For our time in Hawaii we decided to book the Au Pair Adventure Tour, which can be booked by everyone within a certain age range.
24.April 2016
At 6am we started our day by heading to LAX-Airport and off we went to Hawaii.After we got all our luggage at the Airport in Big Island we realized we have booked our shuttle for Monday instead of Sunday, but the company was kind enough to switch it to Sunday for free. At hotel we unpacked a bit, ate a snack and headed straight to the pool, where we met some other Au Pairs from the tour (always easy to spot). For dinner we had a reservation at a restaurant directly at the beach.
25.April 2016
Thanks to some awesome jet lag I actually woke up at 5am, but I used it to call my mom and wander around the neighborhood. Around 7am I headed back to our room and we all went to breakfast together. It was time to pack our bags again, checkout and meet up with the tour guide and other tour participants. After a short welcome and get-to-know each other, we loaded all our stuff in the trailer of our car and went to Costco for all the food we would need for the week. We also got to store stuff we didn’t need at a storage unit. When we were all done we headed to our first camping spot, which was right at a beach. After putting our tents up we went for a snorkel adventure in the ocean. Each person had a snorkel buddy, which was not to be left alone under any circumstances. After the shower it was my turn to cook dinner for the entire group, but it was just some grilled chicken. Well and then it was time to go to bed and enjoy the wave sounds.
26.April 2016
It was one of the best things ever to wake up to the sounds of the ocean.
After breakfast we broke down our tents again, packed everything up and headed to “place of Refugees” or “Two Steps” for todays snorkeling adventure. Before we even got into the water, someone in the water became unconcsious and CPR had to be performed. After that my dive buddy and I decided to stay close to shore, but we still saw many many amazing fishes. We were the first ones back on shore and enjoyed the sun before we headed to our next stop.
The next stop was Punalu’u Black Sand Beach Park. We went snorkeling again and we saw a turtle. We got sidetracked that we actually ended up pretty far out and almost didn’t make it back. Since our next camping ground wouldn’t have showers, we showered right at the beach. The camping spot for the next 2 days was gonna be on an active volcano, which is pretty cool but also means no running water, no electricity and no toilet.
27.April 2016
The day started rather early at 8am. We packed some snacks and drinks for the way before we headed on todays adventure. We stopped at a little fruit “store” before getting to our first destination: Southern Most Point of the 50 states of the USA). Some people of the group did some cliff jumping (20m) right there before we headed to our finale destination the Green Sand Beach, the sand is actually green and the waves are super high and it is soo much fun there.
We actually got to go on one of the Jeep Tours for half the way there and half the way back (for free). That was almost more fun than the beach it self. On our way back to the camping ground we stopped at a coffee farm, where they showed us how Coffee, pineapples, bananas, mangos and other fruits are growing.
On the final stretch to the camping ground it started raining so we stopped at a military cantina, where they had an All-you-can-eat-Potato-buffet and an all-you-can-eat-Ice-Cream-Buffet (8 desserts for each of us). Since we already had dinner and it stopped raining we decided to go to the crater of the volcano which was really amazing.
But before we knew it, we had to get back to bed to be ready for another day full of adventures.
28.April 2016
We started the day with a nice breakfast before heading to a little hike down the volcano into one of the inactive craters. Once we got back up the mountain we were soaked, because it was a constant light rain. Luckily our next stop were some natural hot springs, so we all got to warm up.
Once we were back to normal temperature we went on to the Rainbow waterfalls (where we also climbed a tree, even though we were all wearing flip-flops because our tour guide said that’s all we need.
We ended the day at one of the bays in the capital of the island, where we did some cliff jumping and our daily beach shower (which isn’t super great because we were wearing our sandy bikinis, but better than no shower).
Back at the camp we had Taco- and Burritonight before started packing up things we wouldn’t need in the morning and go to bed.
29.April 2016
After a quick camp breakfast it was time to pack up our stuff once more to head to the next camping ground. On our way to the north shore we stopped at a little beautiful bay. 
The Akaka and Kahuna water falls on the north shore were really beautiful, but the hike was also super exhausting.
We then finally headed to our last camping ground (so we thought), but we stopped a few times along the way to meet friends of the tour guide and after we stopped at storage, we stopped at a hotel to meet one of his friends again. We were all pretty pissed at this point already. He got back into the car and drove off and after just a few minutes turned around and went back to the hotel and asked us who would enjoy a warm shower and a comfortable bed. It turned out our camping ground was covered with mosquitos and therefor closed so we got the comfort of being in a hotel for the last 2 nights.
We enjoyed having a pool, a hot tub and used the washingmachine to clean all of our towels. After a nice dinner at a restaurant we all went back to our rooms and slept like angels in our so comfy (but small) beds.
30.April 2016
The breakfast at the hotel tasted really awesome, as it was fresh and had a variety to it.
Our first stop of the day was Polulu Valley, which also inspired the directors of Jurrassic Park. The way down was already hard and gave us all an idea on how hard the way back up would be. The valley, the untouched nature and beach are super awesome and almost worth the hike. On our way back up I decided to just let the group go ahead and kind of joined a group women that were just at my speed. But the tour guide got worried when he looked back at one point and I wasn’t there anymore. He joined us and so we quickly moved forward.
On the way to the beach we stopped for some souvenir shopping. Once we got to the beach we only got a parking spot so far out, that we had to go through the bushes to get there. The sand was super white, the water really clear and it is supposed to be one of the top beaches in the world.
For dinner we got pizza at Costco and ate it at another bay while watching the sunset (so romantic). We even got company from a turtle.
After we all showered back at the hotel, we all met at the tour guides hotel to celebrate his birthday and even attempted to go out, although the majority of us was under 21. The first club turned us down because they had so many men in there and were scared we would cause a fight (would never hear that in Austria). The second club let some of us in, but I and some others got turned away and I was okay with that because I never wanted to get in any trouble by lying or whatsoever. So I didn’t keep on trying and just waited who would join me on my way back to the hotel. Everybody ended up going back to the hotel, although we split up pretty soon, because I wasn’t gonna wait for them. Back at the hotel I finished packing and went to bed.
1.Mai 2016
After another awesome breakfast, we all checked out and stored our luggage at the hotel, before we dropped the first person off at the airport. We stopped at the storage to sort the leftover food and dry the tents a little bit and then it was time to return to the airport and say bye to the next group of people.
We then spent the rest of the day shopping for souvenirs and just enjoying the area. The evening we spent at the hotel lobby, since we got picked up right there to get to the airport, where we spent another 2 hours (without wifi). We took a redeye flight back to Phoenix, which for me was perfectly fine.
Kathi's Travel Adventure 