Dec. 25, 2014. 5:30 a.m. start.
Off to New Zealand, with a detour in Hawaii for a week. We flew into Kona after making it to Honolulu and arrived around 9 p.m. that evening. Kona was more desert like than expected and fairly hot. Fortunately, Theva found a nice hotel right next to the start of the famous Hawaii Ironman Triathalon. When we walked out the back the next morning, they even had a bay to swim in.
Above is Zoe and I getting ready to snorkel in the harbor right behind our hotel. We also drove around in a Volvo convertible just to be stylish, plus that was the only car available.
Perhaps the most interesting part of Kona was the Volcanoes National Park, we saw smoke, but no lava.
I highly recommend the hiking. The Kilaeua Iki Crater is one of the best 1-2 hour hikes I’ve been on. You start on the volcanic crater rim, hike down several hundred feet and cross the mile or so crater before hiking back up a rain forest type trail. Also, you can sometimes find out what’s at the end of the rainbow, haha, just me.
Heading down to the shore, we ran into lava that had overrun the road. The outcropping over the sea was similarly entertaining.
After flying back to Honolulu, we did one more snorkeling excursion and checked out the big waves at North shore (not pictured). Soon thereafter, we took a night flight to NZ.
We left on the 30th and arrived in Dunedin, NZ on Jan. 1, missing New Year's eve due to crossing the dateline.
Next up, New Zealand.