December 5: Lava and things around Hilo

After all the rain, and with the forecast still threatening more, we decided we were ready for the nut house.  Macadamias, of course!

Here's the edge of the macadamia orchard:

After stocking up on nuts, we headed south to check out some lava trees, formations that occur when flowing lava runs up a tree and then the tree catches fire and burns out, leaving an upright tube of stone:

We then started meandering further south, without a real plan in mind but to see what there was to see along a couple of scenic roads:

We stopped at this park and had a look at the lava beach.  There were surfers but you can't see them in the photo.

Then we drove west ...

We came to this insanely beautiful spot along the road, stopped and took some photos, and I'll restrain myself and only post a couple:

Then we came to a spot near Kalapana where a lava flow back in 1990 formed a lot of new land on the coast:

In the upper left hand corner of the photo below you can see steam from where lava is currently flowing into the ocean, over near the National Park:

Some of the locals over the years have been planting coconut palms in the lava field near the coast, here are some of them growing:

On the drive back into Hilo, we stopped at the Zoo which was about to close for the day.  Here's one of the pathways:

This is as close as I got to any animals ...

Back in Hilo, we went for a walk and saw this huge cruise ship on its way back out to sea.

We walked over the bridge to Coconut Island in Hilo, here I am standing by a tree showing the height of some of the tsunamis over the years:

Just a picture of a restaurant across an inlet from our hotel as we went back in at dusk:

Coming up next, Volcanoes National Park ...