HAWAII - Average Day and *Ziplining In The Rain Forest on April 21st*

Hello everyone. So much for my so-called "daily" updates, I have found that a lot of the time I either don't have the time or the energy to sit down and concentrate on updating after my long and busy days.

As a quick overview, an average day for me in Hawaii (one in which we are not doing anything specific like going on some touristy excursion) I am up at 6am and usually in bed by 9 or 10. Unlike at home I wake up this early naturally and am completely ready to start my day; it must be the fresh ocean air or something....at home you couldn't pay me enough to actually be happy about getting up before noon.

Anyways, I found out that getting such and fresh and early start makes my days seem a lot longer (imagine that!!). Once the whole family is up and we've all eaten breakfast, the three of us often head over to the farmer's market that goes on Wednesday to Sunday every week. From there, we sometimes wander from store to store along Ali'i drive and grab some lunch at one of the many restaurants on the strip, or sometimes my mom and I will head into the ocean and go snorkeling for a few hours. Although my days are longer, they still go by fast so with shopping, snorkeling, eating, and wandering around town we are all usually ready to come back to the resort and relax in the hot tub and pool for a little while and then slide into bed.

Other days, we do special activities like the luau, or go on day trips to different places on the island like the volcano tour, going to the City of Refuge, or going to the Captain Cook Monument; unfortunately I forgot my camera at the resort when we visited the monument.
On Tuesday of last week, my mom, my Aunt Shirley and I went on a day trip north up the island to the coastal town of Hawi (pronounced Ha-vee) to go ziplining. We arrived just before 1pm and got suited up.

My mom, aunt, and I in our harnesses and helmets, ready to go!

This is one of the
6 wheel drive ex-army
vehicles that the tour
company uses to get people
up the mountain to where
the zips are.
(As well as my aunt's
boyfriend's finger at
the top of the picture)

We started on the smallest zipline, about 50ft across and 10ft above the rain forest floor. From there we did short hikes through a rain forest with lush underbrush and a soaring tree canopy between each of the next seven zips.
As well as ziplines that stretch across bigger and bigger gorges and waterfalls, there was also a hand-carved bridge over a small waterfall and a larger suspension bridge above a rushing river.

My mom crossing the
wobbly suspension bridge.

My aunt gliding over one of
the mid-size valleys on the sixth zip.

Here I am coming for a landing and just about to be slowed down by one of our two guides.

Our trip took four hours altogether including lunch and the drives into and out of the zipline site on the impossibly rough mountain roads, and it was another great experience!

HAWAII - *City of Refuge and Volcanoes National Park* April 18th and 20th

Oooh boy, this is going to be a big one. Hi guys, during the past few days we have been taking day trips and tours to various parts of the Big Island. Follow me very briefly through The City of Refuge on Sunday the 18th and then on to the wonders of the active volcanoes that we visited on Tuesday the 20th.

The City of Refuge (Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau)

Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park preserves the site where, up until the early 19th century, Hawaiians who broke a kapu, or one of the ancient laws against the gods could avoid an otherwise certain death by fleeing to this place of refuge. If they made it inside the walls of the city they could then be absolved by a priest and free to go. Defeated warriors and non-combatants could also find refuge here during times of battle.
The grounds just outside the great wall that encloses the pu’uhonua was home to several generations of powerful chiefs.

The beach, temples, and offerings in the City of Refuge. The man in the upper right corner is carving a replica of a tiki pole that had rotted over the years.

The winding road down to the park just about had me with my head between my knees for the whole ride, but I survived. When we arrived we walked through the Visitor Information building and then out into the park. Since there are no guided tours of the City of Refuge, we walked around on our own. We took followed the paths through the city walls and took pictures of the ocean and scenery, as well as the temples and tiki poles (as seen above). The whole place had an energy of ancientness about it, and it was a really cool way to spend a few hours.

We saw sea turtles and some kind of heron, along with the usual fish and other birds.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

The park encompasses 230,000 acres and ranges from sea level to the summit of the earth's most massive volcano, Mauna Loa at 13,677 feet. Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, offers insights on the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and gives visitors views of dramatic volcanic landscapes.
The Park includes barren lava flats and lush rain forests. Extensive caves formed by rivers of lava only 300-500 years ago stretch under forests of hearty palm and ohi'a trees.

This is the current active lava vent within the main crater Halema`ma`u, at the summit of Kilauea mountain. Kilauea hasn't erupted since 1982, and this secondary crater was formed in 2008 when the magma chamber underneath the area emptied enough to cause the ground above it to drop, causing a crater called a caldera.
We didn't see any flowing lava but we did see many steam plumes coming from both the main vent as well as other cracks in the lava crust throughout the park.

Fumes emitted along with the steam from the majority of the smaller vents include sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide. The sulphur particles from the steam are deposited on the rocks outside of these vents and form feathery crystals of pure sulphur.











....................................................................................................................
Within the park there are vast climate differences. During our tour we went from lava flats with sparse vegetation to moist, extravagant rain forests.

While in the rain forest, our guide took us into a lava cave that was 334 meters long. The diameter was about two and a half meters and the deeper we got, of course thew less light there was. We each had our own small flashlights but they really didn't do all that much to illuminate our surroundings. Fortunately, our guide had one of those huge, one million candle-power flash lights to help light our way through this awesome cave.


These are the roots of the ohi'a tree growing through the roof of the lava tube. This tree can grow its roots straight through the solid lava rock, and flourish both in the rain forest and on the desolate-looking lava flats.




The entire day of hiking around the park, up the slopes of Kilauea and back down, through the rain forest and lava tubes and over shadeless flats took seven hours altogether. The day was long and all of our faces got pretty sunburned from climbing the mountain (Except for our guide's, of course...) but it was all entirely worth it. Seeing the active vent and craters from past eruptions was an incredible experience.

HAWAII Photos!! Days 4-6 *Special* LUAU Photos

Hello again from the big island, and here are some more photos of the lovely scenery and such :)

The sunsets over the ocean are amazing, and show off
awesome colours almost every night...

The island of Hawaii is mostly made up of lava rock, since the island itself was created by two large volcanoes, one of which is even currently active right now. The boulders seen along the coast are large and sharp, and there are some with interesting designs caused by air bubbles in the cooling lava hundreds of years
ago....like these ones!

The biggest cruise ship EVER: A couple of days ago, a ship that could probably fit our home town's entire population (plus) on it, stopped for the day just outside of Kona. Many cruise ships stop here, but this one was bigger than normal. By a lot.




The one with the starting-to-turn-orange fruit on it is a papaya tree; they are as common here as pine trees are at home. They grow wild all over the place along with tons of other tropical fruit trees.

As well as fruit trees, the wild flowers that grow here are incredible. Sometimes there are four or five different colours of flowers growing from the same plant.


And now for the moment we've all been waiting for..... (and that my camera wasn't ever ready for)
THE LUAU
Authentic, pit-roasted pig complete with fire and hula dancers. Oh, and very drool-worthy Hawaiian guys.

The pit (called an imu) that the pig (or puu puu) is roasted in.

The dancers preformed lots of beautiful, facinating, and diverse shows.

Oh yeah...Did I mention the gorgeous male performers? Maybe I did, but they're worth a second glance. And a third....

HAWAII Photos!! Days 1-3

Hello Everyone!! I made it to Kona, Hawaii and I'm just loving it here....I might just not come home ;)
Here is the beginning of my photo blog, starting from the air and going to my first real walk around Kona.


We left the Vancouver Airport just after 6am, and the sun was just rising over coastal mountain ranges in western Washington.
The tops of the mountains glowed in vivid pinks and oranges; unfortunately this picture doesn't even come close...but at least you get a bit of an idea.





After a short flight from Vancouver, we arrived in San Fransisco to wait out an eight hour layover.
It was cold and rainy there (although it doesn't really look it in this picture) and since we didn't bring warm jackets, we decided to hang around the airport until our connecting flight arrived.

The most interesting things to see in the airport, other than the people, were the BART trains that ran between terminal buildings. They look pretty old-fashioned and are cuter than your average sky-train.








We finally arrived in Kona, Hawaii, around 9:30pm (1:30am Sparwood time) after another five hours on a plane. After our long day of traveling, all any of us were ready to do was sleep.

Here is the view of our resort from the lanai (Hawaiian for balcony) of our third floor suite.








The palms directly in from of our balcony are home to many small geckos





On our first full day out on the town, we walked 2.5 to 3 kilometers along the sea wall from our resort to downtown Kona.

One of the smaller banyan trees along Alii Drive, which is main street in Kona. Yes...this is a small one, in comparison to some of the other banyan trees around here.










This is the largest and heartiest banyan tree on Alii Drive. In 1971, a hurricane ripped this tree's trunk into pieces, and has since grown back together into a mesh-like wall between the three main trunks (as seen in the next photos)

The ocean here is beautiful; the water is so clear and blue, it looks like something out of a tropical travel brochure, which I guess it is. As well, the fish and other underwater life is very brightly coloured, it's amazing to see!! We bought a cheap underwater film camera, but unfortunately there is no way to scan the developed photos onto the computer.

Key Question 04/08/10

Why do you think people are so obsessed with celebrities? Do you follow Hollywood gossip? Why/why not?!

There are many theories pertaining to this subject, almost as many as the different stories when (insert scandal of choice here) happened.

Perhaps people are so obsessed with celebrities because they are trying to compensate for feelings of unfulfillment in their own lives; that is why more popular celebrities are those who have never really achieved anything great or did anything useful in their lives except maybe pump out a couple of over-dramatized TV shows or flash a little you-know-what while getting out of a car. Our society has grown so shallow that the latest Hollywood scandal of so-and-so getting a DUI or what's-his-name cheating on his wife is all most people want to hear about.
Forget about the people who really make/made a difference in the world by fighting for rights and liberties of people or cultures that really need it, or standing against animal cruelty, or aiding the wounded, or...you get the idea. Yeah sure, ask anyone and they'll tell you that folks who do those things are great people, but tell them that Miss Lohan is in rehab or Miley Cyrus took naughty photos of herself, and they'll gobble it up like it's their last meal.
Could it be that people are so obsessed with these so called "scandals" because they are things that they, Jane/John Q. Public, have done themselves? About 44% of Americans admit to cheating on their significant other, most people have taken or thought about taking naked pictures, and there's always the friend of a friend who's in rehab. Oh and don't forget all of those sexual fantasies, whether realized or kept secret. When a celebrity gets caught cheating on their partner, do normal people pay so much attention to it because, hey, their wife never found out but Tiger Woods' did!

I don't follow Hollywood gossip if I can help it, but it's nearly impossible to avoid hearing it anyways. Simply because people seem to thrive off of the publicized embarrassment of celebrities, you can't help knowing about the latest. Even opening the Internet or a newspaper, there's a good chance you'll catch the latest on Mr. Big Celebrity. So unless you're pushing up daisies or live in a cave in the mountains with no outside contact whatsoever, somehow celeb. gossip always finds its way to you.

P.S. (Bonus Bias News)

Bias In The News: Billy Mays

I finished the draft for this post on Mic. Word on my Mac account at school. For some reason I didn't publish it to my blog, and can't access said account, but I will get the bonus published asap when I get back to school.

Key Question 04/01/10

Why does the media focus on negative and destructive information? How does this affect our view of the world?

The negative focus of the media affects our world view by exposing people only to destruction and fear, and by keeping this negativity dominant in people's minds from almost constant airing on TV, in newspapers, on the radio, etc. We turn on the TV in the morning and see a couple of explosions in the Middle East, coverage of a local rape/murder trial, maybe some footage of children fighting over food and wasting away in Haiti, but why aren't we ever shown the more positive sides of these disasters? Is it because positive news doesn't have enough shock value? If they showed Red-Cross volunteers in Somalia or children going to school in Iraq, perhaps people wouldn't be as interested; the more shocking and disturbing the information, the more people will view it.

By creating this mass focus on negativity, the content of the media can cause depression or sadness, or even just an overall dark cloud over most people's lives, whether they are fully aware of it or not. Either way, this constant exposure is bad for both the mental and physical health of the population. Plus, the more people see sadness and negativity, the more they think about it; the more they think about it, the easier it is for it to prevail.