I'M ON holiday in Hawaii and, in the 10 days I've been gone, my normally hyperactive brain has flipped the switch from opinionated to relaxed, a bit giggly and blissfully happy with the world.

It's called holiday brain and, while usually a pleasant side-effect of travelling and spending too much time at the beach in the sun, it doesn't help much when you've got an opinion column to write.

As I'm finding it excruciatingly difficult to muster up any kind of opinion, I thought I might try my hand at a Lonely Planet-style checklist about the island of Oahu, Hawaii, where I spent four days at the start of my trip.

So here are seven top things to know about Oahu, the most-populated island in the Hawaiian chain:

1. It's cheap to reach. Australia's love affair with Bali often surprises me when Hawaii is almost as close and just as cheap - a nine-hour flight as opposed to six, and we paid $300 each one-way for our flights - and Hawaii is so much more beautiful and interesting.

2. Stay at Waikiki Beach for a few days. Waikiki is described as the Gold Coast of Hawaii. It's full of tourists who pack the beaches and dozens of high-end beachside hotels. It's around 27 degrees year-round. Waikiki itself is tiring and, after a couple of days, we were craving fresh air but it was a great place to start our trip.

3. Scale Diamond Head. The summit of Diamond Head is everywhere you look in Waikiki and a trip to Oahu wouldn't be complete without a hike to the top. It's an easy walk - I saw hikers from five-year-old kids to grandparents scaling the peak - and, with an admission cost of only $1, the view of Oahu's entire southern coastline is definitely worth it.

4. Snorkel at Hanauma Bay. The hairpin-shaped bay on Oahu's south-east coast is stocked full of every colour of fish imaginable.

5. Visit the Pearl Harbor memorial. We weren't sure about this - none of the younger travellers in our hostel were planning a visit - but I'm glad we did. While free to enter, they only hand out a certain amount of tickets a day so get there early. We arrived there just before 8am and got on the first 8.30am boat ride out to the USS Arizona shipwreck, which was bombed by the Japanese in the Second World War, leaving 1177 US soldiers to perish.

6. Go to the north shore. If Waikiki is the Gold Coast, the northern beaches are surely our lovely Sunshine Coast - friendlier, chilled out, with a famed surfing culture and some of the biggest waves in the world.

7. Don't just go to Oahu. There are eight other Hawaiian islands to explore. Aloha!