Tarzan-Feeling and a lot of water

The storm had calmed down this morning and sunrise was not too bad from our bedroom.

During the day we had quite a few rainshowers, some sun and heat, some clouds, a couple of rainbows, very changeable weather. We started after a hearty American breakfast with eggs and bacon in our apartment and headed south again. Unfortunately, same as on Maui, there are not too many roads you can choose of and no loop road around the island. It's again a constant annoying stop-and-go through the beach towns, but at least there is mostly a 55 mph speed limit.


We stopped at Kilauea Lighthouse (pic above) first, then at Kong Lu Market Center (pic) in Kilauea Town with an old Chinese store, going back to the plantation era. When the non-Polynesians arrived, sugar cane was introduced and a sugar plantation was founded. Kilauea became a company town with fieldstone buildings, one of them the Kong Lung Marketplace Center, which dates back to the 1860s when it served as the company store. Today it's a shopping mall with different shops, among them a great bakery: Kilauea Bakery.

At Kealia Beach (pic left) we watched the surfers for a little while, currents were still strong and waves high, not at all appealing for swimming yet, though it warmed up and the sun was out.

From the coast we drove inland, into the lush Wailua River Valley (photo above), very productive land, used for rice and taro cultivation in the past as well as for pasture for cattle, still today. The Wailua River is the only navigable river in Hawaii and popular for kayaking/paddle-boarding. We saw a couple of boats on the river. The area shows a typical rainforest-jungle vegestation, with two very scenic waterfalls, ‘Opaeka‘a Falls and Wailua Falls (pics below). And, yes, there was really a pick-up sitting in one of the side arms of the river.


Where the road ended, there was an "Arboretum" (not clearly signed) and we hiked a distance into the rainforest, with lianas hanging from trees and it almost felt like an old Tarzan movie. Trails unfortunately don't seem to be clearly marked and with parking it's the same as on Mauai: chaotic, too few spots, anarchic tourists (though much fewer Germans here). Big potholes on the roads and poor signage. Didn't see a single hiker, and, though we found a guidebook about hikes on Kauai in our apartment, we are not sure yet, whether it's a real good destination for hikers.

Vegetation was lush and diverse, we found eucalyptus (left pic), diverse fruit trees (like the "tourist pineapple" or Hala fruit - Pandanus tectorius - tree and fruit shown on the two pics below) and exotic flowers, shrubs and birds. Different from Maui, this island with good reason is called the "Garden Island", green is the dominant color.



On we drove to the island's Capital, Lihue (where we landed yesterday) and explored the city, which showed not too attractive. There are a couple of interesting historic buildings like the Courthouse, the Theater (pic) or the Kauai Museum. The latter is small, but another example for a wrong cost-benefit-ratio: they charge $ 15! BTW: the Botanical Gardens on the island go for $ 60 and up and just offer guided tours. There is Lihue Harbor - where we saw one of these tower-like ugly cruiseships anchoring - and a city beach (pic above).

In Lihue, and, in general, along the so-called Royal Coconut Coast on the East Side of the island there are plenty of shopping malls and hotel/resorts rowing up. Shops are bit more diverse and exclusive, offering more local produce compared to Maui. Also, we noticed more residential areas with regular houses, especially in the backcountry.

And, we saw wild chicken in abundance (called "Moa"), really colorful roosters and hens with little hetchlings. Notice the 8th, a black one, on the photo!

We enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner at the Kuaii Beer Company - with delishious fish taco and a "crunch salad" with local Macadamia nuts and avocado - and then headed back north again, with a stop at Coconut Market Place to check out a local coffee roastery and at Kealia Beach Overlook (pic below).