Beautiful waterfalls in Hilo town.

Its been raining heavy for the past few weeks in East Hawaii, so now that we are getting some beautiful sunny days, I wanted to go out to see the amazing waterfalls happening close to Hilo while doing some errands in town. I'm instantly drawn to visiting some of the gorgeous scenic areas around town when the sun opens up and creates beautiful light to the landscape.


The Wailuku river running through Hilo all the way to the ocean has a series of interesting to amazing waterfalls lining the various areas from the higher to lower elevations.

Above and closer to the mouth of the ocean, the waterfalls are smaller but still dramatic and colorful with flowered trees adding highlights to this mostly green jungle. An older water turbine in the green building adds more cascading water to this sweet spot.


The open area at the mouth has a series of older bridges with this one just facing the ocean, the town of Hilo is just to the left of this photo.

 

 

 

Further uphill is the more famous waterfall and destination spot of tourist to Hilo - Rainbow falls is quite accessible with easy trails going up to the top of the waterfall below. Little rainbow wisps at the bottom of the spill create a nice effect on the rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

Further uphill is one of my favorite waterfalls - Pe'epe'e falls. It is not as easy to access with a slippery hike to the bottom which is only done by locals in the know. There are boiling pots or circling currents that spill into pools down the hill into Rainbow falls further downhill.

Here's a shot of the boiling pots below which are extremely dangerous and not swimmable in my opinion.

There are many smaller streams and waterfalls also connecting with the main river like this almost hidden falls next to Pe'epe'e.

Its amazing to see these beautiful falls on a clear sunny day and know its just in the heart of Hilo town. I don't think I can ever tire of visiting these places when I'm in town just doing my errands.

 

Our Fall Colors in East Hawaii

(click on image for full view and the slideshow)

Hilo is in full bloom again with the rainbow shower trees or Cassia x nealiea lining most of the major roads coming in and out of town. These beautiful trees are showy with their long cascades of red, yellow and orange flowers in large clumps dripping down their many branches. We don't get fall color, but we do get fall colored flowers at this time of the year!



Beautiful blooms next to huge monkey pod trees and the large bandstand.



It’s a beautiful time to see this in town and even just to enjoy a brief moment to really see them in their full glory, wouldn’t you agree?

Blossoms Everywhere

 

 

 

 

Here in Hilo town, entire boulevards are line with these gorgeous rainbow shower trees or Cassia fistula x javanica and they are all putting out quite a show. The shower trees are adorned with colorful displays of these long clusters of pale yellow then crescendo to hot pink and orange hues.

 

 

 

 

They are all in bloom now and showcasing the beauty of Hilo’s bay front area with a profusion of cascading flowers. What an ideal way to highlight the beauty of these tropical trees than to line the streets with these prolific hybrids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another variety that is used in many of the greenbelt areas and parks are the golden yellow shower trees called Senna Fistula X Cassia fistula. This cassia is also a summer bloomer with long strands of pale to deeper yellow florets. The trees grow effortlessly here, are drought tolerant and adapt to many soil environments including sandy and ocean sprayed areas which is perfect to the open bay front of Hilo.

 

 

 

 

 

Cassia is a huge genus with over 500 species and are some of the most colorful trees and shrubs in East Hawaii. I think they picked the perfect species to highlight the beauty of this area and town, don’t you think?

 

To see other flowers for today go and visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

To see other fertilizer posts for this week, come and visit http://www.tootsietime.com

A Photowalk Competition

 

 

I can't believe I'm waking up at 5am Saturday morning to take some morning pictures with a photo club I've just joined recently here in Hawaii. And now my first photo tour with them is to do a photowalk around Hilo Bay with an early sunrise start.  But this will not be any morning excursion, its a world wide photo walk and competition with over 30,000 registered participants that will compete in one single day of shooting to submit only one photo for consideration as their best work.

It was tough making a decision on the one, but I have boiled it down to two shots below done in the early morning light, more diffused but with a lot of detail and a hint of a tropical environment. Maybe you can help me choose the best of the two?

 

 

 

 

So which of the two looks more like a winning photo to you, they are a little similar except for the foreground with different rock studies.

 

Along the way, I did stop at the Japanese garden close by to take some practice shots, unfortunately, there wasn’t enough good light to make these make my top considerations, but I’m showing them to you anyway so you get to see photos of this beautiful park in Hilo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a quiet corner is this beautiful shady grove with thousands of colorful impatiens in hot colors, it just lit up this little corner.

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the tour, please help me select the final cut.  To enjoy more views of the world on Tuesday go visit http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

A Saturday Walk Around Hilo Bay

Aloha,




My friend Devany (A fantastic food blogger) and I take regular walks around the Hilo bay front early in the morning. Your welcome to join us if you feel like seeing some of the bay this morning and doing some brisk walking, I promise it will be a great walk.


Here's where we usually start along the bay front. This is where all the canoe clubs in Hilo keep their large canoes so the teams can practise along the bay, its a big sport here.

Its a very pretty warm day today and just a few clouds in the sky.

 We cross a few bridges along our hike and even go to a little island off the point called Coconut Island and of course its filled with coconut trees.

Aren't the views here beautiful? Everyone seems to be out on the water today.

There's a large schooner that just came into the bay a few days ago and makes a striking contrast to the mountains.

I love walking pass these dramatic autograph trees everytime we pass by Coconut Island.

 

I know they have alot of old stories to tell, please tell me?

We also walk next to this beautiful Japanese Garden adjoining the bay front, its really beautiful at different times of the day. I'll have to do a separate post on this park soon!

Well we usually do our two laps around the park and Coconut Island so time to head on back to our cars...alot of shopping to do at the Hilo Farmers Market this morning also.


Thanks for joining us on our walk, it was fun!