Wailua Falls is a beautiful cascading 80 foot waterfall just north of Lihue and is widely recognized because it is featured in the opening credits of fantasy island. It is recommended that you don’t hike to the top of the waterfall, because it is dangerous, we did not know this at the time and we hiked to the top of the waterfall. 
The river that flows into the waterfall is spectacular. It looks like something out of a painting too beautiful to be real. At the top of the waterfall there is an old iron bridge that goes across the waterfall, I don’t know if the bridge is still in use or if it is even useable but it makes a fantastic backdrop for pictures.
After spending time at the top of the waterfall we decided to hike down to the bottom of the waterfall, from the street to us it looked like there was only one path to get down. We took a path that looked like it would be easy. Big mistake! It was not easy and we almost fell a couple of times on the way down, while getting down we got scratched on branches and bit by mosquitos, we also ended up a ways down from the waterfall so we had to hike through the river, then cross it, and hike some more through foliage and trees. While crossing the river I slipped on a rock and severely twisted my ankle causing me to hobble the rest of the way. Finally we made it to the waterfall, we were going to take a swim but there was an annoying obnoxious couple in the water, added to the quickly fading sun, and the annoyance at how difficult it was to get there we decided to skip swimming since it would make it harder to get back up. Drama aside the view of the falls was worth the trek down there.
It was so spectacular. We were on the side opposite the road so we got to see the full extent of the falls. We hiked across the river to return up to our car. We could have easily swam at this point and enjoyed the little pool and waterfall but decided against it because it was late and we didn’t want to hike in the dark. However, as we got to the other side of the river we noticed a family with two young boys. We asked how they made it down there with such young children. Apparently there was another way down, you climb down this root looking area that has a rope to help you down. It is much easier than the way we came and took only a few minutes for us to climb up it. 
If you don’t want to hike up and down the root jumble path, you can still view the falls from the road. Since we went to the waterfalls we have tried to find out if there is an easy path. Some sites say further down the road there is an easier path, if it is the one we took it was by no means easy. All sites say that the one that goes by the roots and is more of a direct path down is steep and can be dangerous especially if it is wet or muddy. Most sites say if you are sure-footed and careful you can make it down. So if you go down to the bottom of the falls be careful, when you get there though you will be awed. If you decide not to risk going down you can still get a spectacular view. 