{Travel} Day 7 - Audio Tour of Oahu

 Day 7

Today we had the Jeep and were going to do an audio tour of Oahu.  We had such a good experience with the Gypsy audio tour on Kauai, that we purchased one for Oahu but tried a different tour company-Shaka Tours.

We chose the Grand Circle Island Tour and our first stop, almost immediately as we headed out was Leonard's Bakery. They are famous for their malasadas which are Portuguese doughnuts. 

We missed out on them in Kauai but we weren't really thinking we'd stop so soon for food. I'm so glad we did!  The parking lot was so busy, Mr. Click dropped me off to go order them.  I was overwhelmed and chose original, cinnamon sugar and passion fruit custard.

The lines seem long but they get you in and out quickly.   They come out fresh and hot out of the oil. Mr. Click found street parking and was able to wait with me. 

They were amazing and I don't know how to describe them, maybe like a solid -tender on the inside and crispy on the outside- doughnut dipped in sugar or brown sugar. Yum!  

We were off to our next stop on a sugar high!

We were heading toward the North Shore and it was definitely on the rainier side of the island.

We drove up a long road through Valley Of The Temples Memorial Park to get to the Byodo-In Temple.

This is a non-practicing Buddhist Temple built  in 1963 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.  

We chose not to walk through as we wanted to get to as many sites as possible...so we stopped for a quick photo.

It's nestled in the Ko'olau Mountains and a replica of a 950 year old Japanese Temple in Uji, Japan.

I don't have any photos at our next stop Tropical Nut Farm.  It felt very touristy and there were some tour buses there so it was very crowded. They offered samples of their huge variety of macadamia nuts and Kona Macadamia blend coffee. We were looking to buy a cup of coffee but they only sold bags of coffee. The samples that we tried were good.

We pulled into Kualoa Regional Park to get a good look at Mokoli'i Island.(locally known as Chinaman's Hat).  The cone shaped island is a well recognized landmark on the Windward side.

The beach looked really nice and we saw lots of tents for picnicking. It was drizzling and a bit misty but very beautiful.

We drove past Kualoa Ranch but didn't stop. It's a 4,000 acre private nature preserve with lots of activities and tours (like a Jurassic Adventure Tour).  The views of the mountains are really incredible as you are driving through.

We stopped here for a little break.

We shared these amazing Volcano Brisket Fries.  This is the description "Fries loaded with prime brisket beef, Parmesan cheese, won-ton chips, shichimi, furikake, honey miso aioli, unagi sauce, pickled onion, coleslaw, Fresno chili pepper, cilantro".

We got them without the coleslaw since Mr. Click is not a fan.

Next we stopped at the Huilua Fishpond in Kahana Bay. Never heard of a fishpond? We hadn't either. It's a pretty cool way of aqua farming dating back to the years 1200 and 1600!

We traveled up a very steep, thin and winding road to Pu'u o Mahuka Heiau State Monument.  It is the largest place of worship in the island (over 2 acres) and over looks Waimea Bay with stunning views at 300 feet above sea level.

Only the ruins remain but you can walk around the area as long as you stay on the marked trails. 

The views were worth the scary drive up!

Of course there were some chickens in the parking lot.  The other stops on the audio tour were places we had either already been to (like Dole Plantation, Banzai Pipeline, Pearl Harbor and local food trucks) or didn't fit into our schedule.  The full tour can take 6-8 hours if you do every stop.  We enjoyed listening to the history of Oahu. 

Back at the hotel later and ready for dinner.

Waiting for the elevator.

We ate at Monkeypod Kitchen.

More fries to share. I also had the Broccoli Salad.

We shared this banana cream pie--something we wouldn't normally order but the waiter recommended it.  It was delish!

We got to see the most spectacular sunset from the restaurant.

Later we met up with the gang. I was too full for a lava flow!

to be continued...

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