Ridge Walks & Rainbows

It’s not all sun, sea and Mai Tai’s in Hawaii, oh no. Been here for ages already and not had a single Mai Tai. A few gin and tonics maybe but the classic Hawaiian cocktail is still on my to do list before we leave. As for the sun… turns out it’s a fickle “now you see it, now you don’t” visitor up here on the north shore of Oahu, and we’ve had our fair share of torrential rain. I know you Brits have been facing the beast from the east, bringing icy blasts of wind and snow but hey, it’s all relative.

See – muddy as! Bailed out after slipping and sliding our way through this

Plan B. A more sedate coastal walk from Turtle Bay

But in Hawaii, where there be rain, there be rainbows 🌈 Magnificent, stunning, full-on meet in the middle rainbows. The kind of happy cheery rainbows that take you right back to Bungle, Zippy and George.

Thought I could get a shot from the car to avoid stepping out into the rain. Evidently not.

On the more adventurous side, I had a bash at Stand Up Paddleboarding. Which started off as Kneel Down Paddleboarding and also involved a fair bit of Sit Down Paddleboarding. Luckily, the conditions on the ‘Anahulu river were about as mill pond flat as you could get, so I just about managed to stay above and not under the water, yay. My cap did get a dunking though, having been scooped off my head by a wayward branch. Better than a poke in the eye.

About as much grace as a baby elephant on a skateboard

For those days where we’re just too lazy to walk or paddleboard, there’s always the beach. Our Airbnb was ooh maybe a hundred yards or so from Three Tables Beach, so this quickly became our go to, armed with towels, deckchairs and beer (and/or wine and/or G&T). Perfect spot to hang out for sunset.

Watching the waves from the comfort of the beach chairs

The chickens like to hang out at the beach too

The weekend gave us a bit more time to get out and about to explore the island, enjoying a stroll along Lanikai beach, watching the kite surfers at Kailua beach, and checking out an amazing ridge walk up to some rather cool graffitied pill boxes left over from the Second World War.

Lanikai & Kailua:

How else to strip the leaves from a palm tree other than getting up there and getting stuck in!

Enough of standing around watching other people do strenuous things, time to get up onto that ridge:

Still a bit of a climb to get up to the pillbox

You can make out the ridge line path going over the hills on the right. No wonder they put war lookouts up here, some of the best views on the island.

One of the food highlights that the north shore is famous for is their food trucks. In particular shrimp trucks. Bubba Gump eat your heart out, Aloha shrimp is where it’s at.