The first white man to discover the islands was Captain James Cook in 1778. He called them the Sandwich Islands, after the Earl of Sandwich. Captain Cook, making his first landing on the verdant island of Kauai, found the islands populated by about 300,000 natives. They were Polynesian in origin, and among the most advanced of all the Polynesians. The islands were ruled by four warring native kings.

About 30 years later, the local wars ended with all the islands united under King Kamehameha I, the wisest and most enlightened of the native rulers of Hawaii. He welcomed other lands, promoted trade and commerce. Traders from abroad brought goods for the from far lands and bought the exotic products of Hawaii in return. Unfortunately they also brought diseases for which the isolated Polynesian People had no natural immunity.

Within 100 years the native population had dropped to 50,000. In the meantime the trends which were to most the Hawaiian Islands one of the Polyglot regions in the world in ethnic origin, had started. First came the missionaries, from New England. They found native people ready to embrace a new religion, and set about converting Hawaii to Christianity.

They also saw in Hawaii opportunities for business. They established small firms to trade with the rest of the world. They succeeded so well that the children of the missionaries are now the chief directors and owners of Hawaii’s great companies, operating huge plantations and far-flung trading companies.

With the dwindling of the native population through the ravages of disease and the development of Hawaii’s plantation fields, field labor was recruited from other lands. The first groups were Chinese. Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos followed. Puerto Ricans, Germans, and Portuguese came later.

During this period Hawaii was a monarchy. Toward the end of the nineteenth century agitation for annexation to the United States began. For a brief period the islands were a republic. Annexation was accomplished in 1898, and in 1900 Hawaii became a Territory of the United States, under a governor named Sanford P. Dole. At that time two-thirds of the population were foreign-born aliens, most of them uneducated Orientals.

Impetus to the transition between an Oriental crossroads community and an integrated American society was given by the sudden impact of World War II, the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the establishment of the islands as one of the great military bases for the war and a staging ground for the whole Pacific Campaign.

It brought to the islands many thousands of fighting men to man the installations, and hundreds of thousands more who stopped briefly in the islands in transit between the distant fighting fronts and home areas. With the war’s end many stationed in the islands stayed to work and live; others who had sampled the benign climate and glimpsed the exotic charm of the islands, returned. With the war’s end the fighting bases became great permanent military installations with a military personnel of about 50,000.

Hawaii has a very heterogeneous population with Americans of Polynesian, Asian, European, and African extraction, immigration to Hawaii still continues. Most of the newcomers are young people. Hawaii’s varied population is reflected in the food specialties which are served. These include poi, a paste made from taro root; roast pig and coconut. The islands have superb fruits; some of them, like the passion fruit, are quite rare. Others are guava, papaya, pineapple. There are also native nuts that are unusual. All are served at the popular luau feast.

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This solution won’t work for everyone though. You need at least 3 weeks to visit Australia so adding on a couple of 3 night stop offs will sadly reduce your time too much. One stop off for a couple of days however could be manageable.

So a stop off is a good idea and many choose to take a few days in Asia. It’s a good option as most of the flights from Europe stop to refuel in Asia so there is generally a very limited cost to including a stop off to your flight. It is also a great way to get you over the jet lag and break up the flight. See below for my stop off recommendations:

Bangkok and Thailand

Many Australians choose this destination for a holiday or a stop off on their way to Europe. There are a few operators flying to Thailand which keeps the prices reasonable. Plus, Thailand is still relatively inexpensive when you arrive.

Here are some suggestions as to what to do whilst in Bangkok:

1) Grand Palace. is high up on most tourists agendas. It is where the King of Thailand used to live but now it is just used for special occasions. Whilst you can’t actually go inside the buildings, the outside is beautiful enough to admire.

2) Visit The Wat Sai Floating Market by barge. You can pick one up outside the Grand Palace and try and get one that will take you to the Royal Barges Museum too. The boats here are beautiful and have been used for the King.

3) Chatuchak Weekend Market The place to shop in Bangkok. It has everything here including restaurants too. Go early to avoid the heat and the crowds (opens from 7am)

4) If you would like to see more of Bangkok, then take a Segway Tour. This is a tour with a difference as you will be on a 2 wheeled electronic device. They are easy to use and they give you a real sense of freedom as you cruise the streets of Bangkok.

5) Enjoy the nightlife. A night in Bangkok is usually good value and we’ve all heard of the lady boy shows etc. Bars are a plentiful and generally offer a good night out.

If you would rather head to the beaches of Thailand then consider the area around Phuket. Jet Star fly directly to and from Phuket from Sydney and at certain times of the year there are special reduced fares.

Phuket is not for everyone though. This place is like Ibiza but in Asia. It’s big, very touristy and full of pubs, bars and restaurants. If you’d rather have a quieter experience then the areas around Phuket are lovely. Phi Phi Island is a popular day trip from Phuket but you can stay here instead. It is close to where they filmed the movie “The Beach.”

There are plenty of other stop over destinations that can’t be explored in this article. Other recommendations include Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. If you are heading to or from the US, then consider the beautiful islands of Fiji as an alternative to Asia.

If you have more time and are planning a longer trip to Australia (months rather than weeks) then I’d recommend combining your trip with New Zealand or even Bali. Flight times from Australia are only a few hours.

Jennifer Schellington has nearly half a decade of experience in travelling Australia and has recently had a baby. Her site, www.realaustraliatravel.com offers practical information for planning your visit to Australia as well as where to go and what to do. Click here for more details on Stop off destinations and travel from Australia

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