Well here it is folks, our honeymoon is over :( We both had a blast in Kauai, and the last day was super nice weather and our flight didn't leave until 10:30 at night, so we headed to the beach to soak up some final rays. I also took a few photos around the house, enjoy the pictures!!
Tuesday 19 August 2008
Monday 18 August 2008
Day 8 - Helicopter ride!
Today was our helicopter tour of the island, and what an amazing experience it was. We had a great pilot, Christie didn't even freak out when we took off. The pictures are a fairly poor substitute for the experience, but I will show you them anyways. Sorry about the glare on them, I tried my best to keep it to a minimum.
After the helicopter ride, we did some kayaking up the Wailua river to a big waterfall. It was very crowded, and not Christie's favorite time. The river was boring, with some big boats on it and mainly just featureless, save the trees lining the banks. We rented a double kayak, which is basically the ultimate test for the strength of a relationship in this family, and we are still together afterwards, so we must be doing alright. Anyways, the last 3 pics are from the waterfall at the end, and yes I did swim underneath it, and it was awesome.
After the helicopter ride, we did some kayaking up the Wailua river to a big waterfall. It was very crowded, and not Christie's favorite time. The river was boring, with some big boats on it and mainly just featureless, save the trees lining the banks. We rented a double kayak, which is basically the ultimate test for the strength of a relationship in this family, and we are still together afterwards, so we must be doing alright. Anyways, the last 3 pics are from the waterfall at the end, and yes I did swim underneath it, and it was awesome.
Day 7 - Off roading again!
Today we did some more off roading to a short trail through the jungle that ended at a tiny little stream. On the way there, I accidentally blew a tire on the jeep :) The jack was so rusted in the back of it that I had to ask for some nice people to help get it unstuck. Thankfully, the jeep has a full size spare, so I was able to swap it on and we could 4 wheel our way back. It was a crazy road, lots of huge puddles, and it went through a couple of small rivers even. Exciting!
Anyways, the trail was only so-so. It was a nice hike, but real short and we found some humans at the little pool at the end, so that was too bad. Here are some pics, mainly of me changing the tire... Also the last picture is the gate at the trail head, and that is where the entrance to Jurassic Park was built for the movie.
Anyways, the trail was only so-so. It was a nice hike, but real short and we found some humans at the little pool at the end, so that was too bad. Here are some pics, mainly of me changing the tire... Also the last picture is the gate at the trail head, and that is where the entrance to Jurassic Park was built for the movie.
Saturday 9 August 2008
Day 6 - Kalalau Trail and the Na Pali Coast
Today we drove to the very end of the road on the north shore to hike along the Na Pali coast. This area is a long set of really big cliffs carved into the island's mountains by wave action eroding underneath and big shelfs of rock falling into the sea. Lots of movies have been filmed with these as the backdrop, so they might look familiar to some.
The trail up begins at a beach called Ke'e. It was pretty packed with people, so we kind of rushed on by the beginning to get away from all the humans. Sadly, the entire trail would be full of day hikers so we couldn't really get away from them at all. This trail is a 2 mile day hike which continues on as an 11 mile hike to a secluded beach that you can camp on (provided you have the permits). Of course,we didn't have the permits or the gear to camp so we did our 2 mile day hike to a very non-secluded beach filled with tourists.
The trail itself was pretty sloppy at times, as it had been raining a bit that morning. Ok, it rains every morning here and basically every day for like 5-10 minutes at a time, so the trail condition was no surprise.
Along the way we saw people doing it in flip flops and even a couple people were barefoot, mainly locals. It was a fairly challenging hike, although it was only a little over an hour each way. Along the way, the trail afforded some gorgeous views of the coast and the ocean.
On the way back I found this tree with its roots wrapped around a boulder and it reminded me of the facehuggers in Alien.
On the way down there was a pretty good view of the reef at the beach below.
The rest of the day we spent at the beach near our house, called Secret Beach, watching the surf roll in. Then we retreated to the hot tub to have a cocktail and watch the sun set over the trees.
Aloha from Kauai!
The trail up begins at a beach called Ke'e. It was pretty packed with people, so we kind of rushed on by the beginning to get away from all the humans. Sadly, the entire trail would be full of day hikers so we couldn't really get away from them at all. This trail is a 2 mile day hike which continues on as an 11 mile hike to a secluded beach that you can camp on (provided you have the permits). Of course,we didn't have the permits or the gear to camp so we did our 2 mile day hike to a very non-secluded beach filled with tourists.
The trail itself was pretty sloppy at times, as it had been raining a bit that morning. Ok, it rains every morning here and basically every day for like 5-10 minutes at a time, so the trail condition was no surprise.
Along the way we saw people doing it in flip flops and even a couple people were barefoot, mainly locals. It was a fairly challenging hike, although it was only a little over an hour each way. Along the way, the trail afforded some gorgeous views of the coast and the ocean.
On the way back I found this tree with its roots wrapped around a boulder and it reminded me of the facehuggers in Alien.
On the way down there was a pretty good view of the reef at the beach below.
The rest of the day we spent at the beach near our house, called Secret Beach, watching the surf roll in. Then we retreated to the hot tub to have a cocktail and watch the sun set over the trees.
Aloha from Kauai!
Friday 8 August 2008
Day 5 - Alakai Swamp Trail and Waimea Canyon
Today we got up a little late, and due to the sunburn, decided to drive to the west side of the island. Our house is on the north shore, but the road around the island does not connect due to the Na Pali cliffs being in the way. So, we drove ALL the way around the island to get to the far west side.
On the way, we stopped off at Wailua Falls, which is on the east shore, and you basically just drive up and hop out at the lookout point.
After the falls, we ate a little lunch at a nice little cafe in Hanapepe. Then we drove on up to the canyon, which is supposedly known as the grand canyon of the pacific, but there is some debate about the validity of Mark Twain actually saying that about the canyon. The drive up is fairly long, and our eventual goal was a dirt four wheel drive road to a trail through the Alakai swamp, which is the highest swamp in the world.
It took quite a while to find the unmarked dirt road to get to the trail head, and there were a few hikers looking at us like we were nuts for driving on what was obviously a horribly unmaintained road. We got a couple of hills that were really steep grades and they were super muddy. I was slipping around like crazy in the jeep and both of us were pretty close to breaking down out of fear for our lives. I finally popped the jeep into 4-low, which is a super low set of gears with a top speed of maybe 20 mph. It really helped going down the hills as you don't even need to use the brakes to keep slow down them. We passed two or three other SUV's who had realized that it was basically suicidal to continue driving and had parked to hike the rest of the way. Not me, not in my rental jeep. I kept driving, and it was a bad decision in retrospect. Words cannot impress upon you the fear and dread we felt while driving down this ridiculous "road". I gripped the wheel, got a hold of myself, and powered on through to the trail head, and we breathed a half sigh of relief, for the way back was sure to be worse.
We parked the jeep and started on the trail, which was super muddy and because its through a swamp, its basically water the whole way. Luckily, most of it had boardwalks installed to keep us out of the bog. The flora here was completely alien looking. Tons of ferns, and scrubby little trees all around, with just us and the boardwalks. Of course it was raining off and on the whole time on us, making us fear the drive back out even more.
There were some busted up telephone poles along the trail, and we read that when the japanese bombed pearl harbor, they were hastily put up to serve as a backup communication system to connect the south and north shores in case the japanese took Lihue on the east shore and severed the main lines.
Once we got to the top of the swamp, the rain started pouring really hard on us, and we decided to turn back before the end, which is supposed to be an impressive lookout over a valley on the north shore. We were basically surrounded by clouds anyways, so the lookout would have been looking into a cloud all around you. Once it started coming down, and we were completely enveloped by mist and fog, it felt like the dementors had moved in to take us. We felt like all happiness had left the world and it was just us at the top of this swamp in the middle of nowhere, with a life threatening drive out ahead of us. Intense. Luckily, on our way back down we saw some fellow hikers and the sun came out again to brighten our spirits somewhat, but the drive out loomed ahead of us.
Four wheeling out of there was really really scary again, but it went well. We never had any moments where we lost control at all, I just took it slow and kept it in 4-low when I needed to and we were fine. Really really scared, but fine.
On the way back home, we checked out spouting horn, which is a lava tube that shoots up a plume of water when the surf comes in. It was mildly interesting, but real crowded with annoying people.
Here is a slide show of all the pics, you can click it to view them larger.
On the way, we stopped off at Wailua Falls, which is on the east shore, and you basically just drive up and hop out at the lookout point.
After the falls, we ate a little lunch at a nice little cafe in Hanapepe. Then we drove on up to the canyon, which is supposedly known as the grand canyon of the pacific, but there is some debate about the validity of Mark Twain actually saying that about the canyon. The drive up is fairly long, and our eventual goal was a dirt four wheel drive road to a trail through the Alakai swamp, which is the highest swamp in the world.
It took quite a while to find the unmarked dirt road to get to the trail head, and there were a few hikers looking at us like we were nuts for driving on what was obviously a horribly unmaintained road. We got a couple of hills that were really steep grades and they were super muddy. I was slipping around like crazy in the jeep and both of us were pretty close to breaking down out of fear for our lives. I finally popped the jeep into 4-low, which is a super low set of gears with a top speed of maybe 20 mph. It really helped going down the hills as you don't even need to use the brakes to keep slow down them. We passed two or three other SUV's who had realized that it was basically suicidal to continue driving and had parked to hike the rest of the way. Not me, not in my rental jeep. I kept driving, and it was a bad decision in retrospect. Words cannot impress upon you the fear and dread we felt while driving down this ridiculous "road". I gripped the wheel, got a hold of myself, and powered on through to the trail head, and we breathed a half sigh of relief, for the way back was sure to be worse.
We parked the jeep and started on the trail, which was super muddy and because its through a swamp, its basically water the whole way. Luckily, most of it had boardwalks installed to keep us out of the bog. The flora here was completely alien looking. Tons of ferns, and scrubby little trees all around, with just us and the boardwalks. Of course it was raining off and on the whole time on us, making us fear the drive back out even more.
There were some busted up telephone poles along the trail, and we read that when the japanese bombed pearl harbor, they were hastily put up to serve as a backup communication system to connect the south and north shores in case the japanese took Lihue on the east shore and severed the main lines.
Once we got to the top of the swamp, the rain started pouring really hard on us, and we decided to turn back before the end, which is supposed to be an impressive lookout over a valley on the north shore. We were basically surrounded by clouds anyways, so the lookout would have been looking into a cloud all around you. Once it started coming down, and we were completely enveloped by mist and fog, it felt like the dementors had moved in to take us. We felt like all happiness had left the world and it was just us at the top of this swamp in the middle of nowhere, with a life threatening drive out ahead of us. Intense. Luckily, on our way back down we saw some fellow hikers and the sun came out again to brighten our spirits somewhat, but the drive out loomed ahead of us.
Four wheeling out of there was really really scary again, but it went well. We never had any moments where we lost control at all, I just took it slow and kept it in 4-low when I needed to and we were fine. Really really scared, but fine.
On the way back home, we checked out spouting horn, which is a lava tube that shoots up a plume of water when the surf comes in. It was mildly interesting, but real crowded with annoying people.
Here is a slide show of all the pics, you can click it to view them larger.
Thursday 7 August 2008
Day 4 - Queens Bath, Lava Pools
Today we woke up and decided to head to Queens Bath, which is a big lava swimming pool near Princeville. It was a really nice, sunny morning, and its only a few minute drive over there. It was a bit of a challenge to find the actual entrance, but we eventually found it. Its kind of tucked away in this "town" called Princeville, but its really a gated community full of rich golfers mucking about. Its really a departure from the other places on the north shore, which are really laid back and relaxed with more of a small town feel. This place felt the exact opposite, with every landscape very well manicured, and people jogging in their expensive shorts alongside the road.
The path down to the ocean was really nice, with a little stream alongside. We got there early enough that it was pretty empty still. We walked past a little area full of white-ish pine needles on the ground, but it looked more like something out of Harry Potter with spiderwebs all over the ground. Christie thought it looked like the spiders discarded legs. If it weren't in the middle of a sunny tropical island, it might have been a little creepy. Anyways, we walked down to the bath itself, and it was surprisingly large. There were only a couple of people in there, so we decided to hop on in.
The pool itself is set back a few feet from the open ocean and its like a gigantic, 10 foot deep tide pool. The waves spill in as they break onto the rocks and its chock full of fish. We brought our snorkel masks, but left the fins at home since its so small you don't need them. I have no idea what kinds of fish were in there, but there were lots of them, and they were really tame. Christie and I swam for a bit, then she got out to explore the area and I kept swimming. After an hour or maybe and hour and a half, we got out to poke around and looked back to see throngs of people coming down. We jetted on out, and stopped down on some rocks to look out onto the ocean. While watching, we saw a sea turtle (or maybe 2) swimming in the water, it was pretty cool.
After the bath, we headed to Hanelei bay to watch some surfing lessons. We snagged a couple of sandwiches and a huge beer at the grocery store on the way and had a little beach picnic. The surf was pretty small in the bay, so the surfing was pretty boring. We swam a bit, then made the fatal mistake of laying out in the sun at noon without enough sunblock. Bad move, and we are both a bit burned for it.
We were feeling a little scorched, so we drove over to a little lava pool hike we had read about. According to the guide, it was a very short hike at the end of a 4 wheel drive road. Now, I have never driven any 4 wheel trails before, and I assumed it was just a dirt road. Boy was I wrong... This thing was a super steep grade downhill, and the middle of it was all eroded out, and it was super bumpy. It really felt like a car should not be allowed on it, but we drove on anyways because thats why I rented a jeep. It freaked out Christie pretty good :)
Once to the bottom, we went over a small hill and found the pools, it was basically a bunch of tide pools, with some huge pieces of rusty old machinery spread about. Apparently the sugar company used to push their old pieces of equipment off the cliff above onto the lava shelf to be discarded. Some of the pools had small fish and crabs in them, and it was really remote. We didn't see any other people on the way out there, and overhead was a bird sanctuary with lots of birds riding the thermals over our heads. Toward the end, we were really starting to feel the sun beat down and decided we needed to get inside.
On the way home, we saw the sun start to set and had to stop and enjoy it for a minute before jumping in the hot tub and having a beer. Enjoy the pictures!
The path down to the ocean was really nice, with a little stream alongside. We got there early enough that it was pretty empty still. We walked past a little area full of white-ish pine needles on the ground, but it looked more like something out of Harry Potter with spiderwebs all over the ground. Christie thought it looked like the spiders discarded legs. If it weren't in the middle of a sunny tropical island, it might have been a little creepy. Anyways, we walked down to the bath itself, and it was surprisingly large. There were only a couple of people in there, so we decided to hop on in.
The pool itself is set back a few feet from the open ocean and its like a gigantic, 10 foot deep tide pool. The waves spill in as they break onto the rocks and its chock full of fish. We brought our snorkel masks, but left the fins at home since its so small you don't need them. I have no idea what kinds of fish were in there, but there were lots of them, and they were really tame. Christie and I swam for a bit, then she got out to explore the area and I kept swimming. After an hour or maybe and hour and a half, we got out to poke around and looked back to see throngs of people coming down. We jetted on out, and stopped down on some rocks to look out onto the ocean. While watching, we saw a sea turtle (or maybe 2) swimming in the water, it was pretty cool.
After the bath, we headed to Hanelei bay to watch some surfing lessons. We snagged a couple of sandwiches and a huge beer at the grocery store on the way and had a little beach picnic. The surf was pretty small in the bay, so the surfing was pretty boring. We swam a bit, then made the fatal mistake of laying out in the sun at noon without enough sunblock. Bad move, and we are both a bit burned for it.
We were feeling a little scorched, so we drove over to a little lava pool hike we had read about. According to the guide, it was a very short hike at the end of a 4 wheel drive road. Now, I have never driven any 4 wheel trails before, and I assumed it was just a dirt road. Boy was I wrong... This thing was a super steep grade downhill, and the middle of it was all eroded out, and it was super bumpy. It really felt like a car should not be allowed on it, but we drove on anyways because thats why I rented a jeep. It freaked out Christie pretty good :)
Once to the bottom, we went over a small hill and found the pools, it was basically a bunch of tide pools, with some huge pieces of rusty old machinery spread about. Apparently the sugar company used to push their old pieces of equipment off the cliff above onto the lava shelf to be discarded. Some of the pools had small fish and crabs in them, and it was really remote. We didn't see any other people on the way out there, and overhead was a bird sanctuary with lots of birds riding the thermals over our heads. Toward the end, we were really starting to feel the sun beat down and decided we needed to get inside.
On the way home, we saw the sun start to set and had to stop and enjoy it for a minute before jumping in the hot tub and having a beer. Enjoy the pictures!
Tuesday 5 August 2008
Day 1: The house
Today we arrived at our rental house, and were both really happy and a little creeped out. The house is amazing, its bigger than our house back home, and it has an outdoor shower and a hot tub. It is set on 5 acres of land and is within walking distance of 2 beaches, although not right on the ocean. The decor is very eclectic, and is right up our alley.
Its way out in the country, so its a bit creepy for us city folk to be somewhere with only the buzzing of crickets, the chirping geckos, and some chickens rustling around from time to time. The house doesn't really "lock up", I mean there are locks, but it would take an amateur ten seconds to get in here with a credit card through any of the many screens or flimsy hook locks.
On the property live the caretaker, a dog, a really friendly and sweet kitty, and a shit ton of chickens. Also, there are geckos everywhere, including inside and in our bedroom. Its ok though, they are very small and eat the bugs around. They do make a really loud chirping noise at night, which is somewhat startling, but overall they are pretty kind.
Here is a picture of a chicken:
Here is a slideshow of pictures:
Its way out in the country, so its a bit creepy for us city folk to be somewhere with only the buzzing of crickets, the chirping geckos, and some chickens rustling around from time to time. The house doesn't really "lock up", I mean there are locks, but it would take an amateur ten seconds to get in here with a credit card through any of the many screens or flimsy hook locks.
On the property live the caretaker, a dog, a really friendly and sweet kitty, and a shit ton of chickens. Also, there are geckos everywhere, including inside and in our bedroom. Its ok though, they are very small and eat the bugs around. They do make a really loud chirping noise at night, which is somewhat startling, but overall they are pretty kind.
Here is a picture of a chicken:
Here is a slideshow of pictures:
Day 3: Waterfalls hike, snorkeling
Today we woke up to a beautiful (if cloudy) sunrise. It gets dark fairly early here (like 7:30) and so we keep falling asleep at like 8:30 and rising with the sun (and the 20 chickens outside our door). Here is the view from the front yard of the house this morning:
After sunrise, we popped open a locally grown papaya and had ourselves a granola, yogurt, and papaya parfait for breakfast on the patio. Christie and I flipped through the book looking for an adventure for the day.
We set out to do another hike, but we hoped to make it a bit easier one this time. We chose a hike to a couple of waterfalls on the eastern side of the island. It was a nice hike through a very dense forest, and we got to see 2 falls, both beautiful. For me, the highlight of the trip was the walk through the forest. It was both similar to dense forests back home, and yet totally and completely different.
The vegetation was so lush, with massive vines growing up every tree. The entire forest floor was covered in plants, instead of just sticks and leaves like the midwest. Overall, it was a really nice morning.
Lunch found us in the town of Kapa'a at a pizza stand where Christie had an "artichoke eddie" pizza and I had a meat raffle bonanza. Well, I don't remember what it was called, but it was definitely a protein bomb. We then tried our first shave ice, which is like a snow cone times a thousand, with macadamia nut ice cream underneath the shave ice and totally awesome flavoring over the top. I don't generally go for sweets and I loved it.
For the afternoon we decided to rent some decent snorkel gear and head to the beach. The snorkel renter dude told us about Tunnels beach, which has a reef so large its visible from space. No kidding, this reef is massive! Christie and I snorkeled around, and honestly there were literally hundreds of fish teeming all around us. I was able to get inches away from countless varieties of tropical fish. After Christie went back to lay out in the sun, I returned to the reef to venture out on my own. My adventuresome spirit was richly rewarded with a swim alongside two sea turtles lazily swimming about some deep coral. It was really surreal to swim next to them and see them from about 2 feet away.
After the beach, we headed back to the house for a hot tub and a margarita. For dinner, we put the top back down on the jeep and drove over to the Kiluaea fish market and had some wraps. Christie got tofu, and I had an ahi tuna (super rare of course). We snagged a couple of beers to bring in (its a BYOB place), and had a wonderful dinner. It was too cloudy to see the sun set, but we got a glimpse of the moon as we drove home to crash for the night.
Slideshow of the hike pictures:
After sunrise, we popped open a locally grown papaya and had ourselves a granola, yogurt, and papaya parfait for breakfast on the patio. Christie and I flipped through the book looking for an adventure for the day.
We set out to do another hike, but we hoped to make it a bit easier one this time. We chose a hike to a couple of waterfalls on the eastern side of the island. It was a nice hike through a very dense forest, and we got to see 2 falls, both beautiful. For me, the highlight of the trip was the walk through the forest. It was both similar to dense forests back home, and yet totally and completely different.
The vegetation was so lush, with massive vines growing up every tree. The entire forest floor was covered in plants, instead of just sticks and leaves like the midwest. Overall, it was a really nice morning.
Lunch found us in the town of Kapa'a at a pizza stand where Christie had an "artichoke eddie" pizza and I had a meat raffle bonanza. Well, I don't remember what it was called, but it was definitely a protein bomb. We then tried our first shave ice, which is like a snow cone times a thousand, with macadamia nut ice cream underneath the shave ice and totally awesome flavoring over the top. I don't generally go for sweets and I loved it.
For the afternoon we decided to rent some decent snorkel gear and head to the beach. The snorkel renter dude told us about Tunnels beach, which has a reef so large its visible from space. No kidding, this reef is massive! Christie and I snorkeled around, and honestly there were literally hundreds of fish teeming all around us. I was able to get inches away from countless varieties of tropical fish. After Christie went back to lay out in the sun, I returned to the reef to venture out on my own. My adventuresome spirit was richly rewarded with a swim alongside two sea turtles lazily swimming about some deep coral. It was really surreal to swim next to them and see them from about 2 feet away.
After the beach, we headed back to the house for a hot tub and a margarita. For dinner, we put the top back down on the jeep and drove over to the Kiluaea fish market and had some wraps. Christie got tofu, and I had an ahi tuna (super rare of course). We snagged a couple of beers to bring in (its a BYOB place), and had a wonderful dinner. It was too cloudy to see the sun set, but we got a glimpse of the moon as we drove home to crash for the night.
Slideshow of the hike pictures:
Monday 4 August 2008
Day 2 In Kauai - Okolehao Trail Hike
After an exhausting day of traveling to get here, we both crashed super early and consequently woke up real early this morning. We decided to try a decently challenging hike in the north shore area. Our guidebook indicated the trail would be fairly tough and mostly uphill, but only 2 miles long. We thought it would be a fine way to start our honeymoon...
Well it turned out the trail is basically straight uphill for most of the ascent. Along the way we got to see some really gorgeous flora.
The way back down only took about an hour, and was a little dicey, as it had rained last night and this morning. Overall, we were really tired, very muddy, and super hungry... So it was a good hike :) Not a bad way to spend our first morning out.
Well it turned out the trail is basically straight uphill for most of the ascent. Along the way we got to see some really gorgeous flora.
The trail was relatively well marked for the first 3/4 or so, then it started to get real overgrown and we were constantly scraping our legs on the plants. We almost turned back a few times, but the views were so compelling that we kept on truckin. Here is one on the way up:
After an hour and 45 minutes of strenuous, uphill hiking, we reached the top and were greeted by a small plateau dotted with Ti plants, the roots of which are used to make a local liquor called Okolehao, which the trail is named after. Apparently, during prohibition, bootleggers used to grow their crop up here to evade authorities. After hiking the trail, I can't blame the cops for letting them be.
The view from the end of the trail was truly amazing and well worth the arduous hike. We could see lots of helicopters giving people tours, and the view from up there let us turn around in place and see about 20% of the entire island from that one point. If someone in a helicopter saw us up there, they must have thought we were crazy because the trail was so dense with vegetation, it would not have been visible at all from the air.
The view from the end of the trail was truly amazing and well worth the arduous hike. We could see lots of helicopters giving people tours, and the view from up there let us turn around in place and see about 20% of the entire island from that one point. If someone in a helicopter saw us up there, they must have thought we were crazy because the trail was so dense with vegetation, it would not have been visible at all from the air.
The way back down only took about an hour, and was a little dicey, as it had rained last night and this morning. Overall, we were really tired, very muddy, and super hungry... So it was a good hike :) Not a bad way to spend our first morning out.
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