We landed a few miles away from the volcano, named Mauna Loa. Richard and I departed the plane and collected our luggage which had already been unloaded on to a trailer. It was a typical American trailer, with all the grunt and power you would ever need. The Americans always have to be bigger and better. Richard was a good friend of mine; we had studied in the same university. We had decided to come and visit Hawaii so everything we had done over the four years in university studying volcanic activity would make sense and with out doubt make things a lot clearer. It would also be great experience. Richard was well spoken and a typical graduate of Oxford, you could tell he came from a good background. He was very plump in stature and he had a stomach that was if he had been fattened to be sold in the cattle market. But never the less he was a great chap to be with, especially after a few pints. Richard incised that he drove, he was always one for his big toys. He once told me that he had a tractor for his 12th birthday, I found this incredible, as my parents would never have been able to afford such a luxury for me to prance about it in. On our drive to the offices I was very worried as we had very expensive volcanic analysing equipment, and Richards driving was hazardous, he had already lost a few points back in Britain.
We arrived at the headquarters of Mauna Loa analysing office at 9.00 am with frantic driving by Richard.We had come to meet Professor David Roberts, who had travelled over to give many lectures for us in Oxford, and he was a very intelligent man but also very generous. He offered for Richard and I the opportunity to experience a real volcano and that he would give us some accommodation if we needed for a few weeks. And we were hoping that this offer was still open, as we had come very far to take a rejection. But we were quite certain that Professor Roberts would be overwhelmed to see us. We knocked on his office doors a few times but there was no reply, we assumed that he was out surveying Mauna Loa, so Richard and I decided to take a brisk walk up the mountain, leaving our equipment in the trailer. We weren’t far from the summit some 1000 meters, not a great distance, but enough for us to stretch our legs after the long flight. We had as much leg room as an Armadillo would need on the plane. It was a clear day and we were hoping to take some photographs of the volcano and the beautiful surrounding scenery with the lush green rolling hills. Also we were optimistic that we would be able to take a peek into the crater, were all the bubbling and scintillating lava would be. As we walked closer to the summit we new that it would be impossible to go anywhere near the summit as it was swelteringly hot.
We were about 200 meters from the top when we started to hear and feel the ground tremble, and I new that it was on the brink of erupting. I was excited as I had never seen a volcano erupt but at the same time I was trembling with fear, knowing anytime it could explode. We needed to get out of the area, there was no wonder why the Professor had left and the offices were empty. And then this is when I felt the biggest vibration ever, I it felt run through my whole body as if I was being electrocuted. Richard and I ran for our lives, it was the quickest 800 meters ever, any Olympic medallist would have been proud of us. We jumped in the truck and this time we weren’t worrying about the expensive equipment, we were worrying about our lives. And the moment I looked behind I saw a huge mushroom shape cloud soar into the sky. We knew that the cloud could engulf the car and we would be stuck and have very little chance of surviving. There was no doubt about we had to leave the area as quick as we can.
“Come on put you’re foot down”
“Im doing my best” said Richard
I could see myself perspiring and I knew that we were in great trouble. There were large pieces of rock landing everywhere, it was like a shower of rocks.
We were now out of the danger zone, we stopped the car and admired that we had unmistakably just experienced a volcano erupting. It was clearly the scariest moment of my life. I was trembling with fear n=knowing that I nearly lost my life, but It was also the most exhilarating moment of my life. Running from an erupting volcano knowing you could not stop or that would be the end of you, it was like hell. Richard was on the floor puffed out by all the running and looked like he had just eaten 1000 burgers and could not eat any more. Whilst I was totally exhausted but also overwhelmed by the sheer power of nature, and how much of a peril it can be.
