This was the year of our birth! And it was a messy birth! The land was a polluted junkyard. Rusting machinery and vehicles were strewn everywhere and often covered by jungle vegetation. The more we cleared, the more junk we saw. After 7 truckloads of trash from the crater and removing 18 junk vehicles, we began to change it slowly over to a more gentle ecofriendly place! And we ended the year with a wedding!
The day we purchased the property
The way the land looked before it was Hedonisia!
The previous owner’s left behind opala.
Our driveway to paradise in its first iteration
More opala from the previous owner!
We cleaned up trash like this to create an island paradise!
The lower level of the junkyard that became Hedonisia
Teepee Toilet Landscape
We would eventually turn this garbage trail left by the previous owner into a walkable path into the crater
The path into our jungle hideaway when we first moved in
The Pre-Mural Barn Entrance
Structures yet to come: The bathroom, recycling area, smoking temple, compost area and Bamboo Hut.
Cars left behind by the previous owner
Jungle Cottage in Its Original State
Junk left on the lanai by the original owner
Jungle Cottage, perched on the edge of our very own black lava rock crater!
The side of the crater before we built it up
We inherited these items on the lanai, some of which we still use today!
That’s our current chicken coop to the right
Our jungle gym the first year we lived in Jungle Cottage
View of Yoga Barn from Ocean View
The Yoga Barn before it had the Haka Hou Mana Mana
Missing: the bathroom, Smoking Temple, and toolshed
Our Yoga Barn before we painted it!
The first structure we built on the property
The Jungle Cottage Office, with Althea in the doorway
We built our first shower on the side of what would become Yoga Barn
Barn Tents; Original Community Lodgings!
Our first accommodation, with some pieces of junk we weren’t able to move yet
The heart of the community today was part of the driveway of yesterday
From Bamboo Hut, looking towards Hinalo St.
Mojo’s father playing the tabla drums in front of the Jungle Cottage.
Walk like a Mogyptian!
Putting da lime in da coconut
Leah in her wedding dress in front of Yoga Barn
Leah, Althea and Mojo on the wedding day
Someone waving from down in Puka
The earliest trail into puka
Clay climbing out of puka on Hedonisia
Althea, Leah and Mojo on their wedding day
Our former neighbors across the street
The Yoga Barn on the wedding way
Moving bamboo in the early days of Hedonisia
Mojo and Leah on their wedding day
Mojo and Leah’s wedding vows
Althea, Leah and Mojo
Leah, Mojo and Clay on the wedding day.
Mojo, Althea and Leah in the front of Hedonisia
Mojo and Leah on their wedding day
Mojo and Leah in front of Hedonisia with the wedding retinue’s cars parked behind
Mojo smiles as Leah and Adil share a moment
The young Punatic couple with the father of the groom
The bride and father of the groom outside the newlyweds’ home
Leah and Mojo perform a traditional wedding walk
The wedding couple and best friends
Mojo and Leah’s wedding kiss
Wedding retinue gathered for ceremony
Mojo helping build Bamboo Hut
The site that would become Hedonisia’s recycling zone
Hawaiian pig in Hedonisia’s driveway
Mojo talking to the original owner
Looking towards the street from within the Hedonisia property.
The original state of puka when Hedonisia was bought
View to the hill where we built Kahuna Cabin at Hedonisia
The site for Kahuna Cabin before construction
Leah near the edge of the crater by Jungle Cottage
Downtown Hilo with baby Althea
Mojo posing outside Jungle Cottage near the crater
The Yoga Barn at Hedonisia before we made it green with plants
Mojo’s Ford F150 in the driveway at Hedonisia
The original site for the eco toilet at Hedonisia
The original site for the eco toilet at Hedonisia
Yoga Barn with crater in the background
Construction of the frame of Bamboo Hut
The original site of Bamboo Hut
Althea & Clay during construction of Bamboo Hut
Young Althea working on the property in the early days
Althea playing with a broom on her parents’ Hawaiian paradise
Mojo and Althea relaxing outside Jungle Cottage
Mojo with Althea at the corner of Hinalo and Pohoiki in 2004
Our dirty Jungle Cottage that we transformed into a studio in paradise
The original chicken coop outside of Jungle Cottage
The Jungle Cottage Office, with Althea in the doorway
View of Jungle Cottage from the street
Jungle Cottage with its chicken coop from the early days
Trash in the driveway left by the former owner
The father of the bride inspects the volcanic crater!
Jungle Cottage with the crater slope behind it
Leah and her family pose outside Jungle Cottage
Hedo Crater Side View
Driveway at Hedonisia
Althea playing in the property driveway
Old machinery left around the property outside of Bamboo Hut