Today we travelled to our second Hawaiian island – Kauai (nicknamed the “Garden Isle” because of how lush and green it is) and my first impression of the island was how different it was to Oahu. This is the picture of what Hawaii looked like in my head before coming here – very much a tropical island. Anyway more on this later…

Let’s go back to the flight from Oahu to Kauai. It took all of 21 minutes. After take off, we’d only been in the air for a few minutes when the pilot made the announcement that we’d be starting our descent and landing in 15 minutes. It was so surreal. I mean, driving to Bristol from Portishead takes longer. It made a welcome change to the 2 long haul flights we’d done previously so we weren’t going to complain. These were the pictures from the air as we were coming in to land.

One of the first things I noticed when we arrived is the humidity. It is much more humid than Oahu. There are also a lot more stray chickens roaming around. Apparently the ratio of chickens to people is in fact 5-1. They are everywhere!

The second major difference is how much quieter it is. There’s no big city, just small towns, so a completely different vibe to the busyness and noise of Waikīkī. Think laid back and secluded rather than city life which is much more our scene. I could already tell that it was going to be a great week.

We have a car on this island too which was nice so once we landed, we were able to get on our way quickly.

At this point I just have to mention the price of food. We stopped off at the local supermarket to pick up some groceries for the week and I was staggered to find out that 2 red peppers cost around $6 (approx £4.70). We ended up putting one back and now need to make one last for two meals…the onions were just as bad. I guess that’s the price you pay for holidaying on an island!

It was then a short drive to our Airbnb apartment which was lovely, with a nice long balcony which we have ate dinner on a few times.

We are based on the east coast in an area called Kapa’a and our apartment is a stones throw from the beach. We are already planning some early morning trips out there for sunrise. There is also an area of shops, restaurants and bars within walking distance called the “coconut marketplace” which is very handy. We did a quick loop of these when we arrived and earmarked a few places to return to in the coming days.

Bike ride along the East Coast

On our first full day we decided to rent bikes and cycle down the coastal path. This was great fun as it was a relatively flat paved route so it felt quite leisurely. You can stop at varying points on the way, chain up your bike and head down to the beach to paddle.

We had the bikes for 4 hours which was great so up and down the coastal path we flew, taking in the views of the beaches, fierce waves and mountains.

After we’d dropped the bikes off we spent a few lazy hours in the pool at our apartment complex, then headed to Lava Lava lounge, which is a beach front bar with live music. We already knew it was happy hour (obviously!) so had a few bargain pints before heading back to cook dinner.

We are going mountain tubing tomorrow. You travel in a rubber ring down an old sugar plantation irrigation system through canals and tunnels, basically it’ll be like a big lazy river ride. Can’t wait.

Lucy