![]() The proud heritage and quaint customs of Hawai’i, Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Fiji, Samoa and Tonga unite in this “cultural theme park”. The Polynesian Cultural Center, covering 17 hectares with a lagoon, is Hawai’i’s No.1 tourist attraction, bringing together the Pacific’s ‘ohana (family) in six different villages with their own exhibits, shows and demonstrations. The Ali’i Lū’au at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Our four-night stay in an Airbnb at Sunset Beach put legendary Hale’iwa eatery Ted’s Bakery, food trucks selling coffee and fish tacos, and all that the North Shore has to offer within walking distance or just a short car ride.Īnd even though the spring swells are a gentler option for beachgoers, stand up paddleboarders, bodyboarders and surfers, they also ensure the wide, patrolled beaches are much less crowded for long walks at the water’s edge and that essential “sunset at Sunset” selfie. Waimea Bay, Banzai Pipeline and Sunset Beach are known the world over by surfers as the home of monster swell during the northern hemisphere winter from October/early November through to March. The day ended with a delightful paddock/ocean-to-plate dining experience at Beach House by Roy Yamaguchi while savouring the last rays of sunlight over two reef points and a soft-sand beach where Hawaiian royalty once swam with the turtles. We played 18 holes on the Arnold Palmer course, followed by lunch at Lei Lei’s next to the pro shop, and lingered a while at the Sunset and Off The Lip bars. Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku (where TV series including Hawaii 5-0 and movies such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall were filmed) welcomes day guests to enjoy its extensive facilities. What next?Ĭonsider taking a day trip or staying a few nights on the North Shore. Okay, you’ve paid homage to the heroes of Pearl Harbor, sipped a Mai Tai at Duke’s Waikiki (the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort’s beachfront barefoot bar), sampled the slow-cooked barbecue meats and sugar cane juice at the fortnightly Block Party food trucks, taken a refreshing dip in Prince Kuhio Beach/Queen’s Surf Beach in the family-friendly lagoon created by the Kapahulu Groin, joined a trolley tour and relished every bead of sweat on a walk up Diamond Head (Lē’ahi). Here are my picks for the most-visited island of O’ahu (“the gathering place”). So, if you’re planning a Hawaiian adventure, look beyond the bright lights and good times of Waikīkī before you say your Aloha Oe farewell, and be rewarded with an even deeper “blue Hawai’i” experience. Waikīkī Beach from Moana Surfrider Hotel. On a Best of Kaua’i shore excursion, our tour guide Rosario pointed out the soon-to-be-demolished Coco Palms Resort (closed since 1992 after being hit by Hurricane Iniki), where Elvis filmed the wedding scene finale in Blue Hawaii, before we boarded one of the Smith family’s open-air, flat-bottomed boats bound for the Fern Grotto on Wailua River, to be serenaded with a rendition of Hawaiian Wedding Song with hula. ![]() ![]() Picture: Shirley Sinclairīetter still, I was delighted to find my first teen idol also had come along for the ride – from his mural in Pride of America’s Cadillac Diner, to “King’s Bridge” where Elvis was photographed at the Polynesian Cultural Center in La’ie on the North Shore of O’ahu. ![]() The Elvis mural in NCL’s Pride of America Cadillac Diner restaurant. I still can’t resist 1961’s Blue Hawaii (and you haven’’t lived until you’ve seen it without subtitles on late-night TV in a Danang hotel room in Vietnam, adding your dialogue in English!). So, whenever I daydreamed of travelling the world as a young girl, Waikīkī’s swaying coconut palm trees framing the shoreline of a gently curving turquoise bay with endless rolling waves was what I conjured in my mind. While an older brother ensured a British Invasion smorgasbord of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, my mother and I would devour any Elvis movie re-run on TV, complete with obligatory singalong. The swaying palms photo is quintessential Waikīkī. Like many children of the ’60s and ’70s in Australia, I was a “Rock-a-Hula Baby”, with Elvis Presley well and truly part of the musical diet in my household. But he also made three movies there (Blue Hawaii, Girls! Girls! Girls! and Paradise, Hawaiian Style) and performed nine concerts on four occasions from 1957 to 1973 – most notably Elvis, Aloha from Hawaii, broadcasted on January 14, 1973, and reportedly watched by 1.5 billion people in more than 40 countries. ![]()
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