'n Hilo

Hello! It's me again, Jera. In this blog post I am going to show you a few interesting things we did in Hilo.
I FINALLY got to have some passionfruit!
If you didn't know passionfruit (or passion fruit) or lilikoi, which is the Hawaiian name, is my favourite fruit of all times!

As you see below I am enjoying it a lot!

 Everyday in  Hilo, Hawaii you will find a gecko on your deck. They're very common and usually  appear when crumbs are laying around.  

We also went to the famous Thurston Lava Tube in Hawaii's National Park. It's an old lava tube where magma would have rushed from Mauna Loa to the ocean. Unfortunately, over half the tube has collapsed due to heavy rain fall.

   On the way back, we visited the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory, where they make the best, over priced, macadamia nuts. My fav are the chocolate covered ones.
We were able to see how they make, sort, and package the nuts! 

A Visit to Mauna Loa

What are Sienna and I looking at?

This...

This is Mauna Loa where the lava tube once joined up to.
Do u see that red smoke? That is where the boiling hot magma is!
The island of Hawai'i is still growing because of this active volcano.

      Here is a better view of it.

A Visit to Mauna Kea

Climbing above the clouds.

Sienna with our friends Zoe and Nanook and me.
It was so cold the top, Mauna Kea had snow.
Imagine snow in Hawai'i!

Here a view of the snow on Mauna Kea from Hilo.
Some of the local Hawaiian were filling the back of their trucks with snow and taking it down the mountain to have snowball fights on the beach.



The 4,200 meter high summit of Mauna Kea has the world's largest observatory for optical, infrared, and submillimeter astronomy.

Being at this outstanding height, astronomers have a crystal clear image of the night sky. At 4,200 meters high, there isn't a cloud in the sky. With the latest technology, scientists have developed the largest telescope in the world. At a cost of 1.4 billion, it will be 5 times larger than any telescope before! This scope will be the newest edition to the Mauna Kea family.

We had a chance to catch a glimpse of our solar system too! There were telescopes aimed at some of our neighboring planets and space bodies such as Jupiter and the Earth's moon.

Thank you for reading my blog report! C ya soon!

A tune with Rudy

A tune with Rudy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2LbgALaLMQ

This is a song that Rudy learnt and taught me how to play the tune on the piano.

Here's a video mum took of me accompanying Rudy while he sings.

The tsunami!

Hello it's me again, and in this blog post I am going to tell you a little about the Hawaiian tsunami of 1964!

Do you see the picture below? It is the Hilo town clock. Or at least it was. This clock has  now become a Hawaiian land mark because it survived TWO tsunamis! Well the general structure of the clock survived. Unfortunately, the inner working's of the clock's mechanisms have been destroyed. And that was not the only thing that was destroyed! See behind the clock? How it is just an open field? Well that is where the Waiakea village used to stand.
The Waiakea village was mainly populated with Japanese, which is why there is now a Japanese garden where the village used to be. Unfortunately, the tsunami was so strong it wiped Waiakea off the map, literally! 

We also went to the Pacific Tsunami Museum! There where many interesting displays. Including this one defining ocean waves to Tsunami waves.

Did you know that most tsunamis travel faster then jet planes!

At the museum played this game where you work at a Tsunami warning center. First you chose where you want the earthquake to happen. Then you chose how big the earthquake will be and if it generates a tsunami. If it does you have the choice to call a tsunami warning or to say nothing.
But you have to remember! Calling a tsunami warning could cost up to 5 million dollars, but people's lives are at stake. I generated an 8.5 earthquake that made a 30 foot tsunami. I thought the people of  Hawaii where good enough swimmers so I didn't call a tsunami warning. And....... I probably should have called one!

Thank you for reading my latest blog post c u soon! Stay tuned for more amazing posts!

More Amazing Sports!

Hello there! It is me Jera again! In this blog post I am going to tell you about some more amazing sports, except in Hawai'i.

Sail away, sail away, sail away
The video above goes with the blog report. Click play. Go on do it! Do it now!

The first sport on our list is, sailing. A while ago (Before I made this blog) I tried sailing. And i got pretty good at it too. But unfortunately I never got around to going back to it. 

 

Above are a few pictures of me sailing. The first picture is me and my dad pulling the boat into the ocean. It is lighter than it looks. Next is me sailing away! Then Sienna thought I looked SOOO cool, so she wanted to have a try, I took her out to the breakwater. And the picture above is where sailing gets dangerous. Do u see that stick poking out of the water? It turns out that is signing that there is something under it. And the wind was blowing me right in that direction! luckily I managed to steer away from it.

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Another sport I took up on the Big Island is archery. We go to an old airport hanger twice a week to practise shooting. I have learnt a lot, and I think I might keep the sport up. 

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And the last sport (if you consider it a sport) I have learnt, is a terrible war between two empire's! Chess. I think I have found my new fav board game! I love it because of the constant battle, and it uses strategy to win!


This has been another blog report c u soon!


-Jera!

INTERESTING PLACES

Hello, in this blog report I am going to tell you about a few interesting places in Hilo, Hawai'i.

The first place on our list is the 'Imiloa Planetarium/Museum. Their exhibit was amazing. We saw a movie too. It was called, "Back to the Moon for Good." It was a fascinating show about the Google X prize. A competition where teams are competing to land a rover on the moon. A few weeks ago China successfully landed a rover on the Moon. Here is are more details about their landing from this website below.

"A $30 million Google-backed competition to land a spacecraft on the moon may be about to be scooped. China’s Chang’e 3 probe successfully put itself into lunar orbit on Friday in preparation for an attempted touchdown around Dec. 14.    

 

    However, "China won’t be winning the prize money, which is reserved for privately funded, previously enrolled teams, not government agencies."

Here I am playing a Black Hole game where u have to collect data. But don't get too close or you will get sucked into it.

Above is an information display about Black Holes.

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We also went to the Black Sand Beach. The sand is crushed lava rock, which is so fine the pebbles are turned into sand.

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 We also visited the Hilo zoo! There were a variety of animals including a tiger, parrots, and as you see below a few guinea pigs.

 

They have a wide range of birds, including a hawk.

Good thing this one was trained! 

Also, look at that lama in the background. I think that lama is jealous.

And the last animal we petted at the zoo was the box turtle! I have seen turtles before but this one was so weird! It really look liked a box with a turtle head!

Thank you for reading.

I will see you soon! 

-Jera.

Vehicals 'n Hawai'i

BOATS

When we first arrived in Hawai'i, I thought it would be so cool to live right next to a cruise ship terminal! But once you have been woken up in the middle of the night by a "BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA".

The excitement dies down.

Welcome back to my blog! As you see below, almost everyday a cruise ship comes by! They're usually the same ship that arrives from each of the Hawaiian islands. But occasionally we get one that is heading or coming from Mexico! This is the ship Carnival Miracle.

They don't only come in the day. Here is the Star Princess, with all of its lights on.

 I love it when the ship turns like this. It looks like it's heading straight for us!

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AIRFORCE ONE  & AIRFORCE TWO

Air Force Two overhead!

Air Force Two flew into Hilo the other day.

Air Force One is the plane that carries the President of the United States to wherever he wants to go. Whether it's for top secret missions of just a vacation to get out of the White House. It may just look like a regular Boeing 747, but other than sharing the body of one, it is COMPLETLY different! It has the latest in, well, everything! From engine to door knob this is one extraordinary plane!

And u might be saying that's not the real Air Force One, well that's 'cause it is isn't! It's a model that I bought off Ebay.

Air Force two carries the Vice President of the United states of America. It is basically a smaller Air Force One.

(Air force Two, left. One, right)

 

 

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TRAINS

 And the Hilton's tram! The Hilton was so large that it needs a train for people to access all of the buildings! As you see below the tram does not really run on tracks. It runs on wheels powered by electric rails with a pole down the center so it does not run off the track!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Like the title says...Happy New Year!!!! It's 2014!  2013 flew by fast, don't you think?

Anyway, in this blog post I am going to talk to you about my New Year's resolutions.

1. To spend less time playing on the computer.

2. To start my model airport up again.

3. To help out around the house more.

4. To build a pyramid house on the Gold Coast.

5. To beat Rudy at Chess.

6. To write more blog posts!

Well that's it. I do hope I can complete these resolutions before next year. Well I do have some time!

thx for reading
-Jera!!
And PS: Here is how we celebrated new year! Sorry it's a bit blurry. 

 Then we headed off to Coconut Island to let off some fire crackers for New Year.

Hawai'i!!!

 

 

 

HAWAII! That's right we are finally in the Sandwich Isles. Well we have been in the Sandwich Isles for over a week now, sorry I have been busy. Anyway, as u see above Sienna and I are standing in front of Hilo bay.

 

 

 

Doesn't this picture look like it is from a post card? This is Rainbow falls! This extraordinary waterfall has a lava tube right underneath it! do you see it? We drove up there one day on a waterfall tour. We also climbed up the hill to the river that leads up to the top falls!

Then, we visited Akaka Falls!

Akaka Falls in two times higher than Niagara falls! And even though it is 400 meters high. There are fish that swim up it and make it to the top!

The Hilton! The Hilton is a REALLY fancy resort. Staying at the Hilton was our Christmas present from our parents. It is on the west side of the island where the weather is always hot! It's what most people would think when you say the word Hawai'i. Unfortunately, we are staying in Hilo which in on the east side of the island! And the east side gets 80 inches or over 2 metres mm of rain a year!

So we enjoyed our time and the glorious Hilton, as there were so many things to do! There was even a train that went from building to building! Read more about the train in my next post!

That's how big the complex is! But alas, we eventually had to come back to good ol' rainy Hilo!

 

 

Thank you for reading my blog post cya soon! :) 

Fun Activities

See the bag I am wearing, I made it!

Hello and welcome back to one of my blog posts. Sienna and I made bags so that when we go to Hawaii we have a bag to take the beach or the library.

 It took us about two weeks and a lot of sewing but we did it!

I picked the material because I have a duck fetish! I love ducks. And the material is water proof so it will be great for the beach. It has multiple pockets and a flap that is closed by Velcro.  

 

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 Also here are a few Acrostic Poems that we created for poetry this week.

Acrostic poems  are..........

Here's one Sienna and I worked on together.

HOMEWORK

Horrible paperwork we have to do

Offensive to us in ways that they don't understand

Marmoo made me do it, when it was

Exhaustingly hard and

Worse than stinky cheese

Outrageous, how dare they give us such a 

Ridiculous, reoccurring requirement

Kick it!

And one I did myself.

HAWAI'I

Hot magma
Avocadoes everywhere
Waves to surf
Amazing beaches
I cant wait to
'
Investigate!
An acrostic poem is a poem that every sentence before, begins the next one. And when you read it out, it becomes a poem. I wrote my Hawaii poem because we are going to Hawai'i this Thursday! I cant wait!
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  Also we did a fun activity where we made plasma! I would tell you more about it, but the link below explains it all!

http://youtu.be/-21DLCRtfPI: "Click me!"
Bye! See you in Hawai'i!

You might have realized that I put a ' in-between the two i's in Hawaii. This is actually the correct spelling for the Big Island. 

Hovercraft

 Yes that's right, I built a hovercraft! Well not a hovercraft that you can ride but I guess a scale model of one at least.

Below, is my hovercraft, it is comprised of an old CD and the top of a sports bottle. They are glued together by hot glue. You might be thinking," Where does the air come from?" Because a hovercraft needs air to, well hover.

Now, for anything to really get off the ground (besides airships), the craft needs to push or pull air. The way a hovercraft floats is by expelling air out of the balloon and onto a flat surface. 

This is the final result. We're ready for take off!

Now before we release the valve that is holding the air in, we need to find a flat surface for the craft to float on. Any tiled or wooden floor will do. Basically, if you can a flat space, you're good to go!   

And we're off! Too bad I didn't video it so I could show it on my blog. Then I could have seen how fast it moves! Oh well, I will leave a link to a YouTube video at the bottom.

Hovercrafts might seem a wee bit complicated but they are really quiet simple.

Our little hovercraft is floating because the balloon deflates and the air rushes out and hits the ground. So the hovercraft hovers! This diagram above is not really accurate, as the craft does not fly off the ground. But instead, it reduces the friction between the floor and the disc which makes it move further and quicker.

Today there are tons of hovercraft that are much bigger that my model. Larger ones that can carry people and cars and even TANKS!

Hovercraft are all terrain, which means they can go on nearly any surface: water, sand, dirt, concrete, etc. Here is a video of an army hovercraft coming ashore.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOrqmQIMvuU
If you just want to see the hovercraft skip to 1:24.
Hovercraft are great and because they are becoming more and more popular they may be the vehicle of the future!
If you want to build a CD balloon powered hovercraft click the link below!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJlzr2YclD0