Five Fun Things Oahu Style

Holiday in Hawaii #22

Shop like a local

There is an abundance of fresh island produce at the Farmers’ Market at the Windward Mall in Kane’ohe. The markets are held inside the shopping centre every Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning, with a large variety of traditional Hawaiian foods for sale. The vendors are happy to share samples and we ate our way around the markets, trying delicacies like mochi, poi and taro, before buying take away dinner and dessert.

Go for a ride

Waikiki Trolleys are a fun and cheap way to cover a lot of territory around Honolulu, Waikiki and beyond. Five themed routes cover all the historic and cultural sites and the well-known scenic, shopping and dining areas. There are plenty of hop on hop off stops on each route and with this open air transport we didn’t need air con!

Swim and snorkel

One of the best places to go snorkelling is the crystal clear water of Hanauma Bay State Park. The coral reef just off the shore is home to more than 450 species of tropical fish, moray eels and green sea turtles, and snorkelling equipment is available for hire. The park has strict guidelines for protecting the coral reef and its inhabitants, and first time visitors are required to watch an informative video presentation before they enter. The park is open from 6 am to 6 pm – we went early to beat the crowds.

Eat some pie

The day we drove to the North Shore we wanted to call in to Ted’s Bakery at Sunset Beach. We had heard about his legendary pies and decided that a serve of pie would be the perfect dessert to follow up our coconut shrimp lunch. You can imagine our devastation when we realised we’d driven past and missed the bakery completely! But luck was on our side when, that night at the supermarket, we found pie – Ted’s Chocolate Haupia Cream Pie. Ted describes this pie as having “smooth, dark chocolate custard cream, haupia (creamy coconut pudding) and whipped topping.” It was delicious!

Enjoy the view

The suburbs of Honolulu spread up the ridges and into the ravines of the Ko’olau Range. We stayed in an airbnb home in Kaimuki, halfway up one of the ridges. We were curious to see how far up the range the houses went, so one evening we went exploring. The road became steeper and the houses were perched on higher and higher platforms until eventually we reached a dead end. From our vantage point it seemed like we were on top of the world – the view of the night lights of Waikiki was incredible.