We woke to a bright sunny morning, it had rained overnight but by mid-morning the skies were a gorgeous clear blue with only a few white puffs of cloud to be seen. We dragged the boys out of bed in time to make it to the 'Island Orientation' session at the resort, which included an incentive of muffins and coffee for breakfast. Along with numerous other holiday makers (about half of them seem to be celebrating anniversaries ranging between 20 and 50 years!) we sat through sales pitches from various tour operators, as well as some general info about Kauai and how to find our way around. It actually wasn't as bad as it might sound, sometimes online research can get a bit too much and its easier to have someone just tell you what you need to know. After speaking to the resort concierge we have booked a helicopter tour of the island for tomorrow afternoon, Leo is pumped about it, Cody has come around to the idea after flat out refusing anything helicopter related over the past few weeks.

I declined to partake in the resort jewellery making session (my enthusiasm was almost overwhelming!) and we opted instead for a drive to 'the end of the road' - literally. The road ends on the North Side about 10 miles from Princeville, you can't drive all the way around Kauai. Its a lovely winding coastal road with numerous one way bridges and plenty of photo opportunities. We stopped at Tunnels Beach, because there is a massive Dry Cave on the other side of the road, but primarily because Leo wouldn't stop whinging about wanting to go to the beach lol. He got his sand fix, much to Cody's disgust, Cody has an aversion to all things beach and sand related (hence the Star Wars' Padme Amidala sand reference above!) Leo was highly disappointed that he couldn't get into the water other than his feet, the surf was really heavy and we took note of the signs along the beach stating 'dangerous currents, you could be swept out to sea and drown' - apparently not everyone understands what that means as two people were happily taking a beating from the waves at one end of the beach, when had they gone a few minutes further along they would have had much calmer waters. Hopefully they're still around to tell of their experience!

Across the road we ventured into the Dry Cave (Maniniholo), which extends some 50m back under the cliff with a relatively even ceiling and floor. Its very wide across the entrance and right to the back, great shelter in a storm - unless the tide comes up really high, then you'd be in a spot of trouble...

Back in the car with a shave ice (nice but very sweet), a few minutes further up the road we found the end of the road at Ke'e Beach. If you want to go further from there you have to put your hiking shoes on and venture up the Kalalau Trail along the Napali Coast. It looks beautiful, but not something for us to tackle this visit.

A few photo stops on the road back to Hanalei, if I could get some photos to upload I'd include them! :( We grabbed a cheeseburger for lunch from one of the takeaways, pretty darn good. A wander around the souvenir shops, a quick run back to the lunch table to collect Leo's forgotten backpack (luckily it was still there), then back in the car to the resort. The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming in the pool, Leo worked on his snorkelling skills so he'll be ready when he finds a suitable beach, and us 'grown ups' relaxed with a couple of Malibu and Cokes :) A movie borrowed from the resort reception (Fantastic Four) completes our evening, looking forward to our aerial adventure tomorrow.