Ahitea Lodge Papeete

... last stop before we made it into Papeete for the amazing Les Roulottes. Jay had remembered it called "Le Truck".<br> <br><br><br><br><br><br>Every day at sunset on the Papeete waterfront, food trucks called "Les Roulottes" roll in and begin to set up charcoal grills for evening diners. The van have portable kitchens. The pictures at the end tell the story.<br><br><br> <br> <br ...

... up to fix our boiler, he did a splendid job in achieving what was at best luke-warm water. <br><br>It then started to rain - heavily. In fact, it had rained on and off since we had arrived with large, black clouds obscuring the sun and once again preventing Louise´s bikini departing from the depths of her rucksack. On day four however, the heavens opened and it literally poured for two whole days. We can handle rain; rain is even good for the ...

... it was remarkable how African the leaders looked and it was also cool to see all the instruments, tools, clothing they made just from what they had around them. There were a couple of paddles on display that were so intricately carved it must have taken years to make. On our walk home we stopped at a grocery store and it was surprising what was being sold (see pictures below). <br><br>For dinner we ate poisson cru (fish in coconut milk) with Vincent at a local ...

... and Gene insisted his driving skills were up to par. We whole heartedly disagree after riding with Gene all day. After numerous stalls, going forward instead of backing up, and a few near misses in the round abouts we came out alive. Mom thought a drink might have helped alleviate the fear throughout the day (While Genes driving was bad, still not as bad as the trip Debbie and I shared in Europe with Brian). We drove around the whole ...

At sea most of the day and then docked in Papeete, Tahiti at 7:00pm. After getting off the ship we took a long walk through the town. Most of the shops were closed by this point except for the restaurants and bars. So...... where did we end up??? Yes a great little polynesian bar/restaurant with a live band. We sat ...

... to keep the food cool, the assistants were waving palm fronds over the food! We continued our explorations for some two hours by which time we were both very hot and sticky and in need of some liquid refreshment, so we headed back to the ship. Early afternoon we were due to be meeting 6 other people from the Cruise Critic group and doing a 4 wheel drive adventure into the rain forest. Having all assembled on the dockside, we found we had no tour guide, after ...

... which I'm hoping is "organic, fair trade" for the price, costs a staggering £14.80 again £14.80! Today we have visited the supermarket. But before all this, we crossed the International date line. Taking off in Auckland Saturday 8th at 9 a.m, landing in Tahiti 5 hours later on Friday 7th at 3 p.m. I also became a 'millionaire' during the flight thanks to Chris Tarrant &amp; Michael with the answer to the million pound question. I almost have the confidence to say, dust off the ...

... Julia to the house of Christelle and Sylvain (the one who welcome me when I arrived) and we had a good diner before that they drive me to the airport and gave at least 10 necklaces of shell (flower when you arrived and shell when you are leaving) There I ve learnt that my plane was 3 hours late only leaving at 3h30 AM... Everybody fell asleep and I had the time to finish my book. Then black out till Easter Island.

... later in the morning-especially if we stayed in the shade near the bay. I'll attach some pictures of Taiohae Bay, which will give you some idea of why many who have come to visit the Marquesas have often stayed-Herman Melville and Paul Gauguin are a couple of famous examples. The island is incredibly beautiful. Taiohae is now the capital of the Marquesas, although originally it was Atuona, on Hiva Oa. Paul Gaugin lived on Hiva Oa as well as on Tahiti.

... s shorts and the wrong sizes. But I did have a suit, finally, two months into the voyage. Geez. It took us forever to find a supermarket; we found lots of little touristy shops and bought postcards and stamps and went down lots of wrong turns before we found a little - what I would call a tienda but I forget we're in France - shop that we thought might be what everyone was pointing us to but it was more than a little divey and didn't have anything we wanted. We bought a ...