Andrew and his wife, Sam, were great and accommodating with anything me or my boyfriend needed. Hauula is much more rural than Waikiki so that was a nice contrast to the busy Waikiki city area. We woke up every morning and opened the curtain to watch the view from our bedroom which was refreshing to look at. Coconut trees and Kualoa mountains in the background. We also saw a cat and neighbor chickens walking around too. We loved the access to the patio deck from inside our bedroom and felt great to breath in the fresh air. You can also see the ocean from the deck!
Initially when we were finding the place we had missed the house since the sun had already set and it was getting dark. I would advise to come earlier when the sun is still out for better visibility as their house sits on the corner of the highway, so it's easy to miss if you're not paying attention. They have a big property so parking was easy. We didn't know that there was a big flight of stairs to the house, and I did not want to lug my big and heavy suitcase up the flight of stairs (especially after a long day of activities prior) so I had to downsize what I needed into a bag that I could carry up the stairs. Then inside you'll have to go up another flight of stairs to the bedroom to please keep this in mind in case you too have a very large suitcase.
On the first night I had showered and noticed a baby gecko in the shower with me so that took me by surprise! But they live in a rural area so it made sense, and I wasn't too squeemesh about it.
Guest bedroom was clean but their house overall wasn't the cleanest but what do you expect when they are raising kids? So that's something to keep in mind. We mostly stayed in our room at night and were out most of the day. We stayed here mainly because we were visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center (only a 5-10 min drive) which was took up the entire day and night. We made the right decision to stay at Andrew's place because it would have taken us an hour to get back to Waikiki and that's something I don't want to do after spending an entire day at PCC then having to drive an hour back at night.
Luckily there were plenty of bath towels and beach towels for use. We were so relieved when we could use their beach towels to the beach because during our entire trip we had forgotten to pack beach towels so it felt amazing to have a beach towel. We explored Malekahana Beach which was 10 minutes away from their house. We loved this beach and felt like it was filmed from the movies. Very quiet and non crowded beach but the waves are much stronger on this side of the island and not as beginner friendly as Waikiki beach but we enjoyed playing in the water immensely.
Great things to explore while in the area are:
Giovanni's, Malekahana Beach, Kahuku Sugar Mill, Ted's bakery (do not miss the Haupia Pie), and Polynesian Cultural Center. We would love to explore more beaches out there next time. It's also only 20 min from the famous Waiahole Poi Factory and Kualoa Ranch.