Kualoa Ranch

Yesterday Amira and I woke up very early and went to watch the sunrise over the moks for her last day. It was beautiful.

Saturday: What a day! We drove across the island at the crack of dawn to be at the ranch at 9am. We signed up for four activities: Hike, Fish Pond, Horseback and a Jungle Excursion, each lasting a little over an hour.

We climbed aboard into a small little bus with no windows and the tour guide drove us up the mountain. We then "hiked" a very small distance up to a very nice view point... with a great view of everything in the area. As usual, the photos don't encompass the vastness of the view I experienced, but you could see a ton of things including "turtle island"... also known as the Kaneohae Marine Core Base Headquarters and the moks! Also from the hike (not seen in this picture) is “Chinaman’s Hat". It looks like a little Chinese hat sticking up out of the water. It is said that during low tide you can walk out to the island, but be careful: the area is a breeding ground for Hammerhead Sharks!

The tour guide told us an interesting story: Madame Pele sent her sister from Big Island to come and explore the other islands. As her sister made her way over O’ahu there was a giant lizard in her way and would not allow her to pass. In complete anger, the sister gathered up a lightning bolt and crashed it into the lizard, scattering the pieces onto the island below. If you look at the islands today, you are able to make out the head and neck of a lizard, the back which makes up a valley, and the tail which is "Chinaman’s Hat”. There you go.

On the way back and to the next activity (we had the same little tour guide), he pointed out some interesting plants. We were able to see a papaya tree: the fruits grow very close together at the tip-top of the tree. The state tree (?): grows these special nuts that if you can crack open has another nut inside of it. The outside nuts are edible (but act as a laxative), and the inside nuts are polished and made into nut lei necklaces and bracelets. The oil can be used for wicks because it helps them burn longer. The trees are actually called "Candlelight Trees". We also saw paradise bird plants, mango trees, African monkey trees, red ginger, apple banana, plumeria, and so much more. African Monkey trees are obviously not native to Hawaii, but were brought in to protect the military. Kualoa Ranch was taken over by the U.S. Military after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor: they took out farmland to replace it for military aircraft landing strips, they exchanged cattle and livestock for concrete "pillbox" watch towers, and they shut down control of the area. The Ranch struggled to survive after the war, and is still progressing and recovering. Throughout our adventure we were able to see some leftover pillboxes and landing strips.

The second activity was a Fish Pond. I know, it doesn't sound too exciting. But what if I told you I got to see the restaurant that 50 First Dates was filmed in? Or the submarine from LOST? We were supposed to be able to go to another cool viewing spot, but LOST was in filming. Too bad. The pond was over 125 acres and older than 800 years. (The ranch itself is 4,000 acres!!!). Tiny fish swim into the fresh/salt water pond and eat a ton of food, and become too large to swim out thus making a great fishing pond! There are many types of fish in the pond, including “tilapia” and barracuda fish, but the tilapia are basically garbage fish (or rubbish as they say in Hawai’i) and they tend not to eat the fish. We were able to see THE submarine they filmed in LOST... and a view of the pier used in 50 first dates. The guy that did our tour was actually in the first episode of lost.... he was the polar bear.

Third Activity was Horseback Riding. YES: MY MOTHER GOT ON A HORSE. And surprisingly, she actually enjoyed it! And I'm astonished, but she picked the activities and she enjoyed the entire day. Her horse's name was Koa: he was a fattie with short legs. As we were being placed onto the horses and being herded out the gate, mom's horse decided to turn around backwards. She was not very happy about that. Gary's horse was named "Saskatchewan", and my horse had a funny Hawai'ian name, but they called it Dog. So I was saying "good dog" all afternoon to a horse. I felt stupid. The trail was very easy and as you can see in the photo it was a nose to tail trip. Mom said "I felt like my horse was sniffing the other horses butt the whole time". On the way up the mountain we were able to stop and overlook the ocean, and we saw a Whale!!! I tried to take pictures, but it's difficult to do that and try to watch all while you're trying to control a horse. My horse didn't like me very much: the ranchers told me he was a very behaved horse and followed the rules, but oh no not with me. You're not supposed to allow your horses to eat from the trail.... well Dog did it four times. I did everything I was supposed to in order to stop him, but he didn't listen to me. I think he was ultimately just confused because his name was Dog. After we got off the horses, we were getting our picture taken and one of the horses came up and licked mom's boob. It was pretty funny. The horse had done something similar to Gary before we left (he just informed us of this now), so I'm assuming the ranchers keep treats or sugar in their front pocket for the horses.

The last adventure was a "Jungle Expedition". We loaded up into a 6-wheel drive jeep (i think) and drove through streams and up what looked like jagged cliff roads. We saw some "jungle scenes" where lost was filmed, wild boars (quite a lot actually), and this really neat plant that curled up if you touched it.

After the ranch, we drove south to Temple Valley. We were able to go see the Byodo-In Temple. It is a replica of a temple in Japan. The neatest thing about the temple was the fact that a wedding party was being photographed on the grounds. It was a perfect day and an absolutely gorgeous setting. I have some pictures of that, of course! It was a very spiritual and awe-inspiring place. (And of course, I got a post card. I think I get a post card of every place I go... I collect them sort of. Post Cards and Tshirts. <3 )

After the Temple we drove south and reached the eastern most tip of the island, and were able to see a "blow hole". The dragon's nose or "blow hole" effect is essentially ocean water pounding into the lava rock beach below and eventually eroding it up inside over time. This cannot be seen from the viewsteps above. What you can see are the waves violently crashing up into the rocks, and then a gush of "steam" being released like you would see escaping from a dragon's nostril. It is the spray being released from the rocky holes beneath. It was very interesting to watch. There were tons of locals that ignored the "access ramp closed" and were fishing in the mini-bay below.

I think that's all for now... I am probably going to upload pictures tomorrow or sometime, and eventually I will have time when I'm not too exhausted to go in and edit the captions on recent photos! This blog thing is pretty tiring.... I want to make sure I include everything!

Only a week left!!