HAWAI-EE! PART TWO

Gareth Watkins is the Senior Scheduler for Travel Channel, overseeing every day's broadcast. When not working for Travel Channel, he takes every given opportunity to visit the countries he spends his working hours showing to all our viewers. Working at Travel Channel provides him with a list of destinations to visit that is growing faster than he can tick them off.

The Hawaiian Islands attract nearly eight million visitors each year. With the proliferation of resorts available to tourists, it's often hard to decide where to actually spend your time. It's almost inevitable that you will spend at least one night in or around Honolulu but there is absolutely no reason to spend your entire visit on Oahu. The neighbouring islands have equal appeal. Hawaii has two major inter-island airlines, Aloha and Hawaiian, and these offer taxi-like flights between the islands on a daily basis, and having travelled as far as Hawaii it would be criminal not to take the opportunity to investigate the less-commercial areas. So while I was there I chose to visit Hawaii itself.

This is probably the time to clarify the eternal confusion surrounding the islands of Hawaii. Hawaii proper is actually the furthest east of the inhabited islands in the group. Generally referred to as the Big Island, it's the largest and it gets bigger every day. Home to a continually erupting volcano, Kilauea (or "constant spewing" as it's so aptly named), the Big Island edges ever further into the ocean; the process is dramatically illustrated by the steam rising hundreds of feet into the sky above the point where the lava and salt water meet, a sulphurous plume that disappears on the leeward breeze.

Our base was the Hilo Castle Hotel. High quality accommodation by local standards, this was no comparison to the splendour of the Kahala Mandarin Oriental on Oahu (see last month's Feature). Admittedly, the rooms were larger and nowhere near as pricey, but the décor was more seventies estate than millennium minimalism. The hotel has a restaurant with a good reputation and service, and it's set in the mangroves on the outskirts of the small Big Island town of Hilo, a short drive from the airport. It was a drive we made in our football pitch-sized rented Lincoln Navigator (it really was all that Hertz had left when we got to the airport).

On the flight from Oahu, we had great views of a number of the other Hawaiian islands: Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and it was these that inspired us to head straight out upon arrival in search of the jungles and waterfalls we'd spotted alongside Hilo.

We took the road that encircles the island and headed north, soon stumbling across an enticing "Panoramic Views" sign enticing us down a narrow lane. The glimpses of cascading falls and sky-scraping jungle trees reminded us exactly why the TV series Lost is filmed in Hawaii. The landscape was so incredible, a giant polar bear could have come lumbering out ahead of us and I would have only been mildly surprised.

Turning a corner, we found ourselves outside the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens, which, for a small donation, allows you to wander aimlessly through their multicoloured horticultural displays. From lobster claws to midget pineapples, the sheer range of vegetation would intrigue even the least green fingered visitor. And if that fails to fascinate you, then there's the barbaric coast at the bottom of the enclosure. Here, the ocean crashes violently into the remnants of valley walls and foams out across the charcoal sand.

While I was snapping away like a panoramic paparazzo, Hilo's dark secret was unleashed upon us. The tropical truth is that Hilo is the wettest city in the United States. And not only is it wet. There's no messing around here when it comes to rain. Unlike the European drizzle, which I'm so accustomed to, the rain in Hilo falls all at once. They have five minute flash floods that don't even give you time to scurry for shelter. But you're in Hawaii so it's pretty difficult to complain.

Hilo and its surroundings are beautiful, but also seem to need their beauty sleep. Call it a lack of mass tourism or the advancing age of the tourists that come here but this is definitely not a party town. Restaurants are few and their menus are limited. Surf 'n' turf is the staple diet and early evening is the acceptable time to eat. Even the hotel bar called time at 9.15pm. Honolulu may be the United States' West Coast playground. Hilo is more like its napping corner.

The early end to our day was a blessing however, as we had an early start the next morning, and the excursion we'd arranged was my soul reason for visiting the Big Island. We were taking a helicopter tour over Kilauea. Not only was this going to be my virgin helicopter flight, fulfilling a childhood dream, but I was going to see the raw beauty of one of nature's fiercest demonstrations of power.

We flew with Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, the island's leading helicopter tour operator. The kid in a sweetshop comparison was never so apt as when I stood facing a row of Eco Star helicopters waiting my turn to board. I was embarrassingly excitable. I peppered the pilot with the sort of questions he must answer day in day out but to his credit, he answered them all as if they were the most original ones he'd ever heard.

Our flight took us out over Hilo, across the open landscape and ranches on the island's windward side and we drew ever nearer the wispy topped crater that looks down upon the inhabitants of Hawaii. The closer we got, the narrower my vision became, until all I could see was an orange cauldron sitting in the grey rock. A shade of orange unlike any I'd ever seen. The lava was unmistakable. It sat there, scalding hot, then ran down the plethora of flow chutes, visible occasionally through the "skylights." I couldn't take my eyes off it.

As we flew from tip to toe, following the veins of fire through the landscape, we could see scattered fields of inhabited land. More worrying, we could see the tops of submerged cars and homes surrounded by crops of forestation that had inexplicably survived. Boar and wild horses apparently still roam the lava-locked land, although what they live on remains a mystery to me. This was one excursion that lived up to all my fantasies.

The west of the Big Island is where you'll find Kailua, Hilo's party-loving big brother. By day, it surfs and shops, then stays up late. Getting there from Hilo is fairly straightforward so if you're lucky enough to have someone else behind the wheel, you can stop navigating for once and enjoy some of the planet's most beautiful scenery. As we travelled anticlockwise round the island we were treated to occasional glimpses of beach, some gleaming yellow and some charcoal grey but it's the raw landscape with its short down of gun-metal grass ascending to the explosive peak that steals the show.

In retrospect, Kailua was where we should have stayed, making a day trip to Hilo instead. Flights to and helicopter tours from the island's Kona airport are organised from most of Hawaii's major tourist areas. With a long main strip offering views of the sea and surfers, you're easily relaxed and entertained. We had evening drinks at a beach front bar and dined on the balcony of the Hard Rock Café overlooking the darkening ocean and groups of people playing floodlit beach volleyball.

The Big Island is not the first place that springs to mind when visiting Hawaii. It's overshadowed by the likes of Maui with its paradise reputation. But it does have a lot to offer. There's beach, tropical jungle, sunshine, spectacular rainfalls, a party town, a sleepy town and one big volcano. The magnificence of Kilauea is reason alone to put Hawaii (the island, not the islands) on your itinerary when you visit Hawaii (the islands, not the island). And though you won't find the luxury on offer on Oahu, it's all the better for this. Spending a few days on the Big Island is a great way to break up a longer holiday in Hawaii and rewards the effort you've made to get there.

To find out more about Hawaii click on the logo below

To find out more about Hilo Hawaiian Hotel visit www.castleresorts.com

To find out more about Hard Rock Café Kona visit www.hardrock.com

To find out more about Inter-island planes:
Aloha Airlines visit www.alohaairlines.com,
Hawaiian Airlines visit www.hawaiianair.com

To find out more about Hawaii Tropical Botanic Gardens visit www.htbg.com

To find out more about car rental at Hertz visit www.hertz.com

If you've visited Hawaii, I'd like to HEAR FROM YOU

July 2006