The Big Island - Day 1

Day 1

1. We drove around the town.  We started with a much needed trip to Walmart to save ourselves from the rain.  Bought nice ponchos – cost just $1.00 each.

2. We then headed to World’s most amazing Botanical garden.  We saw some amazing varieties of palms/orchids/ginger and much more.  The garden overlooks the ocean and the hike offers some breathtaking views of the Onomea Bay.  We then saw the Onomea and UmaUma falls.

3. Post the Botanical gardens, we drove in heavy rain to see the Akaka falls and a “name forgotten” fall.  I am so bummed that I don’t remember the name of the second set of waterfalls.  It started pouring really hard and while we did hike to the falls, we had to leave our cameras in the car. .. so no pictures!

4. We then took the scenic route back to the hotel.  The 4 mile long scenic drive goes through a rainforest jungle of sorts, has waterfalls, and offers a Bay/Ocean view occasionally.  We stopped by the family owned “Whats Shaking” shop, also featured in our tour guide, for lunch.  It’s a small shack that offers the best Wraps and smoothies that you can ask for.  Everything is grown right in their backyard in the xx acre big farm.  I hung around in their beautiful farm for some time, posing for pictures near avocado and papaya trees, 

5. In the evening we drove around the Banyan Drive, which also has a couple of Indian Banyan trees.  Additionally, I was later told that people can plant their very own Banyan tree here and hence we have some trees from former Presidents, Baseball players, and some other well known people.  We also went to the World’s largest Japanese tea garden outside of Japan followed by a walk to the Coconut Island which is a nice picnic area.