Puna/hilo Friends: This Is For Those Who Live In/will Be Moving To This Area (Hawaiian Acres: trip)

[Eh It's Me]

cynmkolohe hapu'u plant where no get mourning sun lots of water

my folks house get Waiakea area below Komohana St when plant in the 70 , from Volcano still growing

[leilaniguy]

Hilo is on and above Hilo Bay, the largest port on the island, county seat. It is an old town with many historic buildings, many clustered above bayfront. The bayfront has several restaurants, galleries and antique shops and of course the Hilo farmers market, where just about anything grown on the island can be found, always draws a big crowd. Much of the bayfront area is vacant land, parks and ballfields because the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 devestated the downtown and it was decided not to rebuild in such a risky area. Most of the newer retail stores have been built along the Volcano highway in the Puainako district on higher ground. Farther up, behind downtown it is all residential and very suburban, sprawled out. Hilo is very hilly. At the north end of downtown is the Wailuku river, with several large falls inside the city. There is a university and a community college. By the way Hilo is not really a city. It is not incorporated. I can't think of a comparable town on the mainland.

[GirlinAZ]

Are there any places of employement worth mentioning? For example,in the Phoenix area we have a lot of companies located here and opportunites for employment are pretty good. I know this is apples and oranges, but if I may ask, what it is you do for a living, Lelaniguy? Do you have to communte to Hilo, and if so, what for? I guess bottom line question is....how hard is it to become employed and what are some of the fields of work that are most sought? (I am assuming healthcare, but other than that) Thanks again. JUlie

[greeneyes666]

Hello all. I just found this forum today, and it's quite interesting. I've been living in Puna since Nov '99. Currently I own (and reside in) a house in Hawaiian Beaches in Pahoa. Prior to moving here, I lived in the San Francisco Bay area (SF, Oakland, and Berkely), Orange County CA, Denver, Tulsa, and the Chicago suburbs. I can honestly say, there is no where I would rather live than the east side of the Big Island.

Random thoughts on living in Hawaii (Puna especially):
1 - If you've never lived somewhere where you were an ethnic minority, you are in for an education. The diversity is one of the best parts of living here.
2 - Yes, it does rain. A lot. In Nov 2000 we had over 5 feet of rain. While that was extreme, very few days go by without any rain at all. On the other hand, you also have sunshine almost every day. Which also means lots of rainbows.
3 - leilaniguy was spot-on; this is not the place for everyone. Many people who move here from the mainland end up leaving within a couple years. If you can tolerate the damp, centipedes, roaches, coqui frogs, high cost of living, relatively few high-paying jobs, and being a minority, it might be for you.

[leilaniguy]

I'm semi-retired, so I don't commute, but traffic is becoming a serious issue in Puna, since most jobs (and stores) are in Hilo and the highway is woefully inadequate for the population boom that is happening. I'm pretty sure the biggest employer on the island is the govt. federal, state, county, followed by tourism.

[GirlinAZ]

Originally Posted by greeneyes666

Hello all. I just found this forum today, and it's quite interesting. I've been living in Puna since Nov '99. Currently I own (and reside in) a house in Hawaiian Beaches in Pahoa. Prior to moving here, I lived in the San Francisco Bay area (SF, Oakland, and Berkely), Orange County CA, Denver, Tulsa, and the Chicago suburbs. I can honestly say, there is no where I would rather live than the east side of the Big Island.

Random thoughts on living in Hawaii (Puna especially):
1 - If you've never lived somewhere where you were an ethnic minority, you are in for an education. The diversity is one of the best parts of living here.
2 - Yes, it does rain. A lot. In Nov 2000 we had over 5 feet of rain. While that was extreme, very few days go by without any rain at all. On the other hand, you also have sunshine almost every day. Which also means lots of rainbows.
3 - leilaniguy was spot-on; this is not the place for everyone. Many people who move here from the mainland end up leaving within a couple years. If you can tolerate the damp, centipedes, roaches, coqui frogs, high cost of living, relatively few high-paying jobs, and being a minority, it might be for you.

Thanks for saying hello. I have lived in Chicago as well as Phoenix and Tucson. I hate extremes of temperature and cannot take it much more. I would gladly deal with the above to not have to deal with 117 degrees or wind chill of -20.
Keep in touch in this group because I would like to have a "hello, how are you doing" style here. I would really like this thread to be a place where friends of the Puna area- become friends. Julie

[GirlinAZ]

Originally Posted by leilaniguy

I'm semi-retired, so I don't commute, but traffic is becoming a serious issue in Puna, since most jobs (and stores) are in Hilo and the highway is woefully inadequate for the population boom that is happening. I'm pretty sure the biggest employer on the island is the govt. federal, state, county, followed by tourism.

How nice to be able to work in the area. Do people take the bus into town? Oh, I also wanted to ask you what homeowners insurance company you use? You are in a lava 1 zone, right? Do people sometimes go without insurance because they cannot afford it? Is it true that the state of Hawaii has its own insurance company? Is there a website to go to if so? Thanks again, and have a happy fourth of July! Julie

[GirlinAZ]

Happy 4th of July to everyone! And for those of you wondering: we are in a heat advisory, which means we will be over 115 for most of this week. However, strangely enough, we seem to be having a forecast of rain this weekend-which cools things down a bit. I cannot wait since I cannot recall the last rain we have had. We will be out at the pool tomorrow-with tons of sunscreen and water. Hope you all have a great day yourselves!

[cynmkolohe]

starbulletin.com | Business | /2007/04/22/
Puna Residents Face Volcano, Infrastructure Challenges

Check out this April article for insight into insurance issues in Puna...

As for employment...to get an idea of what is out there, scan the classifieds in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald :: Hilo, Hawaii or the West Hawaii Today - Classifieds > Employment (keep in mind that lots of folks commute to the resort areas or Kona for work), and check local sites such as Employment Opportunities - Department of Human Resources or KamaainaJobs.com: Neighbor Island Jobs and Careers - search (While teaching, I also worked during summers through a temp agency, but that was on Oahu...I haven't explored this on the Big Island, but there are agencies here...) Is there a particular field of interest for you? Hope this helps...

[GirlinAZ]

Originally Posted by cynmkolohe

starbulletin.com | Business | /2007/04/22/
Puna Residents Face Volcano, Infrastructure Challenges

Check out this April article for insight into insurance issues in Puna...

As for employment...to get an idea of what is out there, scan the classifieds in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald :: Hilo, Hawaii or the West Hawaii Today - Classifieds > Employment (keep in mind that lots of folks commute to the resort areas or Kona for work), and check local sites such as Employment Opportunities - Department of Human Resources or KamaainaJobs.com: Neighbor Island Jobs and Careers - search (While teaching, I also worked during summers through a temp agency, but that was on Oahu...I haven't explored this on the Big Island, but there are agencies here...) Is there a particular field of interest for you? Hope this helps...

I thought I was alone in the late night respect. Although your hours are a bit more respectable than mine being 3 hours ahead of you AT ALL TIMES.
Simple tidbit of trivia for those who enjoy it-AZ and HI are the only 2 full states that NEVER change their clocks for daylite savings and therefore we are always 3 hours apart no matter what. (I say full as there are PARTS of Indiana that also do not change their clocks-nice and confusing that way I would think).
Anyway, back to the topic. Thanks for your helpful links, I will surely check them out. Ideally, I would love to work from home. I want to someday be able to build a rental unit onto the property and use that as a partial help for bills, and then have some kind of an online way of making money(which is what I am working on here where the job market is very good). Those things, combined with living as far off of the grid as I can will hopefully lead to a better life for me as it is very stressful right now. Hope you have a wonderful holiday with your friends and family-or just a peaceful one by yourself on the water-whatever makes you the happiest. Julie