I left Oahu on a short flight a few islands down the Hawaiian chain to the Big Island. As we flew in I could see the central mountain of Mauna Kea but it didn't look very big to me, more of a gently sloping hill. I landed at Hilo airport and walked down the jetway to the gate. But that is where things started to look very different. The gate waiting area was very small and the wall opposite the plane was open to the elements. Then I found the baggage claim area almost outdoors. It was the smallest airport I've been to.

I didn't have any reservations for accommodation because the hostel I wanted to stay at did not take reservations for dorm beds. So the taxi driver waited for me while I made sure there was room before he abandoned me there. I needn't have worried. Out of the 12 beds in the male dorm there was only one taken. And, furthermore, they were subdivived into three rooms (without doors) so I effectively had my own room.

I was glad to be able to stay there because I had counted on it in my plan. The place did tours so I reasoned that I could take their tours and not need to rent a car and therefore save money.

On the first evening the hostel hosted their weekly Guest Appreciation Dinner where they order in pizza and beer for everyone that signs up. And it's all free! I made the most of them both before the remaining beer was cleared away.

For my first full day I went on the lava hike tour. This started off going to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park where we walked through a lava tube. The tour leader provided us with flashlights so we could go through the unlit section. We also saw a couple of large craters of dormant volcanoes, both of which have erupted in the last 30 years or so. During our dinner stop we were able to walk out to a black sand beach. This was strange because the five minute walk from the roadside was across lava rock which hadn't been there in 1980 and had all been deposited over a three month period, much to the annoyance of the people living along the formerly ocean-view road. But at least their homes survived.

The final part of the tour was to view the lava. I had had images of me walking up to the lava flow and inspecting it up close. But unfortunately in March of this year the lava flow changed direction and started going a different way. This mean that it is not safe to approach closer than half a mile down the coast from where the lava pours into the ocean. This is because there is a risk that the surrounding unsupported rock may collapse into the water, taking the crowds of spectators with it. All I could see was two enormous clouds of smoke rising from where the lava was entering the water and, because we were taken there at sunset, we could see the orange glow from the clouds reflecting the colour of the lava just out of view.

On my second day I took the Mauna Kea tour. Before the tour I went to reception to check what kind of footwear I would need and the woman there told me that there were two twins just arrived who were also English and she'd told them there was another English person staying there. I felt obliged then to go and say hello to them since my reputation - or at least my existence - had preceded me. Luckily they turned out to be nice girls to talk to and, even more luckily, they had slightly different hair colour so I could tell them apart because they were otherwise identical.

This was basically a ride up from sea level to 13,796 feet to the top of Mauna Kea, with some stops along the way. Because the air is 40% thinner up there than sea level we had to stop at 9,000 feet for a 30 minute rest to acclimatise to the air. We also engaged in a short hike to get the air flowing. It was definitely a bit more harder than usual. From the visitor centre at 9,000 feet the road was incredibly rough and only 4x4 vehicles are allowed to continue. Our minibus was a 4x4 conversion so we were okay.

Towards the top we stopped to get a good look at all the telescopes before we continued to where the road ended. Up there it was seven degrees Celsius and we had been provided with parkas to keep us warm. The actual summit of Mauna Kea was actually on a small peak to the right of the road and we had an option to walk across to it. Most of us took that option.

So in the thin, cold air we set off on what looked like a fairly easy jaunt. It was made harder by the strong winds coming across the ridge which made the temperature feel below freezing and constantly blew dust into my eyes. I can vouch for that because at the top I had to remove a glove to take photos and my hand was numb after a few minutes. We had gotten there right at sunset so on one side I could see the setting sun and on the other side a shadow of the mountain cast on the clouds. Back by the van I looked at the post-sunset sky and took picture after picture trying to capture the amazing colours as accurately as possible. We all survived the altitude okay apart from one twin who came over queasy after getting back from the summit hike but after she laid down with her feet raised (my idea - to get more blood to her head) she felt fine.

After we had descended back to around 9,000 feet the guide pulled over and gave us a stargazing lecture. It was spectacular. I saw more stars than I knew existed! I was amazed when he told me that the bright light in the sky that rivalled Venus just after sunset was the planet Jupiter. I didn't know it got that bright.

All rental car companies forbid you taking your rented vehicle up Mauna Kea to the visitor centre at 9,000 feet and even on the Saddle Road that crosses the middle of the island, from which the Mauna Kea road turns off, so there was no way I could have got up there without a tour. The Saddle Road is funny because when it was built decades ago it was for military purposes, although it's now a public hgihway, and they deliberately made it winding and rolling to make it harder for a bomber attack. Now they are gradually redoing it to smooth out the road for a more comfortable ride.

On my final day, with no car, I rented a bicycle from the hostel for a bargain $3 for a day. I rode into Hilo town successfully without being run over. The hostel I had been staying at is out of town and only had a tiny grocery store nearby, so I'd been surviving on sandwiches bought at the start of each tour. So for lunch I went to a nice looking restaurant and filled up with a delicious three course lunch. Then to digest it I had a rest in a beautiful park by a river. My rest was broken only by an airliner screaming overhead, seeming to brush the tops of the trees, as it came in to land at the airport half a mile away. It was a cool sight.

The good thing with having a mode of transport was that I could get out to a bookshop and decent supermarket for some food. It was nice not being a pedestrian for a change and I felt fine cycling around. There was space on the shoulder for me to cycle, which means cars don't get stuck behind me and get annoyed, and at intersections there were small cycle lanes to allow bikes to continue straight across without getting sideswiped by cars turning right.

I definitely liked this island, much more than Oahu where I was before. The place seems to be defined by the volcanoes. The restaurant I ate at in Hilo had paintings and photos of active lava flows. In one fairly recent eruption the lava flowed to within six miles of Hilo, so I think everybody is very aware of it.

My next stop is the island of Kauai at the other end of the island chain. Can it get better than this? Tune in in a few days to find out.