Hawai'i The Big Island (The Orchid Isle)

We have now moved islands and are staying on the Big Island, the youngest of the Hawaiian islands, where we are volunteering on an organic coffee and tropical fruit farm near the town of Captain Cook.

Konacopia farm is paradise. We are staying at an elevation of 900ft, which means sunny 25-30 degree C mornings and humid rainy afternoons. The farm is built upon volcanic rock and lush plants sprout of every crevice of the fertile rock. Our little jungle includes avocadoes, mangoes, limes, oranges, mandarins, jack fruit, noni, breadfruit, coconuts, macadamia nuts, bananas, papayas and Hawaiian firecracker chillies… and all free for the picking - brilliant!

We are staying in a screenhouse that is surrounded by a coffee plantation and avocado trees; it’s rustic but we love it. Essentially we are sleeping completely outdoors, and have a little wooden platform lanai with a table and chairs that looks out over the plantation and papaya trees down to the sea, complete with a little cooking area with a gas stove and electricity.

We have some resident pretty little green lizards and 5 cats and a dog, Alani. And quite a few mosquitoes that find us tasty. We've also held a chameleon! There is a little bathhouse up the road with a lovely hot shower and washing machine and some cockroaches (!).

The stars and sunsets here are fantastic, and we fall asleep to the sounds of crickets and are woken by the chickens crowing. We’ve already got used to waking up at dawn as there are no curtains! The place already feels like home and the two of us can’t believe our luck at having found such an authentic little piece of Hawai'i off the beaten track.

We work 12 hours a week in exchange for a place to stay and unlimited tropical fruit. So far the work has been back-breaking manual labour – weeding below the mango trees with gloves and little cutters. The work itself is fine, it’s just our backs that protest! Work breaks include sitting in the shade of trees talking with Hawai'ians, looking over the sea and feasting on ripe mangoes (we have never tasted such great fruit!). At this rate we are turning into ‘fruitarians’ – mealtimes have become fun making exotic fruit smoothies and fruit salads, and tonight Gaz made breadfruit chips.

The owners of the farm, Steve and Elizabeth, are really nice, and there is another volunteer here called Dave. Folks here are more relaxed and amiable than either of us have come across anywhere – the other day we were invited to a nearby lettuce farm’s BBQ and played volleyball and ate pineapple steaks and grilled fish on banana leaf plates until sunset. Everyone made us feel so welcome.

Below our farm the sea is teeming with fish and there are many marine protected areas making for great snorkelling. The sea is warm and clear, and we have spotted angel fish, trigger fish, moray eels and pipefish already. There are no beaches in the area, just black lava flows leading straight to the sea with coconut palms along the shore.