I spent yesterday afternoon and the bulk of this morning lounging around the beaches in Hilo as Jamie left for Kaua'i. I'd organised a trip up to the observatories on Mauna Kea for this evening as from the guidebooks and tourist info office in Hilo they knew of no hiking trails to the area. I'd looked at doing a multi-day cabin to cabin hike on Mauna Loa, the active volcano that is a 4,000m peak just next to Mauna Kea but the track was closed due to volcanic gase...

The last few days my Ambassador for Aloha, Jamie, and I have been cruising around the Big Island. On Sunday we cruised up the east coast checking out some of the lush jungle rain forest and spectacular natural sights such as Akak Falls and the Waipi'o valley. Though they don't do them justice, photos are probably the best way of getting a feel for these sites but unfortunately I still haven't found a decent wireless network or computer that accepts a USB in Hilo....

Unlike the missionaries that arrived in Hawaii in the 1800's on Friday I wasn't greated by a bunch of nubile native girls running toward the plane topless. I was a bit dispointed about this methinks that I turned up a couple of hundred years too late. After around four hours at the airport in Honalulu I got on the plant to Hilo, on the Big Island, Hawaii, which was only really a 30 minute flight. Yesterday was a good day. As fate would have it an American girl, ...