Waimea Canyon

Out last trip involved a drive uphill to the top of the Waimea Canyon lookout.

There were some good sights on the drive up. The view out the back window over to the last island in the northern end of the chain, Niihau.

A cool banyan tree as we passed through a village and then the amazing roadside red dirt landscape.

The road was constantly uphill so pretty soon it changed from green to red by the roadside.

The view once we reached the top was up there with all the views we've had on this trip for sure.

This wasn't the top as such, so we drove upwards and around.
There was a mini stop at another viewpoint where we seen some of the islands wildlife. Some mountain hugging goats and another chicken just hanging out in the trees.

Can you spot them?

They get everywhere

Then we drove up to the last viewpoint, the Kalalau lookout.

Once we got all the way back down to sea level we made a short stop to see the spouting water feature.

A bit of shopping on the way back and we were most definitely done for the day.

We had the next day to ourselves after the family left so just another couple of supermarket trips for supplies and then spent the rest of the night and nearly the entire morning of the day we left trying to pack everything! We ended up taking a whole box as extra luggage filled with food supplies and wedding remnants. Which just reminded me that we have four ziplock bags full of the pulled pork in the freezer...... hmmmmm.

Wilelua Falls

Today was a short drive for some long-overdue waterfall action.

A small car park at the end of a road led to a nice view down over the waterfall.

For most of the tourists there, that was as close as they got. For the more adventurous among us there was a short steep muddy trip down to the waters edge.

We went as far round as was safe but we'd been warned against going near the falls themselves just in case!

The famous Hanakap'ai Hike

The hiking trail along the northern Na'Pali coast of Kauai is a very well known trail among hikers. It is regularly listed amongst the must-do trails in the US.
Of course, that is for the whole eleven mile trail which due to the amount of ascent and descent and the underfoot conditions normally means people hike to the beach at the end and camp either overnight or for a few days before coming back.

So we just did the taster hike which was a two mile walk to the first secluded beach. Obviously we stopped for photo ops and to pass other people as it was narrow in places but this still took us about one hour 40mins to get there and just over an hour to come back.

The surroundings were lush and as expected, the scenery amazing.

We passed a mixture of young & old folk, families, some hippies meditating in a small off-path cave and a few beardy hikers who were obviously on their way back from the eleven mile hike.
When we came round the final corner this was the view down to the beach.

There was a cool stream to cross and it gave me an opportunity to try and frame some good pics.

 The beach was very quiet compared to other beaches we'd been to, fairly obviously because it takes some effort to get there. You're not going to drag a cooler all the way there.

This was the last day of my sunburnt back so I still couldn't even carry a backpack on my shoulders!

Too much sun with the fun

After the wedding we could relax and hit the beach. Hanalei Bay was great for jumping of the pier, swimming and came with such an amazing backdrop. Even with a couple of spot showers, they didn't last long and were refreshing when they came.

We went with Heather's brother's family, Sidra and Kai and me getting our pancakes for breakfast before we hit the beach.

I had suncreamed up once before the beach and also halfway through time we spent there. But I was having such a great time, it's a novelty to swim in warm water, so really I spent too much time in the water and swimming on my front my back was exposed to the sun.

This only became apparent late at night when my shoulders looked red. But the next day the top of my shoulders and pretty much my whole back was really badly burnt, like really badly.

The neighbours came to the rescue the next night when they gave us an aloe leaf from their garden. We slit it open and Heather and her mum had the job of scrapping out the green gunk.
You know it's love when.....
I stood in the carport where Heather slathered me in the stuff, very cool and refreshing. After two night sessions of this, what a difference. It can't be good for you to get so burnt but it was a relief to get back to normal and be able to sleep comfortably!!

Sleeping Giant

Next day was a nearby small hike nicknamed sleeping giant due to the profile of the mountain/hill which the Jessiman family undertook on their own.

Up there?

Only a short two mile hike but all uphill. Mildly hard work for the pale Jessiman clan when the sun is beating down on you, it was even difficult to see the join between the sea and the sky!

Some great views on the way up and also the interesting sight of some trees that have obviously evolved to suit the sloping landscape.

When we reached the picnic table at the top we were informed by some people there that there was another short hike round the corner up to the actual top. Steve's guidebook app confirmed that in the last paragraph where it said it could neither recommend or not recommend doing this part due to the steepness.

We seen some other people up ahead coming the other way so we went for it, signs don't mean nothing to Steve.

In the end, it wasn't that bad except for one bit where it helped if you didn't look over the edge! And we took the advice of another walker to go into this cave where the wind rushes through to give you a bit of much-needed air conditioning.

Zodiaaaaaaaaaaaaac

After all that wedding thingy stuff was over the fun could begin. One of the planned trips we had was with Captain Andy's trips and their super fast zodiac boat ride. Heather recommended this for everyone as you get to go all the way round the west coast and then round to the north and the Na Pali coast. Short of undertaking an 11 mile hike this is the only way to see the coast as there are no roads up here.

So we had one of the two boats all to ourselves, full of friends and family. The group safety briefing beforehand had warnings that the seats up front were worse for movement/sea-sickness and if you have any back injuries then now is a good time to think about dropping out.

The boats turned out to be a little smaller than I thought they were going to be! I say boat, but it was more just like a rigid inflatable. The other boat pictured above which towards the end of our 4 hour trip started to get a bit close to us as they tried to splash each other.

Most of our group (where's Murd?)

They armed you with gloves or a glove as you have to grip onto the rope pretty hard with one hand, especially the further towards the front you sit. Basically me and Steve sat right at the front for the outward trip but sat in their "princess seats" right at the back on the way back as we just wanted to relax and what a difference between those two seats!!

So you go speeding along cresting the waves and getting a whole body workout. Then occasionally we'd stop for some coastline photos. The stopping was worse and the boat was being moved up and down due to the pretty decent waves.

Then after a shout of "dolphins!" we slowed right down and began circling as these spinner dolphins began racing the boat and a couple up ahead jumped out of the water spinning round in the air. First time seeing dolphins in action for me, a cool sight.

Shark! We hoped not.

Cool, they jumped. Too slow for the photo though :-(

Then we docked at a little beach. Apparently there are only the two boat companies allowed to land here. They gave us an amazing lunch of pulled pork, noddles, rice, dessert, cold drinks etc. Then took us on a little walk through an old sacred site

and showed us how to shuck a coconut, letting us try some chunks.

Then they led us down to the other beach where there were a tonne of giant turtles resting!

Then, like something out of a prison drama we were led back through the searing midday sun back to the boats for some snorkeling!

Now was the time to utilise that disposable underwater camera we got for $9.
I hadn't been snorkeling for ages and it was a little difficult trying to get the flippers on while the current tried to drag you along the coast!

I got going and seen some fish, some more fish and bits of reef, then after 10 minutes I seen a little dark cave part and lo and behold, out of the darkness came this giant turtle!!
I was so excited to both tell people (impossible) and to take photos (difficult). You get so used to seeing the photo you are taking on a little digital screen that I found it difficult and really humorous  trying to look through the little viewfinder while underwater, while both you and the object are floating, trying to extend your arms as a way of manually zooming. Plus the only way I could tell if the camera was ready to take another picture was by lifting it up to my ear, winding the knob and listening out for the louder click.
Then of course I had to wait until we came home before taking the roll of film to be developed, how quaint, and praying at least one of them came out.

On the way back we stopped at some caves but the current was so strong we couldn't go into the cool one. Another we reversed into ready for a speedy getaway if needed.

Then we sped back to the harbour with our new crew.

Such a tiring day and yes we were all sore the next day especially biceps and back muscles from the constant jumping up and down and stretching backwards and forwards. But this was really one of most fun trips and things I've ever done. It was also really fun sharing it with friends and family. Anne, constantly getting soaked from the other boat, despite moving seats from one side of the boat to the other left both her sons in stitches.

Then later on, a dip in the pool to finish off the camera film!