IT RAINS A LOT ON BIG ISLAND

THE GARDEN AROUND THE COTTAGE FROM THE MAIN LIVING AREA

Sunday Morning, 17th, 8.30 am in front of Hawaiian Tourism TV. (NZ time:- Monday 18th 7.30 am)

I need to eat my breakfast and shower and dress before we go out to the local Farmers Market.

It has been raining most of the time since we arrived.

COMING IN TO LAND AT KONA AIRPORT HAWAII ISLAND, (BIG ISLAND)
BLACK VOLCANIC ROCK STRETCHED AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE

We arrived on Hawaii Island, Big Island, in rain. The paving was puddled and walking in jandals was not fun. The air was warm. It reminded me of home when a tropical cyclone brushes the Coromandel Peninsula. We took a shuttle to the Hertz office and picked up our rental. We have a white Ford Focus. pretty boring. John told me we could have upgraded to a Mustang but he passed without asking how much extra it would cost. I would have asked. He kept telling me a Mustang would be too powerful for him as he was having enough trouble getting used to driving a recent model car on the wrong side. We did have a strong wind off the sea which John found disconcerting. For the last 15 months we have been using Mum's car which is about 20 years old and does not have power steering.

OUR RENTAL I AM WEARING ALL FOUR LEIS WE WERE GIVEN AT THE AIRPORT

It was 11 am by the time we got ourselves sorted out with the car. We had been up since before 5 am and had nothing to eat, only coffee. We were told there were restaurants 30 minutes down the road. That might have been true but John had set up the GPS and in my ignorance I gave him Waikoloa Village to program in.

Waikoloa Village is based around a golf resort and inland. We couldn't find the restaurants there. Our GPS still has 2004 maps so terribly out of date. I realised we needed to go back to Waikoloa Beach and the Queens Market Place. We found plenty of food there and shared some pulled pork, rice and salad. We then went for a wander around the shops and I looked longingly at some Hawaiian black pearl jewellery. We ate icecream and got back in the car.

A QUICK SHOT AS I FINISHED EATING MY ICECREAM

We continued driving south for a bit before turning inland and driving over the mountains through Waimea to the Hamakua coast. The rain became persistent so we had to stop and work out how to use the windscreen wipers. Finally we arrived in Hilo where we planned to buy groceries. By this time we were getting tired and scratchy and couldn't find directions to a store. We went into a travel shop and flustered the dear Hawaiian-Japanese lady no end. She struggled to give us directions to Walmart because English was not her everyday language but she drew us a lovely little map. Our understanding was pretty dim until she said something about the airport. We finally found the shopping centre after a few wrong turns and detours. Walmart is a lot like our Warehouse. This one did not have an extensive grocery section and all I bought was a packet of pistachios. Frustrated and knowing we were about 30 minutes from our accommodation we decided to keep going. Again we had fun and games with the GPS because it would not accept the street number. Finally we drove into the first likely house where we were directed back in the opposite direction. We were so relieved when Craig, our host, came out to meet us as we drove in. I had been feeling really nervous because I forgot to send an email reminding them of our expected arrival time. It didn't help that I had no internet until now and for some reason I had no phone number for Craig and Pamela either.

I HAD NOT EXPECTED THE LAND TO BE BLACK AND BARREN

As we came into Kona Airport all I could see was a black volcanic rock coastline. There was very little to no natural vegetation. I took many photos as we drove over this volcanic, barren land. It appeared to me that anywhere development had taken place they would have needed to bring in soil. Establishing gardens would be quite a challenge. There are many resorts, holiday villages, which seem to have been built in the last few years and we noticed several more newly started developments. I can only presume the land is cheap and readily available because who would want to live in such a treeless landscape. The Waikoloa Village was like a green oasis and the homes we saw were large and probably expensive.

We were intrigued by the custom/habit/vandalism of painting names in white on the black rock. It was quite artistic compared to the spray painted graffiti we are used to. In fact it looked as though people had gathered white rock and carefully spelled out their message in stark contrast to the black.

ROADSIDE ART WHITE ROCKS AGAINST THE BLACK
MOST WERE NAMES BUT THERE WERE ALSO VARIOUS MESSAGES AND DESIGNS
I PRESUME THE ROCKS WERE PAINTED AND THEN PLACED
THEY WERE NOT FUZZY, QUICK SPRAY PAINT JOBS

The drive over the mountain via Waimea revealed lush green farming country. I can imagine it being good dairy land. This was in complete contrast to the first part of our drive. The roads were mostly single lane each way as we are accustomed too. In Hilo it got up to 4 lanes each way through the city but it did not seem to be a very big city. We would have found it difficult to find our way to Pahoa and Pomaikai Road if the lady at Hertz had not looked up and printed off a little map for us. One thing we have not yet found is a good road map of the Island. Craig has a visitors information book in the cottage which we are using but I like to see the route on a map as well as written directions. The only maps we have found are in tourist books and they are neither detailed nor necessarily accurate to scale. Even Google hasn't been a whole lot of help.

Our cottage has two bedrooms and is very spacious with high ceilings and windows top to bottom. We look out into a tropical garden where there are edibles such as bananas, avocados and mangoes to eat in season. I am piggy backing on Craig's WiFi. he didn't seem concerned that I would push his usage up so I suppose I should be careful. We are serenaded through the night by frogs. More about them in another post. They can be annoying but I find them no worse than crickets.

Yesterday we went out in the rain to the local village of Pahoa for lunch. it was quite late, well into the afternoon, but we'd had plenty of coffee, the pistachios and our boxed leftovers from the previous night's dinner. We shopped at Hawaiian Naturals, an organic store. We took our time wandering around the shop and reading labels. I guess we were there nearly an hour trying to find and decide what we needed and what we could afford. The shop wasn't large but carried a good variety of food and our decision to remain as wheat free as possible does challenge us when away from home.

Since we were already out I asked John if he minded driving out to the coast. He was not keen being still tired from the previous day but decided to go along with my idea.

"THE BEACH"
IT'S BEAUTIFUL BUT OH SO RUGGED WE WOULD NEVER SWIM HERE

It wasn't far and we walked along the volcanic rock path watching families enjoy their damp day at the sea.There were few surfers and a boat or two was launched. The shore was pure black volcanic rock. We drove around a little further and found the hot pools. We'll go back after the weekend when there will be fewer people, not that there were crowds were very big. It seemed they were all local families enjoying their day. It was 5 pm when we got back to the cottage where it was still raining. The coast is a lower elevation by maybe 1000 feet and gets a little less rain.

IMAGINE SURFING HERE AND THEY DO

Food.

Friday night we went to Ning's Thai Restaurant in Pahoa where our starter was green papaya salad. It was huge and deliciously fresh. The papaya was grated or julienned into long threads with a few green leaves, chunks of tomato and slices of lime. We ate half and boxed the remainder for the next day's breakfast. John had scallops with sweet basil  with brown rice. He left most of the brown rice which we boxed with half of my dinner of ginger beef strips. It was a delicious meal but simply too much food. That worked well because we still had not bought groceries but had food for Saturday's breakfast.

Saturday we went to Kaleo's for our late lunch. Kaleo's seemed to be a mix of every cuisine from Europe, to Asia and back to America. Apparently this is typically Hawaian. John chose pulled pork and I had crispy coconut crusted Mahi-mahi. Our meals came with plenty of white rice and salad. We swapped plates half way through. The salads were good and my fish was yummy. I have come to the conclusion that I don't care for 'pulled' meats. They are stringy and overcooked, unappealing in texture and lacking flavour. The success of the dish seems to depend on the sauce. I prefer my meat to be chunky or in strips, ground/minced is OK.

THE SURF WAS DISAPPOINTING

We spent about $100 buying groceries. We bought fresh almonds, dried figs, ginger and lemon tea, rice crackers, yoghurt, whole milk, quick oats, some cheese, cashew butter, coconut oil, my favourite cod liver oil, bacon, eggs and fresh strawberries. My breakfast today will be yoghurt and strawberries with cod liver oil. We were able to buy locally produced organic whole milk Greek Yoghurt. It is far more like soft cream cheese in texture and flavour with none of the acidity that I associate with yoghurt. It goes well unsweetened with the strawberries and lemon flavoured oil. The ginger and lemon tea is delicious with a hint of chicory. The figs are strange to our eyes. They are very small and do not have fullness of flavour like ones I buy at home. I would have spent a similar amount back home for the same things.

A FOOD TRUCK I'VE FORGOTTEN WHAT

Now I must get cracking or it won't be worth checking out the Farmer's Market for fresh veggies and I'd like to get some meat but that might have to wait until tomorrow when we can look for a butchery. It's not easy finding places where we can continue eating the way we prefer. The right shops are there somewhere but we have to find them.

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