Sadly the time arrived for our last full day in Hawaii and to make sure we didn’t dwell on this fact, we planned another full day of sightseeing!
We started the day at Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park, a sacred site which preserves aspects of traditional Hawaiian life and is made up of archeological sites like temples, royal fishponds and coastal villages.
“It felt like such a serene and peaceful place to spend some time.”
On one side of the park are the royal grounds and on the other side of the park, separated by a huge (I mean really huge) black wall, was a safe haven for Hawaiian’s that broke the law. It was a refuge where they could escape certain death and be exonerated by a Priest and then freed.
As we walked around in the sunshine we perused the Ki’i (wooden statues), played with the stones laid out for a traditional Hawaiian game (which we didn’t know how to play), looked for sea turtles in the shallow waters, gasped at the scale of the ten foot high and seventeen foot thick stone wall and watched an actor dressed in traditional attire (a loin cloth) make a water carrier using traditional techniques!
It was lovely to spend the morning walking around in the sunshine, it felt like such a serene and peaceful place to spend some time and it was nice to see more of the traditional side of Hawaiian life too.
Our next stop was St Benedict’s Roman Catholic Painted Church, a church small in stature but great in decoration.
“Hawaii is a dream destination to visit and we knew we were lucky to spend three weeks there enjoying the sights and attractions.”
From the outside the church is plain white, unassuming and quaint looking. Once through the front door however, scenes painted in vibrant colours of red, yellow, blue and green adorned every inch of the walls, ceiling and columns. We were most definitely in the painted church and it was charming!
For our final Hawaiian adventure we headed to Hawaii’s most famous black sand beach, Punalu’u. A popular place for swimming and snorkelling there was no way we were dipping more than a toe into the water as it was far too cold and windy!
Although we didn’t venture into the sea, we (ok, maybe I) danced in the black sand which was coarse and gritty, it looked spectacular and was a great exfoliator for the feet!
Rich and I absolutely loved everything we did on Oahu and Big Island. Hawaii is a dream destination to visit and we knew we were lucky to spend three weeks there enjoying the sights and attractions.
The two islands we visited were stunning, brimming with natural beauty, history and geological wonders. It’s like no place on earth and I hope we get the opportunity to go back one day in the not too distant future.
Lambs on the loose 