How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : Hawaii Trip Report, Day 9: Waipio Valley, Akaka Falls; Day 10: Helicopter Ride, Tropical Botanical Garden

DAY 9 DEC 18, 2012:

Waipio Valley:

We wanted to go into the Waipio valley. The waipio valley is touted to be beautiful... it's private and has just 40 people living there now... only way to get there is through the $88 tour we took... later we saw wagon tours... it may have been the easier way.

Waipio means curved water... it's the valley of the kings. We had booked a van cum horse ride with Na'alapa Stables.

In hindsight, this tour activity was not pleasant and scenic as we had hoped

In the 1st place, there were no water falls to be seen except a distant one on the wagon ride. There were none during the horse ride, only streams to cross... probably due to drought or as another site pointed out, the owner of lands above using the water for irrigation at certain times of the year. The streams were nice to cross and there were fields and trees but not as stunning as seen in photos. in fact, the botanical gardens in Oahu had awesome scenery compared to this.

This is the reporting place for our wagon ride into the waipio valley. We drove almost 2 hours to reach here... well in time.

Hawaiian doll with lei.

Santa in Hawaii shirt and flip flops.

Koa wood craft pieces—nice ducks.

Chess pieces, girls in lei.

Fridge magnets in wood —tortoises, dolphin, fishes, butterflies.

Hawaiian ceramic tiles—they are art pieces, framed for decorating walls.

A bed room with Hawaiian artefacts and furniture.

Bed spread is HAWAIIAN QUILT.

The rocking chair is koa wood and is $2000.

We booked this ride on the basis of the great reviews on tripadviaor site and went down to waipio valley on Dec 18th with the naalapa stables ; unfortunately I did not have a pleasant experience.

Our group had 4 Japanese. The wagon had an open door, so that we could jump and save ourselves if brakes failed!! The heavy Jap lady slid into me at a few curves ... I thought I'll go shooting into the valley with her weight!! After the exciting ride, from the wagons we transferred to horses and had a 2 hour ride through the valley crossing several streams... were asked to wear full pants, covered shoes... to avoid being bitten by the horses!!

The waipio artworks where the ride starts has some stunning pieces (twice as expensive as similar pieces elsewhere unfortunately); the wagon ride was good as reviewed by others... Keoni's jokes were a little juvenile but we played along.

We were a group of 6 and came down to the stables and the horses were brought for us. I'm giving a poor rating to the experience as the guide's response to an accident was very poor and such attitude might end up endangering the rider; also they can't include a temperamental horse and hope nobody gets hurt... somebody might!!

My horse was Kaapa and the guide Keoni casually mentioned that he bites other horses and so I have to hold the reins firmly and be under control. He said when/ if the horses are bitten, they will try to bite back and since their aim is bad, they may end up biting humans... so we have to maintain a 4 feet gap between horses.

Unfortunately for me, the other riders in our group were a little casual and kaapa once did bite the saddle of another horse. It was a strain constantly trying to keep kaapa under control. The guide with his weird sense of humor was imitating my voice commenting I'm too soft and I should not worry about hurting the horse but just jerk him hard when he misbehaves.

The ride had started out bad. When we started, kaapa took the lead and suddenly a tree branch broke and fell down just inches ahead of us. kaapa had good reflexes, braked and jumped up, with his front legs in air and turned back, I almost slid off the saddle. The other horses behind also braked. The guides were crossing themselves that nothing untoward had happened to any of us... but my saddle had slid a bit. He asked me to stand up on the horse, pull my weight to the side and then drag the saddle right. Try as I might I could not do it well and for the rest of the ride I was sitting slightly slanting. My inner thighs got a little swollen and bruised and I was sore for a couple of days.

The branch falling was an act of God. I feel the guide's response to help me with the saddle could have been better. Later when we were crossing one of the streams, kaapa slipped and stumbled into the water and again I almost took a tumble. So it was all in all not very pleasant for me.

The other horses in the group were all well behaved... but I was the lightest in weight in our group, so I got assigned Kaapa I guess, as he is pretty small compared to the horses others were riding as can be seen in the photos.

i have had good riding experiences in other tourist spots around the globe and this was just bad luck of the draw I guess. Also the helmet I wore was stinking to high heavens. I assumed others were similar but my son's was fine he later told me and his horse was a darling. The guide never gave the names of the other horses though... kaapa was the only one named.

So tip for other riders if you choose naalapa, choose a clean helmet... there are clean ones available. Do wear one, as branches can fall when you are riding through a forest... be wary of kaapa... he is a naughty horse!

After the tour activity, we resumed our drive. It was scenic. We should not have booked the tour!

The valley has trees laden with oranges.

Tasty oranges picked from the ground.

The beautiful waipio lookout.

Informative sign boards.

Picnic lunch at waipio lookout.

Laupahoehoe :

Continued our drive and reached Laupahoehoe point... waves were pounding the shore.

Akaka falls:

We reached Akaka falls state park...

Akaka falls... in Hawaiian it means a tear/split. akaka falls is 422 feet tall... it's on Kolekole stream.

This is Kahuna falls on the way to Akaka.

DAY 10 DEC 19, 2012:

FISH POND... We had our helicopter ride scheduled at 11, were asked to report at 10.15... didn't want to be too early... so went off to Rainbow falls to catch the rainbow in the morning.

Went for a trek to see the boiling pots... did not find it.

This is hardly a trail... bad idea.

Helicopter ride:

CIRCLE OF FIRE AND WATER:

We were then off for our helicopter ride.

Our audio set is belted on to hear our captain's commentary and to communicate with each other.

Our captain was great... flew very close and gave excellent commentary.

We resumed our drive after the heli ride.

Tropical Botanical Gardens:

After 21/2 days of sunny weather, rain started pelting... we are at the beautiful tropical botanical gardens.

On with our rain ponchos. This garden is so beautiful... has everything... lovely water falls, streams, trees, flowers, ocean trail.

Onomea water falls.

Pinecone ginger/shampoo ginger—zingiber zerumbet. gives a lovely smell when squeezed.

Some more flowers—actually these pink ripen into the pinecone ginger.

Ku... the protector.

Bird house with macaws.

Red and white heart shaped anthuriums.

Orchids

Heliconia

Strawberry guava

There is a nice legend about these 2 rocks.

Enemy fleet was sighted at the horizon and the villagers were scared they will be decimated. The village chiefs asked a young couple to make a sacrifice to save the village and the couple agreed. Everyone was instructed to stay indoors the whole night. In the morning, the couple had disappeared and these rocks stood out in the sea guarding the village.... they created a whirlpool making it difficult for canoes to land, thus saving the village.

Stormy weather.