Kauai - The Rain Forest

Tuesday of our trip, after a short flight from Oahu, we arrived on Kauai. The only way to get from island to island is by plane. I expected there to be a ferry system as well.

We drove through "The Tunnel of Trees" on our way to our hotel from the airport. Eucalyptus trees line the highway for over one mile.

We got checked into our hotel the The Grand Hyatt, which was the nicest place I had ever stayed, and then we went to The Shops at Kukui'ula for dinner. We ate at Savage Shrimp, which was quite good, and not very expensive.

The next morning, we had a guided hike through the rain forest. Out of convenience sake, we ate breakfast at our hotel that morning. After shelling out $70 for the breakfast buffet, we didn't eat at the hotel anymore!

We saw some beautiful scenery on the way to the rain forest -

 On our way to the rain forest, our guide took us to an area that had an overlook where we could see Opaekaa Falls. Opaekaa means "Rolling shrimp, which were once abundant in the stream.

He took us to a second area that overlooked the Wailua River and the Fern Grotto.

And on to the photos from the rain forest:

 The plant is called Jamaican Vervain, and it is edible. It tastes just like mushrooms. Our guide said that his grandmother used to send him to the pick them so she could use them in salads.
We also saw some wild orchids.

The road had to cut around this boulder that James is standing in front of. Workers had tried to move the boulder so they could cut the road where it was, however the rock moved back to its original location - twice.

 Look familiar? Those posts are the remnants of the gates of Jurassic Park. Part of the movie was shot in this rain forest.

We saw Mount Waialeale, the wettest place on earth. The mountain averages 452 inches of rain every year.

Our guide made this flower out of a Ti leaf. These plants are used to make hula skirts.