The Garden Isle

Back in March, I took a short trip down to Hawaii to celebrate my sister's wedding! I have never been one that desires to travel to trendy, tropical places like Hawaii, Mexico, or anywhere in the Caribbean (mostly due to my views on those countries' politics), but I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat captivated by Hawaii. On a scale of 10, I'd rate it an 8 or 9 - and would happily go back.

A short walk from the condo in Princeville, towards Hanalei

Kauai, also known as the Garden Isle, was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Since it's the rainiest of all the Hawaiian islands, it's also the most lush (I can see why Jurassic Park was filmed here!). As a result, it ended up raining for the majority of the time we were there! We stayed in the north of the island, in a condo in Princeville. It rained on and off, sometimes downpouring, sometimes sprinkling, and sometimes stopping altogether for a few hours before starting up again. But this rain was less dampening and more refreshing; I'm used to copious amounts of rain, being from the Pacific Northwest, but for some reason (perhaps because I was on vacation and almost anything is better when one is on vacation), the rain in Kauai was beautiful and calming.

Tunnels Beach - starting to hand out the leis

On the day of the wedding (March 19), we all drove to Kilauea to meet at the Lighthouse Bistro (save for my sister, who was getting ready back in Princeville!). Tiff and Drew's friends, Drew's family (who came all the way from Nova Scotia!), and our family all met in the parking lot of the restaurant where the reception dinner would be so that Drew could lead us to the location of the ceremony. Once we all arrived and shuffled around to fit in as few cars as possible due to limited parking at the beach, we set off for Tunnels Beach, which is an incredibly isolated beach past Hanalei, for the ceremony. No sooner than we had left the Bistro parking lot did the rain start to pour! It was like no other storm I had ever been caught in before...it was more like a tropical monsoon than a rainstorm! We were all thinking the same thing - what did this mean for the wedding? Luckily, the rain stopped for the half hour of the ceremony, and it was beautiful. Though a little cloudy, the rain held off (I like to think that it was my mum in spirit keeping the rain at bay). The ceremony was small and simple, but also very intimate and inclusive. My sister and Drew had fresh leis that they personally gave each person during the ceremony. As I bent my head to receive mine, I took both of their hands and told them how proud I was of my sister and how happy I am to have Drew join the family. Our family has been through some tough times in recent years, but to see us all together celebrating a momentous occasion full of happiness and joy was something I wouldn't trade anything in the world for. Everything about the wedding, from the pairing to the location and everything in between, was beautiful and perfect.

Spinach, artichoke, and sun-dried tomato scramble at the Olympic Cafe (coconut syrup in the background!)

We were in Kauai for a total of 5 days, so of course we got a little fun in before we had to return to rainy Vancouver! One of my favourite things that we did was visit Kapa'a, a town that we had to drive through to get from the airport to Princeville. It's quite small, but had the charming feel of a beach town (indeed, the beach was only about 50m away from most of the stores!). The storefronts were bright and colourful and housed some spectacular goods, not just über touristy stuff! Megan and I had breakfast with my dad one day at the Olympic Cafe, which was above some stores. We sat at the front, able to look out over the street and watch cars and people pass by while we ate our meals. It was here that we were introduced to coconut syrup, a MUST-HAVE for pancakes!

The beach in the south

We took a couple of trips to the south of the island, where my sister and her new husband (!) were staying at the Hyatt Resort for a few nights after the wedding. Down in the south, it was clear and sunny, quite a different story from the north! Here, we took to the beach just behind the resort to get in some sun-tanning, even spotting a few whales, likely humpbacks, breaching in the distance! The waves were incredibly powerful, and when we got bored of sunning, we took to the water to battle the waves, quite unsuccessfully I might add.

Kauai Coffee Plantation - what transported me back to South Africa

Of course, we had to visit the Kauai coffee plantation, the largest plantation in the US and probably North America as well. I never used to be a huge fan of coffee, mostly preferring black tea, but ever since I travelled to Ethiopia in 2011, the BIRTHPLACE of coffee, I couldn't turn back. I've also dabbled in the coffee culture of South Africa and visited a fantastic plantation in Limpopo, taking home two bags of their single-origin beans that have produced some of the best coffee I have ever tasted. So when it was announced that the wedding would be in Kauai, visiting the plantation was one of the first things on my to-do list! The plantation was beautiful, and between the hot sun and the red dirt under my feet, I was transported, if only for a few moments, back to South Africa and the days I spent walking the red dirt of Limpopo. I swear, memories can pop up anywhere! Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to take the full self-guided walking tour, but we did do a little tasting of a bunch of their coffees that they had set up behind the gift shop (free coffee? Yes please!). We ended up taking home more than a few bags of coffee, mostly to give away to friends and family. We also couldn't help ourselves from buying a bottle of coconut syrup, which we've enjoyed on many a pancake since we've been home!

The very last thing we did in Kauai was a whale-watching tour! It was only supposed to be 2 hours, but it ended up being 4! 4 hours out on the rough waters around the south coast of Kauai was on one hand amazing and fun, but on the other, very tiring. We didn't end up seeing any whales, but we did come upon a superpod of spinner dolphins (the smallest dolphin in the world) that swam alongside us for a while! We also spotted some sea turtles just cruising the waters and going with the roll of the waves. I've only had two sunburns in my entire life, and this whale-watching tour produced the second one (it was probably the worst one too!). Being out on the water for four hours with no sunscreen will do that to you, I guess! After that jaunt, I was super sore from bouncing over all the waves, which would only get worse as I sat on a plane for 6 hours that same night. Once we got home, it took a few days for the pain to subside, but I think it was pretty worth it. Two of my favourite things in the world that I always try to catch when I'm traveling are mountaintops and the ocean. I read a quote the other day that goes "For me, the reason why people go to a mountaintop or to the edge of the ocean is to look at something larger than themselves". For me, this is 100% true. Too often in life am I swept up by the emphasis on the individual in western societies. Whenever I have traveled outside of the West, I am forced to confront this by the stark contrasts of the importance of community and others above oneself. Even when I travel within the West, I try to find things that remind me that I am fortunate, insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but that I also must do something with what talent I have to leave this world better than I found it. For me, being on top of mountains, at the edge of the ocean, under millions of stars, or beneath the most dazzling sunrises and sunsets reminds me of all of this. In short, while being on that tiny boat whale-watching was exhausting, it also gave me a chance to realize that I was in the middle of the ocean, off the coast of one of the most beautiful places in the world, surrounded by immense natural power, and that I am so small in comparison.

At the wedding!

Breakfast on the lanai in Princeville!

So that's basically it! The trip was short, but jam-packed full of crazy fun stuff. I didn't take too many pictures, mostly because I knew the wedding was going to be photographed, but hopefully I posted a few to make this post a little more interesting. Meg and I are currently gearing up for our mega trip to Europe this summer, where I'll try to post semi-regularly on what we're doing and the whole experience. In less than two weeks, I will cross the stage and officially receive my Bachelor's degree, and two days after that we're moving! So, lots of stuff coming up in a short amount of time, but it'll make Europe come faster, I think.

'Til then.