Oh Hawaii

 

From volcanos to parks to film sets, Vacations and Travel Magazine’s Veronica Matheson learns that Hawaii is much more than the parade of high-rise hotels that hugs Waikiki Beach.

Perhaps I’ve watched too many movies but for some reason, I thought every person who visited Hawaii was given a fragrant garland of flowers as mandatory neckwear. Arriving at Honolulu’s international airport, I scan my surrounds hopefully but, alas, there’s not a lei in sight. In fact, it’s not until I’m picking up my rental car – a glorious red convertible Mustang – that I spot my first flower garland, worn by a burly gentleman sporting a dazzling floral shirt and an equally dazzling moustache.

Thankfully, lei envy disappears as I settle into my sporty chariot and set my sights on exploring Oahu, the third largest and the most visited of Hawaii’s islands, home to the state capital, Honolulu. I’m looking forward to discovering some remote stretches of powdery white sand on which to forget the world for a while, but I know I will find so much more.

Surprisingly, it takes no time at all to feel at ease on the right-hand side of the road and, with the sun bearing down on the back of my neck, I begin my drive to Waikiki and my hotel for the night, the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

There are people everywhere when we arrive at the beachside property and, while I’d like to think most of them are there to welcome me, it seems that they’ve turned up in droves to watch a film crew shooting a new series of the TV cop show Hawaii Five-O.

The first episodes of the popular show, which aired in 1968, introduced Hawaii to the world, showing Oahu as an idyllic backdrop for swashbuckling action, with jagged mountains, swaying palms, and of course, floral shirts and lei’s. Many believe the show is responsible for the tourism boom that hit the American island-state in the 1980’s. The latest series of the drama will not disappoint when it comes to dreamy scenery either.

Tropical Oahu is already seen as a laid-back, not to mention romantic, holiday destination and it makes a great stopover on the long-haul flight from Australia to mainland America. The island has a buzzing, cosmopolitan scene alive with bars, restaurants and boutiques, but it also nurtures a strong Hawaiian culture – visit places such as the Bishop Museum and Polynesian Cultural Centre, both in Honolulu. Pearl Harbour’s moving historic sites precinct, with its naval museum and memorials to battleships lost in WW2, is also a drawcard.

But if you’re after rest and relaxation, as I am, it’s hard to look past Waikiki – Hawaii’s most famous beach – and the islands many championship golf courses and indulgent spa resorts, among the best in the states.

Many visitors explore farther afield, taking short flights to other main Hawaiian islands including Kauai (the garden island), Maui (for luxe living), the Big Island of Hawaii (for volcanic activity) and Molokai (for that feeling of yesteryear).

But I find all I need on Oahu.

It sounds like a cliché but there really is no need to step onto my hotel balcony to check the weather: it’s as beautiful one day as it is the next. Which means that I’m able to keep the top down on the Mustang for my entire holiday.

After checking in to the Hilton, I jump back in the car and make my way to the north shore in search of the island’s celebrated big surf. I leave the traffic behind and am soon driving through fields of sugarcane, pineapple and taro. I stop in the sleepy surfing hamlet of Haleiwa for paper cones of shaved ice soaked in sugary syrup, soaked up through a straw. A bronzed surfer spots my board as he walks past. “You should have been here yesterday,” he enthuses. “There were epic waves”.

Driving north, I stop by a small beach crowded with people, none of them remotely interested in the Pacific waves. Word has spread that sea turtles are swimming close to shore and a group of snorkelers has joined them. I don’t see the turtles but in the days that follow, I do spot whales and dolphins and rainbow-coloured coral fish; the latter swim right up to my face when I’m snorkelling at Hanauma Bay on the east coast.

I also taste the island’s wonderful seafood, including jumbo prawns, farmed along the north shore and usually served off the back of trucks and from tiny roadside shacks between Kahuku and Haleiwa. I can’t resist having a second helping. The beauty of Oahu is that there’s no need to move from one hotel to the other to explore the island. Roads are excellent and tunnels are cut through mountain ranges so that just about every corner of the island can be explored in a daytrip.

I return to my hotel and stroll down to Waikiki Beach. Hawkers on this crowded strip of sand do brisk business selling sunworshippers coconut oil, swim fins, tickets for outrigger canoe rides and, bewilderingly, surf lessons – while the north shore gets big waves, there’s hardly a ripple on the ocean at Waikiki.

I make my way to one of the strip’s most famous hotels, The Royal Hawaiian, which is better known as “the Pink Palace” for its flamingo-hued, Spanish-style exterior. Where better to sip an even pinker Mai Tai cocktail than on the hotel’s terrace? Watching passerby frolic in the waves below, I feel much as Hawaiian royalty must have done when this was the location of their summer palace, long before the present-day hotel was built in 1927.

Back walking, rather less steadily than I had been before my potent cocktail, I reach a large grassy area that’s home to a multi-garlanded statue of Oahu’s revered Duke Kahanamoku, the Olympic-gold-medal swimmer who introduced modern surfing to the world. From here, a bus makes its way to Diamond Head, the extinct volcanic crater that looks down on Waikiki. But I’m content sitting and looking out at the sea, waiting for the bloodshot sunset that will soon paint the sky as day turns to night.

On day two, I decide to leave the car behind and instead use “The Bus,” as locals refer to their public transport system, to take me to Ala Moana Beach Park. Here, families relax in the shade under massive monkey pod trees, but the park is better known for the fact that U.S President Barrack Obama graced it on a recent family holiday.

President Obama is one of Oahu’s most famous sons – Australian actress Nicole Kidman was also born here – and many Hawaiian’s now call the Island Obamaland. Beautiful Kailua Beach, where the Obamas rented a house during their vacation, and the north shore’s Kua’aina sandwich shop, where the presidential family enjoyed lunch, are now fixtures on tour itineraries.

I ran out of time trying to visit the sites on my own – sadly, I didn’t even have time for a traditional Hawaiian lomi lomi massage. But given the star-studded entrance I made at the Hilton, I do avail myself of a trip to the location of Elvis Presley’s classic movie Blue Hawaii as well as the set for the perplexing TV series, Lost.

But then it’s time to leave. At the airport, a little girl trips over near me at the check-in desk; I comfort her until her parents arrive. The girl disappears only to return minutes later with a fresh garland of flowers. Finally, I have my lei.

Photography courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Article courtesy of Vacations and Travel Magazine.