HAWAII - A TASTE OF PARADISE

Where to start with Hawaii?  It was the most amazingly stunning place I have ever visited! But it got off to a very inauspicious start. 

Honolulu

Hawaii is certainly an area of contrasting weathers!  Excited to finally be in Hawaii, we dumped our bags in the beautiful Hyatt Centric Hotel  (complete with heated toilet seat) in central Honolulu and rushed out to see the world famous Waikiki Beach ... in the rain!

Fortunately the shower was short-lived and our 10 days in Hawaii more than exceeded our expectations. Honolulu itself is certainly a city of high rise hotels and designer shops, but once you get away from the main area to discover the rest of O'ahu, it is amazing.

Kualoa Ranch 

The first day we booked a trip to the Kualoa Ranch on a movie set tour.  But the ranch is so much more, and had we known, we could probably have spent a couple of days there.  There's horse riding, bike trails, quad bike experiences, Jurassic Park tours, as well as agriculture experiences - including the pineapple farm, and so much more. It also happens to be in a beautiful spot next to Kaneohe Bay.

Our open bus took us through our first sight of the stunning landscapes which are so awe-inspiring.     

Kualoa is a 4,000 acre private nature reserve as well as a working cattle ranch with more than 600 head of cattle, 120 horses and 200 sheep, stretching from the steep mountain cliffs to the sparkling waters of nearby Kaneohe Bay.

More than 70 major Hollywood productions have been filmed at the ranch, seen by more than a billion people worldwide since the 1950s.  These include the Jurassic Park movies, Lost, Godzilla, Jumanji and of course Pearl Harbour.  Many others have featured snippets filmed at the ranch, which has been in private hands since 1850, and is now owned by the eighth generation.  There are no private homes on the site - not even the owners' - who have also turned down more than a billion dollars to build a hotel complex.  Certainly well worth a visit, so check out the website for more information about all they have to offer.

Pearl Harbour

On our second day we had booked a trip taking in Pearl Harbour - the actual museum which also takes in the USS Bowfin, USS Missouri, SS Arizona and the air museum.  Being perfectly honest, I was disappointed with the main site.  It was very commercial - with gift shops selling merchandise from T-shirts to Christmas decorations - really???? While I totally accept that they have to raise money to keep the site in pristine condition, I felt some of the gifts were totally inappropriate for what is essentially a huge graveyard. Also insisting you have a smiling photo which was then printed onto a tacky faux newspaper was completely unacceptable.

And by the way, the ladies' bathroom was disgusting, even at 10.00am in the morning, with a huge queue of around 20 women waiting outside by 10.30.  

Rant over!  The accommodation in the submarine was a real eye-opener, and hard to believe that 70-80 men lived in such a tiny space., but all the "rooms" were compact and I would guess the servicemen had only the minimum of possessions.  What struck me was the lack of privacy - particularly in the bathroom areas.

USS Missouri

We stood on the deck of the huge USS Missouri, where the Japanese surrendered their involvement in WW2.  I love the stories of individuals which come to light following such dreadful circumstances.  We heard of the young 19-year old Japanese kamikaze pilot who crashed into the Missouri on 11 April 1945, causing minimal damage, but who was killed during the attack.  The commander of the ship, Captain William M Callaghan, declared that he was only doing what any one of them would have done - obeying orders, and directed that he was to have a full military funeral and burial at sea.  His remains were placed between a hastily sewn Japanese flag and he was committed to the deep, followed by a three-volley salute from the firing party.

USS Arizona

For me the most poignant part of the whole visit was to the USS Arizona.  We boarded a small shuttle boat out to the memorial, which is built over the sunken ruin of the ship.  Beneath the memorial is the broken hull bearing the remains of 900+ servicemen who perished during the seven minutes it took for the ship to sink.  Only part of the funnel remains above the water line and oil still leaks from the depths.  Inside the memorial, the names of those who died are featured on a large stone wall. For me, this was the epitome of what the site is all about - paying homage to those brave men who never stood a chance to escape.

I say this as the daughter of a British airman who also devoted his life to the service of his country.

Again, with my love of stories, the guard told us of one hapless young man who had gone ashore the previous night for an evening of fun, and either returned late or in a drunken state.  He was promptly sacked and told to collect his belongings and leave, which he did.  But then after the attack he watched from land and bravely saw a way to save one of his colleagues who had been on the ship, and subsequently went onto complete his naval career.

Lua Show

One of the things I wanted to do while in Hawaii was to go a real hula show. We took the advice of an on-site tour guide, but honestly, I don't think we got the best experience.  The show was excellent, and the food was just ok, but the site was a real disappointment, so please be careful and do more research if you want to attend a more traditional lua! We were told it was out in the country, so expected something rural, but it seemed to be an abandoned holiday camp.  Nevertheless, you make the most of it, and we have a fun evening, though nowhere in Hawaii that we came across seemed to cater for gluten-free food options needed by my daughter.

Our lua included the show, a beautiful lei, supper and several drinks vouchers - unless you wanted your drink in a pineapple, which we did, and which was extra! There was also a free towel each but we left those behind since our baggage was already overweight.

Talking of food - we always eat at a Hard Rock Cafe (daughter's favourite), but paid our first visit to the Cheesecake Factory which had been recommended.  Unfortunately we didn't have time or transport to visit the many more local eateries which we had read about, which probably would have given us better value for money and more natural choices.  We did however, find a small place called Banan, selling delicious concoctions of shaved coconut, ices, fruit and nuts, which we ate sitting on Waikiki Beach - one of those "pinch yourself" places that you can hardly believe you're there.  These delicious ices prompted us to try and find macadamia honey nut butter all over Hawaii - until we paid another quick visit as we were leaving and bought three jars of the stuff!

On one of our trips, our part-time young guide and driver was a marketing student, but a fountain of knowledge, who told us his favourite places to eat, interspersed with some of the fascinating history of the islands.  He finished off by taking us to the local tax office building - the exterior of which is actually used as Police headquarters in Hawaii Five O!

This blog post is rather longer than I had originally planned, so I have divided up our Hawaii adventure into this one featuring the mainland O'ahu, which I hope you have enjoyed, with and the next part of our mega-holiday which was on board the Pride of America Norwegian Cruise Line cruise ship.  More next week.