The Coffee Farm

In the morning Monica took us on on extended farm tour, picking a variety of exotic fruits as we went.  My problem is remembering the names of everything, most unfamiliar to me!  The farm had been a rodeo ranch when they purchased it 10 years ago, with the rodeo ring in front of our unit. We met the 4 farm dogs - rambunctious, but very friendly - 4 goats and a large flock of chickens and roosters.  We also toured Monica's green house and work room, and she gave us directions to several of the more interesting beaches, telling us to ignore the no trespassing signs posted.

The rodeo ring from our deck

Various flowers and fruits from the farm for our use

A remnant of the cattle ranch

Bird of Paradise 

Monica picking and dethorning a dragon fruit - its a cactus fruit - very prickly!

Coffee cherries on a Tree

And Chickens

After lunch we took the very narrow, twisty road down to Milolii and the town beach park.  Monica mentioned the town is what old Hawaii was like - she grew up on the big island.  Most beaches aren't sand here - they're broken up lava rocks (the flows took place in 1851 and 1926 just sparing the town) with a few hand's full of sand scattered between the rocks.  Shells, where there are any, are tucked among the rocks.  We walked about a mile before turning back.  We've dealt with sand burrs in the Bahamas, but the sticker bushes that border the beaches and are in the jungle here are much worse, with multiple long, very sharp thorns that easily pierce our Crocs.

Homoalino Bay and the black sand beach in the distance

 A lava arch - arches or caverns are present in many places in the lava flows and can give out without warning

Lava Flows down the mountain - darker ones are more recent

Since the locals enjoy going to the beach much as we do, Saturday we decided to drive N to Kona rather than deal with crowds at the beaches.  Kona isn't that far away (35 miles), but the GPS indicated it would takeover an hour. The highway was a 2 lane squiggle, much with a 35 MPH speed limit, luckily we weren't in a rush.  We took an even slower road, down to and along the coast.

The topography is interesting on the island.  At sea level, a very flat coastal plain extends for some distance inland to where the cliffs quickly rise to 1500' or higher, making for some interesting  driving with lots of steep grades and hair pin turns to get down to sea level.  Given the pitch of may driveways and roads, it's obvious ice and snow aren't a problem here.  I suspect a fair number of the driveways require 4 wheel drive to get to the house.

We stopped at the 'Painted Church', San Benedict's Roman Catholic Church.  While the exterior was a simple white, the interior's awash in colors, painted by Father John Velge between 1899 and 1904 when he dedicated himself to create frescos from hell to the Temptation of Christ on the inside walls and ceiling.  It was well worth a visit, unfortunately our interior photos don't do it justice given the contrast of bright light from the windows and the dark interior.

St. Benedict's Painted Church

the alter and walls

The Ceiling

We also toured the National Park at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, or the Place of Refuge.  In ancient times, commoners were governed by the kapu system, a dizzying number of laws that resulted in death by club, strangulation, fire or spear.  If the crime was serious enough (stepping on the ali'i's, royality, shadow), the offender's whole family might be executed.  It was believed the gods would send tidal waves, lava flows, droughts, or earthquakes if crimes went unpunished, so communities tended not to tarry when announcing the verdict.  However, should the perpetrator reach an area of refuge, asylum would be granted after certain rituals mandated by the priest had been performed, allowing the transgressor safe return home.  However, reaching the place of refuge was no mean feat, given the rough lava shore since most would arrive by sea, and only the ali'i could land a canoe in Keone'ele Cove, a protected cove.

The site included a Great Wall, built in the 1500s, 1000' long, 12' high and 18' wide in most places, a replicas of a several buildings including a temple, mausoleum containing the bones of 23 chiefs, thought to contain supernatural power and ensuring the place of refuge would remain sacred and a work area where boats and nets were made and repaired.  Even today no swimming, sunbathing or picnicking are allowed on the site.

Carved statues

Replica of the Temple

A portion of the Great Wall

We took a 1 lane shore road toward Kona - an interesting experience.  In many places the shoulder consisted of a 2'-3' drop off with crumbling pavement, and a number of blind hills. Being a Saturday, we met more oncoming traffic than anticipated.  While there were a places to pull to the side to facilitate passing with care, some of the drivers drove like skiers heading for the slopes - don't get in their way!  Given the state of the road, most did adhere to the 20 MPH speed limit.

We stopped at the town of Captain Cook, and at the turn off checked out a trail - 2.5M with a 1500' change in elevation down to a monument.  We opted to skip the challenge although the number of parked cars indicated folks were hiking the trail.  Instead we went to the Donkey Balls factory in town where they make huge chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

Kona has the only Costco store (with gas station) on the island, where gas prices are about $.40 less/gallon ($2.86/gal) than elsewhere, and since we're members we filled the tank.  When we attempted to drive through Kona to find a place for lunch, traffic was at a standstill, and rather than sit in traffic, we returned to Costco for a quick (cheap) lunch.  After lunch, we drove down to a marina  N of town to look at boats, somehow, no matter where we are, if there's water, we are drawn to marinas to check out boats.

Kona may be charming, but from our short drive through after  checking out the marina, it appeared far more tourist oriented than Hilo, and make us glad we hadn't chosen a place in town.  Our 'outback' location looked all the more appealing upon our return.  Having 'done' Kona, we don't plan on returning or checking the famous beaches N along the coast.  We'll spend the rest of our stay exploring some of the more far flung parts on of this side of the island.