Dream Island Moorea

After staying on the ship most of yesterday, I anxiously went ashore today in search of sights and sounds of Moorea.

Straight off of the ship's tender to shore, a local Polynesian group danced and played instruments for us. There was a local market with artists' stalls directly next to the dancers with many different and unique types of crafts to pick from. The exchange rate wasn't as good ...

... fuss and the Tahitians in the queue behing came to my rescue and started giving out to her for being so obstinate. I eventually got my replacement.

Waiting on the ferry, I was surrounded by locals. It seems to be between tourist seasons here too. Not sure when is in season in these parts of the world - it's always warm after all. So just me and about 60/100 odd people just having a banter. The ferry crossing takes 40 minutes. At the other side I see ...

... even if you knew what she was saying she still tried to act everything out just to be sure and other times you didn't have the foggiest and just nodded anyway. We woke up and got ready in our swim wear and on our dining room table was a French stick, so we ate it for breakfast with no questions asked and just hoped that it was meant for us. We then waited out on the road for our pick up. We were picked up at 9.20am and dropped down the road at a hotel resort where we had ...

... us and felt they didn't want to go on to any of the smaller islands that would no doubt be even more expensive. This was great to have some company. Over the next few days we did very little. Sometimes taking out the Kayaks that were free other time finding coconuts as these seemed to be free, and pretty entertaining trying to open them. One day we decided to rent a scooter to get a tour of the island. This was great to fly about on and get an idea what the rest of the island was ...

... at the Cathedral. It was quite a strain on my brain trying to switch from Spanish to my very very very bad French. I think that by the time we got back to the hostel it was 2am local time but 6am according to my body. At that point, any bed was welcome! We discovered very early the next morning that nothing is open on Christmas day in Papeete, fortunately the previous people in the hostel had left behind some ...

... water) with prawn crackers. Having to type in the dark hence potential dodgy spelling (don't ask) xxx PS forgot to mention the one incident that sums up the place - whilst we were at the airport a guy ordered a cup of coffee (one that comes out of a big urn rather than a decent machine) and he was charged US$16 - he had to go and get security to get some money back from the cashier who claimed that was the right price for a cup of coffee - crazy!!

... navigation bridge. It's a good place for views, as you can see both sides at once despite the various masts and antennae. It's eight decks above the main or upper deck, which itself is well above the sea. So spray from 150m forward was reaching me well over a hundred feet up, if you'll pardon the mixed units.) Prognosis is for more big swell, but we'll be at a better angle to it once clear of the Society Islands.

... you can see across the 17km stretch of water from Papeete. One thing that does strike you is how mountainous and green these islands are, which was a big contrast to the dusty, dryness of Easter Island. Another is how expensive they are - a cab fare anywhere starts from CPF 1,500 (US$20). We docked in Moorea about 11.30am and finally managed to find a taxi to take us to our hotel - another $20 for a 3km journey. Maud was now back in her "5 star" element though, as we were ...

Landed in Tahiti to a welcoming of sunny and colourful dressed ladies giving you flowers. Got through customs no problem and as soon as I exited Fred who was picking me up yesterday spotted me straight away somehow. The moment I departed the airport I suddenly realised I was in France. Its was raining heavily and a totally different visual perception to South America. I realised speaking to Fred that the euro wasn't accepted and they use the CPF Franc. 120 Francs ...

... capital, where we perused the famous two-story market, ate French baguettes, and drank the milk from a coconut. That night we stayed at a hotel across the street from the airport because our flight home was fairly early the next day and we didn't want to worry about transportation. That was the perk of the place when we made the resers anyway, but once we got there it was all about the air conditioning, television, unlimited cappuccino machine ...