Hello Hilo!

The big island of Hawaii is smallest in years of existence. It’s also the smallest in terms of height. Nowhere is that more evident than the southern coast of the island, where lava is flowing through a subway tunnel-sized tube directly into the ocean, causing great plumes of steam but also new land to be formed. In the last 50 years, there have been eruptions on Hawaii, and its land mass has increased by acres. But within 6 months of a volcanic eruption, new life starts to grow from the porous, mineral rich lava. From the air, it’s possible to see the different levels of growth over different sections of land. The colour of the “soil” goes from black to red, the heights and types of trees and other growth markedly matures, and people’s homes range from huts on black, to shacks on brown, to houses on red. The main town of Hilo is the USA’s wettest, with more than 300 inches of rain (8+ metres) every year. All this water rushes over the plant canopy, and then gravity pulls it further along crevices to become waterfalls, streams and rivers, even though technically they are not rivers: there is not once source of water on the entire island other than rain. Homes catch rain for use, and individual septic fields deal with effluent. Without rain, this island would be a barren rock, added to with every eruption, but impossible for any kind of life.

It’s like stepping back millions of years wo watch land form, islands rise form the ocean, and then become continents. Hawaii has the tallest mountain in the world, taller than Mt. Everest, when measured from its source at the bottom of the ocean. Mt. Mauna Kea is approximately 33,000 feet tall. That’s almost 4,000 feet taller than Mount Everest! This might be interesting, but precarious for someone living there, but for a tourist, this is a very exciting way to see. Especially from above, with a competent and enthusiastic young helicopter pilot called Scott popping helicopter equivalent wheelies around and around the two craters of Mount Kilauea, a smaller, shield volcano. The larger crater is less interesting, as Scott tells us "it just smokes like my Uncle Gary", while the smaller one reveals heaving red and orange lava swirling around in thick molten bloops and plops. It is like looking into the maw of hell – compelling and beautiful though it also is. Impossible to witness any other way, flying above to see this boiling birth, and then the steaming exit into the ocean is one of the most fascinating and memorable views only we of the 21^st century are lucky enough to witness.

And I got my mom up in a helicopter above an active volcano!!!