Week 54 - Last day of Fiji and on to USA, Hawaii

We left Fiji on Sunday morning. I originally was just going to title this post Hawaii and skip right to arrival, but our departure was so nice it's worth writing about. Our host needed a ride to town to join her husband at an event, so he took a couple of our bigger bags ahead. She helped us close up the house, then Parmesh, our driver, picked all of us up. We dropped off our host, picked up our bags, and continued to the airport. Total trip about half an hour. I love little airports and I don't think I got a picture of this one on the way in.

We all got weighed with our carry-on bags, then loaded up. Just as on the way, it was a fun flight because we could see all the little islands and reefs.

It was a different route than on the way too because instead of following the coastline of Fiji island we went straight across and flew over Koroyanito National Park which was interesting as well.

In under an hour, we were in Nadi. One of the things we all dislike about airport days is being stuck inside, but tropical airports aren't like that, so we had a nice lunch at an outdoor café. The kids ran around a bit, then we headed in for all the check-in stuff. There was a play area right by the gate, so more energy was burned.

We boarded around 5:00. The flight was about six hours — it was the kind with personal entertainment screens, so that was a treat for the kids — and J and I napped. Because of the international date line, we arrived in Honolulu at about 1:30 am Sunday morning, so we got to have Sunday, August 7 twice. Of all the years of my life, I'm glad this one got an extra day. S was disappointed that it didn't seem like home even though we're back in the US. I was having a hard time accepting how loud everyone is. I hadn't noticed it before being away for a year. Immigration and customs were fine, but we had a hard time finding our hotel shuttle bus and found ourselves waiting in a deserted parking lot, except for a homeless guy going through the trash can. I don't think the directions we got from the hotel were correct, but they eventually found us. The hotel is more expensive than the one in Nadi, but nowhere near as nice. It was ok, but we're remembering how much less we get for a dollar here. 

We slept in on our second Sunday morning, had snacks for breakfast, read and relaxed a bit, then ordered pizza for lunch and played in the pool.

Everyone was pretty tired from the long first Sunday, so it was good that we had more time  before we flew to the big island Monday morning. We had dinner at the Chinese place in the hotel and went to bed early.

Monday morning was pretty simple, just crackers, granola bars, and coffee in the hotel room, then off to the airport. It was just a short flight, but we sat on the runway awhile and were a bit late getting to Kona.

We were pretty hungry and found a great Mexican place for lunch. That's one cuisine we haven't found much outside the US. After lunch, we got groceries, then headed to our house, about an hour south. It's an off-grid cabin on a farm.

The host is friendly and helpful and has a daughter S's age. They played a little while we got instructions. The gas hot water heater is a little hard to regulate but other than that it's pretty comfortable. The kids are glad to have their own room again since they slept in the living room in Fiji. We pretty much just got settled and showered. No one was that hungry after our big, late lunch, so we just had sandwiches and crashed.

We're up in the mountains, so it gets cool at night and I slept better than I have in a long time. It's not built up down here at all, and only a little touristy. Tuesday was our getting settled and organized day. C had a zoom violin lesson, I had an NM board meeting, I did laundry, we all unpacked, explored the farm, and planned activities for the week. Our hosts were gone most of the day, but the kids got to play together in the evening and everyone had a good time.

By Wednesday we were ready to explore further. We had two Airbnb experiences, about an hour away from the house, but pretty close to each other. The first was a bird sanctuary for parrots who outlive their owners, which is pretty common. We really enjoyed meeting all the birds and hearing their stories, and it was in a beautiful spot.

We stayed for a little bit after the program and had our picnic lunch, then drove a short way to our next experience which was a coffee farm tour. We learned about growing, harvesting, and processing coffee, and then made some. Apparently, I've been making coffee all wrong all my life. It was delicious!

The kids got to feed ducks and sheep, so they enjoyed it too. 

Thursday was a busy school day. S did his lessons, then we went to Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. This is the site of the Hawaiian royal complex so we were able to learn a lot about the original culture. By the time we arrived we were ready for our picnic, which was a good place for watching seals.

By the time we were done with that, we were pretty hot. We'd planned to go to the adjacent beach, but we could see how packed it was and decided to find another one. We have a downloaded audio tour this time, which lets us know where to look for interesting places, but we (okay, I) had a little trouble getting it to work with maps. Part of the confusion is that every place has a Hawaiian name and an American name so it's easy to get mixed up. We went to the wrong beach, then had to backtrack a little, but all the views are pretty so that was okay. I'm glad we took the time to get to the right one. It was really pretty. The current was a little strong and it got deep fast, unlike our Fiji beach. I checked it out and then took S out with his boogie board. He liked it, but got intimidated after the first big wave and decided to play in the sand and shallows.

I went snorkeling which was interesting because it was very different from what I've seen before. I know there must be coral somewhere because there were pieces on the ocean floor, but I wasn't willing to go out super far looking for it. Instead, I snorkeled around the lava rocks which also had plenty of fish to see, and it was a new experience for me.

Friday was cool and cloudy. We took our time getting ready because S wanted to read several chapters and J and C did algebra. We went to a black sand beach where we saw green sea turtles.

The kids had fun using their NM water bottles as molds to make volcanoes.

After that we went to a playground for our picnic…

Then across the street to the southernmost bakery in the US for dessert.

Saturday we went to Volcanoes National Park. We started at the visitor's center.

Then we drove down crater trail to the sea arch where we had lunch.

Our next stop was steam vents, which the kids thought were cool, but we forgot the phones in the car. Finally, we went to see the eruption at Kilauea. We could actually see the molten lava in the distance.

You can't see it in the picture, it's supposed to be easier to see after it gets darker, but we were tired by then and didn't want to wait any longer. We were able to see small spurts of lava, and as it got darker there was definitely a glow around the molten pool. That was pretty interesting. We've seen a lot of volcanoes on this trip, but never an eruption before. It was a long day with a lot of walking, sometimes in hot sun, and other times in cool rain. The kids did really well. We stopped for an unremarkable dinner on the way back, just because it was late, and everyone pretty much just settled right down to bed.

We've had a pretty packed week, and next week looks pretty busy as well.