Kauai mud, rainbows and rope swings

Well, this is the final post of the Hawai'ian leg of our travels. We're sitting in Vancouver airport feeling very jet lagged, after a day braving the freezing cold city (we only had light jumpers!) to kill 11 hours inbetween flight connections back to London. It'll be another 16 hours before we are home yet, ouch! It's a sad day, as Hawai'i has come to feel a lot like home over the past six weeks. However, our experiences over the final few days were up there with the best of the whole trip so far, so we've gone out on a high!

We took a very scenic drive up to Waimea Canyon in the west part of the island. We ascended from sea level very quickly up to 4,000ft and stopped at a few lookouts on the way to check out the views across the canyon. Every stop seemed to give a better view than the last, with spectacular red cliffs and deep gulleys containing huge waterfalls and lush green forests visible as far as the eye could see. As we climbed further the clouds descended and it started to rain. We were a bit disappointed as the views disappeared, but then, unexpectedly, we got an amazing bit of luck. Just as we arrived at the highest viewpoint the clouds lifted and the most awe-inspiring view was made even more spectacular by a huge rainbow that stretched right across the canyon. It only lasted a few minutes, but we were there for the whole event - wow!!! We then drove up to the Kalalau Lookout point further up the road. There we finally got to see the huge fluted cliffs of the Na Pali coast that we missed earlier in the week. Yet again, an amazing view and what would you know, but out came another picture perfect rainbow. Those tiki gods were smiling down on us that day and no mistake! We then decided, in typical fashion, that two stunning views were just not enough for one day, so we walked a 6.5 mile round trip (at a cracking pace!) from Koke'e State Park down through lush forests to the edge of the Na Pali cliffs for an even better view of the cliffs. We arrived late in the afternoon and the place was totally deserted. We walked out onto a little ridge, with 3,000 feet vertical drops on each side, and took in the views down across the jagged cliffs to the blue sea below. The light was perfect and lots of photos were taken. We also saw some crazy mountain goats who looked a lot more comfortable on the rocks than we were! All in all a fantastic day with, we both agreed, the best views we have ever seen.

Our penultimate day on Kaua'i we decided to hire some kayaks and paddle up the Wailua River. After a bit of shopping around we hired a double kayak from some VERY laid back guys (safety checks not their forte!) in an old Hawai'ian village. We packed up all our stuff in a dry bag and headed off with the sun shining and the winds light - perfect. We paddled around the corner and moored up near a river crossing, which led us to an extremely muddy trail (we're getting used to all this mud, and this particular trail was making our boots and legs so filthy that we decided why the heck not just smear it on our faces too!). The trail led to 'Secret Falls'. Definitely false advertising on the name, as there were a million people there, all trying to get a waterfall shower. We were not keen for queuing in paradise, so we headed back and paddled further up the river. We moored up and had lunch on a deserted meadowbank by the river, then found a cool little rope swing and played about on that for ages (cue comedy whoops and falls!) with hardly another person in sight. Brilliant! We headed back via a little cave, called 'Fern Grotto'. The giant tour companies who brought in the tourists wouldn't let us moor up at their jetty (pah!) so we tied up the kayak on the river bank and hacked our way, George of the Jungle-style, to the grotto. It was a nice little place, with huge dangling ferns and little waterfalls. We headed back just as a boatload of Japanese tourists arrived, all taking pictures of their shoes, the path, each other, etc; phewf!

Our final day was a bit of a crazy mixed bag. We headed out north to the Kilauea Point, which is a peninsular with an old lighthouse, which has been turned into a refuge area for sea birds. It was a fantastic place, with rare and beautiful birds swooping overhead and a pod of spinner dolphins playing in the striking blue sea under the cliffs - magical! We then drove down the road for lunch to a little bay called 'Secret Beach'. Again, 'secrets' seem to be difficult to keep on Kaua'i as the beach was quite busy. However, it was very pretty and had some great waves. We had no way of getting our hands on boards, so we watched the locals do their thing. The place seemed to be a hotbed for local surfing talent. It was great to watch and we spent a good few hours taking photos and generally chilling in the sun. We then drove back south to spend the evening in a little town called Hanapepe. The town was definitely a bit odd and eccentric. It seemed that time had stood still there and people were living back in the early 20th Century. Lots of art galleries and craft shops, all of whom seemed more interested in giving away free food and allowing local musicians to set up in their buildings and play impromptu sets! We wandered around as the sun set, browsing in a cluttered bookstore, deserted apart from a local writer there to do a book signing(!), listening to recited Christmas poetry, enduring some seriously out of tune guitar duets and watching some old Hawaiian puppeteer throw an oversized feather chicken around a stage. All in all a very strange but enjoyable last evening to our trip, finished off in style with some very tasty Thai coconut soup from our local town.

And that is it for Hawai'i! We hit the road again in mid January. Until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for reading our blog!