More to Hawaii than sun, sand and surf

Chief roaster Kristy Hill at the Hilo Coffee Mill in Hawaii.

As we sit in the spa pool, steam rising from our shoulders, the absurdity of our situation hits us. It's the middle of summer in Hawaii - and it's cold.

That morning we'd been lying on Waikiki Beach in balmy heat. Then we'd taken the hour-long flight from Honolulu to Hilo, driven 45 minutes along a country road flanked by green bush and arrived at Kilauea Lodge, a lovely homestead on Old Volcano Highway.

We'd been warned that we'd need a light jersey on a trip to Hawaii's Big Island to cope with its 10 climates. We knew people came here to ski. But it was hard to believe that Hawaii was anything other than a mecca of sun, surf and sand, until we'd stopped the car and climbed out into the crisp, sulphuric air, 1200m above sea level.

Lodge owner Albert Jeyte fell in love with this island as a makeup artist working on Magnum PI in the 80s. When the show finished, he couldn't bring himself to leave. So he and his wife Lorna bought a YMCA and turned it into a quaint, yet luxurious, lodge. Our room is straight out of an interior design magazine: old-fashioned wicker chairs, china tea cups hanging from the walls and a balcony overlooking a beautiful fern garden. Even though there's no one around we feel compelled to whisper, such is the silence and stillness of the place.

Only the restaurant still feels like a YMCA, its fireplace studded with international coins and plaques from Rotary groups around the world, including New Zealand. The walls are decorated with photos of red hot lava spurting from the earth. This is volcano country, after all.

The Big Island, also called Hawaii, is the youngest of the islands, and it's still growing. Kilauea and Mauna Loa, two of the world's most active volcanoes, continue to add land, and Kilauea has been spilling into the ocean since 1983.

A brochure we pick up at the Volcano National Park points out the dangers of getting up close and personal with the earth's core - but only fuels our desire to. Dangers include collapsible earth, lava fountains, steam blasting hot rocks, acid fumes and shooting glass particles.

"Visitors standing anywhere near," it warns, "can be hit by ballistic projectiles."

Unfortunately, conditions are not exactly ballistic today - we'd need to drive for an hour and tramp for another 30 minutes, and even in the dark we wouldn't see much of the fiery meeting place between lava and water. So we opt instead to drive the Crater Rim Road in the light of the afternoon, a round-trip that takes us around the base of Kiluaea, past steam vents, craggy craters and the highlight: the lava tubes. These occur when the outer lava cools and hardens and the lava in the centre continues to flow hot through its centre. When the volcano eventually stops spewing lava, what's left is a remarkably round, hollow tunnel. Lighting has been installed in the tubes but it's an eery feeling walking through a place that once pumped ferociously hot magma.

The next morning we leave volcano country for another history lesson, this time at the Hilo Coffee Mill. Kona, on the other side of the island, is famous for its coffee, so mill owner Kathy Patton faced an uphill battle when she started her business eight years ago.

In the 1880s, coffee trees thrived in Hilo until sugar replaced them as a more profitable crop. But as sugar declined, small coffee farms started to prosper again. Patton's goal is to find a market for this coffee, so she processes and sells product from the small farms, imports coffees from around the world and has started to grow her own.

"There's less bitterness in our coffee because it rains more here," she says, pouring us another smooth cup.

We are due in Kona in a few hours so we get only a brief taste of Hilo. But if you're looking for old Hawaii, this is it. It's a place where the fruit and vege markets still bustle and the buildings have been standing since the 1920s. It's also a place that has survived earthquakes, eruptions and devastating tsunamis. After a beautiful lunch at Hilo's Cafe Pesto and a quick browse in the gift stores and art shops, we bid farewell to volcano country. But not without our jerseys.

* Rebecca Barry stayed at Kilauea Lodge as a guest of Hawaii Tourism.