Pit Stop: Kauai

Hiking the Na Pali Coastline

So as you may know or presume, a flight to Oz from the USA or the UK is a very very long journey with annoying layovers. Ever so conveniently I have a good friend from college that is currently living in Hawaii on a tiny island floating in the midst of the Pacific Ocean called Kauai. Kauai is commonly referred to as “The Garden Island” due to its lush green flora and fauna.

This was basically a perfect trip for the two of us, I got my time at some gorgeous beaches, Anthony got to see plenty of waterfalls which he is obsessed with I might add, and we did a some kayaking and hiking which pleases the both of us to get outdoors and get active.

To me, the highlight of the trip was taking a helicopter tour over the entire island. For 50 mins we flew over the infamous Na Pali coastline, weaved in and out of perfectly lush green mountains, saw too many waterfalls to count, and probably witnessed at least six perfect rainbows.

We spent New Years Eve at my friend’s house playing games and watching each new year’s celebration take place on the TV across the varying time zones, until it finally became 2020 in Hawaii.

Anthony and I had an adventurous and enjoyable first day of 2020 kayaking the Wailua River and hiking to a waterfall named Forbidden Falls.

The massive two-person kayak atop our rental car

The following day we went on a 6 mile hike with our friends at a high elevation along the Waimea Canyon.

Waimea Canyon

Kauai is a brisk 20-minute flight from Honolulu, which is where we were to be flying out of to Sydney the following morning. We spent the day on the legendary Waikiki beach sunbathing and playing volleyball before heading to an Old Dominion concert later that night.

I’ve never actually experienced the other Hawaiian Islands like I did this one, but based on what I know if you have the chance to visit the Aloha state I would highly recommend staying on Kauai. <3