More Volcanoes!

After some heavy overnight rain, Saturday started with a fresher feel and after an early walk by the ocean, along with a throng of joggers, dog-walkers, and cyclists, we collected our valuables and day's essentials, and headed towards Volcano National Park. It was a two-hour drive, during which the outside temperature fluctuated between seventy-two and ninety degrees! No less impressive was our surroundings en route. At first we were enveloped in a barren plain of old lava flows, which soon gave way to rolling grasslands and then rainforest!

It was hard to believe that the black volcanic lava could provide an ideal habitat for such dense tropical vegetation, but it does! We passed through the home of  Kona Coffee, which we sampled and enjoyed along the way. Arriving at the Park we called-in the Visitor Centre and having watched a film about what we wouldn't see ..... 'an eruption'  ..... we took advice from a Ranger about how to best spend our time in the Park. Basically, we began by taking-in the currently active Kilauea Crater and the surrounding solidified lava lake.

We then trekked a short trail through a land of giant ferns and foliage, before moving-on to see the steam vents and to walking through the famous lava tube (which reminded us of a railway tunnel!)

It has to be said that we were a little disappointed not to see active lava flows, but it appears that these cannot be viewed at present, owing to the collapse of the lava tube which until recently carried lava into the ocean ....c'est la vie! (Of course, we were also spoiled by visiting Yellowstone last year!) Returning to Kona, we stopped off at Punanalu, a neat little town boasting some iconic buildings from (I guess) the early 1900's.

We revisited Bubba Gumps for dinner and watched the ocean sun set and for some reason I found the following line from the film amusing "I guess I drank me around fifteen Dr Peppers!" (Maybe this was attributable to the Goose IPA?!) As a footnote to today's posting, I cannot let the moment go without commenting on some odd dudes who we spotted over the last couple of days .... today's award went to a guy sporting a 'ZZ Topp' beard and 'denims with braces', but it was a close-run thing. Yesterday, it was an open-and-shut case, the winner being a guy sat outside Starbucks wearing a de rigour sun-hat which he'd fashioned (Origami-style) from his Starbucks brown paper bag! Finally, another track reminiscent of Forrest Gump!