What is really astonishing about this place is the way the landscape can change within a matter of minutes and going right around the island really gives you a sense of how young this island is in geographical terms.
Upon touching down at Kona International Airport we picked up a Jeep Wrangler, who has served us well over the last five days, and after being hammered with ‘optional and additional’ charges by the rental company we ended up spending about double what we had accounted for.
We are both sick to death of hidden charges and undisclosed fees when you are booking something, or even the Hawaiians’ ‘fiendish hospitality’ doing what you think is a nice or appreciative gesture only to be told it actually costs $10 when you are walking away.
We are both glad, in a way, that we were able to get a taste of America, and it’s inhabitants, before hitting the main land so we know what to expect while on our road trip from coast to coast.
We stayed in a beautiful old hotel right on the ocean in Kailua and this was also the place we found out some douche in Luxembourg has been using our joint account information to purchase iTunes music.
Trying to contact our bank was a nightmare and after spending a total of five hours and $130 on phone credit for our travel sim mobile we eventually got through to someone to cancel our cards, challenge the transactions and have new cards sent to our respective addresses in Australia.
The sunsets, however, are completely worthwhile and different from the ones we are both accustomed to seeing over the horizon of the Indian Ocean, but we are still yet to see a rising sun over an ocean and we will have to wait until early next year to get an opportunity for that.
The last four days have been very chilled and a combination of sightseeing and driving on the wrong side of the road. We’ve made our way to the Captain Cook monument and a historic Hawaiian settlement harboring sea turtles in the grounds, stood atop an active volcano, trekked down into the stunning Waipi’o valley [and been blessed by a kind soul who gave us a ride back up the 25% gradient in his truck amongst a pile of rubbish] and become jaded about not being able to experience some of Hawaii’s most naturally beautiful sights because we don’t want to pay over $200.
Just over five days will have passed before we have to say goodbye to The Big Island, and as we write this we are in complete isolation in some really ‘rustic’ a-frame cabins at Hapuna bay and are going to be spending today and tomorrow doing a whole lot of nothing as we try to become infected by the Hawaiian way of life.
We have tried our hand at snorkeling and instead of coming away with awesome stories about how diverse and huge the fish were, we have both come back battered and bruised. Antoinette has a couple of bad cuts that stung like hell when James played doctor and because the best snorkeling sites are protected by rocks, natures security guard, they were really more effort than they were worth.
On a whole we have both been a little disappointed with the snorkeling and even though we have been told by numerous people it is ‘world class’ we can’t help but feel as though they regard their snorkeling hotspots the same way they view their baseball as a world series [it’s the best in the world because we don’t know any better.]
Hawaii is truly a complex paradox of paradises and if you have lots of money I can see why you would continue to come back time and time again, but for us the time has come to move on and take the next step towards Vancouver.
‘Till next time,
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