Aloha, Maui
Updated: 4 days ago
A little bit of background
In 2010, I was thrilled to have been accepted to present at my first ever academic conference. I was working at a Brisbane university in curriculum development, academic practice and student transitions. The 23rd International Conference of the First-Year Experience was held in Maui in June of that year. I mean, if one is going to present at a conference for the first time, Hawaii is as good a place as any to go, right?
Travelling to Maui
Getting there was an interesting journey! It involved two flights with Qantas and one with Hawaiian Airlines. Flying time from the east coast of Australia to Honolulu is around 10 hours but first I had to fly to Sydney from Brisbane. Before I left Brisbane I discovered that I didn't have an entry visa for the US. The ESTA was a new development since my trip to Orlando two years earlier and Campus Travel had neglected to tell me I needed one. That said, I should have known that! Writing this post in 2023, I can see how much better prepared I have been for subsequent travel experiences. Google and the development of mobile technologies have made travel much easier.
Of course I was in a panic at Brisbane Domestic Airport, but fortunately I could apply online for the visa. It came through pretty much straight away. I did miss my flight to Sydney, but I was able to get a seat on the next one and still had enough time to make the Sydney to Honolulu leg.
Travel tip🌏 Make sure you have an ESTA even if only transitting through the US on the way someplace else, e.g. Canada. There's only a small cost for the visa. It pays to have the visa before departure although it can be organised online for an immediate response. I did that, as my son did when he didn't have one for transit through Houston on his way to Toronto. All that said, as I write this post, Trump 2.0 is threatening to change the rules, so who knows?
There was another academic from my faculty attending the conference and we were staying in the same hotel and sharing a car. We met up briefly before the SYD-HNL flight and then in Honolulu before we took the 45-minute flight to Maui. I remember the small plane and the bumpy ride between the islands. Not so great for a nervous flyer like me!
Maui is the second-largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago.
t is dominated by two volcanic features: Haleakala and the West Maui Mountains, connected by a 10km isthmus.
Maui is named for the son (named after the demigod) of the navigator who discovered the islands, Hawai'iloa.
The island's volcanic cones are formed of basalt that poured out of thousands of vents of lava over millions of years.
I met my colleague again in Maui when we collected our hire car. Fortunately, my colleague, who was born in Jamaica, was willing to drive. I had somehow collected a man on the flight to Maui who needed a lift (can't recall where, but somewhere between the airport and our destination), so we dropped him on the way to the hotel.
The Maui conference experience
My university colleague and I didn't book early enough to secure rooms at the Wailea Beach Marriott, where the conference was to be held. Instead, we ended up staying in the villas at Hotel Wailea. The hotel wasn't walking distance to the Marriott but we had a car and there was a shuttle bus. We found a cafe near the hotel after we arrived for a late lunch. I still remember the size of the meal and had to remind myself I was back in the Land of Giant Meals. My order did me for lunch and dinner.
Honestly, though, I felt quite discombobulated that Sunday afternoon when we arrived at the hotel. This was my first experience of travelling for work and I felt like a complete imposter. The hotel was so grand and my room enormous and I felt undeserving of it all. I was also extremely nervous about my presentation, but at least thankful that I had some time to recover from the travel and check out other presentations to get a feel for the standard.
The Wailea Beach Marriott is a massive complex with presentation rooms, restaurants, and shops. Below is the view of the ocean from the hotel. It felt kind of surreal to be in such a place for a conference, balancing the formality of work with the holiday, beach vibe. I had taken "work clothes" with me to wear during the conference, but found plenty of delegates in holiday mode. Some had brought partners and families with them and sensibly used the opportunity to add on a holiday afterwards. Of course, it was summer for all the delegates but us!
I will always remember the Maui conference as a place where I broke ground in professional life and had the first opportunity to present in an international arena on my work. I had no idea what to expect! I was booked to do an all-day pre-conference workshop on Day 1 (Monday). I found the workshop a nice way to ease into things. I remember thinking the workshop was well structured and facilitated, but I certainly didn't feel overwhelmed by the content.
Afterwards I still had enough time to walk to a nearby shopping mall, The Shops at Wailea, and do some clothes shopping. These were the days when the exchange rate was good and lots of US and international stores we didn't have yet in Australia. I learnt that it's best to find moments to experience something of the conference location wherever possible.
We were treated to a concert of traditional song and dance on the first evening at the welcome dinner. This was when I first saw how closely connected Hawaiian culture is to the Maori culture of my homeland, Aotearoa New Zealand. I really felt at home in Hawaii and the evening concert made me feel quite melancholy.
I went to a couple of interesting sessions on the Tuesday, but a lot weren't at the standard I was expecting, and that surprised me. That said, I felt a lot less nervous about my session after having the time to check out others. The same goes for the Wednesday sessions, although I could enjoy those more after the pressure of my presentation was gone.
I hadn't taken my laptop with me, though, so I had a slight (actually, major!) moment of anxiety as I tried to work out what to do. I'd just assumed each room would be set up to present, like university tutorial rooms. Actually, now that I think about it, the 23rd International Conference on the First-Year Experience was the only international conference I presented at that was held in a resort-style conference centre. All the others were held on university campuses. There was a different vibe to it, I came to learn, with most people staying at the resort and bumping into each other regularly and sharing meals. My colleague and I missed a lot of that staying at the Hotel Wailea, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed the peace at the end of the day.
My session had a small turnout, but the audience was enthusiastic and asked lots of questions. I was happy with the way things had gone. I remember my Brisbane colleague telling me that one of two outcomes is what you want, either no one comes or more than one person comes. I got that!
Everyone at the conference was friendly. It was a pretty laid-back affair, I guess due in part to the location and to the summer holiday vibe. I was something of a novelty to the American delegates and the few I spoke to treated me as if I had come all the way from the moon. So bizarre. They also seemed to have trouble wrapping their heads around the concept of hemispheres and the winter I had left behind. Americans! I met a really nice woman, an Australian living in England and working at Manchester University, who came to my session and I attended hers. We had lunch together on the Wednesday.
Dinner on the evening after my presentation was with my Brisbane colleague, at a local Mexican restaurant. I was pretty shattered as my anxiety had been at an all-time high in the lead up to giving my presentation. There was also something wrong with my phone - the international roaming didn't seem to work properly - and I couldn't contact my colleague. After my presentation I was stuck at the conference venue and ended up on the shuttle back to Hotel Wailea with another group of delegates. That was stressful! Anyhoo, my colleague talked me into having a margarita with dinner. I couldn't finish it, as a non-drinker, but at least I gave it a go...
Maui wanderings
The conference finished at lunch time on the fourth day - Thursday. I felt sorry for the people presenting on the last morning, as lots of delegates had left already or were taking advantage of the final day to see something of Maui. I had pre-booked a sunrise tour with Viator to watch the sun rise at the crater summit of the dormant volcano in Haleakala National Park. My plan was to be back for the bulk of the final morning sessions. Amazingly, there were other people from the conference on the trip, including my new conference buddy whom I encouraged to book at the last minute.
Travel tip🌏
The tour includes a ride up to the volcano and back down again. The drive up to the volcano could easily be done independently and for a fraction of the cost of the tour. That said, it was the easiest way for me to do see the sunrise and I never would have had the incredible experience without the tour.
Tour pick up was at some insane time early in the morning before the drive up to the crater summit. I remember I had to check out of my hotel and leave my bag at reception, hoping that my colleague remembered to collect it before he checked out. I sat out front of the hotel in the pitch dark of the (very) early morning, hoping it was all going to work out. So much anxiety on that trip!
Haleakala (East Maui Volcano) is an active shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the island of Maui. The name means "house of the sun."
The volcano was formed 2 million years ago. It is currently in the rejuvenated state of volcanism and has produced numerous eruptions in the last 30 000 years. It is the only active volcano on the island.
The tallest peak is 3005 metres. The summit view is down to a depression reaching 18km, that is 5km wide and nearly 800m deep.
It was ABSOLUTELY FREEZING at the top of the mountain before the sun rose, and it was SUPER WINDY. The less-than-flattering shots of me below only go some way to capturing the conditions. I have honestly never felt so cold and blown about before in my life. It was so windy that tiny bits of rock were flying about the place. There were people at the summit wrapped in blankets and doonas. They totally understood the assignment.
The cold and wind were totally worth it, though. The sunrise was spectacular! Watching the sunrise at Haleakala is one of the most unique and memorable things I have ever done. After the sun had risen, we were able to see the incredible moon-like landscape on the top of the mountain and realise how high up we were! It was still cold, but again completely worth it for the experience of being so high up on top of a volcano.
Travel tip🌏
Avoid making the mistake I made of only wearing a hoodie and scarf. As noted above, there were people at the summit wrapped in warm blankets. Trust me, you need all the protection you can get. Words cannot describe the COLD and the WIND as the sun rises.
Another thing I learnt on this trip was to make the most of the time allowable once the conference ends. The personal bit comes at your own expense, of course, but it's still an incredible opportunity to experience at least something of the conference location. I was due to fly back to Oahu that afternoon, to spend Friday and the weekend in Honolulu before flying back to Brisbane.
I didn't make it back to the conference as my colleague had booked himself on a helicopter flight so I had the tour bus driver drop me at the heliport to wait. In the little bit of time prior to my flight back to Oahu later that day we had a jaunt around town with two other conference delegates until he dropped us all off at the airport. There was also another communication issue as I thought I would be dropped off at a certain place to meet my colleague after the tour and things didn't work out that way. It's so much easier these days!
As mentioned above, I did have a couple of free hours during the conference to check out the Shops at Wailea, a lovely open air mall near the hotel where the conference was held. It was there that I discovered ABC stores for the first time. They are a mainstay of Hawaiian shopping with one seemingly on every street corner! They are a crossed between a convenience store and a souvenir shop, selling all kinds of Hawaiian mementos, gifts, and produce. I had so much fun poking around in the stores. Below is the adorable little sand and shells bottle I bought as my one and only Maui memento.
Oahu wanderings
Back in 2010, business travel rules allowed staff the option of taking 50% of the business time - the conference days + travel - as personal days. This meant the university paid for the return flight to the conference and the staff member could pay for their expenses for the personal days. The staff member would have to pay half of their airfare if they elected to stay longer than 50% of the business time, something I did the following year when I presented in Manchester.
I flew back to Honolulu and stayed in a hotel, within walking distance of Waikiki beach. No beach view, though, just a lot of buildings! It was rather a relief to be on my own, but this was my first experience of solo travel. I only had two and a bit days to navigate on my own, but I was still feeling some trepidation mixed in with the excitement of being in Honolulu.
Oahu is the third-largest but most populated of the Hawaiian islands. The state capital of Honolulu sits on the island's southwestern coat.
The island's name translates as The Gathering Place.
There is some debate about when the island was first settled by humans, but the current consensus seems to be around 900-1200 CE.
It was formed from volcanism and is today composed of the remnants of two extinct shield volcanoes, Wai'anae and Ko'olau.
Day 1 of my mini break was taken up with a 12 hour pre-booked Viator tour of Oahu so that I could visit the Pearl Harbour National Memorial and get a feel for the island. The tour was the best way for me travelling alone to see a bunch of stuff in a short time. Pearl Harbour was a bucket list experience for me as a history nerd and the tour meant I could access the memorial easily. Below is a map I made of the circuit the tour made of the island and the places we stopped at over the course of the day. To give some perspective, Oahu is only 71 kilometres from east to west and 48 kilometres from north to south,
I really enjoyed my day out as it was just a small group in a mini-van and everyone was super friendly. I was the only non-American and solo traveller on the tour. The other travellers were keen to talk to me about Australia and they treated me like royalty. Adorably, they offered to take pictures of me so I had evidence of my trip.
After pick up we drove to Pearl Harbour. It's is an interesting place to visit and very respectful of the the history it represents. The complex is well laid out and has lots of things to see besides the USS Arizona memorial. The tour only included the USS Arizona memorial experience and a little bit of wandering around time.
It's hugely busy at Pearl Harbour and security is tight, but the process of visiting the USS Arizona memorial is extremely well organised. Only a set number of people are allowed out onto the memorial at once. Visitors are issued a ticket with their launch departure time. Once the next group arrives, the previous one has to leave the memorial. The amount of time each group has at the memorial is sufficient, I think.
Pearl Harbour National Memorial is a unit of the National Park System of the United States.
The site commemorates the WWII attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941 by Japanese forces, killing over 2400 and sinking twelve ships.
The site includes the USS Arizona, the USS Utah and the USS Oklahoma memorials, six chief petty officer bungalows on Ford Island, and a visitor centre. There's also the USS Bowfin submarine at the visitor centre and the Pearl Harbour Aviation Museum.
Pieces from the USS Arizona that are still submerged after the 1941 bombing and can be seen from the memorial. I found the experience moving as the memorial has been created in a fitting way to remember those who lost their lives in the bombing. It's a simple but powerful reminder of the tragic events of 7 December 1941 and America's subsequent entry into the war. There's no tourist tackiness to the memorial despite the volume of visitors. Being out in the harbour means, too, that the memorial is away from the cafes and gift shops and hordes of people, and it feels fitting that visitors are able to reflect on what the memorial commemorates in a peaceful setting.
The bottom photo in the below collage shows the USS Missouri that sits off in the distance, where the Japanese surrendered at the end of the war. Tickets with access to the Missouri can also be purchased, along with the USS Bowfin, a decommissioned submarine. We visited both of these vessels during our 2013 holiday.
I used the little bit of time we had after the excursion out to the memorial to have a poke around in one of the gift shops. I have a keen interest in WW2 as a history nerd and I wish I'd had more time to look around the whole complex. Check out my post of our family holiday to Hawaii in 2013 as we spent a whole day at Pearl Harbour and explored the whole complex.
I did buy these two mementos, a postcard and fridge magnet, from the shop, of one my favourite enduring images of WW2: Rosie the Riveter, an allegorical US cultural icon who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during the war, many of whom produced munitions.These bad ass women replaced the male workers who joined the military. We sure can do it!
Keeping with the theme of female empowerment, I also bought this poster, showing the importance of female ordnance workers during the war. The messaging spoke to me and I just had to buy the poster! It hangs on the wall in my laundry to this day. I am very much a social historian and I am fascinated by the ways that society responds and changes in the face of major world and historic events.
After our visit to the memorial, we set off to tour the island. The tour took us right the way around the island and back to Honolulu. I highly recommend a tour like the one I did if you just have one day on Oahu and want a taste of the island outside of Honolulu. Lots of people go to Hawaii for Waikiki, but there's so much more to see than that. Here's the tour map again.
Our first stop after Pearl Harbour was the Dole Plantation where everything around you is...well...pineapples. What a scream of a a place! I wandered around the pineapple shop while most of my travel buddies bought a pineapple soft serve ice cream. I was happy enough just to soak up the kitschy vibe. There's a maze at the plantation, but we didn't have time for that. I did go back there and do the maze thing when I returned to Hawaii with my family in 2013.
Dole Pineapple Plantation started out as a small fruit stand in the middle of a pineapple field in 1950. The stand was transformed in 1989 into a plantation home and living museum and archive to James Dole (1877-1958), founder of the pineapple company that bears his name and father of the pineapple industry in Hawaii.
The plantation now houses the world's largest maze, covering 12 746 square metres and made entirely out of Hawaiian plants.
After Dole and a roadside shrimp cart pit stop we headed to Sunset Beach on the North Shore. This was summer, so the water was as flat as a tack! I was expecting waves but I realised later that they come in winter. That's when the international surfing competitions are held. Just look at the beautiful clear water!
Our next stop was La'ie Point, a small islet with a big hole in the middle, known as the La'ie Point Needle. The needle is a unique volcanic rock formation (right hand photo below). There's no parking at the Point as it sits in a residential area, but the rock formation is very cool and poking about on the rocks is fun. The ground is quite rough and rocky, so you need to wear sneakers.
The legend of La'ie Point is tied to the mythical lizard dragon, Laniloa, known as a mo'o. The lizard once terrorised the land and waters and tried to stop people coming ashore.
The great warrior, Kana, defeated Laniloa, severing its head and chopping the it into five pieces.
The pieces were flung into the ocean, where they remain today as the small offshore islets surrounding the point.
Continuing around the island, we stopped for lunch at Ko'olau Golf Club. We ate our lunch at a country club-type place that has been used for a number of film sets, such as Hawaii 50 and Lost. Google tells me in 2025 as I update this post that the golf club permanently closed in September 2020 due to the pandemic, but the front nine holes are now open. The course has been known for being one of the toughest courses in the world due to its high slope rating.
I had a burger and fries for lunch. Why is this a big deal? I just remember the lunch as I didn't need another meal that day - it was HUGE - and I recall my fellow travellers laughing at me calling ketchup tomato sauce. Actually, one of my clearest memories of the day was how much food the other travellers consumed. There was an early start to the day so no time for breakfast. I grabbed a snack at Pearl Harbour and enjoyed the lunch but most of the other people on the tour ate that PLUS a pineapple ice cream at the Dole place, shrimps from a shrimp cart down the road from Dole, and macadamias at a nut place we also stopped at along the way. Oh man.
Our first stop after lunch was at Nu'uanu Pali, an overlook offering magnificent views of the valley below. The Lookout not only has views, it is also historically significant as the site where King Kamehameha I won a fierce battle in 1795 to unite Oahu under one rule. The battle claimed hundreds of soldiers' lives, many of whom were forced off the sheer cliffs to their deaths.
There were two more stops before circling back to the hotel. The first was at the Halona Blowhole and the second at Hanauma Bay, both iconic places on the island. I don't have proper photos of the blowhole for some reason, but I have some in my post of our 2013 holiday. Trust me, the blowhole is way cool. The post of our 2013 holiday also has more shots of Hanauma as we went down to the beach and did some swimming and snorkelling.
I was pretty exhausted when I got back to the hotel as it was a long day. Day tours are often super exhausting but a great way to see a lot in a short space of time without the hassle of doing it independently. I would not have seen anything much of Oahu without the tour. Day tours are also good for introverts like as you're only with a group of strangers for a few short hours.
On Day 2, I caught the 'jolley trolley' out to Waikele Premium Outlets, a massive mall about an hour out of the city. The trolley was super touristy and kitschy, but I kind of just rolled with it. The seats were hard and my butt hurt by the time we arrived at the outlets, but it was an experience, that's for sure.
Waikele is not like shopping centres in Australia, that tend to be one large complex over several floors. The outlet mall is spread out, with stores opening onto the street rather than being inside one giant building. I had loads of fun poking around the shops, although I am not a natural shopper. As mentioned earlier in this post, the exchange rate was good back then and a lot of stores at Waikele we didn't have at home. Needless to say, I bought lots of clothes on that trip!
Travel tip🌏
I highly recommend Waikele for shopping, especially for clothes and shoes. A car is a better than catching the trolley out as I did. I found I would have liked more time at the mall and somewhere to store my purchases.
After I got back from the shopping trip I finally had my chance for a proper look at Waikiki Beach. It's such a famous beach, so my expectations were high. It was nice to be there late in the afternoon with the light reflecting on the sand. Honestly, I was expecting more, though. There's not a lot of actual beach. It was all quite underwhelming. The beaches in Australia and New Zealand are nicer, in my opinion. The view of Diamond Head is pretty spectacular, though.
I had a kind of odd experience, too, after I ran into a lovely young couple from the previous day's island tour on the beach. We recognised each other instantly and they invited me to have a drink with them. I explained that I wanted to wander down the beach for a bit first, and they pointed to where they'd be sitting when I returned. However, when I came back a short time later, I couldn't find them! I looked everywhere and felt completely foolish, searching in vain. I ended up giving up and heading off to find dinner on my own. To this day, I have no idea what happened and why I failed to find the couple again. I wonder if they wondered what ever happened to me?
Anyhoo, I'd only had some frozen yoghurt for lunch at Waikele so I was keen for a restaurant meal even if it meant sitting by myself. I walked to the Wailana Coffee House, just across the road from the Hilton and close to my hotel. The place is iconic Hawaii, with its loud carpet and throwback meals. The restaurant was a popular spot for decades until it closed eight years after I was there. I don't have any photos of my dinner experience, I just remember that I ordered a chicken stir fry that came with the salad buffet. I filled up too much on the buffet while waiting for my meal to come out then hardly touched the stir fry in the end, partly because it was huge. I recall the server asking me if I wanted a doggy bag and they seemed surprised when I declined. "What if you get hungry later?" they asked. Yeah, no, hard pass, but thanks anyway. America and food...
The experience meant a lot to me on a personal level. I felt deeply connected to Hawaii from the outset, for the cultural connections to Aotearoa New Zealand where I was born and grew up, and because of the stunning scenery. I also learnt that Oahu is so much more than Waikiki Beach. It is so important, I think, to venture beyond the high rises of Honolulu and experience all the beauty of the island. The experience absolutely cemented my feelings of connectedness to natural landscapes and their contribution to my wellbeing. Below are my reflections on what the experience meant to me from a professional perspective.
Presenting at an international conference was a thrill, even though there was only a small turnout for my session. Just being there was a major milestone in my professional journey.
I learnt to push my introverted self to connect with people at academic conferences. I have made lasting friendships from subsequent conferences. I am thankful for my international friends who have added so much to my life.
The conference was the starting point for future opportunities to experience fascinating parts of the world while developing my presentation skills.
The conference: My pre-presentation anxiety. The friendly and collegial vibe.
Hawaii: Cultural connectedness and stunning natural beauty. Feeling a little meh about the famous Waikiki Beach.
Haleakala: The stunning sunrise! The wicked cold and wind!
Oahu tour: The beauty and diversity of Oahu and the contemplative Pearl Harbour experience. Flying solo on the minibus with a warm and welcoming bunch of American tour companions who ate constantly ALL DAY.
It was a privilege to have experienced two of Hawaii's islands on my first trip. I was lucky enough to be back on Oahu three years later and had the opportunity to see even more of the island's beauty, as well as experience the Big Island. Check out my post on this trip as we saw and did some amazing things during our two week family holiday.
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