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The
interior of the
Big Island comes as a surprise: pastoral meadows roll over gentle hills
where once stood forests of sandalwood. This is cattle-ranching
country, most of it - ten percent of the island - owned by the United
States's largest private ranch, the Parker Ranch
.
WAIMEA
(also known as
Kamuela
) is not the company town it once was - the Parker Ranch now employs
just one hundred of its eight thousand inhabitants - but more of a
sophisticated country-town resort, which retains traces of its cowboy
past. Though you can no longer tour the ranch itself, the ranch has an
interesting visitor center
(Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; $6) in town; the nearby
Kamuela Museum
is enjoyably eclectic and eccentric, with an extensive range of ancient Hawaiian artifacts (daily 8am-5pm; $5).
B&Bs
are a booming business in Waimea; in fact there's little else. Barbara Campbell runs her own very appealing
Waimea Gardens Cottage
(tel 808/885-4550 or 1-800/262-9912; $130-160), and also coordinates
Hawaii's Best B&Bs (PO Box 563, Kamuela, HI 96743, ), a selection
of properties on all the islands. The main alternative is the
refurbished Kamuela Inn
(tel 808/885-4243; $75-100), which is part inn, part luxury hotel.
Merriman's
in Opelo Plaza (tel 808/885-6822) wins awards for its innovative
cuisine
, but if paying $20 for an entree puts you off, cross the street and walk a few yards to the
Waimea Coffee Co
in Parker Square (tel 808/885-4472), which offers good coffees and vegetarian specials.
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Waimea 
