We had a fantastic few days staying at the Akaka house! We were looking to experience "wild" Hawaii and this helped us to do just that! The location was the perfect home base for exploring the volcano, (we arrived just days after it became active again - very cool!), visiting Mauna Kea, the green sand beach, seeing the aftermath of the 2018 eruption, and of course, seeing Akaka Falls. Keep in mind that some of our day trips had us in the car for several hours because many of the best spots are spread apart on this pretty large island. But you're driving in Hawaii! So even the road trips were enjoyable. And when you're driving past the Honomu Goat Dairy to and from the house and see the signs for "free goat therapy" make sure to stop! We had a lovely 30 minutes there playing with the baby goats and walked away with fudge, caramels, honey and goat milk soap! The owners were so sweet to interact with :)
We cooked most of our meals and the kitchen was very well stocked with all the basics and more! Definitely check the fridge and cabinets before hitting the grocery store! The bed and beddings were extremely comfortable and we slept really well, although we needed to sleep with a white noise app on our phones to lessen the sound of the frogs & birds.
The only thing that we didn't enjoy as much (this has NOTHING to do with staying at this wonderful home, just a comment on the island of Hawaii) is that Hilo, where we did pick up takeout food, grab one dinner (at Pineapples, very good!) and do all of our grocery shopping, is not much of a tourist/visitor town. It doesn't have much of the island vibe that you get from some other smaller towns. I think that's probably because most tourists are on the other side in Kona. We even felt unwelcome in a few places, but I think that had a lot to do with the fact that the locals didn't seem to want visitors at all because of covid fears. I only bother to add these comments because I think it helps if you have the correct expectations, not to speak negatively about the locals. We travel a lot and always try to respect the locals and their way of life. We still had a fabulous time and wouldn't have done a thing differently!!
Aloha!