TRAVEL FRONTIER
CHRIS BARTLETT
The air is cool, and a fresh breeze hits me as I grind up the road and pull into a small carpark on the headland. Diamond Head looms above, challenging all comers to hike to its sensational lookouts over Honolulu. Below, there’s a faint sound of the ocean as about a dozen hardy longboarders ride waves.
Cliches about Hawaii crash over us constantly, like those big waves that hit Oahu’s North Shore attracting surfers from around the world.
Palm trees, leis, beaches, aloha shirts, mai tais at sunset ... surfers on big waves.
I am happy to report the cliched short-break Hawaiian holiday is as easy as stepping from your plane, arriving at your beachside hotel, flopping on to Waikiki’s sand, catching a wave, sipping your maitai and watching a Pacific sunset through the palms.
But, if you’re anything like me, the beach can get a bit boring after a while. So it’s worth digging a bit deeper and discovering some hitherto hidden Hawaiian gems, even if you’re not venturing far from Honolulu.
Here’s five things to check out when you tire of the sand between your toes. (Bonus: they’re not too far from the beach).
On your bike
Within 10km of Waikiki, there are ample opportunities to explore on two wheels. Apart from the sunrise ride to Diamond Head, you can continue onward to the ex-volcano’s crater and try the hike to the rim for spectacular views.
Amazing street art
Kaka’ako is a rundown, industrial suburb just north of Waikiki and the contrast could not be more stark. Wander through the streets and you are confronted by walls filled with the most vibrant art — giant cartoon figures, Elvis on corrugated iron, a pink-haired popstar with office windows for eyewear.
History on a string
A few streets from PowWow is Kamaka Ukuleles, where the Kamaka family has been hand-crafting the indigenous instrument for 100 years. Kamaka is the mecca for uke enthusiasts — George Harrison was a regular customer, apparently. Kama runs free tours of the factory most days. Now in his 90s, Fred Kamaka may have passed on the running of the business his father founded to his own sons and nephews, but he still holds court in the factory’s tiny shopfront, entertaining visitors with colourful anecdotes.
Go bananas for the food
Man cannot survive on fast food alone. And the Honolulu cuisine scene does not disappoint. One of the biggest surprises for this Hawaiii novice was the exceptional quality and choices for dining.
In the heart of Chinatown, in downtown Honolulu, you’ll find the popular The Pig and The Lady, which takes Vietnamese cuisine (think pho) and gives it a twist.
Stand up for yourself
OK, so we ended up back at the beach. If you’ve surfed a bit, you could skip this. But there’s something to be said about the crew at Big Wave Dave’s, a Waikiki institution, and their laid-back approach to teaching novice surfers. I hooked up with a group of Americans, none of whom had surfed before. After a quick demo behind the store, we hit the beach with our longboards. I gave up boardriding for bodysurfing almost 30 years ago and was a bit worried about making a fool of myself. But then I realised nobody knows me in Hawaii, so who cares? Have fun. * The writer as a guest of Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach