Early start after yesterdays volcano watching. The aim was to circle as much of the Big Island as we could, using the Hawaii Belt Road to go past the South Point and round to Kona. Driving in such an open place is a little odd - I've got a 4WD with a 4.6 litre V8 engine and the thing is forced to trundle around at a speed limit obeying 45mph and 35mph. It seemed to be a waste of time and incredibly frustrating, especialy when presented with a four or five mile pice of road so straight it would mae the Roman army proud.
South Point wasn't all that much, a twelve mile drive down a one lane paved road to the most southerly point in the US. The Point itself is a good, if very windy fishing spot. The only real thing there is the remnants of landing platforms for the loads of fish brought by the boats. Remarkable, as the platforms and ladders must have been 100 feet high given the height of the cliffs and the climb down in the gusting winds would have been interesting to say the least.
We also passed a decrepit, abandoned wind farm. I'm trying to find ot more about the place, as it had a large number of wind turbines seemingly left to just rust. A couple would still turn lazily, others were missing entire vanes. When was it built? Why was it just abandoned? Why not just demolish it properly?
Onward to Kona. The Big Island has a split personality. The side where we were staying is the "wet" side", Kona is on the dry side. This is because the sheer bulk of Mauna Loa and the height of Mauna Kea prevent much of the clouds from crossing to Kona and dump their water on Hilo. So the western side of Big Island is much more touristy.
Before you get to Kona you do pass through coffee country. I don't drink the stuff, but the sheer gorgeous smell of the coffee accompanied us on the drive to a small place called The Painted Church. This is a wooden church set on a hill above the sea, built and decorated in the late 1800s by just one man. When I say "decorated", the priest painted some stunning murals inside, depicting various stories in the Bible - the most impressive of which was one of Jesus rejecting the Devil. As a sheer labour of love, combined with an impressive work of art, The Painted Church deserves a visit. Reminded me greatly of the similar Italian Chapel on Orkney which is another triumph of the human spirit in adversity.
By the time we got to Kona, it was clear it was a bit too much on the commercial side. The views were excellent and we drove by the resort past all the beachfront hotels. Reminded me of Waikiki but without the designer labels. Quite thankful we chose Volcano and not Kona as our base for the Big Island - I got the impression that in Hilo and Volcano, they just quietly go about their business of everyday life and hope that the tourists in Kona don't notice them.
One thing we did like was on the drive out of Kona, past the airport. The road is long, straight and through a valley of black lava, dotted with small white rocks. The side of the road has become a sort of text message alley, where people arrange the rocks to leave a message which may brighten a commuters day. Some are declarations of love, some wishes for happy birthday or anniversaries, some a memorial to a friend. There must be hundreds or thousands of individual messages along this stretch of road and it must be a cheerful drive through every day.
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