After an easy flight we arrived in Kauai, the most northerly Hawaiian island, just in time for lunch. We picked up our rental Jeep Wrangler and headed to Waimea to Porky's food truck for pulled pork on a hot dog and pulled pork in a grilled cheese sandwich. We then collected the key for the cabin that would be our home for the next two nights and stocked up on provisions where we discovered the cost of island living - a loaf of bread cost $8!
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| Hot dog with pulled pork |
Our cabin was in Koke'e State Park which is home to Waimea Canyon and many different hiking trails. As we headed up to the park the sky started to darken over the canyon whilst Waimea and the coast remained in sunshine. As we reached the top of the canyon it started to rain and we passed a view point just in time to see a rainbow. However, the clouds meant we would have to return to the canyon another time for better views.
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| Our cabin |
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| Somewhere over the rainbow... |
Just a few miles on the rain stopped and the sun reappeared so we drove along to the Kalalau and Pu'u o Kila view points to admire the clifftop views. A sign warned us that we were at "one of the wettest spots on earth". Even though the sky was blue there was quite a bit of cloud, but the views were still impressive with the lush green vegetation rolling into the turquoise, clear ocean. We then headed off to find our cabin which was just a short drive away.
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| Partial views with some clouds |
After a short nap (we had four beds to choose from) the weather had improved and we decided to head back to the view points to watch the sunset. The clouds had cleared and the views were beautiful from the Pu'u o Kila view point which was now quiet with all the other tourists having left the park area, probably to return to the coastal towns and resorts as there were only a few cabins in the park. The Pihea trail, a ridge path with views on both sides, which we could barely see on our previous visit was clear and we walked down and found an excellent view point. After taking lots of sunset photos and just as the sun had gone behind the cliff Nick walked up behind me, wrapped his arms around me and asked me to marry him! After a short pause to make sure I had heard him correctly I said yes! We headed back to our cabin (which had no wifi or cell reception) and toasted with orange juice and celebrated with poke, rice and chocolate chip cookies for dinner.
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| The stunning view from the proposal location |
The next morning we were up early and set off to hike the Awa'Awapuhi trail which ended on a cliff edge overlooking the Na'Pali Coast. The trail started in a forest heading downhill and at times was quite treacherous as it was muddy and slippery under foot. If the path had been wider it would have been easier to sit on plastic bags to slide down! As we got further down and there were occasional breaks in the trees we found our views were totally obscured by clouds, however we carried on. As we reached the end of the trail at the cliff front the clouds persisted. We decided to stop and have a quick snack and see if the clouds cleared. We also ventured down beyond the end of the path to the unofficial path - the reviews online all said the views made it worth a careful walk down! As we sat there the clouds began to clear and the beautiful view with the elaborately shaped cliffs and turquoise water revealed itself for about 15 minutes before the clouds started to close in again. The hike back uphill was easier and quicker than the slippery downhill outbound journey! We headed back to the cabin for a relaxing afternoon followed by an interesting dinner of tuna stir fry saved only by some peanut butter!
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| Did I make the right decision?! |
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| The view once the clouds had cleared |
The next day was day 150 of our travels! We packed up the cabin, took some final photos of the canyon and headed to the west coast and Pahale State Park. We had read a couple of reviews which warned about the 4 mile unpaved road to reach the beach. We were grateful for our jeep as we drove down the road and passed a couple of cars gingerly making their way along. The view on arrival of the golden sanded, sweeping beach with just a few people on it made the bumpy drive worthwhile!
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| Waimea Canyon |
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| A beautiful beach after our bumpy ride |
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| Our jeep and views without the roof |
After surviving the return journey on the bumpy road we headed to Kapaa on the east coast. We had a quick sushi stop on the way at a restaurant where we ordered via a tablet and our food was delivered to the table by a bullet train. More importantly, it was our first opportunity to try spam musubi - a popular Hawaian snack made with a block of spam on top of rice wrapped in nori (Japanese seaweed). The spam is soaked in teriyaki then grilled and tasted better than it sounds! We checked into a studio apartment that had an excellent sea view from the balcony. Our day ended with a trip to the local
Street Burger for delicious burgers so big I could barely open my mouth wide enough to eat them and to celebrate the end of day 150 we had a peanut butter s'more in a glass - chocolate mousse, peanut butter crumble with a foamy marshmallow topping that had been lightly toasted - it was delicious!
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The view from our balcony
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| This dessert was so good it deserves a photo in the blog! |
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The next day started with morning yoga on the beach. Nick was relieved to discover he wasn't the only man in the session. The view and the sea breeze was beautiful, but we missed Lisa our teacher in Kathmandu. We then tried to swim in the sea, but quickly retreated to the swimming pool when we discovered how much coral there was in the area.
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| Relaxing yoga in preparation for the helicopter flight |
Mid afternoon we headed to the airport for a helicopter tour of the island. Nick was particularly excited about his first flight in a helicopter, as an anxious flyer I was a little more wary! We were weighed on arrival (by standing on a mat which subtly disguised the underfloor scales), watched a safety video and were allocated seats in a helicopter which we would share with four other passengers. Despite my nerves the soothing voice or our pilot and the amazing views soon took over as we spent nearly an hour flying over the island and along the coast. Only a small percentage of the island can be reached by car (there is basically a road that runs three quarters of the way around the island and then has some roads running off it towards the coast) so the helicopter opened up the rest of the island. We flew along the coast, over mountains, over and into the canyon, into an extinct volcano and over the lush green forests in the middle of the island. We landed smoothly and Nick had a huge grin on his face and I'm sure would have gone around again if he could have!
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| I have my game face on! |
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| That's better! |
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| Our helicopter - ask Nick for any technical details! |
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| Just a sample of the many views |
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| Many areas are not accessible by car |
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| The beautiful coastline from a new angle |
We spent the evening in Hanapepe which entices locals and tourists to the small town on Friday nights with shops (including an excellent bookshop) & galleries opening late, live music and an array of food trucks. We explored all the options with Nick opting for lau lau - a traditional local dish of pork, sweet potato and taro wrapped in ti leaves and steamed. It was delicious! I felt I should try a local dish as well and opted for loco moco - rice topped with a hamburger, gravy, onions and scrambled egg. Nick definitely made the better choice!
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| Hanapepe food & entertainment |
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| Flowers of Hanapepe |
We spent our final full day on Kauai exploring the north shore, starting with a highly competitive game of pitch and putt which included water features and facts about Hawaiian history. I can't quite remember which of us won...
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| We're not competitive! |
Having built up an appetite we headed to the small town of Kilauea to a small fish shop for a delicious lunch of an ahi wrap and more poke before moving on to the local bakery for some cherry pie. Afterwards, we drove on to the local lighthouse which was celebrating its birthday so we had free entry.
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| Happy birthday! |
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| View from the lighthouse peninsula |
We then continued further round the coast passing large and small beaches to the end of the road to Ke'e beach. The small beach was protected by a coral barrier which created a natural, calm swimming pool. The water was so clear you could look down and see fish swimming around. We spent a leisurely few hours swimming and reading on the beach. On the way home we had time to call into Hanalei Bay, a huge sweeping bay with beautiful green hills behind it. Lots of boats were heading out for sunset views of the bay and the Na'pali coast. After a quick shower back at the apartment we headed out to
JO2 for a delicious meal of locally produced ingredients at an inconspicuous looking restaurant in a small parade of shops.
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| Hanalei Bay |
The next day involved another short flight back to Honolulu and our final official day of our trip! When we arrived at the airport we headed to the taxis line and could see from a distance that the taxis at the front of the line was a white stretched limo. We laughed at the idea of getting a limo to the Holiday Inn Express. We were the first to reach the line and found ourselves driving off in the limo, all for the normal taxis price. We celebrated the final night of our trip with dinner at
Azure on Waikiki beach with a beautiful table on the beach just a stone's throw away from the ocean. We had a delicious meal of beetroot and goats cheese salad, redfish and opah (moonfish) and a mocha crunch cake with some New Zealand wine, to celebrate where the journey really started, followed by a moonlit walk along the beach and a paddle in the sea.
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| Waikiki Beach on our last night |
The final morning was spent in a launderette to make sure we had clean clothes for the US leg of our trip (LA, Denver, Ohio and Chicago) and we squeezed in a final portion of poke for lunch. After over 150 days of travelling it was with mixed emotions that we headed to the airport to fly to LA. We were sad to be at the end of our travels because we had such an amazing time, saw so much and met so many wonderful people. However, we were looking forward to staying in one place for more than 4 nights (the longest we stayed in one place the entire trip) and being able to fully unpack our backpacks.
- Jess
