5 Stars for Axel and Michelle and their boys--the hosts are friendly, kind, generous and helpful. Perfect hosts.
4 Stars for the waterfall which is great, but gets a point off because you had to walk over partially submerged rocks in the creek to get to it--not a problem for me but it was super hard for my four year old--he needed lots of assistance, and out of the question for my mother-in-law--who is generally a good walker.
4 Stars for the animals: sheep, goats, chickens, turkey, and cows. You can get close and feed some of the animals which was super fun for us, but 1 point off because the chickens poop everywhere outside your door but Michelle said that they are going to address that problem soon.
4: Location is convenient to Hilo and surrounding areas.
1 Star for the noise. It's is INSANELY NOISY from the upper floor. Every sound from above is amplified into the apartment from above and it often sounds like a football match is being played over your head. I thought I would, unlike other reviewers--have better luck, but it happened every day we were there, especially in the mornings and the evenings, often for more than an hour at a time. It's a result of a very active family (super high energy boys and I think the dogs are involved) and home builders who had no idea how to build or were building on the cheap (or both). (During 30 years of apartment dwelling in New York City, I have never heard anything remotely comparable.) Even my wife, who is generally not sensitive to noise pollution was upset by this. Ear plugs and noise cancelling headphones did not solve the problem.
1 Star for the view from the main room which is kinda dark--2 windows were fogged up and they overlook a car park on one side and trees on the other, and so have no direct sunlight. I would often open the front doors for more light, but then flies would enter. On the bright side, there were very few mosquitoes while we were there:)
2 Stars for the lack of any outdoor space to sit and have coffee other than the driveway.