Sunset in Hawai'i

We took a break in our flight across the Pacific back to Australia in Hawai'i. We flew into Honolulu, getting a nice view of Pearl Harbor, and then flew on towards the island of Hawai'i (usually called the Big Island so as to not confuse it with Hawai'i the State name).

Driving from the airport to our resort stay at the Waikola beach I was struck by how much the island looked like the Galapagos Islands. With a similar geology (island chain formation due to continential drift over a volcanic hotspot) I guess it should not have been surprising, but still I had not expected to see a lava desert spreading across the island, with thick glassy black rock and a few tufts of grass. Along the road people had made "Hawaiian graffitti" by writing things in white rocks against the black background - we asked the Taxi driver where they got the white rocks from, and he said there were a few gathered up along the beach, but mostly people just bought them from WallMart.

We ended the evening with a long walk along the beach, watching sunset over the water together.