Hawaii 66 Introduction

Introduction


Aloha my friends (more about this ‘iconic’ word, so clearly associated with Hawaii, later)

In the following I have put together some basic information on the Island of Oahu, this being one of, if not THE main Island of the State of Hawaii.

The others being:

The Big Island, with Kailua Kona
Maui withWailuku
Lanai with Lanai City
Molokai with Kaunakakai
Kauai with Lihue

And, of course, Oahu with Honolulu the capital of the lot and Waikiki one of the tourist centres on Oahu.

Almost all the things which I am showing, describing in this little piece of cyber info is based on my own experience over the last 30 years. After Moving to Australia in 1982 I tend to use Hawaii as my last stop over before going back to Sydney, when coming from Europe, and going via New York, San Francisco.

Most of my visits have been fairly short, say 3-5 days. And since 1986 I have enjoyed this island on 13 occasions.

In putting this information together I have largely relied on my memory and some trip notes I have made every now and then.

My personal interests are largely guided by landscape and nature, of which this island offers a lot. And whilst I have visited the odd museum or palace in Honolulu, this type of tourist activity has played only a very minor role during my visits.

In a country like Hawaii I tend to be a traveller with certain ‘habits’ which form over the years. For example, I have only ever stayed in 2 Hotels in Waikiki, the most frequent of those visits at the Sheraton Waikiki (12 times) and, in 2010 for the first time at the Aqua Beach (not very far from the Sheraton)

I have never – to any great extent – involved myself with any ‘gay typical’ activities, hence gay clubs and pubs I don’t know a lot if anything about.

Clubs and pubs are anyway only of limited interest to me, I rather enjoy at night the street life, the things which go on around Waikiki, for example the night market. (more about that later)

The Island of Oahu

The Island of Oahu


Some basic facts about Oahu. The Island is about 1500 square kilometres big, with the North to South length being around 70 km and East to West about 50km

There is a main coastal road circling the Island which in total is around 230 km long. Most roads are of good condition and there are some highways – autobahn type – around and through Honolulu and Waikiki and also to some places around the island.

The total number of people living on Oahu is around 900.000 with Honolulu being home to about 400.000.

The highest Mountain is Mount Kaala with around 1200 meters.

Given the geographical location 20 degrees above the equator and a bit closer to the Equator than, for example, the southern tip of California, the weather tends to be warm and pleasant. Maximum day temperatures are around the high 20ties and the night time temperatures vary around the 20 degrees, somewhere between 18 and 22.

Rainfall is more frequent between October and March (around 10 days per month with rain) whilst the dry season is May to August with an average of 6 to 7 days per month with rain.

The Island came into existence by way of volcanic eruption and hence most of the hills and mountains are clear of trees. However, the ‘flatter’ parts of the inland, Leilehua or Schofield Plateau are the centre of agricultural activity with Pineapples being a dominant feature (the Doles company is located here)

How to get around

How to get around


My standard approach to a few days visit in Oahu is that on my first day I rent a cheap little car, often something like a little Suzuki or any other type of ‘jeep’, which gets me around the island in comfortable, sometimes rattly fashion. There is a place in Waikiki where you can, what we call here, ‘rent a wreck’ that means the cars are cheap and not overly well maintained. But they do the job to get you from A to B and back quite well.

Hence I would spend lots of my days driving around where ever my fancy takes me and in the late afternoon the car is securely parked and not used anymore before the next day.

For this kind of travelling I have an anatomically inbuilt sat nav system, it’s also called my nose. I just follow my nose as we say in German.

The rest is walking. It’s wonderful to walk along the shore line in and around Waikiki and Honolulu or to take a walk somewhere around Diamonds head or, my most favourite place, Waimea Falls. (more about that later)

Public transport – apart from expensive taxis – is fairly limited and I have never used it to any great extent.

One of those trolley buses, so beloved in American tourist centres

Getting around – the Island of Oahu

Getting around – the Island of Oahu


Most roads are clearly numbered – apart from having a more or less poetic name, often taken from the local language, with which I am not very familiar. So if you use a map in combination with the street signs, looking for the street number is a fairly secure way of orientation

As mentioned before, I use my car to get around the island and usually would decide for a day ….ok today I go to the East Coast…..

That tends to involve a short drive on the highway H1 (Lunalilo Highway) from Waikiki towards Honolulu, and soon comes the turn off onto H63, the LikeLike Highway towards the east. That gets you through the Wilson tunnel and out you come on the other side into a remarkably different landscape. More volcanic like.

Soon you hit the 836 and at about Kealohi point you get to the immediate coast. From there on north you can always drive on the coastal road, or venture into the inland every now and then.

Going north you eventually come to Laie where there is the Polynesian Cultural Centre. To me a must see thing in Oahu.

Getting around – The Polynesian Cultural Centre

Getting around – The Polynesian Cultural Centre


The Polynesian Cultural Centre (PCC) gives you a very good overview of the various islands and island cultures which make up the vast area of Polynesia and Micronesia.

The main Island countries in this region are

Rapa Nui (Easter Islands)
Tonga
Tahiti
Hawaii
Fiji
Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Samoa
Marquesas

…lost my bloody hat, the classic symbol of Easter Islands….

I am happy to say that I have been to all but one of them, still missing the Marquesas

Now here in the PCC they have set up a tiny ‘village’ for each of those countries which try to showcase the ‘typical’ kind of houses, activities etc of the particular island country.

Cheeky bugger

Don’t mess with him!!

In each of the little villages, there are some people from that country, who live here during the day and can answer your questions. Sometimes you can get into very nice conversations with them.

He was a bit ‘nervous when I took a pic, because he is not supposed to use a mobile during work. It looks a bit out of period!

Had a very long conversation with him on Fiji

It basically gives you in a very short period of time a very condensed overview of this part of the world.

What I would usually do, is to wait until the first big guided tour assembles at the entrance, see where they go and then walk in the opposite direction around the centre. That gets me out of the tourist pack and makes me often a ‘lone’ walker. But that’s the way I like it. I don’t need a guide, I can find out for myself.

A visit to the PCC can easily fill half a day or more if you wish. I tend to spend about 3-4 hours there and have done so on many occasions.

Getting around – Waimea Falls

Getting around – Waimea Falls


Waimea Falls would have to be one of my favourite botanical gardens on this planet. A visit here can be nicely combined with a drive through the countryside, going past the dole company and driving on the H2 up north, hitting the 803 and around Kamooloa the 83 which gets you along the coast to Waimea.

The park itself stretches for about 5 km inland and at the end you see the famous waterfalls.

Boys want to have fun. And it’s fun to watch!

You can go up on the one side and down on the other side of the river.

And on your way you will find trees and plants from the entire region of Polynesia and beyond. It’s a fantastic walk through a beautiful landscape.

One of the most exotic flowers I have ever seen here

And I can tell you, my photo files contain probably a few hundred if not thousands of pictures from there.

I don’t think I ever travelled to Hawaii without a visit of Waimea.

Going back to Waikiki and not wanting to take the same road through the country, you can either take the longer way around the northern tip of the island, passing by the PCC and then going through the Wilson tunnel back to the south coast, or you take the western coastal road – where there is a short stretch of rough road around Koena Point.

Taking this way along the west coast gets you a fair bit out of the ‘glamour’ of touristy Oahu and into some more, what you might call, rough areas where not many tourists would go or be found.

One day I ended up in Barbers Point. Wonderful beach with the obligatory palm tree but also a large rubbish dump just off the beach.

It somehow makes it clear that they have to put the rubbish somewhere, which they and we the tourists produce during our visits!