House Guide
Make yourself at home! Here’s everything you need to settle in, treat the place like your own, and leave it ready for the next friends. Mahalo for taking care of our home. 🌺
Wi-Fi
Fast gigabit internet, here for you — stream, work, scroll, whatevahs. 🤙
Trash
Just bag it tight in the side cans — our upstairs renter handles pickup day, so you don’t have to think about it.
Reach Us
You’ve already got our numbers — text or call anytime, ʻohana. 🤙
A few easy ones 🤙
- 🚪 Keep the screen doors and window screens closed — keeps the bugs (and cute geckos) out.
- 🛠️ Tell us right away about any damage or insect problems.
- 💨 Heading home? Turn off the A/Cs & fans, close all windows, and cover the back lanai couch (especially in the rainy season).
- 🥡 Double-bag compostable food into trash bags before it goes in the can.
- 🍳 Cooking oil goes in the trash, never down the drain.
- 🚽 Flush only toilet paper — no paper towels, wipes, or “flushables.”
Tidy up for the next friends
There’s no cleaning crew here — we tidy for each other, ʻohana style. Run out of time on something? Just let us know and we’ll tell the next person what to expect.
- 🧹 Mop or Swiffer the floors.
- 🪟 Clean all the glass tables, and vacuum the window sills (window-sill vac is plugged in by the brown chair).
- 🚿 Fully clean the bathrooms.
- 🛏️ Strip the beds, wash & dry the sheets, and remake them — or fold the clean sheets so the next guest knows they’re fresh.
- 🧺 Wash & dry any laundry; put it away or leave it in the dryer.
- 🍽️ Run a final dishwasher load — make sure it actually starts (red light on the floor).
- 🧊 Clean the fridge shelves & drawers; toss perishables into the outside cans (double-bagged). Condiments can stay.
- 🗑️ All other trash into the side cans — double-bag, tie tight, lids closed. Our upstairs renter takes them out on garbage day.
- 🏖️ Beach toys & chairs back in the garage bins and shelves.
- 🛋️ Cover the back lanai couch.
- 🪟 Close all the windows — we can’t stress this enough (the wind!).
- 📷 Plug back in any camera you unplugged.
- 🤖 Push the Roomba “clean” button on your way out.
- 🔓 Leave the kitchen→garage door unlocked.
- 🔒 Lock the outside garage door and the back lanai door.
- 💬 Text us with any questions — and have a great flight home!
The good-to-knows
The Big Island & our street
🌋 Two sister volcanoes
The Big Island was formed by two sisters. Mauna Kea (“White Mountain”) is the volcano this house is built on — dormant now, and the highest point in Hawaiʻi at ~13,800 ft. Mauna Loa (“Long Mountain”), southeast of Kona, is the little sister that’s still active. Visit Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park to see the crater and the lava glow at night.
🐓 Why it’s called Awamoa
Our cul-de-sac’s name is two words. ʻAwa means a port, cove, or the sound of a rough river flowing; Moa means chicken — the red jungle fowl. The story goes that a stream runs through a lava tube beneath Waikoloa Village all the way down to the coast. Builders found funky chickens surviving out in the lava off that freshwater spring, and named the street Awamoa — “the place where they found chickens living on the ʻawa from the river.”
Fun thing: swimming at Mauʻumae, Beach 69, Puako, or A-Bay, those cold currents you feel in the warm water are that same Waikoloa River surfacing as springs under the sand.
🌺 Our lanais & gardens
Enjoy the front garden and front lanai — we’ve spent countless hours out there with the fountain (fill it with the garden hose if you like; the plug’s right behind it under a white tile). Out back you’ll find birds of paradise and native plants. Set the back lanai table for a sunset dinner or morning coffee (cushions are in the treasure chest in the TV room). On a clear day you’ll catch Maui to the northwest with a great sunset in season, the Kohala mountain range to the north and northeast with clouds wrapping around it — and due north, slightly west, you can spot one of the observatories.
🍌 Apple bananas in the yard
The yard has apple banana trees — sweeter and tangier than the usual Cavendish, firmer and creamier, and a perfect snack size. Careful if you pick any: the black sap stains everything. Look up how to harvest and hang them, or just pluck one and let it ripen on the counter. None ready? You’ll find them at a farmers market.
🍃 Enjoying the trade winds
Open the windows and doors and run the ceiling fans for an evening cool-down or a morning warm-up — we hope you learn to love the breeze. Just know more wind means more dust (especially with construction out back), so close the windows when you leave in case a storm or strong trades roll in. On calm days, the A/C’s there: two remotes (living room + bedroom), and the small guest room has a window unit that does the job with everything closed up.
Enjoy your stay!! 🌴