Aloha

From six layers of clothes to one (or none)... From seven degrees to 27 degrees... My skin colour in a swimsuit giving new meaning to the word 'glacial'...

I'm sitting in the open air cafe here at Kalani retreat centre. There's a sharing going on just nearby, the frogs are chirping like hundreds of birds, it's warm and steamy. We played volleyball in the tropical rain this evening then sat in the hot tub as darkness fell. Having eaten a massive lunch in the communal dining room, had to skip dinner.

Andi and I have met up - it's so lovely to see her - and we're enjoying a real life holiday - walks, swims, hot tub, lovely food and tropical warmth and rain. We've walked across the floor of a steaming volcano, stood on a black sand beach and seen so much lava that I'm starting to dream of it. Not the fresh orange stuff, but the hard black bitumen-type of lava. It's a full-on landscape, in which entire villages get wiped out from time to time from lava flows. The roads close, the signs change, life goes on.

Yesterday we went up 9000 feet (3000 metres) towards the summit of the dormant volcano on this island where the world's biggest and best (as the guide reminded us several times) observatories are located. Had to break out the warm clothes again as it was very chilly up so high, but beautiful landscape and brilliant stars.

I'm off for a bit more reading and relaxing. Plenty of time yet to worry about the great white shark attack in Byron Bay that I've just heard about (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22587290-2,00.html?from=mostpop) and the fact that my office has been flooded. Does anyone know that woman? She sounds like a powerhouse.

Love Jesse xxx