Road trip, January 2007

Earlier this month a friend and I went on a road trip around the south and central cost of New South Wales, Australia. I had meant to post these pictures at the time, but didn't get around to it. So, here they are now.

The first four pics are from the Cambewarra Lookout (I think the town off in the distance in the valley is Nowra), and the fifth is from the marina at Nelson Bay.

Driving around Oahu, Hawaii

Here are my pics from the drive around O'ahu. Click on each picture for a larger version.

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden: Orchid Garden

Here are my pictures from the Orchid Garden in the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. Click on each picture for a larger version.

Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden

Today we visited the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. Click on each picture for a larger version.

Driving around Big Island, Hawaii

This morning we visited the Volcano Winery, near Volcano Village. There have an nice selection of interesting wines which can be sampled on-site, or viewed on their website. They are a boutique winery and do not distribute to the mainland, although they can ship directly to some U.S. states.


Later in the day, we went for a drive around the island. Here are some pics from the drive.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

The name Hawai'i is commonly used to refer to the State of Hawaii, however, it is actually the name of the the largest of the Hawaiian islands. To avoid confusion, the Island of Hawai'i is often just called Big Island.

Big Island is built from five separate shield volcanoes. These are (from oldest to youngest): Kohala (extinct), Mauna Kea (dormant), Hualālai (dormant), Mauna Loa (active), and Kīlauea (active).

Today Peter and I visited the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on Big Island. The two active volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Kīlauea, are part of this National Park. Click on the photos below for a larger version.

I don't know what this flower is,
but it looks similar to an Australian Bottlebrush.


A pretty birdie.


Here's some Hawaiian bush land. Also reminds me of Australia.


Kīlauea Iki Crater.


Volcanic steam vents.


Halem'auma'u Crater.


Thurston Lava Tube.
From the entrance looking back out to the rainforest.


Lava.


Lava on the road.
This road used to continue around the island,
but the lava had other ideas and put a stop to that.


More lava.


There were lots of signs like this around the island.
There appear to have been several big eruptions in the past few decades.


Mr and Mrs Cookie also had a nice day at the National Park.
Here they are relaxing on some lava.


Petroglyphs carved into the lava.


Holei Sea Arch.


Lava flowing into the sea.


This is the hire car. And that's Peter in the front seat
wearing the much-loved swiss flag t-shirt
he acquired during our holiday in Switzerland.


And here's the view out the back of our accommodation. Very tropical!