Home at last!

  Sydney, Australia
Sunday, January 11, 2004

Wed 31st Dec 2003 Raiatea
New Year's Eve.
Rained heavily all night. Woken during the night by various noises, and again at 6am by loud banging noise. Get up to investigate, and see a man belting something on the boat in the boatshed next door. Realise the next door neighbours must have returned from holidays, so back to bed. Rains heavily most of day. Mid-morning, go out on our jetty to see if can see the neighbours. No sign of anyone home, and then we get to thinking that the outboard motor is missing from the boat. Have a look at our photos, and see that boat has definitely been moved. Give Francois a ring to ask them if they know when the neighbour was due to return. They don't, but say they will come round. In the meantime, Murray goes next-door to make sure the neighbour is not there. They aren't, but the neighbour next up is, and we find that the boat actually belongs to someone up the back. End of drama! Later in the day, a man turns up with the outboard motor, and puts it back on the boat. Can't say we're not observant little houseswap people! Too wet to do anything outdoors, so mainly read. House is full of books, but they are all in French. We're eager to get home now, after three months away, so sitting around filling in time is not what we wan to do. The TV only has two stations, both in French - one with gameshows, and the other with cartoons (appears they can't get satellite or cable TV here. One of the stations can be found on two channels, one with no sound, just crackles, and one with sound and a very bad picture. We don't want to use the internet too much after reading that local calls are timed. We've just about run out of English reading matter, so Dianne is reading the guidebook from cover to cover, and Murray is reading Bougainville's "Voyage autour du monde" , in the original French, which is about Bougainville's voyage around the world from 1766 to 1769, via the Straits of Magellan, and on to Tahiti, so is very relevant to this trip. Reading is helped when he finds a French/English dictionary, as his schoolboy French is a bit rusty.
Even when the sun is out, your options are somewhat limited, as the sun is VERY hot. After an hour or so in the water, even with a T-shirt on, you're risking bad sunburn, and the problem is even worse in the kayak. Going for a walk in the sun soon becomes very debilitating, and if you sit in the shade you get attacked by mosquitoes and sandflies. We've developed various routines to pass the time -we know all our regular fish that come to the wharf - from the lovely black and yellow Moorish idol, to "Mr Demented", the grey and white striped fish that swam round and round the pier on his side about fifty times without stopping. Watching the geckos is another time-passer.
Rain has stopped by the evening, so about 9pm decide to go for a run into town, though not hopeful of any action after our Christmas Eve experience. Once again, the yacht clubhouse bar is closed, but there are a couple of restaurants in town open, with quite a few people in them. Otherwise the town is just about deserted! Take some photos of the streets to prove it. Back home. Asleep by 10.30pm, but woken at midnight by quite a few heavy calibre firecrackers.
Thurs 1st Jan 2004 Raiatea
Practically no rain during the night, and the morning is sunny, with a blue sky. From experience we know to take advantage of it, so get our snorkelling gear, wear swimmers and T-shirt and sandals, and walk around the corner to the West. Hop in the water, with our sandals tied on to us with a string, and swim out to the drop-off which is not obvious from the shore, but which we'd seen from the kayak. Follow the drop-off along for an hour, and about a kilometre. Can't believe how good it is - better than the coral garden in Bora Bora where all the tourists are taken. Quite a lot of live coral, and lots of different tropical fish, including a couple of grey and white eels, which we first thought were sea-snakes. The only downside is that it is less than crystal clear, with visibility only about 10 metres, and a definitely milky look about the upper levels, probably fresh water from the rain.
See two local French people going for a swim, and all exchange greetings (the extent of our conversations with the locals), and see where they get out, in a break in the coral, and we do likewise. Put our shoes on, and drip all the way back to our house. Glad we went when we did, for soon after it starts raining again, for the rest of the day, and a lot of the night.
This was our first day of survival with no bread. When we arrived back on Tuesday, we bought the last two baguettes in the supermarket (and they were only there because they were broken in half). By Wednesday these were all gone, and we couldn't be bothered driving 16 kms in the rain today to replace them, so our carbohydrate filler today has been spaghetti. Murray also had his turn at trying to make the swordfish edible, with good results. Cut it into VERY small pieces, rolled in flour, and cooked till quite brown - the best result yet, but still results in a mouthful of unchewable dry fibre, a bit like coconut.
Fri 2nd Jan 2004 Raiatea
We wake to a lovely blue sky. Dianne is happy to go for a snorkel, but Murray wants to climb to the top of Mt Tapioi (294 metres - no, we haven't left any OO's off the height - this is definitely not South America). Eventually find the road up, between the post office and gendarmerie. Come to the sign that says "no entry" as per the guidebook, but which we're told you can drive up anyway, but unfortunately we pass a car here, and the 150 kilo driver tells us we have to walk from here, braving dogs, pigs, horses and false turnoffs, but not seeing any of the "surprised cows" from the guide book, although there is ample evidence underfoot of their presence. Three very hot, but quite scenic kilometres later, we reach the top, for the most superb views imaginable.
Can see the wonderful aqua blue of Raiatea's and Tahaa's surrounding reef, with lovely little motus dotted around, and with Bora Bora and Huahine further out.


Raiatea may not be a touristy island, but it definitely is just as beautiful as the others. Take lots of photos. Try to walk around to the west to get views of our house, but there is a narrow ridge with a vertical cliff falling 100 metres to tropical jungle. There are good views back into the hinterland, with a valley starting from a vertical drop, and running toward the west coast, and tracks visible on the ridges to the east leading up to the high plateau. We then head down to the car and then to cool down in the air-conditioned supermarket (by this stage we are sweating profusely, and very hot). Can't believe it when the supermarket has no bread, though it's only midday. Check out the other two supermarkets, with same result. Made worse by fact that everywhere we see people with their bread - we must have just missed out!
Back to house to pick up snorkelling gear, and drive a kilometre down the road, to where we got out of the water yesterday. Start snorkelling the drop-off from here, for another lovely swim, with good coral and lots of varieties of fish, including one enormous moray eel. Get out after just over an hour, and walk back to car. Back to house for rest, which we feel we've definitely earnt. Spend rest of day in our time-passing pursuits - cooking, watching fish from our wharf, watching the geckoes, reading, Murray trying to break his coconut-husking record with a coconut from our own tree, and zapping mosquitoes. They have the most fantastic mosquito zapper- we've never seen one like it before, but we definitely want one. It looks like a small squash racket, but with only horizontal strings, made of metal. It is operated by battery, and when you turn it on, and take a swing at a mosquito, it zaps them - no more messed up walls, and you can get ones quite high up. It has all the advantages of a fly swatter without the need to swat them AGAINST something.
Just after 6pm, go for a walk to the west to watch the sunset over our motu. The sunset is pretty good, but there is enough cloud right on the horizon to obscure the sun as it hits the horizon.
Have a very interrupted sleep - the local roosters outdo themselves by crowing for the first time at midnight, and again at 1.30am, while the local dogs have some sort of "I can bark louder than you" contest all night. As it's been a very hot day, the house is hot, so we had to leave all the windows open. Consequently we had lots of car noise from one side of the room, and lagoon noise from the other.
Sat 3rd Jan Raiatea
Murray up fairly early, but Dianne catches up on some missed sleep, and doesn't get up till 9am. Doesn't have breakfast, but straight into town for the elusive bread. Can't believe it when we find that all three supermarkets have all sold out, and it's only 9.30am. We're not the only ones searching for it. Seems like they only make a set amount, regardless of demand. We finally find some fairly ordinary loaf bread for 250 CFP a loaf, and buy a couple. The French baguettes are 43 CFP each! They're obviously fairly heavily subsidised so the people (and us) don't starve, and this accounts for the rush for it. We've been watching what the locals buy in the supermarkets - lots of pasta, rice etc and bread. Suspect they get most of their protein from fish. On average, we'd say that most of the groceries are about DOUBLE Australian prices. In the absence of bread, Dianne has consolation in getting a small roast chicken from the second supermarket for 1000 CFP (the first time they haven't all been sold out).
At a fruit stall on the way home, we decided against pineapples (still getting through the four we bought on Tuesday), and settled for a pamplemousse and a bunch of bananas. Having paid 300 CFP the vendor then gave us an extra bunch of bananas, and a papaya which Dianne had inspected and commented on a bad section (this is common as the birds peck at them when they look ripe). This is fairly typical of vendors - throwing in extras to ease the conscience about overcharging, or just because they are nice people. We thought we had done a good deal with the bananas, but the first one we tried was so bitter even Dianne, who likes them green, couldn't handle it, so we put them in the "cooking might improve" basket.
Back at the ranch, we gird up for another snorkelling expedition, driving further south to beyond the next big inlet, which has a couple of yachts moored. We are not hopeful, as the inlet is fairly deep, but the snorkelling is excellent, with some extensive anemone patches, with lots of small, black with blue spotted anemone fish, and some of the biggest clown fish types we have seen. The dropoff, even at the back of the inlet, was quite remarkable, 15 to 20 metres straight down, and probably a lot deeper, but the visibility was not good enough, particularly to the south, where a big creek came in. We followed a local boat in through a gap in the reef. Half a dozen Polynesians were sorting fish on the shore, with two large eskies (20 or 30 kilos) of smallish, black fish, not the sort you would consider good or safe eating. Looked like they'd been caught by net. They asked if we wanted any, or wanted the big conch shell they had found, but we refused politely. They were pretty friendly, as is generally the case when you run into them in groups.
In the late afternoon we took another walk to look at the sunset from a bit further south, with the motu in centre stage. There were lots of people on the beach and out at the motu, all pretty friendly. We photographed the locals in their late afternoon pursuits, including swimming, outrigger paddling, and boating, with a boat coming back from the motu with 18 people aboard, and two trailing behind on surfboards, as even they accepted that twenty would have been too many.
Back at the house, made another bread-free supper, keeping our expensive bread for a better occasion, with roast semi-chinese chicken and the rough end of a cucumber-rich salad, washed down with Chilean Gato Negro, which is lasting surprisingly well.
Sunday 4th January Raiatea
The day starts off with a plan to go snorkelling, and turns into a full expedition on the kayak, with packed lunch, waterproofed camera, anti-sun clothing and sun-block. The best we could do for lunch was vegemite sandwiches and the cheap bananas, which were mysteriously starting to come good as they ripened.
We headed off about 11 am through a break in our local reef and up close to the coast to cut down on the distance and stay out of the light headwind. First stop was just off the poor man's marina to look at all the cruising type yachts up on hardstands in various states of repair. There is quite a range from go-fast to old fashioned deep, round yachts with long keels and long histories. Further along, past the trimarans, polynesian double canoes and concrete yachts, we came to the long jetty and swimming pontoon belonging to the Sunset motel, and tied up to the float.
There is a fair bit of organising to get from covered up against the sun paddling gear to covered up against the sun snorkelling gear, all done on the on the kayak, but we managed without tipping the kayak or losing the paddles, or getting our camera wet. Checked out the dropoff and coral garden here. It had seen better days, but was still quite pleasant, when it is free.
Back in the kayak, we stopped for a look at the flash Apooiti marina, and checked out the snorkelling prospects, then headed out around the airport, which is right on the water. From here we can see a large cruise boat in the channel, and a short crossing to the central reefs between us and Taha'a, and we have to make a decision as to how big an expedition we are mounting. Decide to carry on along the coast to check out the cruise boat, and then continue to the motu which looks so good from the lookout above the town. It is quite a long haul, with a light headwind and some confused currents, so we are ready for a break when we get there.
The motu is obviously a favourite with the French and the Polynesians, and there are probably 30 people on the motu, and half a dozen boats moored off it. The sun is fully out and the water looks brilliant, with a white sandy bottom, coral patches and shades of blue to indigo in the deeper water. There is a strong current in the channel to the east, which is also the main small boat channel to the reef and the east side of Taha'a, and a lesser current across the shallower water from the strong surf breaking on the reef. Dianne has half a Vegemite sandwich, and heads out to look at the north to west side of the islands, finding reasonable current, and good, isolated coral outcrops with small fish in clear water, but nothing sensational.
After she returns, Murray heads east swimming overarm across the current, hoping the cramps which have been frequent will stay away. The water, which looks so clear and good on this side of the island, is pretty barren, with only small, scattered coral boulders. These have lots of small, pretty fish on them, and look good in the clear, sunny water. He crosses the current again to the channel marker, then with the current all the way south to the dropoff, which is also clear, but pretty barren, except for large coral bombies which have clouds of small, pretty blue/green fish.
There are worth looking at, so Dianne gets in for a second time before we head off. The French group which have set up a veritable "black's camp" in the middle of the island, probably for the weekend, are busy with hammers dismantling the temporary galvanised iron shelter, and stacking the timber and iron for another occasion. Dianne talks to an American couple from the cruise boat "Paul Gauguin" out of Nassau. They are paddling a kayak identical to ours but it is probably costing them $1000 a day for the privilege.
On the way back we cross to the town public marina, with its collection of home-built steel yachts, and the odd flash one, then around the Pompiers depot and along the airport runway. The wind is on the quarter, and the kayak keeps wanting to head up into the wind, so it is pretty hard going for the person in charge of steering. At the dropoff along the runway, we stop for Dianne to get in and check it out, but by the time she's ready to get in, the drop-off has disappeared a long way inshore, and we have to go looking for it. The dropoff is ok here, but nothing special, so we head back home, hugging the shore most of the way. Back home about 4.30pm. We put the kayak on the wharf, and go for a relaxing snorkel to find the coral in our backyard. The water is pleasant, but the visibility is not good enough to stay in longer than required to relax and cool down. It is 16kms into town and back by road, but by kayak it was somewhat shorter, as we didn't go into every bay. Nevertheless, it was a long way, especially with swims added in, and we're definitely feeling a bit weary.
We have a quiet afternoon and evening, avoiding going to sleep to help with our jetlag when we get home. After another salad supper (mackerel this time), Murray watches Space Cowboys on the channel with no sound but a good picture, as the dialogue is in French, and we call it a night at about 11pm. Heavy rain during the night.
Monday 5th January Raiatea
The night rain has gone by 7am, taking away any excuse to take it easy, but we manage it anyway. We have one success, as the garbage men finally remove 3 weeks' garbage, which is a bit on the nose. Have a breakfast which extends into lunch, and consider our options. A very heavy scud of rain comes across, and soaks the sheets that Dianne had washed and dried previously, and just put out to air. Read, write the diary (determined not to leave the last week missing, as is usually the case), and start on a major clean-up of the house, preparatory to leaving.
Decide to do a kayak snorkelling trip to our local motu. Just about to leave when see a big storm approaching, so wait for it to pass. Lots of heavy rain and wind, then half an hour later, bright sunshine. Get away about 3pm. Paddle just around the corner, then check out the reef and some fish nets strung across the bay. We've left the camera behind today, and are experimenting with hopping into the water when we see a good spot, and pulling the kayak along by a rope, which works well. It's amazing that one minute we're in shallow water near the houses, and the next second we're in a channel so deep we can't see the bottom. Dianne sees a large barracuda here.
Go along the drop-off on the far side of the motu, where there is a deep channel out through the Rautoanui Pass. As the current and winds are OK, we get more confident, and swim out as far as the marker for the channel. Have to be careful to stay in it, as just to the right surf is breaking, and locals are boogy boarding there (don't seem to be phased by the coral rocks sticking out near the end of their run). Back home about 5pm - just in time to avoid the next downpour.
Dinner of spaghetti with tomato base, and our normal pineapple and papaya.
Another very bad night's sleep - all the dogs in the neighbourhood go bananas about 3 am in the morning. Murray thinks they must be barking at someone, and gets up to investigate. Dianne then spends the next three hours awake.
Tues 6th Jan Raiatea
Murray's 61st Birthday (In Australia it is the 7th)
Murray gets up about 7am, and goes into town to make an EARLY assault on the French bread. Gets 3 baguettes, as you can never have too much French bread, and fills the car with petrol (to date we've done 296 kms, and buy 35.4 litres at 130 per litre, for a total of 4600 CFP). -180 of those kms were for sightseeing, and about 120 were in search of bread and food.
Dianne has a couple of hours much-needed sleep, then we get into our French bread. We actually still have a loaf of the expensive bread left, but neither of us is interested in eating it.
We start discussing our plans for the day. Before we know, we've agreed to kayak to Taha'a, the closest island to Ra'iatea, and known as its twin island. They both share the same lagoon. At their closest point, it's said to be three kilometres across the channel, but measures five on the map and unfortunately we're a long way from the shortest crossing.
Get away about 9.30 am, and start paddling, getting in better synch as we get more practised. Stay fairly close to the shore till we're past the airport (what we used to consider a long paddle, but is now just a short hop). It's fairly overcast, and very calm for the first hour, which is a great help. We're starting to get near the narrowest section of the channel, so set off across the wide blue yonder, paddling towards Taha'a. Head towards what look like houses on the shore up the coast, while we look for the middle ground reefs which stretch towards Taha'a. As we get closer, see the houses are actually on the reef - the same ones we saw from our cargo boat, and from when we did our town motu trip.. We now know these to be isolated huts for pearl farms, out in the middle of the reef. We pass a grid of buoys on the surface holding up a system of underwater ropes which are also supported by submerged floats. It looks pretty eerie with the ropes disappearing into the deep blue water. Our earlier walk up the mountain has been very helpful, as we took lots of photos of the reef, and we've consulted these before setting out. When we get near the huts, go for a snorkel, dragging the canoe behind us, in some lovely sandy holes, with a wall of coral debris all round and coral outcrops in the middle. When the visibility deteriorates, which it does from place to place with no apparent reason, we continue paddling, stopping to snorkel every time we see an interesting spot. The sun has been out for a while now, and we're starting to feel the heat, but then have a light shower, which we avoid by going for a snorkel. Finally try to come ashore near a pearl farm to the right of Hotel Marina Iti, but find it is on an island, not a causeway, and decide the water's too shallow and uninteresting. We decide to paddle towards Hotel Marina Iti, right on the point. Drop-off looks interesting, even though has been used to dump a refrigerator, and building materials, so in again, towing the kayak around the point and in to the boat landing, along a vertical 20 metre underwater wall..
There are a few people waiting for boat on the wharf, and tell us (via hand signs) to stay back as boat is approaching. After it leaves, continue on past a couple of buildings, and come ashore at a sandy beach. Want to get through to the road, but realise the land is fenced off, and probably dog protected, so back in kayak and paddle back up to wharf. Tie canoe up, and in to investigate. No-one around hotel, but there is a side path, with sign saying it's the way to a pearl farm. Follow it, but eventually arrive at a locked gate. We're inside, looking out to the road. Murray goes back to kayak, while Dianne walks all round the hotel grounds, including the flash restaurant and bar, looking for some information, way out, or inspiration! Don't see one customer, or one staff, during the whole walk. And our guidebook says this is the "busiest place on the island." It also says that Taha'a is even quieter than Ra'iatea, and we'd have to agree.
Sit on the wharf having our French bread and salami, when there is a real downpour, so move to shelter under their covered gateway.
The rain stops, the sun beats down again, and we paddle up Apu Bay a bit, following the drop-off. There are a few yachts moored here, and a sort-of Polynesian houseboat.
Decide we'd better start heading back. As we can't see any storms approaching, we decide to get daring, and head straight for home, instead of taking the safer, but much longer way across the narrow part of the channel, and then down along the shore. Hop in and out of the kayak numerous times as we see interesting spots. It's amazing how the clarity of the water changes. One minute it'll be quite murky, then we'll suddenly come across a spot where it's incredibly clear, and we just have to investigate. Starting to find the hopping in and out is more exhausting than either the swimming or the paddling!
Our last snorkel stop is at a channel marker where a couple of young polynesians have tied their tinny up to the marker and are out collecting something, with a floating fish box trailing them. The water here is probably the clearest we have seen, but we have to stay clear of the fishermen, and the surf break which is regularly bashing their tinny against the piling. The piling is on an underwater peninsular, with a fairly strong current, and this may be why the water is so clear, but further to the west, sand washed by the local break obscures the water so we start paddling for home, passing the usual landmarks - the crook concrete boat, the pirate ship, Herbie's Trimaran, the poor man's boatyard, and the plastic bottle on a stick which marks our channel through the coral reefs. This is a typical marking system, one even has green sprite bottles on the starboard side, and something pink or orange on the port.
Back home, we tell the woman next door (who arrived home from Hawaii yesterday) how far we have paddled, then have a short break before starting the final cleanup before our departure. We now have a better handle on how the washing machine works, how you can get hot water into it, and when to give the timer a nudge to stop it bludging, and we put a wash through in record time.
We cook up everything we have left, for a 61st birthday feast, so that we can clean up the kitchen, and farewell last year with the last glass of El Gato Negro. Who said a dog was man's best friend? Haven't heard back from Laurent about cost of battery for our car, so can't finalise our house swapping accounts, so set a reasonably early alarm to look after final details in the morning.
Wednesday 7th January Raiatea - Tahiti
We get the information we need to finalise our accounts in the early morning after a 6am pre-alarm start, put through the last load of washing, and do a last tidy up then take photos of the house. We wake the neighbours to give them the key, throw away our anti-dog sticks, and head in to the airport, stopping for a photo of the house from across the bay, and deciding not to kill time by driving around, as it is a bit like getting a hire-car to the airport in one piece. We can't get on the early plane, as it is completely full. This is typical, one can only assume Air Tahiti is making a quid. We walk the grounds, take photos, read and speculate on what various people are doing there.
The plane is on time, and we are first on after the families, but there aren't too many right hand window seats left. Murray takes the rear seat, while Dianne gets one about halfway down. We get good views of Raiatea on the way out, a lot closer to the coast, and lower than on the way in. The features of the island are now more obvious, and the photos should be better. However, the return route is further to the south, and we pass to the south of both Huahine and Moorea, so don't get to see them. We do, however, get to see the inside of a tropical storm, and have five minutes of roller coaster ride before emerging from it.
We get good views of Tahiti on the way in, particularly as we have to do an extra loop waiting to land. There was a lot of cloud about the mountain, and the reef looked pretty narrow compared with those we have visited. On the ground, one of our fellow passengers, a beagle-sized dog we had seen loaded into his cage, didn't look too good when he arrived - seemed to be unhappy about leaving the security of his cage.
Out of the airport, we can't find an Air Tahiti Nui office to confirm tomorrow's flight, so head up the hill to find Fifi's Hostel. For once the directions weren't too bad, although with the airport car park half a km long, an indication of left or right, toward or away from town would have been handy.
Fifi's is run by a very Polynesian family, although the young man they got to interpret looks fairly oriental. There was no record of our booking, although Murray is pretty sure he spoke to the oriental type. However, there are a few mystery bookings, so one of them is probably ours. However they do have a double room, contrary to the telephone advice, for 6600 CFP, not because it is all that much flasher than the dorms but because it is easier to organise our gear and get away at 5.20am.
After moving in, we have to decide whether we want to risk not reconfirming, and go exploring, or go into town. We decide on the latter, find that le Truck costs CFP 130 and head down the steep road to the bus stop. A truck comes almost immediately, and we are deposited in town near the market in short time. There is not a lot of the town we can recognise since 1987, but the market location is the same. Mindful of the great bread famine, we get some at a Chinese shop Dianne remembers, and we walk through the market, chewing on bread, recommending the bread to a Barrister and wife from Neutral Bay we met on le Truck. The quantity and quality of the produce available in the market was amazing when compared to Raiatea. Dianne even lashed out on a slice of watermelon.
From the market, we walked to Air Tahiti Nui to sit in their air conditioned office to wait for a free clerk to confirm our flight and reserve our seats. Outside, we wondered why we were hurrying to get finished, as it had come on hot. We then walked to the port to look at the yachts, getting caught in a shower on the way. The French do like fast, improbable looking craft, as the photos should show. We then lunched on French bread and Chilean peanut butter under a tree. In deference to the great bread famine, Murray heads back to the same shop, and has to settle for the last baguette.
We then walked around the back of the town, looking for the area where we had watched the Bastille Day march in 1987, and checking out the Mahina Tea hotel, which looked like the one we used in 87. Back at the waterfront, the park beside the water, in front of the Post Office, is now a construction site. It was here that Murray read work related poste restante mail in 1987. Decide we don't need to see any more. Papeete is too big to be cute, and if you haven't got any shopping to do, and can't see the point of spending lots of dollars in the restaurants, there isn't much else to do. Makes us really appreciate Raiatea - would have hated to have spent two weeks here.
We then set off to look for le Truck, found one dropping off , said they were going to the airport, so we got an almost free tour of the town. However, we ended up in a le Truck queue at the depot which took half an hour to clear. Back at the airport, we wanted to go past our stop to look for a drink, but our driver stopped opposite our street. Obviously knew we weren't going to the Sheraton.
Back at the hostel, we talked to Melbourne people who had done the South American thing, and drank cold water and coffee to recover. Later, cooked up chicken soup to have with our French Bread. No luck with the management catching up on what others had that we didn't - towels, fans etc. At least we seem to have a mosquito net in the cupboard, but still have to rig it and see if it is a goer. Our room is extremely basic - one double bed with a light, saggy mattress, and a couple of dim lights on one wall. At least there are two of them - two star! Outside one wall of louvre windows is the car parking and kid-playing area (with all the noise that entails), with a genuine third world drain, with smell to match, right outside the kitchen, and another wall is mainly louvres, plus our door, which opens into an alcove area with three beds Everyone shares the single bathroom, kitchen and lounging area. The loo does not flush properly, in spite of frequent applications of le plongeur by Murray. Fortunately no-one has used it for serious projects. We've paid A$100 for this! ( at least we won't have to pay A$40 for a taxi to the airport, which is just across the road)
After tea we go for a walk south, mainly to fill iin time, but also to find out what is there, but find just roads and car yards. At a servo, we get rid of most of our CFP coins on soft drinks, then do a trial run to the airport for the morning, finding a step-free route. The airport doesn't look any more cheerful, so walk back via the carpark to prepare for a good night's lying down, if not sleeping. Most of the guests are getting our flight in the morning, so hit the sack early.
In spite of a suspiciously slippery floor, the shower is not too bad, with blood temperature water. To prepare for bed we use one of our South East Asia purchases, a cuphook, to hold up one side of the mosquito net we found in the cupboard. With the other side on a screw in the wall, and the two foot end straps tied to the foot frame we were looking good, but couldn't seem to get the bottom edge to fit the bed. It turned out that the net was a south American relic from someone's travels, designed for a hammock, so we ended up getting the head end almost right and holding the other end in place with our feet. It didn't help relaxing to sleep, but did a fair job on the mosquitoes.
The night was interrupted by late arrivals phoning, then turning up just before a really heavy rainstorm and getting the dogs barking. They set up in the overflow bedding outside our room. Others were up early, so we gave up on sleep at 5 am to beat the morning rush for the only loo and shower.
Thursday 8th January 2004 Tahiti - Dateline
On our way down the hill at about 5.15am, MP runs a wheel through a dog dropping on the way, and spends most of the short trip looking for puddles to run the wheel through. Did a fair job, but might get some attention from the Beagles at Mascot. At the airport take a photo of our sleeping spot after the Easter Island flight, then go through a thorough security check, including shoes off before checking in then being allowed out to run free for an hour before the departure lounge opens. Charge the batteries in the airport power points and do diary, check cash and receipts to kill time.
The highlight of the waiting period was Murray being confronted by a fair sized land crab in the toilet. Good views of Moorea at takeoff, then later recognise the outline of Huahine, but can't locate Raitea or Bora Bora, which would be close enough to see if not obscured. Not a bad flight, individual seat screens, but simultaneous movies. Got to see most of two films in spite of software stuffups.
Landing at Auckland, there is an announcement about where people with boarding cards for QF190 to Sydney (our flight) have to go, as it is a tight connection. Check our boarding cards, and it is then we find that, although our tickets say QF190, we have been put on QF 120, leaving at 3.30pm, a couple of hours later, without any advice or comment by ground staff. Because we discussed window seats with him. and he checked to find there were none left, we were given no reason to have a look at the boarding cards. Spend the long waiting time to get off the aircraft shat. In the Airport, find no reference to Flight QF190 on the monitors, but there is another flight going at the same time. After a long wait at the Air NZ staffed international transfer desk, find there is nothing that can be done, but at least get to leave a message. Later we are tracked down by the counter staff and given a phone card to send our own messages. Murray was going to sail in a race with Jerry and Sharon and Adam tonight, but now we won't make it. Plane is late getting away as six passengers are missing. They eventually turn up, and we get underway. The flight goes fairly quickly as there is a good movie, and we have one of the best meals we've had in a long time.
Coming into Sydney, we're advised that we'll have to wait to land, as only one runway is in operation, and there is very little visibility to the West, as there's very heavy smoke from bushfires.
Finally land, and quickly into a taxi home. Happy to find apartment is just as we left it. Out soon after for a welcome-home drink with the returned sailing crew, and Lisa, Julian and Chris, and Lavinia.
Pleased to be home. It's been a fantastic trip, but we're now ready to take it easy for a while.
This is our last entry for this trip.