Friday, May 25, 2012

The Big Island – Hilo

Our second shore excursion was an 8 mile bike ride around the rim of the Kilauea crater. Mark and Alan, our guides, were great, making sure everyone was confident on their bikes, and not making Claire feel bad about walking up the last bit of a very long hill. Al makes the best banana bread in Hawai’i. Apart from the hill the ride was on flat paths and sometimes on the road. We rode around the Kilauea caldera, then the Kilauea Iki crater. The ride then stopped at the Thurston Lava tube which we walked through and finally at the Lua Manu crater where we walked on the lava from a 1974 eruption. From a distance all the rock looked black, but up close there were so many beautiful colours. Blues, gold and pinks just to mention a few. Legend has it that it is bad luck to take lava from the island. Each year the local post office receives about 60 pounds of lava being returned by people who have removed it and suffered the consequences.

Halema’uma’u CraterDSC_0006

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Kilauea Caldera

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Inside a lava tube

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Kilauea Iki Crater

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Standing on a cooled lava flow.

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