Hawaii in a Campervan | Camping at Friends of Malaekahana Beach campground

Back in Oahu, back to civilization…

After picking up a different VW Westfalia Campervan from a different guy (this time from said guy’s house which was kind of weird) we stopped at Genki’s sushi-go-round where we gorged ourselves on plate after plate of cheap sushi.

Skipping Waikiki, we made a beeline for the North Shore of Oahu.

And set up camp at Friends of Malaekahana Beach Campground just in time to catch the sunset.

The campsites weren’t exactly set up for campervan camping, so we pulled out our tent and set it up on our own private beach. Once again, we had the best spot in the most beautiful place, and nobody around but us and a bunch of feral chickens, roosters, chicks, and kitties.

The sound of waves crashing eventually drowned out the sound of roosters and other night critters crowing/chirping/yelling at all hours of the night and, bathed in the shimmery glow of moonlight, we soon fell asleep.

The next morning, Sly woke up early and went boogie boarding.

Then it was time to feed the chickens!

The feral chicken population was no joke. Once they sensed we had food we were persistently followed by Mama Chick, Papa Chick, and her little chickadees. They were quite the orderly bunch following each other in a neat line…until we found some bread crumbs to toss. Then Mama Chick flew up to our fingers to snatch the bread. Screw the babies.

We were slightly obsessed with our chicken friends, and fed them every chance we could get. Even the less aggressive chicks ate from our hands. I was really tempted cuddle one or more of the little ones (I didn’t) they were so cute. Loud as hell, but cute.

luxurious cold water shower

Though our accommodations were rustic it was hard to beat the location. Not to mention it was cheap — like $10-$15? Maybe even less than that? At the time, the rugged and somewhat remote North Shore felt like an entirely different island compared to the tourist area of Waikiki. It was definitely more our speed. Outside of coffee runs to Ted’s and shaved ice at Matsumoto’s, we rarely left our little home on the beach. During one of our excursions we returned to find a guy removing our tent from our beach hideaway. Apparently you’re not allowed to camp ON the actual beach in Hawaii (though this didn’t seem to apply to the Leeward Side…we’ll get to that later…). The guy was really cool about it, but oooops. We moved our tent a few feet back behind the sand dune where we could still catch a glimpse of our private beach.