FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Kaua'i

Today we visited the last of the Hawaiin Islands on the itinerary, Kaua’i, also known as the Garden Island. Our guide today was Domi from Kauai North shore limousines. The tour started late but as we were paying per hour and we had no onboard time, it was forgiven. At first, he seemed to talk A LOT, but credit to him, he managed to engage the whole family and was obviously passionate about his home. Being knowledgeable is a given :) He managed to get the whole family singing and reciting facts about Hawaii which was a feat considering how quiet my father was! The children definitely learnt plenty and were confident that they would do well in the trivia quiz on Hawaii!

We covered the main tourist spots of Kauai including the Waimea Canyon, Kalalau look out, beaches, waterfalls, Kauai coffee (we didn’t have time to go on the Wailua river and Fern Grotto) and Kilauea Lighthouse. What Domi also did for us was to find the best shave ice on the island, Tege Tege, his neighbour’s truck, a Japanese local who hand makes each order with fresh organic produce from his garden. The dragonfruit, guava and lemon were AMAZING! He took us for lunch where the locals went for a real Hawaiin experience, essentially a mix of cuisines from all the nationalities who migrated to Hawaii over the centuries. Tasty and cheap (compared to tourist frequented restaurants. After our delicious lunch Domi brought us to his home where he allowed the children to feed his pet pig Omar the scraps from lunch. He also generously shared with us some of his home grown passion fruit. All in all, we had a great day!

Our dinner today was at the Cadillac Diner where we had by a rather surly server. The food was alright but nothing that to rave home about.