Hawaiian Rock Graffiti
Friday, 29th October 2010 by Chris Hannigan
Take a look at the Queen Kaahumanu Hwy on the western coast of Hawaii's Big Island, and for miles and miles you'll see white graffiti laid out over the hardened, black lava fields! Not to worry however, the messages aren't made from any kind of paint; they are built with white coral stones which are either collected from the nearby beach, or recycled from older messages.
It's actually an old local tradition that seems to have morphed into a new kind of social networking. The messages can change frequently due to reuse of the rocks, but some of the more elaborate or hard to reach are often left untouched out of respect for the author. Others, like this one, just seem to be left for the heck of it.
Some messages have a purpose, like Happy New Year 2010 or Happy Valentine's Day to Mom!
Others aren't really messages at all, like this one that looks like a smiley face.
Some are left to interpretation, like this one who was either made by someone named Watermelon or someone who really likes watermelon.
Rory got a very special birthday present! Hope this message was around long enough for him to see it!
Maybe a Cowboys fan? Perhaps proud to be Hawaiian?
Political forms of view are always welcome with coral.
Someone even said they love me!
Yes, I even found a marriage proposal! Congrats E!
One thing is for sure, there are a LOT of messages scattered throughout the lava grounds. Take a look and let us know what you find!
For more information and pictures, check out Virtual Tourist. If you want to make your own rock graffiti, check out this page for some tips!
About the author
Chris is on twitter! @djtripp20
I’ve noticed a similar situation along the Dempster Highway in far northern Canada, just south of Inuvik.
People do the same thing along Interstate 80 on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
http://goo.gl/maps/1Doy
http://goo.gl/maps/Ug4L
Ha ha, thanks for featuring this! I actually did some similar “art” on the black lava beach itself in 2006 south of Kailua-Kona, which was fun for pictures.
I don’t recall seeing it along the side of the highway then, however. It must have become more prevalent in recent years? How do people carry all the coral over there due to the distance / change in elevation?
Cool, a Street View post on the main part of the website!
Oh, and a graffiti marriage proposal without typos? That’s kind of rare… But being lazy and writing just one letter istead of the whole name balances it out, though.
Wow, that’s going back a bit! I assume of course that this is the post to which you are referring:
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/2006/11/thelma-will-u-marry-me/
You’re right though, not writing out the name in full disqualifies it from acceptance in my opinion 😀
The drumlin field west of Calgary, Alberta near Morley along the Trans Canada Highway is notorious for this sort of rock graffiti. As you can see, it’s awfully clever.
Reminded me of the graffiti as you drive down to the Murray River at Mannum, South Australia
that’s no ‘Smiley Face’, no siree! It looks suspiciously like “THE FEAR” to me! …a popular meme on b3ta. It’s even turned up in crop circles! 😉
Love any kind of urban art, great to see it coming up on image searches, I belive UK artist Banksy is thinking of doing something like this in London see Banksy Prints to get an idea of his current works.
There’s a rock that says Elvis on the A44 in the middle of Wales.