Well, we can’t tell you very much about Kauai, the bug we picked up in Alaska and the journey to Hawaii left us pretty exhausted, add in the sudden change of temperature and we were good for nothing for a couple of days. That said the Outrigger Kiahuna Plantation Hotel was a pretty good place to convalesce! We stayed in our room quite a bit but when we did feel up to going outside the gardens were beautiful and as for the beach, well the photo’s speak for themselves.

The view from our room was fantastic, looking across a perfect lawn to the bright blue sea beyond. Each afternoon there were surfing lessons on the lawn and we could watch the eager students falling off their boards when they went on the water. I’m sure my turn will come!

There was a small shopping mall opposite the hotel entrance which kept us plied with milk, juice fruit and cereal which was all we could eat for three days. As we started to feel better we went out to explore the gardens which were planted with banana palms, ginger (at least I think the big red flowers are a type of ginger – happy to be corrected) and bougainvillea. Outside the reception building was a whole garden of orchids growing on blocks of lava rock, the photos don’t do them justice, they were a real sight to behold.

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We also found the strength for a swim, the water was glorious and the waves were great fun as long as you kept an eye on them.

The 13-mile downhill bike ride we were looking forward to on Sunday was cancelled because of the Kauai marathon which closed the roads, it was a shame to miss the experience but I don’t think we would have been up to it. We were able to reschedule our tour along the Na Pali coast so we were able to enjoy that. The Na Pali coast has been featured in a number of films and is a really striking landscape shaped by the islands volcanic history. It can only be reached by boat or helicopter – we chose the boat tour. It was an early start 07.15 for 08.00 departure but the timing gave us the chance to see lots of Hawaiian spinner dolphins which was lovely.

The weather was calm as we set out on the tour, we were happy to find a comfortable spot on deck and enjoy the scenery. We sailed 35 miles along the stunning coast, the peaks and valleys look almost unreal. We weren’t able to snorkel because a storm the night before had churned up the water which attracts sharks (good enough excuse for us) however the captain did find a sheltered bay on the way back and anchored so we could swim and have lunch. The last part of the journey was quite rough, which didn’t bother us because we had our wristbands on, but it did mean we couldn’t get to our bag below deck to reach our sun cream so we both got slightly crisped at the edges – novice error!!

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After all day on the water we were really tired by the time we got back to the hotel, we were in bed early only to be woken from a deep sleep by security hammering on our door asking us to move the car because a water main had burst right next to it! We soon got back to sleep and were up in good time for our flight to Maui where we hope to be fully fit and ready to explore Hawaii in more detail.