Pension de la Plage Punaauia

... we were met by native bands and given gardenias to wear. I will say, all of these islands smell wonderful because of the native flowers. We decided to take a tour today to circle the heart-shaped island and found one that actually had air-conditioned buses. It was 40 dollars a person, compared to the ship’s tour for 139 dollars. There is only one road around the island, so we’re glad we waited to book when we came ...

... GREAT pizza at<br>a joint which probably has the best pizza location in the world.<br>Daniel's Pizza is right on the lagoon and while you're eating pizza<br>you look at beautiful ships on the clear blue water &#8211; not bad!!!<br>Daniel is an ex-French pastry chef who now cooks pizzas in paradise<br>in a wood-fueled stone oven&#8212;outside! We share pleasantries in<br>broken French and English, although there are periods of ...

... I take in the magical starry night on the beach while clearly schozzled and realise that although bored and dying to have half of you lot here for an old knees up - the place still is amazing and for the next 3 days I'll just have to relax and enjoy it - however hard that might be after the last 2 months escapades in New Zealand and Australia.<br><br>Drivin'<br><br>And so here I find myself today - two days left. I got up this morning hungver as ...

... did not take a tour of Papeete and instead decided to walk thru the Capitol of Tahiti on out own. As our research indicated one of the best times to visit Tahiti was early in the morning before noon, we arose early. The research was correct. By the time we had eaten breakfast on the open section of the Buffet, it was 80 degrees and climbing quickly into the mid-90's. The humidity was also very high. Today is a typical day in Papeete. We were prepared, light clothing ...

... ground was moving on each footstep. With the wind and the exposition, a lot of people finish the last 30 min on all fours. I have better plans than dying in Tahiti so we went back down. 11th: it rained all day so I stayed in house, half asleep, half reading. 12th: very sunny but no change: staying in da house, half sleeping, half reading "100 years of solitude"

... it in such gorgeously beautiful surroundings was magical. I did like these islands but without something to occupy your (my) self, I still feel that at this stage we would get bored after a few days. I would have visited another island if the time had made it possible but the again, maybe I'm not yet ready for 'paradise'! Mmmmm - being bored in 'Paradise' could be a phrase I will regret in the travelling months still ahead.

... out here they seem to have some weird laws. All beaches in the area of public property, but people can own land right up to the sand. The result in some places was concrete walls, fences and private land right up to the sea, with perhaps a few inches of sand... it would look so much nicer if they hadn't built so close to the shore, and it certainly wasn't like the postcard images of a tropical island! I visited the main city of Papeete and it ...

While most of you were celebrating Columbus Day this month, I was celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving instead. Not all of my friends will be here at the end of November to have an American dinner (myself included because I'll be in Australia) and one of our friends is Canadian, so we had a big feast on her holiday. There was turkey, lamb, salmon, and every kind of salad and side imaginable including the fruit salad I made which was enough to feed ...