OCT. 21-28

WORLD SOLAR CHALLENGE

In 1990, students from Konawaena High School on the Big Island designed, built and raced a solar-powered car 2,000 miles across the Australian Outback, becoming the first high school team to finish the World Solar Challenge, the premier solar energy auto race in the world.

The race, which challenges cars to make the journey on the sun's radiation and human ingenuity, is a statement about a cleaner, better future as well as a glimpse into the future of car design.

The first Challenge was staged in 1987, with a field of 23 cars led by the GM Sunraycer, which completed the trip with an average speed of 42 mph. Now a biennial event, cars travel at more than 60 mph. The competition, which begins in Darwin, is expected to end in Adelaide four days later, depending on the weather. www.wsc.org.au.

SEPT. 13-18, 20-25

RETREAT TO YOGA OASIS

Want to regroup after a busy summer? Yoga Oasis, tucked away near Pahoa on the eastern tip of the Big Island, offers yoga mini-retreats to realign body and mind, as well as seven-day and 30-day residency programs where guests stay at reduced rates in return for a daily one-hour work commitment. Yoga mini-retreats are ongoing; maha yoga retreats are scheduled for Sept. 13-18, 20-25, Oct. 4-9, 10-15, 25-30. Retreats include morning yoga sessions, brunch (tea and fresh fruit are available all day) and evening meditations. Afternoons are free. Rates begin at $35 per person per night for campers at the property's meadow to $175 per person per night in the retreat's Bali Room. 808-936-7710, www.yogaoasis.com.

SEPT. 22-OCT. 7

BRING ON THE BREWERIES

Said to be the biggest public festival in the world, Oktoberfest draws around 6 million fans to Munich to celebrate beer and group jollity. The numbers are daunting: 12 million pints of beer, 300,000 pork sausages, 600,000 roast chickens and 80 oxen are consumed over two weeks of revelry. The Anglo-Australian-American backpacker hordes and Japanese tour groups make a beeline for the Hofbrau tent, which tends to be the most raucous. More than a huge beer bust, Oktoberfest begins with a parade of brewery wagons pulled by magnificent draft horses. Folklore International presents musical groups and folk groups who parade through the city in traditional costume, complete with brass bands. An agricultural show plus carousels, Ferris wheels and roller coasters provides fun for kids as well as their parents. www.oktoberfest.de.