16 July 2006 Water world

Hilo side of Big Island is to wet as Kona side is to parched. This is waterfall country and many of the cascades are just down the road from our B&B.

We have breakfast this morning with two grannies. Charlotte, our host, and Winifred, Nathan's forgetful grandma. It's hard to concentrate on her traveller's tales when she keeps forgetting where she's been to that Nathan outdid some ukelele player or which hotel it was that he impressed an audience with his piano-playing. Nathan sounds like a child prodigy - he's set on being a jazz musician and already plays with a band. And he's made money on the stock market. So talented!

We are out of the house by 9am. Wai'ale Falls is our first stop. We pull up the car across the road and find a break in the shrubbery that becomes a trail to the top of the waterfall. The path is slippery and mossy, and it doesn't help that it veers upslope. At times, even with a trekking pole, we are grabbing branches to haul ourselves up. But once we are at the top, there are lovely pools of clear burbling water to dunk our feet into. But wet rocks are slippery, so it's tough crossing over them to go to the next pool. The sky is overcast and the water is cold. What are we doing here? Geocaching, of course. We enjoy having the spot to ourselves, but not for long... A scantily-clad woman and a man in shorts emerge from the jungle. On their feet, just sandals. We look over-dressed in our geocaching fatigues! Yet, they manage to clamber over rocks without much of a struggle. I think we are kiasi, me more so than HB. We get close to Ground Zero. HB crosses water and up a slope into the bushes to look for the cache. I watch our stuff. Nearby, the woman has doffed her top to reveal bikinis and the man is snapping at her as she poses with water as backdrop. A gunshot goes off in the distance and I holler for HB to get out - she might get mistaken for wild pig. You can't see her, only rustling tall grass. She persists, but eventually gives up. (On hindsight, after studying the picture above, we realise the cache may have been just below where she is standing!) Along the road, some people have set up a memorial to someone who died here. From their graffiti on the railings, it sounds like he committed suicide.

Next waterfall, Rainbow Falls. This is a popular tourist stop, although there are more warnings about keeping valuables in car out of sight. The cache terrain here is rate 2-1/2 stars, like the Wai'ale one. But this one is actually easy-peasy. We walk through a banyan grove and up a well-beaten path to the top of the falls. We find the cache easily enough and head back to the water's edge. The pool is larger here. The sun is out and blazing. But after dipping my toe in the water, no way am I lowering the rest of my body. The water's icy cold. We watch for a while as fish nibble on HB's feet. She borrows my reef shoes and swims. A mum, daughter and son join us. Then two teens get into the water, climb over the rocks and dive straight into the pond behind! Brrrrr.

We make a quick stop at the B&B to pick up HB's digicam battery, which left behind, and then check out Boiling Pots and Pe'epe'e Falls (not pronounced pee-pee).
It's not possible to swim here as there's no way to get to the banks of the river and there are lots of warning signs about drownings.
We leave quickly and drive up what is actually the first part of Saddle Road to Kaumana Caves. This is actually a lava tube. At the carpark, we rummage about a mosquito-infested tree to hunt a cache. Once we find it, we inspect the "cave". Looks mozzie-ridden too, so I'm reluctant to go down the steps. HB goes down and as I wait for her, a guy and girl pour out of a car. They call to another chap whom I thought was a vagrant sleeping on a bench. They've come from the end of the lava tube, she says. It's a 3-mile walk and they hitched a ride to get back here. It is totally dark in the tube and all the girl has on her feet are flip-flops. Crazy!

Lonely Planet lets us down in our search for lunch. It doesn't indicate operating hours of eateries listed. We go to one in a small shopping centre, only to find a cafe open. All other shops are closed. It's a Sunday. Better restaurants are shut. So are shops. We drive around town and decide to go to budget option Nori's Saimin & Snacks. It's open. The food is cheap (under US$10) and the portions are huge. Saimin noodles are like instant noodles. We also order Korean BBQ beef - the slab of meat is so chor-lor!

Then we go shopping - finally! We pick up some gaudy aloha shirts for the folks back home and get FOUR free mugs each. How we are going to pack them in our suitcases will be a headache. We have coffee at Borders, where I overhear a woman complaining to staff about lousy coffee. We're in a bookshop cafe, for heaven's sake! We shop some more at Wal-Mart and then rush to church. It's packed with Filipinos - even the priest is Filipino, just moved from the Philippines.

We give upmarket restaurant restaurant Kaikodo a miss to try Seaside. It's a little out of town and we wonder if we are lost as we drive down the dark street. But when we reach there, bright lights! It's open and bustling. HB has steamed mullet wrapped in ti leaves. It's not as fragrant as ikan kurau wrapped in pandan leaves. I have boring chicken teriyaki. It is raining as we drive back home. The streets of Hilo are deserted, only a 24-hour pancake joint has lights on.

Geocache count for the day: 2