So,  where did I leave off?

Ah right, I was sitting at the beach watching another sunset after a chaotic five days in Hawaii.

Now I am sitting in the Brisbane airport in Australia for my 12 hour layover and just ordered a short flat latte (no idea what that is). I figure this is a pretty good opportunity to finish up my Hawaii trip.

Let’s just continue on with the days, they get better and better.

Day 6:

I woke up at Spencer Beach with the waves crashing against the shore and a bit of moisture on my sleeping bag. I wasn’t completely sure of what I wanted to do but I packed up camp and headed back into Waimea. I went to a coffee shop and journaled for a bit and finally decided to head off to do a hike.

A lot of people told me to do the White Road hike if I had the chance (it was an old sugar plantation so I suppose it was fairly fitting) so I popped it into google maps and headed on my way. I drove to the end of White Road and was slightly confused because there were no signs and it looked to me like someone’s farm land considering there were horses across the fence. I asked two little kids if they knew of the hike and they told me to climb the fence and follow the road so I figured hey, why not trust two little 5 year olds and head off into someone’s land.

Okay, so they were right. I reached another fence and I figured I might as well climb over it as well. I hiked for about a mile in beautiful trees when I came to a truck blocking yet another fence. This time I decided I should maybe turn around since I was alone and had no idea what I was doing. I got all the way back to the beginning when I saw four other people on their way in. They asked if I wanted to join them so I turned around and headed back in.

They all did social work at a garden that served as a rehab facility for teens. We hiked about three miles in before getting a view of the backside of Waipio Valley which was incredible.

As we continued on we came to a tunnel over a valley that we climbed over before entering the tunnel to go through the mountains.

 

Coming out of the tunnel lead us to an incredible water chute that I used as a waterslide (no one else would give it a shot)  

We met a couple who are traveling the world for a year (notrichorretired.com) as well as a traveling nurse and her friend. We continued to explore the tunnels until one was so long and seemingly never-ending that we called a group huddle in which we all came to the conclusion that we were ‘those people’ in a horror film who you yell at to stop. Naturally we disregarded that thought and kept going until we came to a leak in the roof and finally turned around.

 
We hiked out and stopped by a brewery then I went with the second group of people to watch the sunset at Mauna Kea and do some stargazing (rated the #1 place). We literally ran up the hill to catch it just in time.

 

That night I stayed on the couch at the Hana they were staying in. Busy day, okay moving on.

Day 7:

We woke up early to catch the sunrise then the people I stayed with made oatmeal with fresh Hawaiian fruit.

I headed to the Hilo farmers market and got a fresh coconut.

 
I decided to go on a roadtrip for the day and ended up seeing some waterfalls, botanical gardens, volcanoes, and a black sand beach with sea turtles.

I headed to my couchsurfing  host’s house (he is a helicopter pilot and instructor from Switzerland), he was also hosting two other people (Sunny and Chuck). These three would later turn out to be one of the best parts of the trip. That night we went on a hike and spent the night learning all about each other.

Day 8:

I woke up in a bed. I’m fairly positive it was a glimpse of heaven. I had a text from Oliver (my host) saying he had made fresh bread. That morning we did a brew tour then I headed to Two-Steps where there were hundreds of dolphins playing near shore. I cannot believe people pay for that when you can literally just go do it yourself.

We stopped at a fruit stand on the way home where we were persuaded to buy basically everything. Man that guy was good at his job. I got this incredibly honey made with the state flower (Lehua?). Chuck made dinner for all of us that night and we headed to Humpy’s to hangout.

Day 9:

Just as we were about to get in my car to head out for the day an army of 15+ little cocroach things went crawling across the seat so yeah… Didn’t take my car.

We hopped into Chuck’s minivan rental and went to the southern most point of the U.S. It was sort of funny because we walked up to a group of people waiting for someone else to make the first jump and Chuck and I immediately got undressed and jumped off the  50 ft cliff. Shortly after others followed. The scary part was actually coming back up because you had to climb a sketchy ladder that was only being held by chains (the welded part was broken).

 
We then drove a couple of miles to the parking space for the green sand (olivine) beach. Locals offered us a ride for $15 each, both ways. We settled for the 6 mile hike instead (there was no way the minivan could drive in). Tons of jeeps passed by us and got us nice and dusty. We finally reached the not-so-green sand beach, which was still pretty awesome.

 
After swimming for quite awhile we were about to hike out when we met some other Montanans (Go Griz) who offered us a ride. We squished into the back of their jeep and had the bumpiest ride of our lives (so much fun)

 
We went back to Humpy’s for more food but Oliver hadn’t been wearing shoes so he bought his first pair of sandals ever and moments later rolled his ankle. Oops

Day 10:

Okay. You know how I said Oliver was a helicopter pilot? Well he offered to take me on a ride. It was breath-taking.

Of course, before we took off he noticed a screw was loose so we had to switch helicopters. We were in a two seater with the doors off and got to see hundreds of dolphins playing.

 
We went to a nice coffee shop later and his favorite place to get ice cream. As we talked he said something that stood out,

“A lot of people have life plans but I don’t like to plan. My plan is to enjoy life and whatever happens in life I will just take it as it comes. It always just works if you enjoy what is happening.”

That night we went to a Bonobo concert for free (just walked right in). No photos because we left our phones at home. We danced for hours in the front row. Such a cool experience.

Day 11:

I spent the day at the beach with Oliver learning Swiss-German and splashing turtles (shield frogs).

 
It was a relaxing final day before packing up to leave the country with a final dinner at a sand-floored restaurant.

So.. Now I am here in the airport after 22 hours of traveling waiting out my 12 hour layover before finally reaching New Zealand. The airport wifi is painfully slow and my photos won’t load so this should be interesting.

If you read that novel congrats for not falling asleep.