Tag Archives: Upolu

It’s a nice drive, but…

A woman sitting on a red car in Hawaii

I caught up to this car driving back from Upolu Airport. Toward the top of this stretch of road, some tree roots have created some serious bumps and I was curious to see what was going to happen. As it happened she – dare I say, sadly – wasn’t catapulted into the air. Otherwise, that would definitely have been the top photo!

Trash, but not what it looks like

Piles of trash, part of a cleanup operation, on the Big Island, Hawaii

A while back, I posted here about some items dumped near the coast at Upolu. I was appalled by this until I realized that appearance of more junk was not related to more dumping, but rather to a cleanup operation uncovering areas of garbage that had long since been covered by vegetation.

This scene shows that, while there’s still work to be done, a large quantity of garbage has already been hauled away. Kudos to those responsible.

It’s light, it’s bright, it’s black and white

Clouds over Upolu, Hawaii, in black and white
Clouds off Upolu, a scene not greatly different in color.
A cow and her calf in black and white
A black and white cow with her mostly white calf.
Cows in black and white
A trio of black and white cows, the middle one looking particularly suspicious of what I was up to.

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Daylight in Black and White.’ See more responses here.

I was going to post a single image for this but then got caught up with the idea of black and white images of black and white things. This is the result.

Sheep in black and white
Black and white sheep doing sheep things.
A great frigatebird in black and white
A black and white Great Frigatebird gliding into a stiff breeze off the coast of North Kohala.
Shadows on a wall in black and whiteShadows on a wall
Some shadows on a wall, not so different in black and white from the full color original.

Signs: Working together

An unusual sign in Hawaii

I’ve posted about this sign before (here), but recently I was walking along the coast, noticed this view, and it struck me how odd this must look to anyone coming from this direction for the first time.

Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.

And finally, a heads up for those of a sensitive nature. Tomorrow’s post features spiders and an unfortunate beetle!

It’s BIG

The landing area for Big Island Gravity Skydivers

Another view from Upolu, this time of a portion of the airport. But why is there an area of long grass, blowing in the wind, with the letters B I G mowed into it?

The reason is that this is where Big Island Gravity, a local skydiving operation, is based. This area is where the skydivers touch down after their jumps. A couple of days later, and the grass had been mowed again. The letters were still visible, but the long grass was gone.

For more information about Big Island Gravity, go to http://skydivebig.com/.

Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.

Misshapen Milo

A milo tree shaped by the wind at Upolu Airport Hawaii

This Milo tree was planted at Upolu Airport several years ago to provide shade for those visiting the area. The picnic table was positioned around the same time and chained to the tree so that no one would nick it!

Fast forward a few years, and the tree has grown and does provide shade, but it’s not what one might think of as a typical shade tree. The robust trade winds that blow here have given the tree its odd shape, a 90° bend not being typical of Milo trees growth. However, it still produces the most lovely blooms that I’ve posted about before here.

It will be interesting to see what it looks like in another five years. Probably a somewhat larger version of this photo, unless the winds get the better of it.

Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.

Home away from home

An old couch and bathtub abandoned on the coast of Hawaii

Who wouldn’t want to relax here a while on the couch before taking a soak in the tub? Alas, the tub wasn’t hooked up and sitting on that sofa might be an unpleasant experience. Truth is, these were dumped here by someone. It happens more often than one would like to think it does, and this area is a favorite spot for it, possibly because no one lives around here.

The tub disappeared quite quickly. I suspect someone took it to use as a cattle drinking trough, but it could have gone for other uses. A bit of effort by the person who dumped it could easily have made this connection without the eyesore interim. The couch, however, just sat there.

Recently, I was walking along the coast here, after not visiting for a week or two, and I noticed another pile of trash next to an existing one. A bit farther on was an old boat filled with tires. It’s getting worse, I thought. But I saw that the dirt road had been graded and, on a subsequent visit, saw cleared areas, and the boat and sofa were gone. This wasn’t a surge in dumping, but the start of a cleanup effort. So a big hooray to whoever is responsible.

Posted in response to this month’s Becky’s Squares challenge theme of ‘Odd.’ See more responses here.