Tahiti, (france but more expensive and tropical!!)
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2008
1
24
55
Trip End
Nov 17, 2009
Moorea,
Society Islands,
French Polynesia
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
We said our good byes to Siri and Andrew in the airport as they met up with their friend from home. We were pretty tired so immediately got ourselves sorted with the cheapest bed we could find for the night. Next day we would head to the next island of Moorea that had better beaches and less hustle and bustle. We didn't really take in any of Papeete next day and went straight to the dock for the ferry. We had read that Tahiti itself didn't have as much to offer so we took the advice and ran.
Moorea was definitely what we were looking for from French Polynesia. We had always intended this part of our trip to be a bit of a buffer to relax and unwind from all the travel of south America. This would be the first time we would actually spend a week in one place since Rio! We jumped straight onto the bus from the ferry, this was no problem as there is only one road around the island so no chance for a mix up. We headed off to Moorea camping one of the cheapest places to stay. We knew it was expensive here so we would just live cheaply and enjoy the sea and the sun. The campsite turned out to be good and had all thee cooking facilities provided with a beach right there. We set up camp and got in the sea to enjoy the warm South Pacific water. As we got to know the place more we did find that there was a small cockroach problem around the toilet block every night, this made it a bit exciting if you needed a late night trip! The strange thing about these South Pacific islands is the giant reefs that surround them. As we looked out to see the waves were breaking about 500m out, the water closer to land was flat as a pond. When we went out in Kayaks for a closer inspection the sea was no deeper than a few meters all the way out to the reef where it got shallow again and you could get out and only get your feet wet with big waves crashing a short distance away. This sheltered water meant that there were plenty of tropical fish and the water was crystal clear to see them. We managed to see rays, eels and an assortment of brightly coloured smaller fish, including one just like "Nemo"!
By our second day we were getting used to the relaxing when Andrew and Siri turned up. They were traveling on a similar budget to 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 like. We headed up to a high view point to see Cooks bay and the steep volcanic hillsides that just burst out of the middle of the island. We checked out a farm that was free to visit to see pineapples and grapefruit and a whole host of other tropical fruit and veg growing. Nice to see and taste it fresh, better than Tesco could ever do. Further around the island we went to the recommended beach that was just like any travel brochure would use. White coral sands backed by coconut palms with the perfect azure blue water retreating into the distance. At the end of the beach was one of the luxury hotels with small cabins out over the water, it looked like an amazing place to stay.
After a week of this sun drenched living it was back to Tahiti and the next leg of our trip to Auckland, New Zealand. We waved good bye to Siri and Andrew again as we left the camping, they had a few more days before they came on to NZ. Bring on the Kiwi's, wine and the dreaded bungy jump!!!!
