Memories of A Lost Land

Back in March I wrote about the Puna District on the Big Island of Hawai'i that I love so much. The last time we had been there was in January - and had I known that it literally would be the last time that I'd see it this way I probably would have taken way more photos than I actually did. But the memories of this now lost land are in my heart and it's where they will stay.

A big part of Puna has changed forever and is still changing every day. While it comes as no surprise that an active volcano would behave - well, actively - it is still heart breaking. Having your home being consumed by lava that creeps into your backyard is simply terrible. Even though the people had enough time to save a lot of their things, their homes are lost, and even those houses that remain standing may be unreachable because of the lava flow.

This beautiful road along the coast - Highway 137 - is cut off in several places, covered by lava. The lava flew down from Leilani Estates, crossed the highway and entered the ocean.

I fell in love with Puna during our first visit to the Big Island, and most of these pictures are from the summer of 2016.

It's a rugged coast, rough and black. No white sandy beaches are found here, only lava beaches, either rocky or with black sand. There's an abundance of palm trees and, since this is the rainy side of the island, rich and plentiful vegetation. It rains a lot here.

Along this coast there are (or should I say "were") bays and beaches where you could stop, just hang out, surf, talk to the locals or just sit in a chair and look out over the ocean. Often someone brought fruit for everyone to share.

Some of these places still exist since the lava didn't go everywhere, but it might be a challenge to reach these spots.

I'm pretty sure that this road no longer exists. It leads to Kapoho Bay - with wonderful tide pools and great snorkeling. The lava from fissure 8 has entered the ocean here and Kapoho Bay is no more.

While all of this is incredibly sad, it is also amazing and beautiful at the same time. Nature definitely never stops to fascinates, and it does what it wants. No way we can manage it. We can be smart and prepared, but in the end we can only react to what nature has in store for us - much of it as a result of our own destructive behavior. Remember the principle of the seventh generation I wrote about? It certainly doesn't apply to an active volcano, but it's still good to keep in mind.

This is what hot lava looks like (this is the lava flow in 2016) - you can see more pictures here:

I am forever grateful that I could experience Puna in January one more time. The avocado tree house is still standing, but it is difficult to get there. Highway 130 from Pāhoa to Kalapana has several cracks that are worrisome, but as far as I know you can still drive there (only if you're a resident though). At the moment an emergency road is bulldozed through the lava across Chain of Craters Road in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park (where I took the pictures of the lava above), but that would be a huge detour. Still, better than having no way out...

Avocado Tree House

In my first Hawai'i post I mentioned that for the first few days we were living in a tree house near Pāhoa - its name was Avocado Tree House and it was built in and around a mature avocado tree. It actually is the hosts' children's old tree house. When they were grown up, their parents decided to expand it and make a vacation rental out of it.

The old tree house is now the "meditation room" that you can reach over a very steep stair-ladder.

The view from up there is magnificent. Unfortunately the windows don't have any screens, so we weren't really able to spend much time up there in the evenings.

The house itself has all the basics that we needed but nothing fancy. There was a big bed for us, a little living area and a loft bed for Kaefer. Many windows all around that were open all the time (these have screens) with a large window to the east with a wonderful view as well.

There was a lot of art in and outside the house. Some of them were bought at local markets and some were made by Hugh, the owner. I especially liked the gecko and was quite happy when I found a smaller version on a market that I could take home.

When you got out of the house through the back door you reached the bathroom section. A wash basin right where the tree is and to the side the toilet. Kind of in the middle of the jungle.

This was the view from the toilet... (I never thought I would post something like this!)

You pretty much just had to reach out your hand and pick avocados. They were literally growing into our mouth (while we were brushing our teeth). I enjoyed this so very much!

And I wasn't the only one who enjoyed this lovely and unique place!

Oh - you probably want to know whether we had a bit more than this gorgeous bathroom for our personal hygiene - of course we had! There was a fully functioning outdoor shower, on the way to the kitchen.

Every morning when I went to take a shower I saw this on my way there:

Can you imagine being greeted like this every morning (you also have to add all the birds that were very active here)?

The kitchen was in a different building right next to the tree house. The kitchen itself was well equipped and had everything we needed. There was a balcony in front of it where we always sat to have our breakfast. We could see the ocean from here. It was my personal slice of heaven.

The Avocado Tree House is part of a huge organic farm, and Elvira and Hugh, the owners and our hosts, provided us with fresh fruit every day (plus organic eggs, butter, Kona coffee etc.). My favorite was the white pineapple that you get only here (it cannot be shipped). It is soooo sweet and very low acidic.

Our breakfast company - Gold Dust Day Geckos - liked it as well.

There was also a porch at the front entrance of the tree house. We mainly dried our snorkeling items here and hung our towels to dry, but seldom sat here. We liked the kitchen balcony a little bit better. However, sitting out here in the evening drinking Mai Tais with friends would be really nice.

There was so much vegetation on this farm - it was incredible. The Royal Poinciana was my favorite tree. The reddish-orange flowers were gorgeous.

This was the best vacation rental we had in Hawai'i. It set the bar very high. If you're ever looking for a place near Pāhoa - close to the Volcano, lava flow, water falls and some awesome snorkeling - and like a quiet and unique place, you can find it on Airbnb.

Aloha

Near Pāhoa

Paradise.

That is the first word that comes to my mind when I think about the place where we just spent our family vacation, the beautiful Islands of Hawai'i - the Big Island and Maui. Two weeks, while spending in a part of the US, felt so far away from the "mainland" (this is how the US is called in Hawai'i) that we didn't get any news or new scandals and we never tried to. It was so easy to stay away from it all and just immerse in this paradise that we felt completely relaxed.

There are so many memories!

One of the best was staying in a tree house for a few days - a house built around and in an old avocado tree. It was pure magic - you can't get closer to nature than this without the comfort of a real roof above your head.

The jungle was right there, and so was our breakfast company - Gold Dust Day Geckos who - and I hope you will believe this - did NOT try to sell us car insurance but used their 15 minutes to lick up the white pineapple juice from our plates.

I ate so much pineapple like never before in my life - and it never tasted that good. On the Big Island, while staying in the Avocado Tree House, we were introduced to organic white pineapple by our hosts who owned an organic farm. I didn't even know of the existence of white pineapple, lest have ever eaten them. They were so delicious. Our hosts provided at least one of them for us every day and when we had to leave they gave us three more for the road.

We visited Kilauea and fell in love with this active volcano. So much to see and do here! Most people just come up here to have a brief look at the crater - it's often called the "drive-thru volcano", but there is so much more - Kilauea will make its appearance in this blog later!!!

We were enormously lucky that there was some lave flow, and after a long and strenuous hike we could see the glowing lava plunging into the ocean with sizzle and steam - fascinating, amazing and unforgettable. It was worth my badly hurting feet by the end of the hike (8.5 mile round trip).

Hawai'i has some incredible birds like this Erckel Francolin we discovered by the side of one of the smaller roads within Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Of course there are by far more birds in the jungle/rainforest, and they usually woke us with a symphony every morning before dawn that was out of this world.

There were Banyan trees that look like they're from a different time...

Kīpahulu District, Haleakalā National Park, Maui

... bamboo forests...

Kīpahulu District, Haleakalā National Park, Maui

... and, of course, a large number of waterfalls.

'Akaka Falls, Big Island

The world of plants is incredible, full of color, and I had no idea what most of these trees, shrubs and flowers were. This is a Ohi'a Lehua, which is the most common native tree in Hawai'i that grows in a variety of habitats. We saw it in lush surroundings as well as growing out of a rough ground of lava.

We saw the world from above the clouds when we drove up to the summit of Haleakalā, the now inactive volcano on Maui. This mountain often looks like being in the clouds when you see it from below, but the summit more often than not is out of the clouds which makes for some gorgeous views. When you look through the clouds you can sometimes see planes flying BELOW you!

We met the ancient world of Hawai'i that was full of fascination (and perhaps not that ancient after all), often right next to a beautiful bay where you could snorkel and see some Green Sea Turtles resting on the lava rocks.

Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park

The Geek and Kaefer decided to learn how to paddle board while I was taking pictures of them and enjoying a morning walk along the beach in Lahaina, Maui.

And of course there were sandy beaches with palm trees waving in the breeze, Hula dancers and gorgeous sunsets!

This was just a very short and very incomplete overview of our time in Hawai'i. I certainly will write more about it and show you tons of pictures. I first need to get organized a bit more - this is a busy time since Kaefer leaves for college in two weeks and I'm in the process of applying for a part time job while also getting ready for my teaching job - next Saturday marks the beginning of the German School year.

Aloha!