In May 2017, I hopped over to the Big Island of Hawai‘i for a short visit, mostly exploring Kīlauea but also Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea (did you know that the Big Island is made up of five different volcanoes?). There were no surface breakouts of lava while I was there, but did get to see spectacular glows and lava splattering at the Halema‘uma‘u Crater and lava entering the ocean. And yeah, Hawai‘i is technically the North Pacific geographically, but it is culturally much more connected to the South Pacific and the rest of Polynesia.
Lava spurts up from the lava lake in the Halema‘uma‘u Crater.
Lava enters the ocean at Kamokuna.
As always with my volcano travels though, it was about more than rocks, as I learned about Hawaiian legends and stories associated with these living mountains, explored petroglyphs carved into volcanic rock, and more.
Ohi’a lehua flowers in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, Big Island of Hawai’i.
In a week, I’ll be headed further south, to New Zealand, a land with its own contemporary Polynesian culture. I am interested as always how these volcanoes are similar and different from volcanoes I’ve been to in Alaska, Italy, Indonesia, and other places. Because I have just been to Hawai‘i too, though, I am intrigued how the country responds similarly or different from Hawaiians as Maori and Hawaiian peoples are both part of Polynesian cultures who have been living with volcanoes in the South Pacific for thousands of years.
I’ll be in New Zealand for a month, exploring volcanic landscapes as varied as Auckland’s 53 (yes, 53!) volcanoes, geysers in Rotorua, and the cones of volcanoes in Tongariro National Park.
As always, I love hearing your own travel stories and advice either in the comments or by contacting me directly. Look for more volcano photos on my Twitter feed soon!
Bryanna I can’t wait to follow your next adventure! I was on Hawai’i in June of this year and was mesmerized by the huge volcanoes there. Looking forward to seeing your take on these geologic wonders!