Lava spewing from a volcano has been creeping towards Jack Thompson's Hawaiian home for years.

He's the last of nearly 200 people who once lived in the Royal Gardens district of the Big Island.

Now the molten lava has crept too close for comfort and Thompson says he's ready to admit defeat.

SOUNDBITE: Jack Thompson saying (English):

"I'm leaving almost everything because I figured a long time ago it was already donated to the mountain whatever happens. I'm just taking odds and ends."

The huge lava flow stopped right behind Thompson's home after he built it here in 1983.

Over more than a quarter of a century the lava's been slowly gobbling up land.

The road's gone...helicopters are the only way in or out.

Thomson says in some ways he'll be glad to go.

SOUNDBITE: Jack Thompson saying (English):

"A little bit of regret, a little bit of sorrow, a little bit of relief. I've been packing in here for years, maybe I won't have to do that any more. I'll do something else."

How much longer Thompson's house will survive is anyone's guess but it looks more like days than weeks.

Paul Chapman, Reuters