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Thick Black Line. An odyssey
  • SpringWanderer

Thick Black Line. An odyssey

A 108-day adventure by SpringWanderer Read more
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  • SpringWandererThick Black Line. An odysseyTraveler
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    Leaving Tokyo

    May 10, 2017 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Last hours in Tokyo and the inevitable has happened. My budget has been blown and I've ended up in McDonald's - albeit having a teriyaki burger 😉

    I had a few hours spare this morning so took a final wander around the area, down some untrodden (by me) streets. One street caters for all things culinary, including at least one shop that sells, and run classes in making), fake food (big business since displays are outside every eatery). Well that was so intriguing and the shop so alluring I went in. Big mistake. I've been seduced by a segment of satsuma. Life really is full of surprises.Read more

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    Aloha from Waikiki!

    May 10, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Wowzer! I'm actually in Hawaii!!!

    11am, Wed 10 May for the second time, having crossed the International Date Line overnight: Maybe it's because I'm tired, but I just refilled my mug of tea from the maple syrup jug. Language isn't a problem but the cultural misunderstandings just keep coming! It so looked like tea ... sigh. I confess that part of me is longing for the familiarity of home.

    7pm: Settled and sorted 😎 I've got some good tips about things to do. All is good. I could keep the Japanese theme going if I wanted ... suchi and bento boxes and Japanese sweets in the supermarket.

    My hostel is very clean and best of all they gave me my room at 11am when checkin is at 3pm. I'm very grateful - they are good guys here.    Read more

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    Honolulu Museum of Art

    May 11, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    I regret not giving myself more time here (I was up late and it closes at 4:30pm). The museum/art gallery seems beautifully curated so it's a joy to go around.

    Because I only had a little time I concentrated on all things Hawaiian or Polynesian. Then I had a bit of spare time after tea and cookies (obviously), and discovered they had some Georgia O’Keefe Hawaiian works so rushed to see them. They also have an amazing collection of Monet's waterlilies, works by Gauguin, Lichtenstein, Picasso, Degas ... But I really enjoyed the O'Keefe's because I'd seen some of her work at MOMA in Brisbane, and it felt like there was a thread connecting now to then, running through this whole adventure 😎Read more

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    O'ahu trip

    May 12, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    I did a minibus tour around O'ahu (this island) today. The stops at retail outlets were too long for me, but I did get to see the most beautiful and dramatic scenery, and once we were out of Honolulu/Waikiki the only busy places were a food stop, a macadamia nut producer (and shop), the Dole (pineapple) plantation and a small mall (icecream stop). So all-in-all a good day 😃Read more

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    Hanauma Bay ... fish!

    May 13, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    At last I've got to the snorkelling section of my trip 😎

    Hanauma Bay is a flooded extinct volcanic crater - cool in its own right, but also a safe and rich snorkelling site. I'll go at least once more, so lots more fish pics 😉Read more

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    Spam, spam, spam, spam

    May 14, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    My Hawaiian food entry ...

    Spam musubi (grilled spam with a block of rice wrapped in seaweed (nori) sheets) really is a thing, and popular. I got mine at Bishop Museum cafe, but they're available all over in convenience stores. Spam came here with American GIs around the time of WWII, and there was already a Japanese American population... fusion food!
    My verdict? Tasty! Beats a soggy sandwich any day. There are plenty of variants, most common is added scrambled egg.    Read more

  • SpringWandererThick Black Line. An odysseyTraveler
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    A feather cloak and my tears ...

    May 14, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    I went to the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, which is the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

    I'd been told an important feather cloak was on display having returned to Hawaii from New Zealand, that it contained feathers from now-extinct birds and that Hawaiians had queued to see it. So I was interested.

    What I didn't know until I saw it was that it was the cloak given to Captain Cook by high chief Kalani'opuh'u.

    Well I don't really know what happened, but I felt completely overwhelmed and just stood there and cried. I have a sense it's to do with HERE and THERE, THEN and NOW, childhood and adulthood, connection and journeys. Powerful stuff to reflect on.    Read more

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    Hanauma Bay again ... more fish

    May 15, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    More snorkelling and fish pics, I can't resist!

    However ... the first thing I saw, as I settled on the beach, were 2 mongooses sniffing around someone's bag! The mongoose was introduced to control rats in sugar cane plantations, but rats are predominately nocturnal and mongooses are diurnal so not the greatest success, and now they are a pest that's having a big impact on native birds.

    Back to the fish ... 😎    Read more

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    Hanauma Bay yet again - even more fish!

    May 15, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
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    Goodbye Waikiki (for now)

    May 16, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Waikiki isn't my kind of place - I don't need high-end shops - but I've found plenty to do and getting around has been easy on TheBus. I still haven't got a handle on being on the right side of the road (literally) for bus stops. Every journey is $2.50, no change given, unless ... well I don't know why, but once I was let off 50c because I only had $2 or a $5 note. Then once I was charged just $1, no idea why!

    So farewell Waikiki, roll on Big Island, Airbnb stays and car hire 😎    Read more

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    Hawai'i

    May 17, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    I've made it! When I was first planning this trip the thing I really wanted to do was to see the Hawaiian volcanoes. Hopefully I'll see volcanic activity next week, but I saw the tops of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa (140m lower, but much more massive - the most massive mountain in the world) above the clouds as I flew to Big Island today.Read more

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    Rainforest home

    May 18, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    This is my pad for the next few days! It's a cabin on an organic fruit farm, so not as isolated as it looks - I can hear voices in the distance and a lot of chicken puk pukaw-ing. They are part of the WWOOF scheme (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) so there are a few people volunteering here. They don't get as posh a place 🙂

    The (dozens? of) coqui frogs (they shout coo kee!) are really loud at night, but it's quite a friendly sound and it beats dumpsters being emptied and engines being revved and sirens wailing. I'm a little creeped out by the insects (uh ho, a couple of cockroaches, I'd forgotten they can fly - eugh!) but I reckon I'll settle in ok, and I knew 'critters' were part if the deal when i booked. In compensation, waking up here this morning and being able to see right out was amazing - put a big smile on my face, and I slept better than for a few nights.    Read more

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    Kapoho Tide Pools

    May 19, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Tide pools can only mean one thing ... fish!
    But what a remarkable setting. Basically there are several tidal pools protected from the ocean by a reef, so the water in them is really still - no fighting the swell to get pics 😆 I've been told there is great coral in some of the other pools (I'll be back!) but I was quite content in the one I explored today which was lava covered in algae. The water was really clear - no sand to get churned up, but at times the visibility was really poor due to convection currents - I could see them - a rather odd experience for everything to suddenly become blurred. It's obvious in my videos but photos just look out of focus! I was a bit slow working it out, but there are hot pools nearby so I guess it's all the same thing since I'm living on Kilauea (the active volcano)! Very cool indeed!!!
    Honestly I could go on and on about all this - I just remembered I saw a snowflake moray eel, but too far down for a good pic.

    But anyway, after my snork I headed back to the Lava Tree State Park and wandered around the whole thing - only a short walk which is just as well because the sun was scorching by then - a real contast to the evenings and overnight - layers and blanket definitely required.    Read more

  • SpringWandererThick Black Line. An odysseyTraveler

    Anti-mosquito tips #10,872 (non-vegan)

    May 20, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    You'll not find this in a book.

    Dogged by a mosquito I had a plastic bag to hand ready to swoosh the mozzie up and take outside (I can't manage the intentionality of killing outright).

    Well the mozzie landed on my plate, so I carefully put the whole plate in the bag. The mozzie was crushed by my rolling hardboiled egg.

    End of tip.    Read more

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    Kilauea caldera

    May 21, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Yay, made it to Kilauea! The most active volcano in the world 😃 It's been erupting from its east rift zone since 1983 - that's before I started work! Tomorrow I'll be moving to stay near where the current lava flow enters the sea ... I'm hoping that will be the most amazing location, for the night sky too.

    Today I went along the north section of the crater rim drive - the west and south sections are closed because of the gases drifting over from the crater.
    It's impossible to get a pic of the whole caldera because it's so large, and what I hadn't realised is that the caldera the road circumnavigates is an inner caldera contained in a much larger (about x3) outer caldera which I was already inside!    Read more

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    Lava field home

    May 22, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    I've struck gold! Well I chose gold. This is the loveliest place (with one caveat, the composting toilet needs a spare part so there's only a portaloo 😝). The whole thing makes me think of Moomintroll again - rather Scandi with little huts dotted about. Inside it feels both cosy and fresh, so very different to the rainforest. And there's quite a strong breeze, so combined with the openness, 'no' mozzies. I'm bitten to pieces, so hurrah for that!

    And the setting is ace, on a huge lava field from I'm not sure when, with a 360 view and the ocean in the distanceb, and I have my own pahoehoe lava 😎 It's a few miles from here to the active lava, and a bit beyond me so I'll get a little trip. But judging by the steam vents I think I may see the glow at night. Wait and see...

    I need to give all of this time to sink in ... my whole trip was fitted around coming to Hawaii, seeing the lava (and the stars if I'm lucky) and feeling part of ... I'm not sure. Something larger.    Read more

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    Kalapana lava flow

    May 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Wow, wow, wow.

    I headed off in the scorching heat at 3pm towards the viewpoint for the current flow entering the sea and stayed until dusk/dark. I'd meant to set off back while I could still see my feet without torchlight, but the pull to watch just a little longer combined with the speed night comes on caught me out. I had a torch and spare batteries (as recommended ) but it's still hard to plot a route across lava in the dark - only the the final 100m or so but I was relieved to get back on the track.

    It's utterly mesmerising to watch. Apparently 2 dumper trucks of lava flow into the sea every second. I was out for 6.5 hours ... nearly 48,000 truck loads (I'm not sure of the conversion factor US:UK, but what does it matter if there were 48,000!)
    And if a dumper truck is 8m long, that'd be a single-file line 1382 km, or 860 miles (almost exactly the distance from Land's End to John O'Groats!) per day. I can't tell you how many times I've checked that calculation - that's utterly mind boggling!!    Read more

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    Sea view!

    May 24, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I took a boat trip from Issac Hale Beach down to the lava sea entry point, about 15 miles each way. What an experience. Hours later and I swear I can still taste sulphur in my mouth. I don't know what I was more scared by, the prospect of an unexpectedly violent lava explosion - I'd say we were only 6 or 7m away at one point, or falling out of the boat (very low sides, no railings) as we pitched and rolled viewing the lava.Read more

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    To Kailua-Kona

    May 25, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    It's evening and I'm settling in to my new suburban home just outside Kailua-Kona on the west coast enjoying a bottle of local beer, Kona 'Big Wave' (4.4% golden ale).

    I struggled to leave my lava den this morning; I just couldn't tear myself away. I would have happily chilled there for a few more days, but I only have a week left on Hawai'i and there's plenty of other things to see, including things at the Volcano Park I never got round to on Saturday. Luckily the Volcano Park was on my route, so I spent a good part of the day there again, mostly exploring Chain of Craters Road which really surprised me - such a beautiful and dramatic drive 😎Read more

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    Pu'uhonua o Honalunau (place of refuge)

    May 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Bit of an odd day today. My Kona Airbnb host had suggested an itinerary which sounded pretty good, so I headed to Pu'uhonua o Honalunau (place of refuge) to try to get some cultural understanding. Very simplistically, if someone broke the law (kapu), to prevent the gods taking revenge on everyone, the law breaker had to be killed. But if they could make it to a pu'uhonua (place of refuge) they were protected by special gods and after a few days could return home. The pu'uhonua at Honalunau is an area of rock by the sea, cut off from land access by a high wall (300m long, 5m deep, 4m high), so to get they you had to swim, risking the currents and being cut to pieces on the volcanic rock.

    Afterwards the tide was too high for me to feel safe snorkelling at Two Step beach which is right next door, then I drove along the very pretty Painted Church Road, but didn't find the church (painted inside to resemble a European cathedral... sounds amazing 😣 ), and by then it was raining so hard I drove right past Kaaloa Super J food place. Maybe my brains were fried by the heat. Days like this are frustrating because I feel I'm missing so much.

    On the plus side I managed to fill up with gas, with a bit of help from a woman filling her own car. The difference, which she found astounding, is that where in the Uk we pay for what we've taken, here, if you want to pay inside rather than at the pump, you pay first, say $40, then the pump delivers to that value.    Read more

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    Kohala exploration

    May 27, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Great tour round the NW and N coasts (Kohala district, named after the oldest volcano on the island) as far as Popolū Valley. On the the spur of the moment I stopped at another historic site, Pu'ukohala Heiau, built by King Kamehameha from stones transported hand to hand from Popolū. He had asked how he could conquer Hawai'i and the answer (via a kahuna (priest ) was to build a heiau and dedicate it to the war god. There's much more to the story, but essentially it worked and he unified the Hawaiian islands.Read more

  • SpringWandererThick Black Line. An odysseyTraveler

    Travel and transformation

    May 28, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    I may have over-egged the title a little, but on my last morning in the home of world-renowned Kona coffee I made myself a cup, and tried it. Well it's still coffee, but I reckon it would make a very good mocca chocolate bar 🙄

    Today I head east to a few miles north of Hilo and have a couple of days to explore the water-sculpted valleys of the east.    Read more

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    Towards Hilo

    May 28, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Today was my last major drive on Big Island; I've nearly finished my circumnavigation.

    I had to retrace some of yesterday's steps in the opposite direction and was amazed by the different perspective I got. Suddenly I could really see Kohala (volcano). I wanted a pic but there was nowhere to stop - the road had narrow shoulders with quite a drop-off and double yellows down the middle, so I couldn't just park up in the lane. Frustrating.

    You only have to look at a map and see all the rivers to know this is the wet side - the moisture-laiden trade winds from the east being forced by the volcanoes and creating torrential rain - that's what happened today. It was so heavy I pulled off the road and waited.

    En route I had a recommended culture stop at Tex Drive In, for donuts/doughnuts 😎 Really good - kinda square, no hole, no filling (my choice) just the right amount of squidge and sugar.    Read more

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    Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Garden

    May 29, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    This is a lovely place for a visit. It's only a couple of miles from where I'm staying, on the Old Mamalahoe Highway. Goodness knows how people coped when the road was part of the 'belt' road around the island: it twists around each valley foot/mouth (!...where it meets the sea ...) single track over some of the bridges, one is wooden! Lovely picturesque drive, but few places to pull over. And that was just getting there!
    The gardens follow a valley down, with the Onomea Falls just round a corner, then open out a bit at the sea. Everywhere is densely planted which makes for mostly hopeless scenic pics - just can't capure the beauty the human eye sees. It was just lovely to wander. I have loads of pictures of different leaves/patterns. I will try to resist 😉 I feel a photo shop collage thingy coming on when I get home!    Read more

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    Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea

    May 30, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    I had the most fitting final day on Big Island. There would have been something missing for me if I hadn't made it up to the 'saddle road' which runs E-W (or W-E ...) across the island on the saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. In the past hire cars weren't allowed up there but the road is mostly upgraded, though driving can be iffy if the weather changes.

    It was a beautiful clear morning so I took a picnic to the Mauna Kea Recreation Area which is about half way across. It fed my soul to finally see the tops of those 2 great volcanoes 😎

    I hadn't planned to do this, but feeling inspired I did a little more research and decided to head up to the Mauna Kea Visitor Centre. It's a stop-off point at 3000m for anyone going to the observatories at the top, to help prevent altitude sickness - it's the change in altitude (most will be travelling from close to sea level) that causes the problem. I saw one person really struggling. To go further you have to have 4WD, specifically a vehicle that can do engine braking on the descent.

    Well that's one of the best decisions I've ever made. It's lovely up there. I huffed and puffed to the top of a nearby cinder cone (the thin atmosphere, obviously) and got fantastic views over that part of the volcano, and not a soul was around. Very special in ways I don't really understand.

    Then I stayed until dark for the star gazing run by the Uni of Hawaii 😊. The centre has facilities to buy and prepare noodle pots, cocoa, coffee. Plus hoodies, socks, hats and blankets to buy. That all makes sense when the temperature drops to 5C ... that compares to low 30s daytime, mid 20s night at the coast... ie. flippin' freezing! So now I have an extra hoodie.

    They show a film while the sky is darkening, which doesn't shy away from the controversy about having the observatories at the summit. I hadn't heard this before. Mauna Kea is a sacred mountain for the native Hawaiians, not only a mountain, but an actual ancestor. I think some sort of framework is in place now to help reconcile the different perspectives.

    Ace day.    Read more

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