pawrrr: aloha from hawaii - day 9 on big island

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

We stayed for a night at the Hilo Seaside Hotel, instead of just taking a day tour and going back to Oahu, because of something off our 'To Do list' in Hawaii that was, of course undone.

checking out of our hotel

the porch, and the hotel cafe

and our TODO: see the island from a helicopter or in this case, a mini airplane! It was kinda rainy and foggy again, so we were pretty worried about not being able to do another of our must-sees because of the weather again.. [like the shark encounter.. sob]

We met our pilot, Anthony (i tink) in the office, and he started checking out the weather on the web.. I thought he was quite cute too huh.. Heehee, dressed in his pilot uniform and shorts. But the Co Pilot pb was even cuter!! haha.. must put that if not later get scolded for swooning over random guys I meet in Hawaii. So he was like, we can start out and do a weather check, if it's not good enough to continue over the mountains then we'll come back and you don't have to pay.

Haha, pretty good right.. even if the weather is bad we still get our chance to fly in a private plane! So we got in, put on our seatbelts and earphones! It got really noisy in the plane, and earphones are a must.. there's also a mic to communicate to each other, and you can hear him reporting the weather, the plane's location and direction every now and then.. really cool. So we flew...

I look damn frumpy here

these are the macadamia nut plantations we were at yday, the taller trees shield the macadamia nut trees from the harsh winds.

Where lava has destroyed the lands

interesting how little dots of vegetation can still survive after being surrounded with lava

the brown parts are ash, from burnt vegetation

looks like they're building something here.. the roads are laid out. Cute right. Oh, by this time he had deemed the weather good enough to continue! YAY!

We reached the active region of the volcano!! See the lava flows.. it goes into the sea and heats it up! This is somewhere near where we went the previous day, just that we didn't have the time to hike here. We were freaking lucky with the weather in fact, cos as we reached here the fog kinda went off a little, enough for us to see.. And yet it is easier to see the lava flows when it is a little darker! Lots of people do hike there, and in the airplane company's office, there was even one of those whisks you use for baking, covered with hardened lava. Interesting right? Can you imagine bringing a whisk to watch lava just to kinda collect it and wait for it to solidify.. Hoho.

These were a little more inland, nearer to the peak of the volcano.

There were lots more photos but about 80% of them suck cos eh, moving on a plane can? Soon we were on our way back and we passed by the falls before reaching the airport again.

It looks pretty short here, but it was an awesome flight. Really enjoyed myself. Anthony not only drove the plane, but he also explained the different areas to us.. and because it is a flight, you get to travel so fast and see so many things in just an hour! Also get to listen to the kind of things they have to report.. haha.. cool.

I felt really awkward about leaving him a tip cos, eh he is a pilot leh! It's like such a respectable job but you still gotta tip him? Feels weird right? So cannot tip too little.. But really appreciated his hospitality, he made it really relaxing and enjoyable.

So after the short flight, we took a cab to the airport [which was just beside the airplane place] to wait for our flight back to Oahu.. We had our breakfast. I was feeling damn broke so I bought some weird sushi thing with fried chicken on top. Pb had his favourite pancakes..