On Tues 8th Feb we flew to Kauai Island on a plane full of people with coughs and colds and discovered that a bad strain of the flu, has been laying people up for 3 weeks or so. We found our hostel had all nationalities and ages and was full to overflowing - a great atmosphere. The next day Rebecca Hall (was McBride), a wonderful West Australian living in the North Shore of Kauai picked us up for a day out, enjoying the lush beauty of the island, which is often ...

Arrived in the big island to more rain. We stayed 3 nights in a "Yurt" which is a unique big circular tent with a self contained kitchen and outdoor shower. On our first night we had 12" of rain - yes 12"!!!! It pounded down deafeningly all night.The rain eased over the next few days and we made use of our hire car to get around. A day trip to volcano national park was just amazing. There is an active volcano and the lava was clearly visible flowing into the sea....

We arrived in Honolulu on the island of Oahu and caught an airport bus to our hostel. The Hokondo Waikiki Beachside was a bit of a baptism of fire! We had a a very crowded 8 bed dorm with our allocated beds both top bunks! It was however, cheap and right in the heart of Waikiki and had free breakfast of toast and coffee. We spent our 2 days walking everywhere in light but persistent rain enjoying the sites and climbed to the highest part of the diamond head volc...