Getting High in H.I.

When you go to Hawaii don’t forget to pack your winter woollies. (I was there last week.  It was minus five.)  But DO forget the cliché beach-resorts, the Surfers’ Paradise of Surfers’ Paradises.

There is a far better, genuine and non-touristic Hawaii: towering volcanoes, year-round snow, lava flows… and decaying, art deco country towns populated by an amazing mix of Polynesians, Asians and Caucasians, all a universe away from the ride-on-mower, golf-buggy resorts and surfy zeitgeist of the ‘known’ places.

When the Beach Boys released ‘Hawaii’ in 1963, they set, in my young mind at least, an image of a Hawaii that was made up of malibus, grass skirts… surfer guys and girls…  But just as Australia is so much more than Bondi, Hawaii is way more than Waikiki.

Words: 2000

The above is the beginning of the article only.  To read, or purchase, the complete article, click here