A different sort of Hawaiian Honeymoon

The treehouse was built with honeymoons in mind, as a part of our full wedding business.

We began with a section of rainforest with a lavatube bubble protruding from the very center.  Sturdy trees grew from the bubble, their roots naturally aerated by the configuration of lava beneath, with its tunnels and air currents.  Kilauea Volcano has created a vast underground network of tunnels where lava once flowed to the sea.  As the lava flows decreased in serial eruptions, the tubes were left behind.  A large one in the park, Thurston Lava Tube, is one you can walk through.

We brought in a treehouse designer and builder, Roderick Romero.  Roderick studied the features and called in an arborist to test the trees for strength, health, and hardness, and designed this small two story structure to fit the existing tree space.

Experienced treehouse builders came in and using garnier limbs, suspended the structure from the trees as they built it.

Building materials used are mostly recycled floor and siding from a church on Oahu that was demolished, and bamboo, an ultimately sustainable building material that regrows rapidly.  The only trees lost in the process were dead ones and a couple of straggly saplings.  We moved a few giant hapu'u ferns to more suitable locations.  The doors and clear windows are all recycled.  The stained glass windows were commissioned from a local artist, Seneca Lalonde.  Inside, the plates and cups are all made by either local artists or were part of our collection of hand made pottery from before we moved to Hawaii.

We were unable to locate a wooden soaking tub on the island.  Here, the traditional soaking tubs are built of stone or concrete, dug into the ground.  That was not to be a part of a treehouse, so we brought over a cedar hot tub from Alaska, and sunk it in the first deck.

The house has two rooms, a sitting/eating/food prep room with soft chairs, an ottoman, a built in window table looking out over the forest with stools, a flat screen for viewing movies, and a small food prep area with sink, stovetop, refrigerator, microwave, and cooking and eating utensils.  Outdoors there is a grill.
Upstairs through a trap door is the bedroom, with a queensize memory foam mattress & down comforter, a couple of nightstands with drawers for clothes and such, and a corner dedicated to clothing storage on hooks.  The shape of the room is irregular with multiple walls, and the clothes corner is an angle recessed next to the bed in such a way that the contents re mostly hidden from view.  The shape of the room is what the trees said.  Since it can get chilly at night here on the mountaintop, there is a Jotul propane heating stove inside that looks like a fireplace, as you can watch the flames.  But it's a lot easier to use - no wood to carry, and no smoke in the little house.

Bathroom facilities include a composting toilet and sink in their own little room behind bamboo glass doors, bought on resale and then finished to fit, and an outdoor shower surrounded by bamboo, on the same level as the bathroom and living area and hot tub.

Access to the treehouse is up a forest path, a series of lava boulders set into the side of the lava tube, and then a ladder constructed of heavy beams that were once part of a parking structure.  It is an entry that involves the use of hands, so when bringing things into the treehouse, backpacks are preferable.  We offer daypacks to our guests to use.

So here it is, a small haven in the trees up where the birds fly, to celebrate love & romance.  Just a few minutes away, Pele puts on her show at Halema'uma'u, the crater inside Kilauea Volcano, where in the dusk of the day, the glow of lava rising and falling in a vast pool becomes apparent in the darkening sky.

Fragrant cedar hot tub on treehouse lanai

10-10-10 A lucky day for a wedding

We got married in the rainforest of Hawaii.  We stood out on the lanai, surrounded by giant tree ferns and the gentle whisper of evening tropical misty rain.  It was as if we had been blessed directly.  It was unplanned,  and from idea to inception a matter of an afternoon.  

When we decided to change our lives, we wanted to do something that would bring happiness to other people.  The plan evolved to put up a pavilion in the rainforest for weddings and other celebrations.   As the pavilion plan took shape, the plan needed something more - a beautiful and private honeymoon spot. 

For the honeymoon cottage, a treehouse.  A fantasy suspended from the trees, complete with cedar hot tub.  

Our goal is to offer a runaway wedding spot, an elopement destination drenched in romance, intimate, enchanting, unforgettable.

It turns out to be easy to rent a treehouse.  Even disguised among condo vacation rentals, people do happily stumble upon it.  

As for the wedding business, this is another story.  Everyone knows about Las Vegas, and everyone knows about getting married in Hawaii.  There are thousands of websites, and hundreds of bridal sites, magazines, shows ---  but --- we are not all about the production wedding.  We are about the romance of the mountaintop, the volcano, the magic of it all.  

Now the magical date of 10-10-10 approaches.  We've set aside the 10th and 11th at the treehouse.  We're putting it out there - we are here, we are available, and we are far from expensive.  Hawaiian Airlines lowered their prices today, and round trip from the Bay Area is under $333 on selected dates that encompass 10-10-10.   We can do the ceremony on the beach, at a waterfall, or in our pavilion in a private rainforest.  

Our website is http://www.mahinui.com.

Come take a look.  We'd love to have some celebrations.

Twilight at the Pavilion

Twilight is a popular time at the pavilion for celebrations. Even though there is no sunset visible because we are hidden in the forest, the changing light from daylight to starlight evokes romance.

As darkness fills in the forest, the pavilion glows softly golden in the flickering candlelight, with a minimum of reflected light from the celebratory tiny lights wound with crystal beads along a roof beam.

Full Moon Over the Volcano

Full moon in June over the Volcano ay Kilauea, and early on in the evening the moonlight illuminated the plume at Halema'uma'u from the side. A few clouds lingered on the horizon, and as twilight grew into darkness, the stars began to emerge.

The full moon in the pictures looked like a single headlight beam. Looking toward the plume, the double illumination from the lava lake below and moon above made for some spectacular viewing. There were plenty of onlookers.

This view is a drive of six or seven minutes from our treehouse location, into the park and down to Jaggar Museum. On a full moon night, you don't need a flashlight to light the path.

Kalapana talk story

A few days ago, lava spilling out of Pu'u O'o once again flowed over the roadway at Kalapana. A stream of visitors arrived via tour caddies and in their cars, many taking precious hours from their cruise stop-over hoping for a sight of glowing hot lava spilling on asphalt, overtaking the traces of human occupation. The visitor viewing platform was closed off, and as close as anyone was allowed was too far to even recognize the lava in view was still hotter than the inside of a pizza oven. So the crowds ebbed and flowed like disappointed waves on the shore. They had to be aboard their ship before nightfall or be left behind. Best lava viewing is in the darkness of dawn or dusk, when the lava glows orange red; the frantic fiery foaming bloodstream of the earth herself.

It is not such a romance for the people of Kalapana. Once not too long ago, Kalapana was a sweet village on a remote Puna shore. In 1990, the lava flowed inexorably over houses and streets, over Walter's Kalapana Store and Drive In, over the black sand beach. The slow moving pahoehoe lava would take days and weeks in its inexorable path to the sea. There are still houses in Kalapana that survived, resting in serene green foliage. There are new houses erected on the black lava. There is a new black sand beach, with a red cinder path crossing it down to the ocean. The beach and path are planted with coconut palms laying human claim again to the ocean front. The ocean laps in wild splendor at the black black sand, tossing up lava rocks rolled and swirled from the churning lava entering the ocean just down the coastline, there, where the plumes of steam rise like clouds off the ocean edge.

And now here comes the lava flow again, edging toward yet another house in Kalapana.

This lava tiki stands along the roadway guarding a house in Kalapana. Tikis and ti leaves are protection here on the Big Island. When you live with a jealous goddess you become respectful and find ways to show your respect. This imposing tiki is carved from lava. The watchful eyes are much more prominent than the devouring mouth, forever in a clench that is unlikely to yaw open and munch up the land over which it watches.

Aloha from the land of Pele, Ka wahine 'ai honua, the woman who devours the land.

Alternative Wedding Venues

When we created Rainforest Weddings, our goal was to offer an alternative to the expense of a production wedding that is ultimately romantic and yet not costly nor stressful. Many couples who come to Hawaii to get married are looking for a beach wedding. We can do those too.

The Big Island has more miles of coastline than any of the other Hawaiian islands, and the beaches come in a fabulous array. This is a photo of a black sand beach on a blue sky day, and as you can see, there is no one around. The stack of rocks is part of a heiau wall. Hawaiians built heiaus for spiritual reasons, many as hula platforms, before western influences came into the islands. Today, hula halaus use this heiau from time to time, and much of the time, it sits in solitude overlooking the ocean. The way into this beach is a short rocky road, accessible by four wheel drive, or on foot.

South of here is the green sand beach. That beach is off the main road by about fifteen miles of paved road, then a couple of miles of dirt road. Some use four wheel drive, others walk. Once at the beach, there is a hike down that must be made on foot. It is a special place. If you choose it for a wedding, you will have many onlookers. A white dress might not make it down the footpath without some Hawaiian volcanic soil attaching itself along the way.

There are some white sand beaches accessible only by four wheel drive where if you should choose a weekday in the spring for your wedding, you just might have the place all to yourself.

The Sacred Pu

The blowing of the sacred Pu or triton shell announces the start of a Hawaiian ceremony, such as a wedding, or seasonal celebration. The deep sound is reminiscent of a ship's horn, and can be heard throughout the forest, across land or water.

Some Hawaiian ceremonies use a conch shell rather than a triton, but it was the triton shell that was found in these waters, and used from ancient times forward.

Here the triton shell is being blown by Robert near the start of the path up to the rainforest wedding pavilion. The tone is clear and pure, and will definitely inform your being from the inside out that something special is going on. The lei po'o or head lei he is wearing is traditional, made from the native plants that grow in this forest.

The direction in which the shell is blown is meaningful, as is the number of times it is blown. Our celebrations are derived from Hawaiian culture and honor Hawaiian culture, and are adapted to western culture and custom.