Day 3: Ho’omaluhia Garden, Byodo-In Temple, Kualoa Ranch

Sunday, June 2nd

Ahhh this was a beautiful day. We saw some of the most STUNNING scenery and I apologize in advance for probable extreme photo overload. 😁

Will try to keep this as brief as I can so let’s dive in!

Morning:

Still up early but slightly better- I think up by a little after 5 this time.

Ivan, Asher, Ethan and I went down to the beach again. Asher boogie boarded a little but didn’t have a rash guard and was getting a… rash. So he stopped and we just relaxed for a while. (*We bought rash guards for them later in the day so hopefully this problem will be better going forward!)

There was a young girls 2v2 sand volleyball tournament going on which was fun to watch! Definitely seemed like local families with the parents decked out with tents and spectating. One girl’s shirt said “Kauai Volleyball Club”, so do they like…. fly over for a Sunday morning tournament on Oahu?! And I thought club soccer was expensive. Haha.

We had several things on the agenda today so we headed out by about 9:30 or so.

First stop was:

Nu’uanu Pali Lookout

This is just a lookout along the Pali Highway but it’s just gorgeous!! Unfortunately it was insanely windy up there – like to the point my cheeks were practically billowing in the wind! It was crazy!

But it was so, so beautiful.

I managed to snap a bunch of photos but was almost worried my phone would blow out of my hand!! Haha.

This was just a quick 10-15 minute stop, then back in the car and we continued on our way.

Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden

Next stop was this botanical garden. The entrance (below) is amazing, all lined with palm trees and the mountains behind. 😍

I guess I had thought this was more of a manicured garden of sorts, but it really is more of a wild, sprawling garden with different sections that you basically hike through.

After getting a map and chatting with the park ranger lady, we set out.

It was very pretty! Again, different than what I had envisioned going in, but very unique landscapes and very pretty.

Down at this pond there were ducks and TONS of big goldfish with beautiful views all around.

We explored I think 3 of the 5 main sections.

At one of the overlooks:

It took us a couple hours or so there, so by the time we were done it was a little after 12:00.

I still wanted to make one other stop in the area and we had to be to check in for our 3 pm tour at 2:15, so we decided to just stop at a McDonald’s for lunch.

Felt so weird to see a regular old McDonald’s nestled at the base of these big green mountains! Haha. Their menu also had a bunch of Hawaii specific food items, though I stuck with my tried and true plain double cheeseburger. 😆

We sat outside and had some company right next to us… baby chicks!

Byodo-In Temple

Next stop was basically just up the road from McDonald’s, this beautiful Buddhist temple. We quickly bought tickets and walked the short path to this view:

They have this “gong” you can ring? I think that’s what you would say. Anyway you pull the log back and let it strike the gong and it makes the loud “ummmm” sound.

They invite everyone to do this before entering the temple to clear any negativity. So of course, we all did it, because who needs to carry around any excess negativity? Lol.

It’s a pretty small grounds but just so pretty. I liked hearing the constant sound of people hitting that gong. I felt like it was a meditation track. Haha.

Inside the temple there is a HUGE Buddha. So cool! We all took our shoes off as requested before entering.

Back outside:

Isn’t this such a gorgeous place?! Loved it and definitely think it’s worth a quick stop.

Kualoa Ranch

Our MAIN event of the day was a 2 hour UTV tour at Kualoa Ranch. This is located about 40+ minutes from Waikiki, so that’s why I had sketched out a route involving these other stops in the area.

Kualoa Ranch is a sprawling functioning cattle ranch that also has been the sight of dozens of movies and shows like Jurassic World, Lost, Kong: Skull Island, Finding Oahu, George of the Jungle and many more.

It is out of this world beautiful!! They have a bunch of different tours (including horseback riding below) but we went with the UTV tour.

Checked in at 2:15 as required and got our helmets and gear and signed the waivers. This is not like a crazy off road experience – it’s more about being immersed in the scenery. We chose the “you drive” option (or, Ivan, in our case). The boys were not old enough to drive one.

Here we are all ready to go!! Gators and eye protection for all the dust.

This was just so cool. The views, like I said, don’t even begin to be captured in these photos.

We stoped several times to hear from our (very fun and funny guides!) about the area, history, etc and for photos.

Some was along the ocean, but more of it was down inside the heart of the ranch among the mountains.

This is one of the Jurassic World set pieces that still remains:

The guide at this point said, “If you’re here and you’re seeing this view right now, I mean… you’ve basically made it in life.” ☺️ I liked that. Yes, I agree! How lucky and fortunate we are to have these amazing experiences.

Our group shot. Love this one!!

There were also some fun water crossings:

Group selfie….

Scenery for days….

Oh, and part of the Lost set!! We totally watched the entire series of Lost back in the day, so this was cool!!

Here is the famous “Chinaman’s Hat”, which we learned the story of:

After a full 2 hours of exploring we were back at the ranch- VERY DIRTY!! Omg. Hahaha. These pics don’t do it justice. We literally were 4 shades darker and had thick lines of dirt where our helmets were.

We sort of cleaned up a little in the sinks they had outside, but I was feeling very smart and proud of myself for scheduling this at the end of the day. lol! I had read how dirty and dusty you get and figured I wouldn’t have wanted to do our day’s itinerary in the reverse… all I wanted to do was go take a shower, so I would NOT have wanted to now go walk around the botanical gardens, for example. So the 3 pm time slot worked great for us.

Oh- one other note about Kualoa Ranch: the tours here completely book up months in advance. So if you’re ever planning to go, book early!!

Waiahole Poi Factory

We did stop off for ice cream on the way past this little local place. It was just on a random street corner kind of out in the middle of nowhere. We all felt like it felt more like Latin America than the U.S. here!

Drove the ~40 minutes back and I dozed off for a few minutes. Suddenly felt really tired! In a good way. 🙂

Back at the hotel, we saw another rainbow:

We took turns rotating through the shower, trying to hurry as it was getting a bit late. I don’t think we headed out for dinner until like 8/8:30 pm!

Due to the time, we went to another place near the hotel that I had heard of. It was pretty loud and bustling with a lot of people still, but we got a nice table in a back corner. They had big TVs with surfing competitions playing which was super amazing to watch.

I’m not sure how exactly a dinner bill gets to $220 when you’re at a fairly casual beachy style restaurant and a few of us actually ordered from the appetizer menu, but that’s Hawaii for you I guess! (I also blame the beer….And I suppose the location directly across from Waikiki Beach…..).

Anyway, we had a nice meal and had fun watching the surfing and chatting etc.

It was getting late! I guess we’re adjusting to the schedule since we’re slowly shifting both our bedtime and wake times later.

We still FaceTimed with my niece and sister in Ireland (11 hour time different now!) for my niece’s birthday so it got to be like midnight before I went to bed!

Phew! What a day. It was totally fantastic. But today I think we’re planning a good amount of beach time to offset the busier day yesterday! 🙂