Relaxing in Paradise

Fireworks

We met the bride's parents and sisters today, father Rick, mother Nancy and sisters Jill and Lexie, who are all delightful and easy to get on with. We all had dinner together at a restaurant the first night we arrived and we have had several more at each others houses. We discovered that fireworks are legal here on Kaua'i, so we bought a heap of them to let off on New Year's Eve. While they were colourful and fun, they are not nearly as good as the ones I remember from my youth when they were legal in Australia.

Setting for Bali H'ai

Kaua'i is the northern-most of the Hawaiian Islands, and the prettiest as far as I am concerned. It has stunning scenery unlike anything else on earth that I have seen. Because the island is volcanic, it has amazing volcanic structures like sheer cliffs at the back of beautiful beaches, waterfalls, canyons and rugged inaccessible coastline to name a few. For those of you who are fans of the film South Pacific, it was filmed here and the shots of Bali H'ai were taken just a few miles from where we are staying. The picture above is also the beach that Joshua and Samantha are to be married on.

Waimea Canyon

On Monday we all piled into our cars and circumnavigated the island. We are staying at the most north-westerly point you can get to by car and we drove right around to the western part of the island to where the road stops again. We made the long climb up to Waimea Canyon, also known as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific" because of its striking resemblance to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Unfortunately it was very misty so the picture to the right is not very clear.

Feral chooks!

Spectacular views from up there. We also have noticed that the island is populated with what we would call domestic chickens. It seems that when they were being introduced to the island a few escaped and the crate of mongeese that was supposed to keep them under control was accidentally dropped in the water! Anyway they fend for themselves and we are advised not to feed them. Technically they are a pest, but no-one has the heart to get rid of them, so they are part of the unique heritage of Kaua'i.

Wailua Falls

It was time for the long trek back to our houses, so after having lunch in Waimea, we did the long drive home. Although the island is only 30 miles across, the roads are very narrow and winding, there's a lot of traffic and the maximum speed limit is 50 mph (80 kph), so it took us over 2 hours to get home. We did stop off on the way to see the magnificent Wailua Falls. Tomorrow Ros, Gill, Ela and myself are taking a helicopter tour of the island. Looking forward to that.