Day 2, Monday 15th June
Survived the night, but took a shower before anybody else was even awake - just to cool down. A lovely shower, I must say - walk in with glass blocks. The bathroom was hotter than the bedroom though.
Today we were going to Volcanoes National Park. It was a longish drive, back up to near Hilo and then turning off to the village of Volcano before the park itself - but a lovely ride. We made three mistakes. Firstly, we had no breakfast. Second, we didn't pack sandwiches. Third, we stopped at Volcano, decided there was nothing there and continued on to the Park. There were no eateries in there. Well, there was - a restaurant, but they were queuing out the doors. We went hours without food. But, hey, this was Kilauea.
I first stop was at the Visitor Center (no food - not even a bag of crisps), for a quick look around - and then we took the Crater Rim Drive, stopped at the Steam Vents and walked a little way to view Halema'uma'u Crater, within Kilauea Caldera.
We got a better view from the Jagger Museum (no food) though. I don't think the air was very good today, though we survived.
Next, we drove the 20-something mile, Chain of Craters Road, stopping at one or two craters on the way. When we finally made it to the bottom, it was amazing. All those lava flows creating all that new land. And you could see, from here, the other side of the lava hitting the ocean spot. It was all very impressive.
On the way down towards the Chain of Craters Road, there had been nowhere to park at the Thurston Lava Tube - we were luckier on the way back. It was a bit 'damp' and I couldn't help remembering the size of those 'cave' spiders which inhabit the lava tubes (seen on some documentary or other, before we left home). But we made it to the other side! And another 'wow' to add to the list.
We were SO hungry! We headed straight for Hilo and stopped at the Subway. Then we went next door to the Baskin Robbins and indulged ourselves with Mango Tango! We next parked up in downtown Hilo. There really wasn't a lot to see, apart from a rather splendid banyan tree.
We did a little shopping in Safeway and then .... well, Paul had left his hat on the Honolulu-Hilo plane (he keeps doing that) - and there was a Macy's. A Macy's with handbags! I'd always wanted a Kipling bag - it was something to do with all those pockets and zips. And the monkeys.
'Brown or pink?' What do you think!
Paul found a hat in Lids and we were both happy.
Finally, back at the house, we discovered that, not only were the cockroaches enormous - but they could FLY!