Day 6 began with an early morning wake up call as we headed out for our Big Island tour. I wasn’t too happy being up at the crack of dawn, but I was excited to go island hopping for the day. Our shuttle picked us up at the hotel and we were dropped off at Honolulu Airport. After getting our passes sorted, we waited about an hour before getting called to the gates. The flight to Hilo would last 45 minutes.

When we got off the flight, I immediately noticed how different Hilo is from Honolulu. First of all, the airport was practically empty! It has a completely separate vibe altogether. There”s less people on the island, less stores, less touristy areas, and less roads not covered by lava. Hilo is much more relaxed than Honolulu, almost to the point where you’re wondering why people are moving so slow! Unfortunately for us, it was in that same slow-paced manner that we had to wait for the rest of our tour group to arrive on two later flights. =(

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Our tour guide, Sharon, was really good at keeping us entertained during the ride. On her way to pick up a couple from our tour group, we passed through a stretch near the eastern coast named Banyan Drive. Banyan Drive is known as Hilo”s Walk of Fame, because many of the banyan trees were planted by famous celebrities, including Babe Ruth, Cecil B. DeMille, Amelia Earhart and Richard Nixon. The bus later passed through Queen Lili’uokalani Gardens, which has one of the largest Edo-style Japanese gardens outside of Japan.

Our first real stop of the day was at Rainbow Falls in Wailuku River State Park. As the name suggests, the 80-foot waterfall is known for its rainbows, although we weren’t lucky enough to see any that day. After our stroll through the falls, we made a stop at the Mauna Loa factory. If you’re like me and refuse to buy ugly Hawaiian shirts as souvenir gifts, I recommend shopping at Mauna Loa because they sell these –

Macadamia nuts! We actually bought about two cases of macadamia nuts the day before at one of the ABC Stores back in Waikiki, so we already had more than enough to bring back home. The only good thing about stopping by the factory was all the free taste-testing we could try! We also took a self-guided factory tour while we were there, but there wasn”t anything to see through the windows as the machines were turned off.

Later we piled back onto the bus and drove off towards Kalapana. In 1990 when Mt. Kilauea erupted, lava flow destroyed most of the town. During our stopover for lunch, we were able to walk over part of the land that had been covered by lava. The lava also formed a new coastline. As we made our way near the coast, the hardened lava was replaced by a black sand beach. It was a pretty stunning sight.

Lunch was really nice too. The shop had a really great spot about 500m from where the edge of the lava flow ended. My love of fish has grown in Hawaii, especially after eating this grilled Ono. So yummy!

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After Kalapana it was off to the Volcanoes National Park. I must admit I wasn’t all that impressed seeing the volcanoes. I was expecting some spectacular display of lava to be spewing out from the top. However, I was told that apparently it would be quite dangerous. LOL.

Anyway, as we pulled into the Thomas A. Jaggar Museum, we didn’t see any lava coming from the top of Mt. Kilauea. However, from the Halema’uma’u Crater there was plenty of smoke billowing in the center. One thing I learned about the National Park – depending on which side you are in, some parts are luscious and green, while other parts are dry and barren. Steam vents were another discovery Sharon explained to us. As rainwater is warmed by the rocks in the ground, it rises up as condensation through fissures. These then become stream vents, or as Sharon called them, ‘facial spas’.

We went to another lookout point towards the end of the day where we saw people hiking towards the center of the crater. Then we made our way to the Thurston Lava Tube as our last stop in the park. Lave tubes are formed when lava travels beneath the surface and form tunnels when the rock below cools down. The Thurston Lava Tube is situated at the bottom of a tree fern forest, so it was like walking through a rainforest to get down to the entrance.

We stopped by Akatsuka Orchid Gardens before returning back to the airport. I was a little annoyed that we ended up on the last flight out of Hilo from everyone in our tour group. That meant we had to kill an hour and a half at the airport! (We were already there for an hour that morning!) There was absolutely nothing to do at the airport, so we ended up grabbing a bite to eat at the only restaurant that was opened. Afterwards, we had to go through the toughest security checkpoint for an International Airport – all of six airport staff! LOL. The airport felt more like a large hotel lobby (furnished with hideous sofas) than it did an airport!

The flight back wasn’t bad, but I was really tired by the time we landed, since it was a long day. We had to wait for our free shuttle to take us back to Waikiki. The company that arranged our shuttle was called Reliable Shuttle. Towards the end of the night, everyone ended up calling it ‘Unreliable Shuttle’ because they made us wait 45 minutes to load up enough customers before they would take us back to Waikiki. When we finally got moving, there were actually too many customers, so I ended up having to squish in the back with three other people. I vote they change their name permanently!

When we got back to Waikiki we were a famished, so we went to the quickest and most convenient place to eat – ramen-ya. There’s almost as many locations in Waikiki as there are ABC Stores! It was a great late night snack.

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The next day was our flight back home. We finished packing our suitcases and took one last trip to the beach. Then we went and explored Kalakaua Avenue. There’s some great hotels along the stretch, as well as the Fort Derussy military reserve towards on end. As we got to Ala Moana Boulevard, we stopped for lunch at Todai. Then for good measure, we went karaoke again. Hehehe. How I miss that karaoke place!

Our shuttle came to pick us up around 5 p.m. and we headed off to the airport. It was pretty early when we got there so we had lots of time to spare. However, we soon found out that Honolulu Airport is pretty lousy. Half of the shops inside were closed!! There was only one restaurant open within a 10-minute walk towards our gate, so we grabbed something to eat before we boarded. I took a great shot of the empty airport right before we got to our gate, so this will stand as my last memory of Hawaii.

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I’m glad I can finally wrap up my Hawaii travels. We had a great week there and I really enjoyed being on the beach taking in some sunshine (although my tan has long faded). I don”t think I’ll ever forget the sunset to mark my 25th birthday. It was too beautiful for words! I hope my macademia nut supply will last, or else I just might have to fly back and replenish my stash!