Was in good time for my 10:30am pick up and sat down next to me was a lady going on the same tour - Janelle a lovely lady from Oregon in the midst of treatment for ovarian cancer. We were picked up by Rob our tour guide and then picked up a further two passenger Alex and Ruby from San Fran and that completed our cozy tour party for the day!!
First stop Thunder Mountain - a coffee plantation rather than the theme park ride!! Got to experience the coffee and a sense of how it's made and even taste a raw coffee berry - a bit like a sweet, watered down version of a blackcurrant. Had a quick sandwich for lunch and then back on the road.
Next stop the furthest Southern Bakery in the Island and therefore also of the USA. Seemed rude not to partake of their wares so bought the least large and sweet thing I could - a cinnamon roll with cream cheese icing - was still very sweet but I forced myself to eat it all!! Bought some postcards ( so that's tomorrow's job sorted!). Back in the truck again and this time headed for the black sand beach.
Very reminiscent of some of the black sand beaches in New Zealand but this one had turtles on it too, very cool to see the sparkly black sand and jagged rocks and a lovely Green turtle just sitting on the rocks sunning itself. So absorbed was I in staring at this marvel of nature that I almost didn't notice the other two on the beach straight in front of me, fortunately I noticed before I got so close I either scared one back int the ocean or stepped on it!! It was quite windy down on the beach and there was quite a swell, with the waves pounding on the rocks, but at only added to the beauty of the place.
A short ride later and a nice half mile walk through the pristine rainforest to a lava tube - formed when molten lava forms a hard crust but the lava within stays hot enough to continue flowing forming a long cave or tube. Pretty like the Smugglers cave at Shaldon only made of lava instead!! We mad a quick stop to check out some steam vents and were greeted by a complete semi-circular rainbow. the steam vent felt nice and warm as at 1277m above sea level it starts to get a bit chilly! After all that energy it was off for dinner!! I feel like I have spent my entire day eating!! After dinner we quickly visited the old Volcano house - now an art gallery, it burnt down bizarrely due to a kitchen fire rather than anything earthquake or volcano related!!
Final stop for the tour the Jaggar museum and a view of the beautiful sunset to off by the glow from Kilauea crater and its Lava lake. The night sky really was beautiful but it was time to pile back into the truck for the two hour journey back to the resort. Rob put on a DVD of Hawaii Five O (the new sexy one rather than the old cheesy version) and like the Nick Cage film I was Gone in 60 Seconds!!! Hopefully I didn't snore and if I did everyone was too polite to mention it!! Now I'm pooped after a 10 hour day an ma watch a Diveo before sleeping - long day of postcard writing and sunbathing ahead!!!!
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