Happy in Hilo...

Well, with the lost luggage saga now behind me, it is time at last to enjoy a couple of days holiday. I left the house bright and early this morning (dark and early, to be more exact) and walked down to Kona pier to catch the bus to the other side of the island. My cultural experience of the day was sitting on the seawall at 6 am, eating a taro pie and drinking my morning coffee while watching the fishermen bringing in their catch, seeing the sun rise, and chatting with a Hawaiian rancher who was waiting for his daily commute to Waimea. The bus arrived at 6.30, and daylight was just breaking as we set out on our trip.

It was a three hour bus ride to the other side of the island. For the first half of the trip, the road was bordered by dry fields of black volcanic lava, yellow grass and the occasional cactus. After we passed the ranch country of Waimea and had a toilet break in the historic old town of Honoka'a, we started our descent to the rainy side of the island, and the scenery changed completely, becoming lush green with lots more trees and tropical vegetation: coconut palms, giant ferns, elephant grass, mango, banana and papaya trees.

Click to enlarge photos

The bus trip gave me my first experience of being "too young." The three hour journey from Kona to Hilo cost the princely sum of two dollars, but if I had been 60 or over, it would have cost me only one dollar!! Most of the public transport here seems to be for the same price of $2 - whether you ride the bus or trolley for twenty minutes or for two hours.

Soon we were in Hilo, which is also a quaint looking old town. I was met at the bus by my hosts and taken to my accommodation. A German lady had also just arrived to stay for a couple of days, so we've been walking around town a bit this morning, and now in the afternoon we're going to jump on one of the local buses that drives all around the Hilo area for an hour or so. I'm beginning to feel as if I'm on holiday.