Pick your pleasure

"There's no way I'll make it all the way out there," I thought, frowning at the tiny blue speck. I was already exhausted from kayaking through the estuary, hauling my boat across sand and making a few strokes out to the buoy. We'd barely started.

"How're ya doing?" hollered my guide Bob, with such enthusiasm I lied, "Good!" and continued to paddle.

"Try twisting from the waist so your arms don't get so tired."

I'd never kayaked but for some reason, I thought a half-day guided tour along Oahu's windward coast to the secluded Mokolua Islands would be a piece of cake. It wasn't. But once I'd mastered my paddling technique, I was free to enjoy the sights - we were slicing through brilliant, turquoise water, parallel to a pristine, white beach, past holiday homes owned by Drew Barrymore and Michelle Pfeiffer.

One short hour later, a wave gently pushed my kayak onto soft white sand. I'd made it.

The Twogood Kayaks tour - which also includes lunch, a dip in a large rock pool nicknamed "Queen's Bath", and a snorkel at the idyllic Lanikai Beach - is one of many outdoor pursuits worth doing in Hawaii.

If kayaking isn't your thing, there's always surfing, although if you're keen to see the North Shore's big tubes, you'd need to get there in winter.

Most visitors only make a day-trip to the North Shore but our plan was to spend a weekend there before throwing ourselves into the bluster of Waikiki. It was a good move. At the cute, inexpensive Ke Iki Beach Bungalows on Sunset Beach, a sprawling vision of white sand and palm trees, there were so few people around we could have gone naked. A 10-minute drive north and we could indulge ourselves at the five-star Turtle Bay Resort. Twenty minutes south and we'd end up in Haleiwa Town, a rustic old surf village at the other end of the socio-economic spectrum.

Arriving in Waikiki after such a relaxing retreat was a huge assault to the senses. There are hundreds of high-rise hotels squeezed onto a narrow strip of land, and every day 65,000 tourists flock here.

At first the sheer volume of foot traffic put me off but I soon grew to enjoy Waikiki's vibrance, particularly at sunset. I'll never forget drinking a cocktail by the water at the Royal Hawaiian Sheraton - possibly the only pink hotel you'd call elegant - as fireworks exploded above.

It's impossible not to spend money in Waikiki, whether tossing a coin to a busker, buying a corny trinket at the International Markets or Gucci sunglasses at an expensive chain store. Two trips to the Alamoana Shopping Centre and I had enough new clothes to warrant a new travel bag.

We also had some fantastic meals. The Hawaiian population includes a large number of Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos, and the food is just as varied. Seafood lovers should know that lunch at Turtle Bay's Ola Restaurant - right on the beach - is worth the trip to the Shore alone.

Waikiki is never dull but it's nice not to be confined to it. The Pearl Harbour tour in Honolulu is worth doing for those willing to rise at the crack of dawn to avoid the queues.

Or you can escape altogether with a trip to the Big Island, also known as Hawaii. The Big Island is Hawaii's youngest, and yet it feels the oldest. In Hilo, the island's capital, we bought fruit and vegetables from the markets, and had lunch by the water.

We were also pleased to have packed light jackets. You can ski on Mauna Kea (white mountain).

If the conditions are clear you can take a night walk to witness the fiery meeting place between Kilauea's lava flow and the sea. If not, you can drive the Crater Rim to see the lava tubes.

The Big Island has about 10 different climates, and the two-hour drive from one side to the other traverses an incredibly diverse landscape spanning rainforest, cattle ranches and vast plains of volcanic rock.

The endless cowpat-like lava posed no obstacle when building seaside five-star resorts such as Kona Village - they simply built around them. For three days we enjoyed every luxury imaginable in this other-worldly, alien setting. And that included kayaking.

"I wonder if I could make to that rock," I thought, scanning the sea from the hotel's private salt-and-pepper beach. "Yep, I think I'll give it a go."

* Rebecca Barry booked her flight using Air New Zealand airpoints at www.airnewzealand.co.nz