national park – Steffi & Gerry: Trip around the World

Place of Refuge

The Pu’uhonua o Hohaunau is a National Historical Park and once was a place of refuge for criminals (as for being sentenced to death because your shadow touched the chief’s house). Here, arriving after a dangerous journey through the water you got absolution of your crimes.

On the other side of the Great Wall (built of lava stone) there were royal grounds, nowadays reconstructed buildings and tools from the early Hawaiians.

Close to the National Park is a good place to see sea turtles and to snorkel… which we did, of course.

After dinner in Kailua-Kona we watched Manta Rays (reaching up to 7m in length) feeding small fishes, attracted by the hotel Sheraton’s light beams.

Volcanoes National Park

At time of booking the Volcanoes National Park would have been one of the very big highlights of our trip, as places with volcanic craters, a lava lake and active lava flows, while still being easily accessible, are hard to find elsewhere in the world (therefore this place is also called “drive-in volcano”).

Now, the park changed quite a bit between May and July 2018:

“Beginning in May, 2018, the lava lake that existed inside Halema‘uma‘u crater disappeared and lava flows from Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater have ceased. There is no molten lava or lava glow to see anywhere in or out of the park.”

A highly recommended movie about the events here:

https://www.nps.gov/havo/planyourvisit/lava2.htm

But on the positive side, the park had re-opened (after another closure due to government shutdown in January, just a few weeks before our visit). Even without molten lava the park was still worth a visit: the Kilauea Caldera is still impressive. The views on lava flows of the 70ies are also nice to see, and a hike over the Manua Ulu eruption(s) (1969 – 1974) on hardened lava structures is a very extraordinary experience.

Kilauea crater
Lava Love Mobile
Hardened lava
Lava lake (before 2018)
Walking on lava
Petroglyphs
Earthquake damages
Holei Sea Arch
Sulphur Banks

Mount Taranaki

After a rather boring ride towards Egmont National Park everything changed to the good. The impressive (and active) stratovolcano Mount Taranaki (2518m) – often hidden within clouds – got rid of his disguise.

Mount Taranaki’s last major eruption was 1854, some scientists say the next one is overdue. From the visitor center we started to hike on the Wilkies Pools loop and extended it to the Waingongoro Hut. You walk within a “Goblin Forest” and we understood why. A forest from a fairytale, indeed.

Another highlight was the one-person-only swing bridge over a deep canyon, offering a view on Mount Taranaki.

Swing Bridge
Mount Taranaki

Before returning to the campervan we also visited the Dawson Falls.

We spent the night in Stratford, where we enjoyed a “Glockenspiel” (play of bells, but they used the German expression, too) and a walk in the park.