Kaua'i - The Garden Isle

We have moved on to Kaua'i for the final leg of our trip. The island is incredibly scenic, and it's no wonder it is nicknamed 'The Garden Island.' However, our first two days didn't allow us much opportunity to make the best of Kaua'i. The weather closed in again, with howling winds and torrential rainstorms, and with all our planned things to do being outdoors we were suddenly a bit stumped on what to do! Our plan was to camp at a range of sites around the island during our 9 day stay here, but we decided (after a cold showers, wet clothes, and a sleepless night in our tent on a beach with the pegs being blown up in the gale) that a solid roof over our head would be a better idea!

We're now staying in a fantastic little bunkhouse in the Sleeping Giant mountains near the coastal town of Kapa'a. The soft warm bed and hot outdoor shower has made the rest of our trip MUCH more enjoyable! In fact Rach can't stop raving about the outdoor hot shower; you can look up and see the clouds and the stars and the moon, and its surrounded by hibiscus flowers - wowee! The B&B owners house is completely covered in rather impressive Christmas lights too, which makes it easy to spot the place when driving back at night!

So far, despite the weather, we've crammed a lot in (as per usual).

On one of the heavy rain days we did decide to brave a walk up the Sleeping Giant mountains behind our little B&B. The walk turned into more of a mud scramble, with us clinging onto trees and our feet sliding downhill beneath us! Cue lots of squealing and trying to walk in odd ways to keep us from sliding downhill. Making it to the top was quite an achievement!

The main event for Kaua'i was to hike the world-famous Kalalau trail, which runs 11 miles along the rugged north east Na Pali coast. We had bought the camping permit for our night at the far end of the trail, and so set off in good spirits and very well prepared (we had enough food for about a week!) with our heavy backpacks and tent. However, disaster struck two miles in, at Hanakapai'ia Beach, when we found out the trail was closed (!!!!!!) for the remaining distance due to the heavy weather and serious flooding. Gutted! (And rather peeved they hadn't signed this at the beginning of the trail....) We weren't going to let that stop us having a great day though, so instead we hiked the four mile round trip up the very scenic nearby valley, all the while wading waist-high through gushing streams and clambering over fallen trees and slipping in the deep mud. It was heavy going, but the massive fluted cliffs above (the scene of Jurassic Park) kept us inspired. It was worth the walk as we emerged at the top to a 300 foot high waterfall - breathtaking. We headed back again via Hanakapa'ia Beach (a bay which has, to date, claimed 87 tourists lives through the strong rip current) and back to the car.... 8 miles of mud sliding and streams in total :-) A great trip, even if we did miss out on the whole trail!

The weather picked up after the weekend, so we took the opportunity to have a pretty extreme water-based day. The wind and swell was looking good so we headed down to Nawiliwili (great name!) to Kalapaki Beach, well known as a great longboarding spot on Kaua'i. The waves were about 3 feet and perfect; a breakwater took most of the chop out of the incoming swell. We got some 10' boards and headed out. Gaz perfected his nose riding whilst Rach, with a bit of help from a local woman longboarder, scored some sweet, long waves. She also scored some excellent 'washing machine' moves when the big sets came in! Grinning from ear to ear we headed onwards to Kipu Falls. The spot is essentially a big waterfall where locals jump and rope swing into the pool below. We felt a bit like intruders when we turned up, but the local Hawai'ians were pretty friendly. We spent a great couple of hours climbing and jumping from the top of the 20' waterfall, we found the best tactic was to not linger too long at the edge before we got scared! Gaz also swung out on the huge rope swing and flew off into the pool from about the same height. We also watched the locals belly flop from surrounding trees (crazy stuff), and Rach tried, unsuccessfully, to get an American tourist , who had spent 3 hours psyching himself up, to follow her in jumping from the edge of the waterfall cliff!

We hired some mountain bikes yesterday and set off from Kapa'a to cycle the 18 mile round trip to Anahola. By now the weather had changed from gloomy and windy to 85 degree sunshine and a light breeze. We cycled the coastal path, watching the kiteboarders do their thing, before heading off road on some awesome little red dirt tracks. We dodged abandoned cars and jumped muddy ditches, taking in some completely deserted little beaches along the way, before emerging in the town of Anahola. We had some lunch on the huge, sweeping beach before heading back via a smoothie bar. On our return, Gaz got the urge to buy a ukulele, so we headed to the local music shop and he bartered a good deal with the owner on a tenor uke. All in all a good day!