Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Last week we took an overnight trip to the Island of Hawaii (a.k.a the Big Island) for my birthday. This was my first visit to the Big Island so I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was very different from our home on Maui. 

First, we flew on the tiniest plane I have ever been on. This little prop plane (pictured above) seats just 9 or 10 passengers. We all had to get on a scale while holding our bags and were seated according to weight to properly balance the plane. This was the most terrifying and exhilarating flight of my life. My birthday was off to a pretty good start.

Thirty minutes later, we landed in Kona and then drove approximately three hours to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I didn't mind the long drive as it gave us the opportunity to see much of this fascinating island. Driving through the ever-changing landscape of desolate fields of lava rock and lush rain forests, the climate would change from blaring sun and stifling heat to cold and rainy every ten minutes. 

Six volcanoes fused together by lava flows have formed this island over millions of years and it is still growing. The summit of Mauna Loa stands 56,000 feet above the depressed ocean floor making it over 27,000 feet taller than Mount Everest. Mauna Loa and Kilauea are two of the world's most active volcanoes and the constant flowing lava continues to change the shape and size of the island.

Nahuku is also known as Thurston Lava Tube

In the middle of the rainforest lies the 500-year-old Thurston lava tube. One minute we were walking through dense flora listening to the symphony of jungle creatures and the next we were in a dark and slimy cave-like channel. Without the lights mounted along the walls, we would have been in total darkness. I was able to take this photo (above) using a very long exposure and then brightened it up in Photoshop but even with the lights, it was difficult to see far ahead. 

This was my first time ever walking through a lava tube. What an amazing experience! If you've never had the opportunity to walk through a lava tube I would highly recommend it!

Here is a photo I took of the lava flow along Chain of Craters Road. The darker layer of lava is the more recent lava flow.

In this photo, you can see the path of the lava flow from above. When it reaches the ocean it cools and forms new land.

Holei Sea Arch

This is a 60 foot (18 m) tall sea arch formed by wave erosion.

The rugged coastline formed by molten lava and the harsh ocean waves.

A 2003 lava flow closed Chain of Craters Road for good. 

A "Road Closed" sign permanently embedded in lava rock

While walking on the lava fields you can feel the heat rising up from underneath the surface. It is a type of heat I have never experienced before. It feels like your feet are being cooked and the heat travels up through your body. As you can probably deduce from looking at these photos of the terrain, you'll want to wear sturdy and comfortable footwear.

Nature's Paintbrush

Sulfur Crystal and other minerals deposited by volcanic gases paint the rocks in shimmering colors. 

This summit caldera was formed in a catastrophic collapse

The climate in the park can change drastically from 90º and blinding sun in the lava fields to 60º and rain at the higher elevations along Crater Rim Drive. Be prepared for all types of weather.

Halema'uma'u Crater

The sulfur dioxide fumes are known here in Hawaii as VOG. It's a word created to represent the combination of volcanic ash, fog, and smog created by the erupting volcanoes. The effects of vog can be felt by us on Maui and even as far away as Oahu. If you already have breathing difficulties, be advised to bring your medication as vog can exacerbate your symptoms. Even in healthy individuals, vog can cause headaches, dizziness, and flu-like symptoms. 

This is a view of the Halema'uma'u crater from the overlook on Crater Rim Drive.

Lava pours into the sea, creating new land

The Thomas A. Jaggar Museum is open daily from 8:30am to 6:00 pm (Hours vary with seasons and volcanic activity) 

Origin and Ascent of Magma

At the entrance to the park there is also the Kilauea Visitor Center (open daily from 7:45 am to 5:00 pm), which is staffed with Park Rangers who can provide you with maps and answer questions. There are also Park Rangers throughout the park giving tours or you can do a self-guided tour and and get information using the Automated Cell Phone tour.

A little lesson on Seismic Activity at the Jaggar Museum. Jump up and down and to see how much seismic activity you can create.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is a United States National Park and is listed as an International Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site.

http://www.nps.gov/havo/index.htm

Volcanoes PREVIEW!!!

I'm working on a new post about my recent trip to Volcanoes National Park. In the meantime, please enjoy this preview video of Kilauea in action!

© Darren Nolan

Pompeii comes to Times Square

Earlier this month a friend and I visited the Pompeii Exhibit at the Discovery Museum in Times Square.
First, we were brought into a room where we watched a short movie that gave an overview of what Pompeii was like before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When the movie concluded the doors swung open and we were led into the exhibit which had displays of artifacts that have since been unearthed. Many of the artifacts were still in pristine condition. Because they had been encased in volcanic ash for over 2000 years, they had been protected from damage by the elements and remained virtually unchanged. This part of the exhibit introduced visitors to the history, culture, and lifestyle of the people of Pompeii, giving a glimpse into their everyday lives.

Once we had worked our way through the entire room, a docent announced that there was another movie to watch which would be played every five minutes. She said that visitors should make sure they took their time to see everything in the exhibit before viewing the movie because once you went into the theater there was no coming back. At this point, my friend asked me if I thought this was the mid-way point or if the movie was the end of the exhibit. I said that it would be very unusual to put another movie right at the mid-way point of the exhibit but I later found out why.

We stepped into the movie theater and the doors closed behind us. The lights went out and the screen lit up showing a view of Pompeii as if we were standing in the middle of the city looking out onto Vesuvius. The ground began to rumble and smoke started to come out of the volcano. The movie continued to depict what the eruption would have been like, revealing a sped-up time-lapse of the eruption and increasing temperature reading. Then smoke began to fill the room and the screen went dark. Suddenly, the doors swung open to the next room. This room, which was hidden from the first half of the exhibit, was dark and somber and had casts of human bodies that had been encased in the volcanic ash. At this moment I realized why they chose to put the movie at the mid-way point. Pompeii before Vesuvius erupted and Pompeii after Vesuvius erupted. Well done.

This part of the exhibit was extremely moving and powerful. The casts showed so much detail that you could see the folds in their clothing and the fear on their faces. While conducting excavations of the site, occasional voids in the ash layer had been found that contained human remains. These were spaces left by the decomposed bodies and so a technique of injecting plaster into them (today resin is used) was developed to perfectly recreate the forms of the victims in the moments just before Vesuvius took their lives.

The room was black with just spotlights on each cast and there were curtains with colored lights dancing around on them. I'm not sure what they were trying to do with this effect. Maybe something to do with the afterlife? The lights were a bit cheesy and it would have been much better off without them. Whatever effect they were going for really didn't work on me or my friend. But overall this was the best part of the exhibit.

That room then led out to another room. At this point, the exhibit got a little too long. The room had even more artifacts and a timeline of Pompeii's history. There was a ton of reading to do and it became exhausting but I really did enjoy seeing all of the artifacts. My friend was amazed at all of the glass bottles that were left completely intact. It was most fascinating to me to see the everyday objects like the hairbrushes and mirrors and cooking pots. It reminded me that these were people living everyday lives just like myself and they and their entire civilization were frozen in time the moment that volcano erupted. Their whole city became a giant time capsule that has now allowed us to learn so much about what life was like 2,000 years ago. After seeing the technology they created such as medical instruments, pots that filtered water, and an aqueduct that provided water for more than 25 street fountains, at least four public baths, and a large number of private houses and businesses, I imagine how much more they could have invented and how advanced they would have become had they not been wiped out.

It's unfortunate that more people haven't chosen to visit this exhibit but it seems that Pompeii is doomed with misfortune and has found itself competing with the Discovery Museum's extremely popular Harry Potter Exhibit next door. I personally think it's a wonderful thing that this exhibit was developed so that we can learn about this once forgotten civilization. In a way, this exhibit has brought Pompeii back to life.

Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, New Zealand

Week 2

I left Auckland on Monday and headed off on a three-hour drive to Tauranga, The Bay of Plenty. It shouldn't really take that long but as this was my first solo left-side drive I wanted to take it slow. So for the next three hours, I got the hang of driving while taking in the absolutely gorgeous scenery. But the more I saw, the angrier I got thinking about how deprived the rest of us are for not ever knowing such beauty exists. It was like the scene in "The Wizard of Oz"  when Dorothy's house lands in Oz and everything is transformed from black and white to technicolor. I left cold gray dreary New York and I found the yellow brick road.



Another refreshing change is that you won't find a McDonald's along New Zealand's Highways. Just cute little roadside cafes with fresh homemade food made by mom and pop. I never would have thought chicken and apricots would be a tasty combination but put them together in some fresh bread and you've got one really delicious panini. Another thing you probably won't run into at a rest stop on one of America's highways is these cute little guys.

So here I am now in Mount Maunganui, or Mauao, which means "caught by the morning sun." I'm staying just a short block from the beach and lucked out once again and was loaned a surfboard by the nice guy who works in the office at my motor lodge. I was at the beach by 6:30 the next morning to watch the sun come up and get baptized by the New Zealand waters. Then I went for a short run on the beach and was at work by 9am. Not a bad way to start the day. I could definitely get used to this.



Mount Maunganui

On Saturday I decided I wanted to hike up to the top of the Mauao. The Mauao is a dormant volcanic cone that is 232 meters high and has 250 sheep grazing its slopes. It was a fairly steep climb to the top that really gets your heart racing. I consider myself in pretty good shape but took a blow to the ego when I was struggling near the very top and a man of about 80 who looked like the Kiwi Jack LaLanne sprinted past me while yelling words of encouragement, "You can do it! It will be worth it!" I soothed myself with the excuse that I was carrying at least ten pounds of weight in my backpack and therefore I was being slowed down but then, not one but two young girls wearing casts on their legs up to their knees went by me.

My daily count of broken limbs averages somewhere between 3-5 per day. Kiwi kids are fearless. They don't go home to play video games after school. They head straight to the beach with their surfboards. Their parents meet them there after work and go surfing right along with them. I've seen children as young as 5 surfing and even a woman of about 75 riding a bodyboard. Then they will lay out a blanket and have their family dinner on the beach. The children here are free. They climb on the rocks and if they get hurt, so what? They put a cast on it and keep going straight up to the summit of a volcano. But Kiwi Jack Lalanne was correct. It was definitely worth it. The view from the top was breathtaking. It would be worth the effort even with a broken leg.

Naked toddler climbing the rocks

View of Moturiki and Motuotau Islands from the top of the Mauao

After the summit, I hiked along the base track and watched as the waves crashed on the volcanic rocks that line the shore. The beauty of this place is just astonishing to the point of being overwhelming. It seems a shame that I am here all by myself and can't share this with anyone else. If a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Base track of the Mauao

Another option besides the base track of the Mauao, if you feel you're not up to going to the summit is to walk up Mount Drury which is just down the road. Its paths are not as steep and are much easier if you're just looking for a casual walk. The views from the top are also really pretty. You could also try the paths on Moturiki Island which you can access from the beach. Hike up its paths and you will get the ocean perspective of Mount Maunganui. You'll be looking back at the shore from its hills.

My hike among the elderly and wounded really worked up an appetite. Conveniently located across the street are many choices of cafes to eat in. Here's another travel tip: If you order an iced coffee in New Zealand don't expect it to be filtered coffee with ice. What you will get is a milkshake with coffee-flavored ice cream. That's right! It's now week two and I still haven't gotten the hang of the coffee thing. I thought I was getting the hang of the driving on the left side too but judging by the look of my car apparently not. oops!

The perfect thing to do after a morning hike up a dormant volcano is stroll on over to the Salt Water Hot Pools strategically located right at the base of the Mauao. There are many geothermal pools in the region but Mount Maunganui is the only place in New Zealand where you'll find hot saltwater pools. They have several pools of varying temperatures that you can choose from and it's a great way to loosen up the muscles after a long day of volcano climbing.

After that, I walked over to the beach to watch the rest of the lifeguard competition. Dozens of young kids were competing in a grueling competition where they run through the sand then kayak or board through the ocean waves dragging their equipment. These kids are unbelievably fit and I realized I have yet to see an overweight child here. If I was ever drowning, one of these ten-year-olds would no doubt be able to rescue me.


Every Sunday morning there is a Farmers Market. They have live music and lots of local produce and homemade treats. I did a little shopping and then decided if I was in one of the best surfing towns in New Zealand I should go visit their surfing museum. The museum is located downstairs in the Mount Surf Shop and has a vast collection of classic surfboards. The co-owner, surfer businessman Dusty Waddell has the best and biggest collection of surfboards in Australasia. The shop museum shows the different eras of New Zealand surfing.

Mount Surf Shop and Museum

Omanawa Falls

The next stop was Omanawa falls. It was a bit hard to find since it was out in the middle of nowhere on yet another long and windy road. Since all of the roads here seem to be long and windy that made it even more difficult to locate. There's a tiny little sign posted at the start of the path but it was so small I drove right past it and had to make a u-turn. Even then I wasn't sure if I was in the right spot because there were no markings on the road or trail. I set out anyway and was finally greeted by my tour guide here in the picture below.



(Why do pigs keep following me wherever I go?) The falls were really pretty and just because this country seems to keep outdoing itself, there was a rainbow coming out of the water cascading into the Omanawa River. The experience was abruptly cut short by a mysterious locked steel door at the end of the path blocking entry down to the river (am I in a new episode of LOST?) That's as far as you can go and it was disappointing to go all that way and get so close to the falls and the beautiful rainbow and not be able to get near it. Maybe I should have clicked my hiking boots together and said, "there's no place like home" but I have two weeks left here and I'm not ready for this dream to be over yet.