With my head beside the rear-mounted engine, we left Maui for the 20-something-minute flight to the Island of Hawaii, better known as the Big Island. It's home to almost 200,000 and needless to say is the largest of the Hawaiian islands, comprising 62% of the islands' total land area. What's more, it's still growing. More on that in a bit. Fun fact of the trip: Captain James Cook, the British explorer who claimed to have discovered the Hawaiian Islands and called them the "Sandwich Islands", was killed on the Big Island in a fight with the natives on a return trip.

We landed in one of the island's two main cities: Hilo, on the east coast of the island. Looks nice doesn't it! We collected another Dodge, and left again.

Our first stop, a short distance outside of Hilo, was Akaka Falls State Park. One thing we noticed right away during the drive here was how lush and green this whole area is. Hilo is one of the wettest cities in the world with an average of 275 days a year receiving at least some rain - the most rainy days for any place in the Northern Hemisphere at an average annual rainfall of up to 200 inches. The trade winds blow west and bring a lot of moist air in from the Pacific. This moist air builds up against the mountains, forming thick clouds which inevitably have to dump their load. We were stunned we'd arrived on a clear sunny day.

Anyway, this is the Akaka Falls of the Akaka Falls State Park, a short ten-minute stroll from the car park. The falls are 129m (422 feet) tall - one of the tallest falls on the island.

From there we basically headed straight to the main event of the Big Island, but not before dark clouds suddenly materialized and torrentially pissed down on us for the next several hours. This here is an active vent on what is considered to be the world's most active volcano: Kilauea. The Big Island is also home to the world's second most active volcano, the massive Mauna Loa, which when measured from its base on the sea floor is taller than Mount Everest is above sea level. Both volcanoes are encompassed by the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which we arrived at shortly after sunset. I mentioned earlier that the Big Island is still growing, and this is the reason why. Kilauea has been continuously erupting since 1983, pouring lava into the ocean and forming new land. Depending on the conditions, you can drive right round Kilauea's crater rim to various viewpoints of lava flows, but this here was as far as we were allowed to venture tonight. It is possible to see the lava flows into the ocean by way of a difficult (and dangerous) hike along the coast, but that'll have to wait for another trip here :)

From the national park we drove all the way across to the other side of the island (where by contrast it virtually never rains) to our next accommodation.

And this was it! Another sweet apartment, this one with a pool and hot tub, outdoor grills, and surrounded by a golf course. Not bad, not bad :)

Come daylight we quickly realised what we would have missed seeing the night before during the drive across the island. Huge swathes of it are covered by old lava flow that has worked its way down from the volcanoes over the course of thousands of years - it's incredible! What's more, all the development around here has been plonked right on top and is therefore surrounded by the stuff. The resorts, the roads, the towns, and even the local airport. The petroglyphs on the right were etched into the stone centuries ago by native Hawaiians. Although the true meanings of the petroglyphs are unknown, it is generally thought these carvings are records of births and other significant events in the lives of the people who lived here long ago.

This is the main highway heading south from our hotel along the west coast. Old lava flow as far as the eye can see!

And this here is Kailua-Kona, simply referred to as Kona. It is the other main city of the island along with Hilo, and centre of commerce and of the tourist industry on the west coast.

Be that as it may it was totally dead, and frankly a bit of a disappointment. Just more of the same old stuff in the way of tourist shops and restaurants, and absolutely nothing going on. This all got me thinking about the hypothetical idea of living in Hawaii. In a nutshell, I couldn't do it! From what we'd seen so far (and what we had yet to see as it turns out), all of the islands each have something unique and awesome about them to see and do. Stunning beaches, huge and active volcanoes, canyons, rivers, waterfalls, turtles, incredible landscapes, a very laid-back way of life, you name it. All of these things make it a great holiday destination but to live here I'd be bored out of my mind! Apart from the beach, what do these people do all day? The bulk of the state's employment is in Honolulu, and outside of there the tourist industry seems to be the main source of employment. We were talking to our tour guide on the kayaking trip back in Maui about this. He's in his late twenties, relocated here three years ago from Florida, and apparently spends most of his days working three jobs to pay his $1,400/month rent. However, he's planning to live out the rest of his days here. It seems to me that to live in Hawaii (outside of Honolulu or Oahu at least), you need to be of a certain frame of mind. The frame of mind that is content to live a very chilled-out lifestyle with frankly minimal aspirations. Nothing wrong with that of course, in fact I dare say some of my fellow New Yorkers here probably dream of such a lifestyle. But in reality, I personally love living in large and chaotic cities. I love the excitement of it, and if I really want to get away from it all for a bit of time-out, the entire US mainland and beyond is on my doorstep.

Here I think is a prime example of what I'm talking about. These two were sitting on the roadside in Kona, waiting for I don't know what, and looking bored stiff. The guy on the left has completely checked out. He'll be our kayaking tour guide dude in 30 years from now.

The mind always needs new ways to be kept occupied ;)

After we'd had enough of Kona, we ventured to the Big Island beaches! See here the old lava flows that have made it all the way down the ocean - very cool!

This will be me in forty years, out and about with my camera, taking shots of pretty young women ;)

In Maui I said we were told about a secluded beach where we could see turtles. While having a big cook out on the outdoor grills at our hotel last night we were told about another such beach here on the Big Island, this one more difficult to access unless you're in the know. Although it's a public beach, it sits within the boundary of this resort (again, notice it's been plonked right on top of the old lava flows) and requires a pass from the resort's security folk to access it.

And this here is part of that beach, in Kukio Bay.

There were a few other folk in the water with snorkel gear who seemed eager to show us their finds, including this anemone and a sea cucumber that squirted water out of some orifice at Mum.

But this is what we wanted to see :)

Turtles beach themselves to rest (and work on their tan). This wee guy (or girl?) might look dead but it was perfectly fine and aware of our presence, and none too bothered about us.

We ended our time on the Big Island at this awesome beach restaurant before having a final soak in the hot tub back at the hotel. It's a hard knock life.