Last night I arrived in Hilo and met up with Wendy at the Hilo Bay Hostel. This is definitely one of the trendiest and most retro-looking hostels I have EVER stayed at! I loved the vintage/colonial/Hawaiiana decor and the people there were really friendly and nice. The beds were comfy, the kitchen was spacious and clean and the furniture was opulent. I would definitely recommend people to stay here. In the morning, we wasted no time in getting on the road and ou...

Today, Maria and her boyfriend went to a sweat lodge and she kindly let me use her car. So, using the excuse that I need a new, larger suitcase (which I do, considering all the new dresses I've purchased), I put the pedal to the metal and headed to the nearest Ross store in Kaneohe and bought a suitcase plus a couple of new dresses. Of course, this meant that the new suitcase is now FULL to the brim. I left the UK with a small, black 12kg bag and now I have a con...

A late start today as the weather was playing up and it was raining again in Punalu'u. I'd wanted to go to Lanikai but we checked the live webcam online and it looked like it was even worse there so we ended up heading to the North Shore. First stop: lunch at Fumi's Kahuku Shrimp roadside food truck. The shrimp ponds are out back so you're guaranteed fresh produce, even if it is deep fried! We also got fresh iced coconuts and pineapple juice from the stall net d...

Today was an amazing day filled with beautiful art, lovely people, sun drenched beaches and delicious food - what more could you want? We started our day quite early and headed to the Contemporary Museum of Art to meet Maria's friend Ramona and her sister-in-law Lenore. The main artists exhibiting were the Biennial of Hawai'i Artists X, featuring Mary Babcock, Solomon Enos, Jaisy Hanlon, Jianjie Ji, Sally Lundburg and Bruna Stude. My favourite was Sally Lundbu...

I wanted to go to the Honolulu Zoo to see the live Hawaiian music, but we were told that the rain was island-wide. So, we decided to keep it local and took a leisurely drive around the area - stopping wherever took our fancy. Our first stop: a swim in the saltwater pool of a local condo where Maria has the keys to a place she looks after for a friend. We've been swimming there almost everyday now. Maria does a whopping 60 laps and I potter about with my makeshi...