The day before the wedding, we set off on one final adventure, a kayak ride down the Wailua River and waterfall hike to Secret Falls a.k.a. Uluwehi Waterfalls. Being the most athletic of the three sisters, I assumed Fahad and I would breeze through the kayak ride, leaving the others behind. Our tour guide warned us in advance, making a joke to the honeymooning couples that a kayak is also known as a divorce boat.
On the ride out, I realised exactly how true that was (it's a good thing Fahad and I aren't married!). I'm sure it was 99% my fault, and once I just relaxed and stopped trying to compete, we didn't quite bring up the rear of the group...
The hike, on the other hand, was more of a solo experience and best to keep a safe distance from anyone around you. We were warned about knee deep mud, and as we trekked through the trail we came a couple of areas where we actually waded through muddy water up to our knees. We came out with some excellent mud socks.
The hike was long and slow, with multiple near-fall experiences. When we arrived at the waterfall we were warned to go under it at our own risk and that we could potentially be hit with rocks. I had been under a waterfall before in Thailand, which was a bit more impressive than this one, so I opted out. Although, I didn't waste any time jumping in to rinse off the mud.
After a quick lunch, we headed back a slightly different route, which was also slightly less muddy. It didn't matter too much though as there was an area of water to rinse off in again before we boarded our kayaks.
The kayak trip on the way back, I thought, was going much better. Fahad and I seemed to be a lot smoother and in-sync. We manoeuvred our way through the narrow waterways of the The tour guide was spending a lot of time with us, and it wasn't until we were nearly back that I realised we were the last ones and she was obligated to wait with us. In our defense, we were the last ones to get in the water based on how the canoes were stacked and were slightly cut off by another group trying to leave at the same time.
The next day, we scrubbed down and covered up our thousands of mosquito bites in preparation for the wedding. All of the girls headed over to Brandee and Linus's apartment and all of the guys came to our house.
I was lucky enough to be the last one with her and to drive her over (I'm not the favourite, I was assured, it's just how the car situation worked out...). The professional photographer was going to meet us at the beach, so I had fun trying out my photography skills while we waited. Pretty pleased with these!
When we arrived to the location, everyone was set up in place and the photographer had requested that some swimming locals scoot off to the side. I went down to join everyone else in my assigned spot and then waited for the ukulele player to start playing 'Better Together' by Jack Johnson. Perfect!
Brandee came down the small hill up on to the rocky lookout point. They opted for a traditional Hawaiian wedding ceremony, which included Linus getting a special maile lei (an open-ended horseshoe lei made of the spicy scented green maile stems and leaves) and Brandee a more traditional flower lei made with white flowers.
It always surprises me how quickly weddings are over - all done within 30 minutes. It was especially good in this case since we were out in the peak heat of the day at 3pm with no shade. After the big kiss and a few family photos, Brandee and Linus went with the photographer for photos while the rest of us changed for the luau.
Brandee and Linus had signed up for the Plantation Owner's Dinner package, which meant that we had a sit down meal inside the restaurant rather than a buffet inside the luau building. It also included bottomless champagne which was disappointing for me since I was driving! The food was great, lots of fresh seafood and Hawaiian dishes with a fine dining twist.
After the dinner, we walked across the plantation field to the luau. A second benefit of the package was that we had a front row, reserved table for our entire group.
This was awesome because we had a pretty big group which would have been difficult to accomodate and we also didn't have to arrive early and sit around. We walked in with just enough time to grab a complementary Mai Tai, snap a few pre-show pictures and then the show started.
The show basically told the story of the Hawaiians, how they came by boat from Polynesia to discover the Hawaiian Islands. It was their longest journey yet and brought food and people to settle on the Islands.
There was lots of traditional dancing, from both guys and girls, and even some fire dancing.
At the end of the show, all of the different characters posed for photos and people could come up to take pictures with their favourites. Dad and Fahad wanted a photo with the lovely ladies - and they got one!
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