Day 3 - Kaua'i

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Today marked the first of our pre-arranged adventures - Ziplining at Princeville Ranch Adventures.

For those of you not in the know, ziplining its like riding a flying fox, but you are strapped in to a harness and you sit the zip lol. Anyhoo ... we had 9 zips to get thru. The first was only 170' just to see if our stomaches could handle it and the last was called 'King Kong' and went for 1200' feet.

First thing I have to say is that if you have an issue with heights, then this is not the adventure for you. For everyone else the views are spectacular are you sail from one end to the other, perferably 'cannonballing' to ensure you reach the other side. Tho even if you do completely as instructed, sometimes things just don't got the way you plan. Both Maddy and Jordan can testify to that. Maddy due to her 'light frame' didn't make it all the way on one zip and had to be pulled in. Jordan on the other hand, dangled high above he canopy on King Kong for a good 5+ minutes awaiting a rescue (not an easy feat) when the guides were unable to get both his and Amanda's brakelines out far enough in time for them both to get it.

Unfortunately, I had opted to bring only the wide angle lens for my camera and was unable to get a good pic with him all the way out there. But personally - apart from the wedgie, he seemed to have survived the event okay. Very glad Maddy and I arent afraid of heights as we stood on that launch platform all hooked up, 27' in the air for the longest time.

We had opted for the 'Zip & Dip' package which included a 1 hour swim at a secluded waterhole and lunch as well. There were 12 of us on the tour plus our guides Victory and Mo(hamed). Victory is born and bred here, but Mo moved out here from NYC about 12 months ago. Our tour group seemed to be all about celebrating.

First there was us celebrating my birthday - there were two couples on their honeymoon and famliy of five whose daughter had become a certified pole dancing instructor :D tho I am not sure that was the main reason for their holiday.

On our ... sixth or seventh line, we had an up and close encounter with Bessy the Angus cow. There had been a piece of rope tied across the edge of one area to stop people from falling over the side, but bessy apparetly decided the rope tasted way better than any of the nice juicy grass that was on offer. Princeville Ranch is an actual working cattle ranch so there were plenty of 'bessies' to be spotted throughout the day.

So after making it back to base safe and sound and thouroughly exhilerated, we decided to continue north and continue to the end of the road. On Kaua'i you can't actually drive right around the island. You hit the Napali coast from both the north and the west and then the only way to see the Napali Coast is via kayak or helicopter.

Along the way we got caught up in some of the numerous roadworks that are taking place practically over the entire island. We made a stop in Hanalei for some shaved ice. We were just all in need of something cold to drink. Maybe I was expecting something a little more special, but its not different to what we have at home tho we did have ours over a scoop of icecream so it was nice variation. We wandered around for awhile to check out some of th shops and stlls that are everywhere. But they are all the same. Everyone is carrying the same thing. we were advised that if we wanted to go shopping we shuld wait till we got to Maui or Oah cos things were more expense on Kaua'i and that was fairly evident.

It was gettig dark and I wasn't game to try driving at night especially through all the roadworks they had going on so we didnt make it quite to the end of the road. But we came pretty close. We did chance driving in the dark to get to Safeway for some dinner - BBQ and side which was probably the best we had eaten since we had arrived.

Ok tomorrow we're hmmm what are we doing... oh yes off to Waimea Canyon - supposed to be Hawaii's answer to the Grand Canyon. Should be good.

ok have tried many times from differenet locations and connections - travel blog wont let me add pics via tablet it seems 😞 will keep trying

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