Day 13: East Coast Drive

I should point out a couple of things we discovered yesterday about the car:

It has a half bald tyre that would be a traffic offence in the UK
The washer bottle was empty - which you only ever find out when you NEED to use it
The interior was very poorly valeted

This I don't find at all unusual for Alamo cars - nearly every Alamo car I've rented has been supplied with an empty washer bottle and each time I think it will be different next time. Given the choice I wouldn't have used Alamo but as it was all pre-booked in the UK, it was Hobson's choice really.
We are now faced with the dilemma of: "do we go out of our way to return the car and waste a couple of hours or not bother". We don't bother and continue the day touring the East coast.

This was how the day went:

Viewpoint over Hilo just outside town
Akaka Falls - This was located in a wonderful "jungle setting" of bamboo trees, Ti plants and other tropical plants.
The falls themselves we quite impressive, especially having viewed the less impressive ............... Falls just before them.
Honuma - A town on the approach to Akaka retaining much of its wooden frontaged buildings on the main street and much more plush and exclusive housing springs up around them
Laupahoehoe Bay - Scene of a devastating Tsunami (tidal wave) in 1946 which killed many of the school children who were at school in the village which at that time was at sea level.
Waipi'o Valley - The viewpoint looking up the coast and down the valley. The walk down was at a very severe incline and we soon stopped and retraced our step back up. Given another three hours or so we would have gone down to the valley floor. As it was we even missed the bus trip down.
Kukuihaele - This has "The Last Chance" grocery store and is the pick up point for the shuttle bus into the valley.

Finally the 45 mile drive back along the coast road, followed by dinner at Ken's before relaxing in the room after a tiring day.

Goto Day 14: Volcano National Park Pt 2

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