Killing time in Kauai
Trip Start
Oct 03, 2008
1
9
Trip End
Oct 17, 2008
Kapaa, Hawaii
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I grabbed some take away lunch in Hanalei and drove to Princeville, which is a very twee, top-of-the-range resort of expensive houses and condos and perfectly pruned gardens. Luckily you can enjoy the view for free, so I sat myself on a bench and ate from my polystyrene box!
Returned to Kapa'a, where there was a huge raining storm so got a coffee before whiling away the afternoon in an internet cafe.
Since I can't go back to Waikiki, I had to find somewhere else to stay tonight. Luckily there was another hostel in town and it's a pretty cool affair too. The place is an old chiropractic practice which has been converted to a very charming hostel, featuring kingsize beds in the dorms and large outside areas for partying. The place was crawling with Americans, who are generally very friendly, but finding myself all talked out, I took a walk along the beach and into town to admire the full moon beaming on the ocean. When I returned I finally managed to figure out who was working there and who wasn't so I could obtain some bed linen and I had an early night - although I was rudely awakened by a guy collapsing on my bed and feeling my feet under the covers, before jumping up and apologising profusely. The second guy followed him in and fell clean over my bag and landing, yet again, on my bed! It's all fun though!
Day 230 - Having done most there is to do in Kauai and enjoying the place in terms of nature, scenery and lifestyle, I am now basically just killing time here. Killing time in Hawaii is generally quite easy since you're never far away from a beach, but unlucky for me, today is showery and overcast. But don't worry, because there is one more thing plentiful and free in Kauai and that's hiking trails.
Firstly I went to Kountry Kitchen diner for a decent breakfast and it turns out it's a very popular place. Mahi mahi (fish), eggs, rice and corn bread - yum. I then drove a few miles south and then along a new road to me, which follows the Wailua river in to the inland mountain wilderness. I stopped at a thrift shop on the way, which is basically a charity shop full of second hand items and had a lot of fun searching through and seeing what Hawaiians throw away. I then hiked the Kuilau Ridge trail which is 4 miles or so there and back. It's a very beautiful trail and takes you through a new landscape again - the very green peaks and ridges forming the centre of the island and the lush, forest wilderness filling the valleys and slopes. The weather meant that the hills were filled with misty clouds and so the view was restricted, but this made it quite enchanting in itself and also meant that the trail wasn't busy.
Feeling a little more of an achiever from the hike, I drove back to the hostel for a shower and to gather my stuff together and by the afternoon I was making my way down towards the airport, stopping for food and internet along the way.
Today is my first time flying with Island Air, proving to be the cheapest of all the interisland airlines and as the plane pulls up I am alarmed to see an old school, propellor operated machine - the likes of which I have never seen but in old movies. It's interior is as dated as how it's exterior looks, with throwbacks from the 70s seating. I was a tad concerned for my safety after taking in my method of transport but when the one and only hostess asked people from the front to move to the back of the plane for balance, I got nervous!
The take-off was great and I even thought "what the hell was I worried about?", but with the weather being so overcast and cloudy, the flight was hugely turbulent and my stomach was in my mouth the entire journey - I thought we were sure to drop from the sky and die, I can't explain how bad the flight was in that little tin plane! Arrived in Honolulu, not a moment too soon, and I couldn't get from the plane quick enough - I am certainly not so keen to get home after that affair!
After collecting Karri Moor I went to the public bus stop and waited over half an hour for it to turn up and was sat on the damn over-air-conditioned thing for over an hour, finally making it to Waikiki sometime after 8pm. I went directly to Beachside Hostel on Lemon Road, since it was recommended to me by a traveller in Kapa'a and ended up in an 8 bed dorm with... you guessed it... 7 boys! The dorms are very unusual as they are en suite and have cable tv, but also two of the bunks are basically in the kitchen - it is a good hostel though.
In need of food I went straight out and walked what seemed like the length of the beachside street through Waikiki, finding nothing but American and fast food (and a whole lotta tourists - albeit nice ones, which gives the place a nice atmosphere better than, say, the costa del sol). I found a Chinese seafood place and devoured an enormous plate of scallops and brocolli and wandered back much happier. Chatted to some of the guys in the dorm; one about to go work for the UN in New York, the other an expert chef in charge of the kitchen in one of the Hilton restaurants!
