Curious Rookie: Kauai Part II: The Not-So-Lost Jurassic World

Following on from my post on our Jurassic Falls experience, during our stay on Kauai we stayed in Kapaa, located on the east coast of the island. And let me first mention that it was the best accommodation we've ever stayed in. The campus, composed of accommodation blocks, was surrounded by tall palm trees, and beyond them gorgeous green mountains.

You see, Kauai is both relatively small and lowly-populated too. But more fascinatingly there is just one freeway that rings the entire island, skirting its coast the entire way. There are of course slip roads that lead down to the beaches though, into small towns or waterfall viewing points or the island’s state park on the western side, but refreshingly, most of Kauai’s interior actually remains uninhabited.

According to an Oahu native, Kauai is trying to ‘stick to its roots’ and not become suffocated by the tourist industry. And as soon as you arrive there, it quickly becomes apparent. Besides the low population, you can’t build higher than three floors on the island as the buildings aren’t allowed to be any higher than the palm trees, nor, as we were led to believe, is the island allowed to have anything else built. So for the most part, Kauai is untouched, a refreshing quality to an already naturally-striking rock in the Pacific.

After our helicopter tour was over and we recovered from both the excitement and the altitude, Sian ingeniously decided we should hire a car so that we didn’t miss out on exploring the island. Our first mini road trip saw us head up the east coast towards the north shore. On the way, we passed a place called Jurassic Kahili Ranch. Unfortunately, we didn’t venture inside as there’s no indication on its website that the public are allowed in as they only advertise their land to filmmakers. But this makes sense considering it’s where the creators of Jurassic Park filmed the scene in the picture below…

Puu Ka Ele Reservoir is where the majestic scene was filmed

Moving on, just before the north shore, we stopped at a small town for coffee. It was here, I believe, where, in the movie, Dennis Nedry meets with Lewis Dodgson to discuss his plans to steal dinosaur embryos from the facility on Isla Nublar. Where exactly the scene was shot has likely been lost in the sands of time and is likely unknown to the locals. Nevertheless, I was there - or thereabouts.

At the north shore, we also passed the Valley House Plantation Estate which served as the visitor centre in the film (interior scenes were filmed in the Hawaiian Convention Centre in Waikiki back over on Oahu, with other scenes filmed in Universal Studios which I’ll mention in an upcoming post). We didn’t get any pictures of the estate though because we were only driving by and didn’t even really go looking for it, but check out the pictures below.

The next day we took an even bigger road trip, making our way from Kapaa all the way down along the south coast and up alongside the west, turning inland as we drove up into the Waimea Canyon State Park, making our way back up north and enjoying all the breathtaking viewpoints as we did. Before entering this mountainous area, though, we visited the Spouting Horn (I think the pictures below speak for themselves), and just down the road we came upon the Allerton Gardens. These botanical gardens are home to many plants and trees, including 'Fig Trees'.

Though we didn’t enter (eighty dollars per person, and all), these massive trees were included in Jurassic Park in the scene where Alan, Lex and Tim discover that the dinosaurs have been breeding when they stumble upon a cluster of hatched eggs at the tree’s roots. This is also where the maintenance shed was constructed, which was used for the scene where Ellie successfully manages to restore power to the park before she's nearly shredded by a raptor, and where outside Muldoon echoes those very famous last words. I don’t believe the unit is still standing though, but if it is, let’s just hope Mr Arnold’s arm is no longer in there.

Allerton Gardens. Just the sign, though. Proof we were cheap

A picture Allerton Gardens had swiftly removed from their website

Some Allerton Garden visitors just like to take precautions

As we made our way to the furthest point in the state park, we came upon some truly jaw-dropping scenery; deep valleys in which you can quite easily imagine a herd of dinosaurs. We didn’t do any hiking, though, a wise idea considering we weren’t exactly wearing the appropriate footwear (not that we were wearing high heels like Claire in Jurassic World), but we did enjoy a magnificent view of the Na Pali Coast once again, but this time from inland.

Waimea State National Park

One of the many incredible viewpoints

Na Pali Coast from inland this time

Proof these aren't just Google Images

More treacherous than it looks

Beautiful, eh? She's alright too

And one without Sian spoiling it

Back in the valleys behind us, which unfortunately we could only see and not touch, there are opportunities for hikers to make their way inland, deep into the mountains and forests. Here, we’d have eventually found the Hoopii Falls on the Kapaa Stream as we neared the east coast again, which doubled as the Dominican Republic amber mine in the beginning of Jurassic Park. En route, though, we’d have first stumbled upon the electrified fence that Grant hilariously pretends is shocking him in the movie, located in Olokele Valley, as well remnants of the Jurassic Park gates themselves, which apparently are now nothing more than two poles. This would have seen us at the base of Mount Waialeale deep in the interior, which also served as the tyrannosaur paddock. And if you remember from my last post, we actually flew over this in the helicopter. Jurassic Falls wasn’t our only Jurassic experience that day, because while we didn’t undertake any hiking to specifically reach all the places I’ve just talked about, we already had the best seats in the house to what I now dub the 'real Isla Nublar.'

There are many other locations about the island too, including Limahili Garden on the north shore in Hanalei, which was used for the opening scene where an InGen worker is brutally killed. We were also told by a lady at our accommodation that the filmmakers originally wanted to film in Koloa in the south, but that the swarms of mozzies repelled them and sent them elsewhere instead – including Kualoa Ranch over on Oahu – though apparently they couldn’t escape them in the end anyway. Damn mosquitos. What are they good for? Besides preserving dinosaur DNA, I mean.

Kauai remains our favourite place so far. Perhaps it’s because of the island’s mostly untouched beauty and its relaxed atmosphere, or perhaps it’s because we never thought in sixty-five million years we would be visiting the real Jurassic Park island. But that’s not to understate how truly awesome Kualoa Ranch on Oahu is. It’s incredible, and it must be noted that many scenes were also filmed on that island too, as well as scenes from Jurassic World. So it’s fair to say that Hawai'i was a very Jurassic adventure, but it didn’t just stop there. Check out an upcoming post on our time in LA where we were almost blinded by dilophosaurus venom, eaten by a raptor and a tyrannosaurs rex, and where we watched a giant gorilla battle some even nastier dinosaurs before engaging in a high-speed chase with Vin Diesel and the rest of his fast and furious gang. You know, just one of those days.

In the meantime, here's a small collection of some more pictures from our Kauai adventure.