay 19.625797, -155.98403719°37’33” N 155°59’3” W
Day 2
Exploring the local area
February 8, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
We stumbled across an avocado festival- yep that is a thing, and were given THE biggest avocados I have ever seen for free.

Mooched around the local market stalls and treated myself to a hand printed sarong with a lesson on the many ways to tie it.

Stopped off to try the fish tacos and had to try a local Mai Tai cocktail or two.

Checked out the shops and had our first experience of Walmart- a supermarket on steroids.

The evening we ‘dressed up’ Hawaiian style for dinner to celebrate our friends birthday, followed by monster cocktails at Hugo’s on the rocks.Read more
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- Feb 9, 2020, 6:34pm
- 🌙 20 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- United States Hawaii Hawaii County Ka‘awaloa Umis Well 19.480805, -155.93263319°28’51” N 155°55’57” W
Day 3
A day on the water
February 9, 2020 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 20 °C
Early start to head out with Sea Quest for a morning adventure snorkelling first in Honaunau Bay (Place of Refuge) and the Kealakekua Bay and Captain Cook Monument. Exploring the Kona coast and it’s sea caves and Lava tubes, and we were treated to sights of Spinner Dolphins and Humpback whales. Just a ‘little’ seasick but the views under the water were worth it with the colourful fish, sea anemones and coral. Unfortunately Johnny had to stay on the boat as he couldn’t get his hand wet 😢.

Spent the afternoon kicked back and relaxing on the balcony with a book just chillin”.

I returned to Sea Quest to watch a spectacular sunset and a night time experience snorkelling with the Wild Manta Ray. I got to watch the sunset but the trip was cancelled due to sea sickness inducing weather- good decision I thought. Hopefully get to try again before we leave.Read more
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- Feb 10, 2020, 9:00am
- ☀️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 12 m
- United States Hawaii Hawaii County Punalu‘u Punalu‘u Beach 19.136953, -155.50460819°8’13” N 155°30’17” W
Day 4
A day on the land
February 10, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
We set off in a road trip to explore the southern half of the island

An early start in the pouring rain, with strong winds, cold and barren landscapes, followed by lush green and beautiful warm sunshine as we made our way to the southern most tip if the USA.

Stopping off at Punaluu bake shop to try their famous sweetbreads and pick up some morning tea from their awesome selection of Malasadas (a Portuguese donut).

Continuing on to Punaluu black sand beach to see the Green Sea turtles - well we did see one.

Next, the volcano national park- but see the seperate 👣 for that

Leaving the NP we headed to Hilo to see rainbow falls lookout before returning via saddle road to see the snow capped Mauna Loa at a ridiculously cold 46 deg and 2083m elevation.Read more
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- Feb 10, 2020, 12:00pm
- ⛅ 9 °C
- Altitude: 2,604 m
- United States Hawaii Congressional District 2 19.489063, -155.44967719°29’21” N 155°26’59” W
Day 4
The volcanos
February 10, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
We visited the volcano national park to see the results of 70 million years of volcanism.

Volcanoes created the Hawaiian island chain and Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are two of the worlds most active volcanoes still adding land to the big island of Hawaii, unfortunately for us there is no lava flowing anywhere in Hawaii for us to see at the moment

First we walked the sulphur banks trail past the steam vents to the crater rim trail to view Kīlauea caldera. Then hiked the Kīlauea iki trail which took us through the base of the Crater. Unfortunately the heavens opened throughout the hike and we were soaked to the skin. Despite the weather we still completed the trail in record time -1hr 20 mins, apparently beating the Swiss with all their alpine climbing experience.

Unfortunately wikiloc didn’t record the elevation on return but here is the link
https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/sotr-kila… (SOTR- Kīlauea Iki trail)

The weather didn’t stop us heading over to the devastation trail to view Kīlauea caldera from the other side. years of volcanism.

Volcanoes created the Hawaiian island chain and Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are two of the worlds most active volcanoes still adding land to the big island of Hawaii.

First we walked the sulphur banks trail past the steam vents to the crater rim trail to view Kīlauea caldera. Then hiked the Kīlauea iki trail which took us through the base of the Crater. Unfortunately the heavens opened throughout the hike and we were soaked to the skin.

But that didn’t stop us heading over to the detestation trail to view Kīlauea caldera from the other side.Read more
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- Feb 11, 2020
- ☀️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- United States Hawaii Hawaii County Honaunau Kil Point 19.418799, -155.90912819°25’8” N 155°54’33” W
Day 5
Place of refuge
February 11, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
Today we visited the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. Imagine you had broken the kapu, the sacred laws, and the punishment was death with your only chance of survival being to elude your pursuers and reach the Pu'uhonua, a place of refuge.

Sound like something from the TV series Survival? Well this is probably where they would have got the idea from.

The park looked out into Hōnaunau Bay where we had snorkelled a few day earlier.Read more
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Traveler SOTR-Hawaii
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- Feb 11, 2020
- ☀️ 20 °C
- Altitude: 459 m
- United States Hawaii Hawaii County Kealakekua 19.518543, -155.9201319°31’7” N 155°55’12” W
Day 5
The ballet of the sea
February 11, 2020 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
We travelled the coffee belt in search of coffee farms to sample the local Kona coffee, my favourite was the Vienna blend.

During our road trip we stumbled across the small town of Kealakekua where we learnt the rules of crossing the road with a flag in hand. We had the most wonderful lunch at Rebel Kitchen, a great unexpected find with awesome drinks and fantastic food.
Whilst there we also dropped in at the donkeys balls chocolate factory and tried the many different types of balls, with our purchase being popped into a ball sac.

In the evening I headed back to Sea Quest for a second go at seeing the manta ray, this time with a night snorkeling trip. And I was not disappointed, OMG I now know why people have this on their bucket list. It was so awesome. I saw so many manta ray with one putting on such an amazing show, I now know why they call it them ‘ballet of the sea’. One continuously battle rolling under us and coming so close it actually touched my arm. The negative, the sea was so rough and choppy that most were sea sick.Read more
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