Not for the Weak-Spirited

I gotta hand it to the girls today: they're troopers! We did stuff today that would be pretty much considered fairly full-on... and they pulled through like champions.

Today was not a slack day.

We decided -- I should say, I suggested -- that we go for a drive to Na`alehu.
"Where's that?"
"Oh, a bit south of here ... rememober that sign that indicated Kailua-Kona when we were up at Volcano?"
"Yep?"
"Yeah, so it's on that road."

We set out betimes, heading south on Mamalahoa Hwy and then got on 11. It's all windy (as in: tortuous) and 35 mph for ages, well past Ho`okena, even.

[Side Note}: BTW, those [ ` ] thingies that punctuate Hawai`ian words are called and function as glottal stops. So Ho`okena is pronounced "Ho - O - Ken - Ah".
Hawai`ian vowels? you go: "Ah" - "Eh" (as in 'meh') "Ee" (as in 'eek') "O" and "Oo" (as in 'oops'). Now, I'm trying to think of an Aussie or Yank word that uses the "o" like the Hawai`ian "o"... and failing. It's not "oh" or "ho"... it's "o".
I'll have to get back to you on that.

So, anyway, back to the drive: the road finally straightened out and we were able to tear recklessly along at 45 mph. Yay. As we drove along, the trees and other vegetation thinned out, and we started to see patches of barren lava and the odd mac-nut orchard here and there with trees looking a bit worse for wear. I'm guessing drought, and hoping not some parasitic blight.
After a long stretch of no-mo nahtheeng, we happened upon a little shopping thingie in the middle of nowhere and picked up some nibblies there, all the while musing: "you don't wanna be running out of milk out here!"

The vegetation slowly returned, and the surroundings were beautiful in a Kamuela (windy, evergreens, cool dry air) sort-of way.
And there it was: the South Point turnoff, which on a whim, we followed. Mmmkay, I'm driving so I followed. The road got narrower and seemed interminably long, and I wasn't remembering ANY of it at all. We finally got to this road-end point that looked positively apocalyptic (cement slabs of former building, wind and dust everywhere, a scene out of Mad Max) and this shirtless local marketed the concept of a ride to Green Sand Beach in his ute to us through the window. Perfect pidgin, perfectly amiable, reasonably priced ($15 PP round trip).

He said it was a 3-hour hike to the beach. Now, in the back of my mind I thought: "I don't remember walking for three hours back in the day" -- small-kid-time -- but then, I couldn't remember the Mad Max locale either, so the road must have been a different one to before.
Quick think, "um, sure. Okay."

Remember, Nanny's on Bactrim for her injured arm, so she's meant to avoid the sun. I checked with her: nope, she's good to go. Whilst there were a few sparse clouds, mostly it was sunny -- think: outback with no shade and lots of dust -- and very windy and fairly warm. Okay, hot, even.

The girls got in the ute -- it was one of those pick-up trucks with a cramped passenger seat section -- and I perched on a big, yellow eskie on the back looking down some young people from Northern Italy, and we were off. The road quickly degraded to an unsealed, deeply rutted track, but, as it turned out, this was the smooth-sailing bit.
When we got down to the water's edge, the road -- okay, track -- sort-of went through a lava field. The ute climbed through this like a faithful burro and on it went, up steep embankments, down rocky rubble that only loosely resembled a road, raising more dust and dashing any hope that this was going to be a quick trip.

It wasn't.

Along the way, we picked up the driver's son, who was as amiable as his dad. We had a chat about surfing -- he had his boogie-board with him, and was waxing it as we talked -- and about working as a ranch-hand pounding the fence-posts (metal) through blue rock. I reckoned he deserved a day off: putting up those fences looked like massively miserable work.

After what seemed like ages of bone-jarring, nerve-shredding bouncing over inhospitable terrain, we arrived. And as the girls got out of the ute to have a look, I wryly wondered: "was this worth the ordeal they just went through?"

So, it has been 40+ years since I've seen this beach last: I was astonished at the erosion. The beach was waaaaay down there!! Indeed, I left my rubbah sleepah up with Julia and proceeded down the cliff barefooted, like the locals.
Was it worth it?

View from the bottom

Well, let me ask this: does this sand look green to you?

Green? Um, sort-of. Which is Kind-Of, But-Not-Really.

I think it was worth the climb down, myself. How far down?

Way down! I was really puffed when I climbed back out -- it is SO time I got back into shape, you know?

Anyway, in my heart of hearts I can't unequivocally and firmly assert that the ordeal was worth it, but hey, we did it! And Paul even showed the girls "how fo' make da kine shaka, lah dat!"

This was easily the hardest thing we undertook, this trek to South Point's Green Sand Beach -- the hike around the Akaka Falls track was a walk in the park. Which, I guess, it sort-of was, anyway. :-/

Exhausted, we climbed back in the car and headed back up the hill to Na`alehu. Full of good vibes about "da shaka" we stopped at an eatery with that name and were underwhelmed for the first time since we've been here. Big Jakes in Holualoa was awesome, the Kalua Pork plate in Hawi was amazing, even the food at the little mom-n-pop Asian Fusion takeaway in Kea`au was so ono, but this was a bit meh. I had the laulau pork/fish and Julia the Kalua pork plate... Nanny fared the best, since all she had was water, since she wasn't quite herself yet after that ordeal.

We stopped in Punalu`u.

Image should be clickable for larger view

This place has great significance to Martin, Bonnie and me. This is the location we learned about observing the non-apparent from the local boys who hung out there.
Of all the places I've been to, this has changed the least.
A short video:

The girls deserved rewards for their intrepid fortitude, so we went shopping in Hilo -- it was actually about the same time-distance and less curves (as compared to returning to Kona the way we came) going on up to Volcano (closed), past Namakani-Paio (closed) through Mt View, Kurtistown and Kea`au... then after some amazing shopping -- we ALL did well! -- we headed up the Saddle Road, one of the few roads on the Big Island where you really struggle to stay at 55 mph, because you so could go faster, it's such a good road.

They're in bed now, and I think I will head there too, now. We came into Holualoa with the rain pelting down, but by the time we got to the place we're staying, it had subsided long enough for us all to get into the house. I like to call it "got in between bounces"... it did start up again pretty hard.

All in all, a BIG day!