Hawaii – Kohala Coast
This morning a different rooster woke us at a far more civilized time. I wonder what happened to our own rooster?
For breakfast today we had Potato Frittata. There has been a turn round of guests so there were six new people at breakfast.
Today we have to get the car business sorted out. First of all Tom called our insurance company and was on the phone for at least half an hour. After breakfast we made our way to the airport. We did make one stop on the way though at Kainaliu. We have driven through here several times and there was one sign that really intrigued us. It said ‘Donkey Balls’. I consulted our trusty guidebook to discover that they were chocolate covered Macadamia nuts. A good idea, I thought, to buy some and take back to work with me.
Well Donkey Balls are really big. They have 25 layers of chocolate and they come in a variety of flavors. There are Flaky Balls (coconut), Half Ass Balls (dark and milk chocolate), Balls of Fire (cayenne pepper) and Dirty Balls (coated with cocoa) to name but a few. We tried a few samples and they were good. A bit expensive to buy enough for everyone at work to have one each but they can be cut into fours. While we were there, Tom visited the restroom and said it was certainly different.
Note from Tom: The bathroom walls were covered with drawings of donkeys and cute, funny and/or gross references to the product they sell. I’m sure you can think of several little ditties that are appropriate. I didn’t have to “use” the bathroom, I just wanted to see the walls. In fact while I was there a woman walked in to admire the walls too. We both just stood there taking it all in.
On to the airport. What a way to spend part of your vacation. It’s amazing the amount of hassle we have had so far but there’s bound to be much more and we are the innocent party!! After filling out a claim form and picking up a new car, we were on our way but it was already 11.30. One more chore to do before we can forget about the incident for this week and that is to fax a copy of our old rental agreement to the insurance company. Just have to find a Kinkos or similar for that or I guess we can ask at the farm.
Leaving the airport we turned left onto Highway 19. The scenery here is so different from the lush jungele scene of the South Kona coast. Here it is rough lava and scrub grass. All along the side of the road are messages spelt out with white rocks on the dark lava. Modern graffiti if you like but at least it doesn’t leave a permanent mark or disfigure the surroundings. It also does not need to be removed or painted over.
Along the coast there are a lot of good beaches and resorts but we want to do something different today. We stayed on Highway 19 as it took a sharp turn inland. In the distance we could see cars upon the mountain road – that’s where we are headed. At Waimea we turned left onto Highway 250 and headed uphill. There are two towns named Waimea on this road (very confusing). The other is closer to Hilo and is sometimes called Kamuela. Once again the scenery is changing. Below we can see the flat lava beds and can even see the route the lava took from the Mauna Loa volcano to the ocean. Up here there is green grass to our right. We are still on the leeward side of the island which is dryer than the eastern side. In fact, looking at the map, we can see that on the other side of the mountain are lots of rivers.
According to the guidebook, there is a good view across to Maui when the road starts to ascend but not today. We see a huge cloud cover in the distance and guess that Maui is underneath it.
At the junction of Highways 250 and 270 stands Hawi (pronounced Ha-vi), the most northerly town on the Big Island. Originally it was a sugar town but when that business closed down the town refused to die. It is now the haunt of many artists. We parked and walked around It is a really nice little town with interesting shops, restaurants and galleries.
As we were hungry, we stepped in for lunch at the Bamboo Restaurant. What a funky place and a great find. It was lunchtime and the place was bustling and lively. The service was superb. We had passion fruit ice tea and both of us loved it. To eat we had pulled BBQ pork sandwiches served with waffle fries and coleslaw with bits of pineapple inside. The sandwich was sloppy to eat so the server brought extra napkins. Man, it was good.
A trip to the restroom was interesting. There were lace curtains at the window and a live orchid in a plant pot. On the wall were several Hawaiian pictures plus a brightly painted wooden fish and a bamboo mirror. The floor was wooden planks and the sink was old fashioned. It only had one tap and no hot water. I could hear the noise from the kitchen outside – music, talking, singing and chatting. What amused me the most was the sign above the toilet:
Please put down the seat so we can all enjoy the fun toilet seat!!! Mahalo!
And it was a fun toilet seat with a brightly painted picture on it.
After lunch we walked around a bit and drank in the charm of the place. One place particularly fascinated us and that was L Zeidman Gallery. An array of Hawaiian wood bowls of all shapes and sizes made from all manner of local woods. The artist was originally from the Bay Area. Last year on our road trip we bought a Maynard Dixon print. This year we decided to buy a bowl. We picked a smallish China Berry bowl with a natural edge. Getting it home was a problem as we haven’t much space in our suitcase. The young girl in the gallery was marvelous and told us there was free shipping. She said they would also enclose some special beeswax polish so we could keep it looking good. As we were leaving she gave us a small box of handmade Hawaiian chocolate made by the Kailua Candy Co. They didn’t last too long I can assure you. Delicious.
To round off our wonderful experience in Hawi, we bought two single cake cone Tropical Dreams ice creams from the Kona Coffee Mill just across the road from the Bamboo Restaurant and sat outside to eat them.
Then we drove east to the end of Highway 270 through Kapa’au – a town very much like Hawi but not so
busy. The road deadends at the Pololu Valley Lookout. From there is a marvelous view looking south east in the direction of Waipi’o Valley though we could not see it. There is a muddy trail to the Pololu Beach. It takes 15-20 minutes to walk to the bottom but, as it is very steep, I’m sure it takes much longer to walk up. We did go down a little way but only to take some photos.
To drive back to the farm we returned through Hawi and stayed on Highway 270 all the way round the coast to Kawaihae. When Tom was last here they were filming ‘Waterworld’ and offshore was the floating atoll. There is no sign of it now and, in fact, there is nothing much to be seen here at all.
We did make one more stop and that was in Kailua-Kona. Our purpose was to find somewhere to send a fax. At first we drove around a bit but that was frustrating due to the rush hour traffic so we found a shopping mall and parked the car. We asked around and somebody told us to go to UPS. Fortunately there was one within walking distance. Mission accomplished. As we left Kailua-Kona and turned onto Highway 11, we saw a group of four black wild piglets at the side of the road. Was tempted to stop and load one into the trunk but resisted because we didn’t want to leave a mess in the rental car.
It started to rain as we neared the farm and by the time we reached our room it was a downpour. The heavy rain continued for the next couple of hours so we decided to call it a day and fell asleep to the rain hitting the tin roof.
October 19 2008 | Further Afield | No Comments »
