Honolulu to Big Island

Thursday 2nd Feb – first day fully on Hawaiian timezone.

Since we were awake before 7am anyway, we took a stroll to the famous Waikiki beach for a refreshing dip in sea ….

After breakfast , stopped only to pick up something for lunch ..

…before heading back to the airport ( 10 hours after we’d left it ! ) for the 1 hr hop to Hilo ( main town on Big Island, with a whopping 44,000 inhabitants). There we were honoured to be met by a welcoming committee :

Van is an old friend of mine who worked with me in 1984-5, and whom we have seen every few years since – though not since 2017 when he last visited UK. Marilyn (MJ) has been his partner for the last 30 years . They greeted us with traditional leis (pretty pink/purple flowers for Lianne, spiky green crown of thorns for me. Draw your own conclusions. )

They drove us an hour south of Hilo, to their amazing house and garden, at the SE corner of the island. It borders onto actual jungle..

They produce an amazing breadth of fruit and veg ( mangoes, avocados, papaya, grapefruit, coconut , sweet potatoes, bananas ….) . “Home steading”, Marilyn calls it – perhaps “The Good Life self-sufficiency ” for UK readers.

Wonderful feeling to be able to relax – so after a bit of a struggle to make it to 8:30pm , we rolled into bed and fell asleep to the sound of insects and frogs doing whatever they do in the dark. It was very relaxing.

Made it ! Only 3 days from Leeds ….