Grim Reaper Beastie Gets Away From It All

Hey there everybody!

It’s been a while since I last received word from a globetrotting Beastie, so you can probably imagine how delighted I was when Grim Reaper Beastie got in touch earlier this week! As it happens, he’s been to Hawaii… but of course he had very little interest in going to a luau or hanging out on the beach in a brightly-coloured shirt (hilarious as that would be). I think you’ll agree that he looks much more in his element here…
A Fitting Backdrop for a Grim Reaper Beastie! N Depping/CrawCrafts Beasties… Because as we all know, the Hawaiian islands are a (literal!) hotbed of volcanic activity. And it seems that Grim Reaper Beastie is quite the amateur volcanologist – here he is again, scrambling around among the lava fields around Kilauea on Big Island!
Grim Reaper Beastie in Hawaii - N Depping/CrawCrafts BeastiesI think he looks right at home here, don’t you? However, not all of the rocks were suitable for such up-close inspection… For starters, there’s quite a lot of red hot liquid lava around.
Lava at Kilauea, Hawaii - N Depping/CrawCrafts BeastiesAnd if you think that’s awesome, you should see it after dark!
Lava in the Dark - N Depping/CrawCrafts BeastiesIt also helps to get a bird’s eye view… If you look really closely in the bottom third of this photo, you can see a few fine orange specks where the lava is meeting the sea – and the clouds of steam this produces!
Where the Volcano Meets the Sea - N Depping/CrawCrafts BeastiesFortunately, the lava around here moves pretty slowly, so Grim Reaper Beastie could watch it bubble up from the centre of the earth without having to worry about getting his toes burnt. Here, have a look for yourself!

Can anyone else see a monster face appearing in the hot lava towards the end of the video, or is that just me?!

But not every volcano in this area of Big Island is active. Grim Reaper Beastie finished up his tour at Devastation Trail, which was last affected by the eruption of Kilauea Iki in 1959. Here, shrubs and flowering plants have gradually started to recolonise this stark landscape of stones and cinders!
Grim Reaper Beastie at Devastation Trail - N Depping/CrawCrafts BeastiesA perfect end to a perfect day of exploration!

Thanks to Nicole for letting Grim Reaper Beastie stow away in her suitcase, and for sending me his holiday snaps – it looks like you had a super trip! And be sure to join us again on Tuesday to meet some new Beasties, then next Friday we’ll be sharing more Beastie adventures abroad! See you then!

21 thoughts on “Grim Reaper Beastie Gets Away From It All

  1. Wow! The end shot in that video looks like a demented pointy headed turtle with two flippers! How do these Beasties get to so many fabulous places? They go on ski holidays, they doze on beaches, they explore ancient ruins and scamper about in exotic gardens….the list could go on….there’s Dublin, London and the Irish countryside too. Thomas Cook and Kuoni had better watch out! These guys are in a league of their own.

    1. I know! Even with those little short legs, they’ve collectively clocked up more air miles than I have this year! I wonder where they’ll end up next? And I’ll have to watch the video again to see if I spot your turtle this time… Thanks for stopping by!

  2. How appropriate that Grim Reaper Beastie would take a hike along something called Devastation Trail! Mr Husband and I have thought of visiting the volcano on our Hawaiian adventures, but with our travel luck the volcano would probably be “off” when we showed up.

    1. I’d argue that “off” is better than “completely, apocalyptically on”, but maybe I’m just a wuss that way! Did you know that the Hawaii volcanoes national park has a daily activity update on their website, though? You could monitor what’s going on, and choose the best time to book your tickets. And if you want to send some photos of Finn McSpool inspecting the lava fields, all the better! 😀

    1. Doesn’t he just? He may have had to travel halfway round the world to get there, but he seems right at home! As for me, I’m fine thanks… Just need to shake off this gross cold before my Hallowe’en market at the weekend! What’s new with you?

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s