Author: Andy

A Night with Mick Jagger

We woke as it was getting light this morning, about 7:00, I had a reasonable night’s sleep in our tent, Florence hardly managed to sleep at all. Rather than numbers that are easily forgotten the tents all have celebrity names on them – we had a choice of Tom Cruise, Johann Sebastian Bach or Mick Jagger – I went for Mick. We walked back to the lakeside to see how it looked in the early morning; the sun was still behind the hills so everything had a cool blue tinge to it. I got talking to a local who was on his way out for a fishing trip. He told me about the few residences on the far side of the lake, they have no road access, everything has to come and go by boat. He also said it’s been a very cool summer so far, very different from the last few years.

We put our tent down with a bit of help from our neighbours and had our first camping breakfast. There was a good selection of bread, cereal, jam etc. There was also an area for making our sandwiches for lunchtime, again nothing luxurious but plenty to keep us going. We went back to the lake for a final look before departing, the sun was now reaching the hills on the far side. Hardly anyone was there.

Some of our fellow travellers have rented bikes for the trip. Each day they have the option of a number of rides instead of travelling on the bus. An intrepid few left half an hour before us ready for a rendez-vous at a café 15km down the road. We haven’t had a bad coffee in New Zealand yet and the flat whites there were as good as any.

First proper stop was the Blue Pools. At the confluence of two glacial rivers, there are a couple of deep pools; the colour of the water is an intense turquoise. I didn’t go in but it’s supposed to be very cold – not surprising if it’s fresh off the glaciers.

Next stop was described as an easy walk to viewpoint over the Haast Pass. ‘Easy’ is of course relative and this was a bit of a struggle to the top of quite a steep climb but worth it for the view from the top. Across the valley, the green covered hilltops towered above us, further to the north the Southern Alps have snow on top all year round.

We had quite a long distance to cover so a lot of today was spent driving. The scenery was big all the way, high hills and broad rivers, mostly empty at this time of year.

We stopped at Thunder Creek Falls – these high single-cascade falls drop down the sheer side of the gorge into another deep blue glacial river.

Our last stop was at Ship Cove; this was named after the mysterious appearance of a wreck here in 1845. There were no records of a ship of its type sinking in the area – it was eventually found to have been a British ship on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne that sank only a few miles short of its destination. Somehow a lot of the wreckage floated across the Tasman sea and ended up there.

We stopped 50km short of our campsite for the evening to let three keen cyclists off to cycle the rest of the route, rather them than us!

We were on cooking duty tonight, a lot of chopping, peeling and stirring. It’s no culinary masterpiece and there’s only just enough to feed everybody but hopefully no one will be hungry afterwards.

Tonight we have a cabin, no en-suite but it has a roof and a bed so that’s a good step up from last night.

Kia Ora – Finally.

No need to rush this morning. We had time for a leisurely start with a coffee and a bagel from Best Ugly Bagel – nice coffee and a very good bagel, we both had avocado, tomato and cream cheese. The weather today was back to what we were told is standard Wellington – grey, cool and drizzly.

We took a few pictures of street art and then were banging on the door of the Te Papa, the National Museum, when it opened at 10:00. It could take a whole day to see everything, we only had an hour today, we’ll have more time on our next visit to Wellington in a couple of weeks. We concentrated on the Art floor as this was nicely self-contained. New Zealand had little history of art before 1800 so the chronology began with European art from 1500-1800 which we gave a wide berth too. There were some interesting pictures from the first half of the 20th Century by New Zealand artists who had studied in Europe, picked up influences from what was happening there and then brought them back and gave them a local flavour. This was repeated in the sixties when a few Maori artists trained in London and brought Minimalism back with them. The best works for me however were a series of twelve pieces by New Zealand and Australian artists who were asked to produce work based on their impressions of Gallipoli. This still looms large in the history of both countries and all the works were powerful in different ways; some took a global view of the bloodshed, some looked at the impact on an individual, often a relative.

Time caught up with us and we rushed back to the hotel, grabbed our bags and got a taxi to the airport for our flight to Queenstown. Everything ran smoothly, you can check-in at 12:30 and board at 12:45 for a 13:00 departure. As we took off, we were soon in the clouds and didn’t see any of the Cook Straights that separate the North and South Islands. The sky cleared about an hour into the flight and we had good views of hilly landscapes, unfortunately we could only just glimpse Mount Cook on the other side of the plane. The approach to Queenstown takes a twisty route between the hills which look very close on both sides.

When we left the airport, the sunshine was dazzling, the sky is deep blue and it feels like you can see forever. Our hotel was a short taxi ride away. We quickly settled in and went for a walk beside Lake Wakatipu. The sun was hot although the air was cooler, the lake is a deep blue colour, all the colours seem to be turned up to 11. We passed a miniature library next to the path, you’re encouraged to read and exchange the books.

We returned to the hotel for a swim in the pool and shared a pizza and a salad with a couple of glasses of wine. The last few days have been very rushed. Today it felt like we’d finally arrived in New Zealand.

Flat Whites and Flat Tyres

An early start this morning to try and see the best of Napier before we leave at lunchtime. We started with a walk around our cottage’s neighbourhood on the top of the hill overlooking the centre of town. A lot of the houses are large wooden plantation style with verandahs along the fronts and sides. They look very light, spacious and attractive. The morning was sunny and warm, things are looking up!

The 1931 earthquake and the fires that started in the immediate aftermath destroyed almost every building in the town centre. The city was quickly rebuilt, almost all the new buildings were in the new style of the time – Art Deco. This makes the town centre unique in its consistency of styles of architecture, even subsequent changes to buildings and new buildings are in the same style and almost indistinguishable from the originals. Some buildings have been altered during their lives but have now been restored to the original design. In a few cases, the builders are still in business and the moulds for the plasterwork used in construction are still around and were used again for recent refurbishments.

I have to say that Art Deco isn’t entirely to my taste but some of the buildings have interesting stories behind them and the details are relevant to the original owners and usages.

Our cottage had a leaflet offering a self-guided walk around the significant buildings – about 40 of them within an easily walkable area.

We ticked off about half of them before stopping for breakfast – about 19 too late for me! Florence had scrambled eggs on sourdough, I had a vegetarian panini, both washed down with flat whites and a bona and berry smoothy for me – all very tasty.

The cultural centre of the town MGT – Museum, Gallery, Theatre – looked worth a visit but we’re too short on time. We crossed to the seafront, it has an Art Deco promenade and bandstand and a short contemporary pier which stretches out over the waves. The earthquake changed the shape of the beach, it now falls away very quickly from the shore so what would normally be good waves for surfing break 10 feet from the black sand. A few miles along the coast we could see Cape Kidnapper’s, home to largest mainland Gannet colony in the world – unfortunately this will have to wait for our next visit too.

One building was owned by a German chiropodist, the decoration had a German flag and one end, waves, then a New Zealand flag at the other. The Town Theatre is almost entirely the way it was when it was built, a new entrance has been added to the side to accommodate more visitors. Some of the designs are based on Mayan patterns that we’ve seen in Central America.

We picked up our bags form the cottage and headed to the bus station. There’s a print on the cottage porch about the original owner Mr Colenso, and a picture of one of his sons which makes it clear why he was shunned by the local religious community; he has very Maori features – his mother was Mrs Colenso’s maid.

Our afternoon was spent on a bus from Napier to Wellington, 387km and about 5.5 hours. The journey passes through the outskirts of Napier and round Hawke’s Bay to Hastings then on through the arable land we saw yesterday. The landscape is gently rolling, very green and pastoral. We’d been told before we came to expect something like Britain in the 1950s. There are certainly elements of this in the smaller towns but there are two big differences – there is a lot of space and not many people so everyone has plenty off room, no need for terraces of houses, lots of bungalows. There are also no buildings that are old by European standards, 150 years is considered a historical rarity.

We stopped in Palmerston North for a break for the driver. We should have been there for 20 minutes but as we were about to leave he spotted a flat tyre, this took an hour to fix. A few miles out of Palmerston North, we saw a sign advising a Historical Site 200m on the right – there was no more information, just an empty field. A few minutes later, on the edge of Shannon, we passed Owlcatraz – kiwis do like a pun.

We arrived in Wellington about 8pm, it was a short walk to our hotel, 5 minutes to leave things in the room and we hit the town. Cuba Street is supposed to be Hipster Central in Wellington but it’s quite subdued for a Friday night. The first place we tried was already closed. Ended up in Loretta, we could have been in Shoreditch – craft beer, sourdough pizzas, imaginative salads. We didn’t have the pizzas this time but the beer and salads were good.

Goodbye Tahiti, Hello New Zealand

00:45 alarm this morning; the last revellers were still enjoying themselves in the hotel bar. Quick shower, finished packing and we were soon on our way to the airport. We were near the front of the queue but behind about half of the Samoa U17 football squad who’d been playing in a tournament in Tahiti. It seems that footballers haircuts are global too. The departure lounge felt like a very different airport to the check-in area, lots of designer brands in the duty free store. It might have been 1:30 in the morning but it was still very warm and humid. We boarded about 4:20, finally on our way.

Breakfast was served soon after take off, strange timing. We managed about three hours sleep before the lights were put on for the descent to Auckland. There are electronic passport gates for UK citizens, it took me no time to get in. Florence unfortunately had to join the rest of the world queue which took about 30 minutes.

Our boots weren’t clean enough for the bio-security checks so we had to walk through some disinfectant then we were in. First stop was a coffee shop, we’ve both missed flat whites since we left London; this was the perfect opportunity to get one.

The next few hours were spent re-acquainting ourselves with the box that we’d sent from home before we left and exchanging our warm weather clothes for things more appropriate to the New Zealand climate. The box was repacked and is ready to return to England. (Thanks for all your help JG 🙂 )

We checked into our hotel, made a few more last minute itinerary changes and were finally in the city centre by 4pm – 3 hours to see Auckland before it got dark. Nice sunny day but much cooler than we’re used to.

Lonely Planet has a walk around the central area so we did most of that. The Civic theatre is an incredible old building, no surface is left undecorated – there are elephants and hindu gods everywhere. New Zealand was the first country in the world to grant women the vote – in 1893 – this is commemorated in a mural. We didn’t have time for the gallery today but the Auckland Art Museum is top of our list for our full day in the city at the end of the trip. There are a number of interesting old Victorian era buildings near the City Centre, one was briefly the governors residence before the capital moved to Wellington.

Randomly, we came across a pole-vault competition in a shopping centre.

The early start was catching up with us so went for an early dinner at a Lebanese restaurant – Beirut – recommended by Lonely Planet. The food was really good, the best meal we’ve had since we left Mexico.

5 stars, 4 stars… meh

Today started grey again,

The wind and rain were strong over night, the beach showed the after-effects, sun loungers in the sea, cushions everywhere – the beach hut team were fishing furniture out of the lagoon. The weather in the Pacific doesn’t do things by halves.

The fish put on a good show at breakfast time for our final morning on Bora Bora, plenty of leaping and fighting for the bread scraps thrown their way.

We finished packing and showered, 11:00 check-out soon came round. We went back to the turtle centre, they were clearing up after the night before as well – one of the resort’s electric vehicle had managed to fall into the turtle’s lagoon, it had been removing a lot of debris from the beach, this was now in the lagoon and the staff were trying to remove it.

I bought a t-shirt from their shop – all for a good cause. I’m in good company – on the wall they have pictures of previous visitors including Dolph Lundgren and John Travolta.

We had a last look in the gift shop and decided we didn’t need Tahiti themed shot glasses, glasses cases, phone covers or loud shirts. It was soon time for the airport transfer, when we arrived there was a ukulele serenade, sunshine and floral bouquets – leaving was a lot lower key.

The plane left a few minutes late because the paper work wasn’t complete, as we climber over the ocean we finally go to see Bora Bora from above, even on a grey day its an impressive site. We’re soon over Tahaa again, we could see the channel where we’d snorkelled a few days before. This felt like a proper flight, about 45 minutes back to Tahiti. As we start to descend we can see the island bought by Marlon Brando after he filmed Mutiny on the Bounty in Moorea. It was sold by his estate soon after his death and is now a luxury resort. His wish had been to keep it simple and unspoilt, it doesn’t appear that this has been strictly keep to.

We had a good view of Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, as we landed. Its larger than we’d expected with quite a large water front and container port.

Its a short drive from the airport to our final hotel in French Polynesia. The Intercontinental is supposed to be one of the best hotels on the island – a destination in itself according to Lonely Planet – but it leaves us cold, very large and impersonal, the room is okay but the worst we’ve had so far. To make things worse we can see Moorea where we started two weeks ago a few miles across the water.

We wandered round the hotel, at the far end of the complex there are two giant ‘footprints’ in the rocks in the sea, this is where legend tells that a mountain in Moorea was saved from being stolen by a giant throwing a spear from Tahiti.

We spent a pleasurable hour re-arranging our luggage to meet Air New Zealand’s strict baggage policies then had dinner.

Obviously the poor weather hasn’t helped our impressions over the last few days but we’ve concluded that 4 and 5 star luxury hotels aren’t really for us – we were much more at home in Raitea, just fifteen rooms, very friendly, much better food too – for vegetarians at least.

 

Not Today, and not Tomorrow Either

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Woke around 6:30. The sky was heavy and grey – this is bad news, today was supposed to be our helicopter flight over Bora Bora and one of the neighbouring islands. Lonely Planet describes the view from the helicopter as so beautiful it will bring tears to your eyes. About 15 years ago, Florence sent me a link to a picture of this view. I’d heard of Bora Bora but never knew it looked quite so incredible. 15 Years later and we’re finally here. We’ve been lucky with the weather so far on this leg of the trip but here, in Bora Bora, our luck has run out. This island seems to have a micro-climate of its own; the day before we came here we enjoyed a sunny day for our day out on the sea round Tahaa. Bora Bora, only 10 miles away, had a day of rain and wind. I went to the concierge desk early to get the expected bad news, the helicopter company was on the phone while I was there – no flights today! There’s a chance for tomorrow though.

We had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast, making the most of the fruit, pastries and espresso machine. As we ate, the weather got slowly worse. The rain poured down, we could hardly see the fish in the lagoon because of the wind and rain on the water. We did notice a fish nursery, one large fish brought about 20 little ones over to the restaurant area, presumably to show them where the best food is. When you throw some bread in the water for them, the fish all start moving well before it hits the water, we assumed this is because they’re used to watching for insects from under the surface.

We made a dash for our room and re-planned our day’s activities, what to do if it rained and what to do if and when it cleared. I phoned home to catch up on the news from London – sounded like the weather was better there – for once.

The morning passed with a bit of reading and some research for the next leg of our travels.

It’s soon lunchtime. We wandered over to the bar and shared a sandwich and a couple of juices. A large group had just arrived, apparently straight from their international flight – they’re all wearing long trousers which looks surprisingly unusual.

At 2:00pm, we’d booked a couple of eco-activities for an hour. Florence was planting baby coral in the coral nursery and I was spending an hour in the Turtle hospital. Pieces of coral that have broken off from reefs but are still alive are collected and mounted in small plastic cups then initially planted within the lagoon. They hopefully grow slowly into a larger piece of coral that can be moved to more open water elsewhere around the site. It’s quite a new project and they’re learning all the time how to improve survival and growth rates.

I start my time helping to clean the shells of a few of the turtles with a toothbrush. In the ocean, this would be done by small fish while the turtles sleep but here it’s done by hand. I was told that it’s quite a boring part of the job so they came up with the idea of charging tourists to do it for them; I think this is quite near the truth for them but it fascinating to be this close to animals we’ve only seen in the distance before. The turtles have suffered a variety of injuries and illnesses; one has lost a flipper after getting caught in fishing net and she is re-learning to swim, one was shot with a spear gun which pierced her shell and neck and while she was injured, she was attacked by sharks who took a number of bites out of her tail area. Even quite a small turtle, about 50 cm long, weighs 30kg or more, and they’re strong so it takes some effort to hold them still while we scrub. Each day, one of the turtles spends a few hours in a small enclosure to get used to swimming again, the highlight of my time is the opportunity to swim with them. The enclosure is about 60m long, with pipes to the ocean at one end so fish can come and go and the water is kept fresh. The turtle clearly relished its relative freedom, speeding up and down far faster than me, the only way to see her was to stay still and wait for her to speed past. While waiting for her to appear I was shown a moray eel hiding among the rocks at the bottom.

Back to the room for a shower. We have an hour to spare until our next activity – a long massage. Florence has chosen a salt body scrub followed by a massage, I selected an 80 minute Polynesian massage. This involves continuous movement by the masseur invoking the feeling of waves. The massage room was over the water so we could hear the waves outside, there was some gentle background ukelele music too. It was very relaxing – yes we can be even more relaxed.

The hotel had taken measures against the weather, the outside bar and restaurant were closed and as much as possible has been moved away from the beach. It was cocktail hour but no sunset to accompany it tonight. We called in at the concierge desk – no helicopter flights tomorrow either; we’ll just have to come back and do it.

Pretty in Pink

Another very nice breakfast this morning, set us up well for our another day in and on the water.

Our trip began at 9:00 at the end of the hotel pier, 12 people from the hotel on the trip, fortunately the boat is big enough to fit us all in. The plan for the day is go around the neighbouring island – Tahaa – and stop at at a few places on the way.

First stop is a pearl farm. The farming process is explained to us and we’re shown examples of many sizes and qualities of pearls. Polynesian pearls are darker shades than normal: greys, greens and purples. They are very beautiful but is the process wholly ethical? I’m not convinced. An aged and lazy cat occupied two of the seats in the room where we’re shown the pearls. It showed no sign of wanting to give up its comfortable position for a few visitors.

After speeding along The coast of the island to the top end, we stopped at a channel between two motus for a snorkel. The current through the channel was strong and fast so we headed for the beach, walked to the top of the channel and drifted back. The water was beautifully clear and there were lots of fish and corals to see but the current was too strong to stop and look at anything. A few of us ended up with scratches from the coral because it was hard to stay in control. At the end of the underwater roller-coaster, we were offered the chance to start again. Most people declined and stayed in the shallows. There was still a lot to see here and it was much easier to stop and enjoy the view. I saw another four or five fish I hadn’t seen before – one had a long pink nose – but the highlight was a school of brightly coloured butterfly fish that swam round and round me – they seemed inquisitive, coming right up to my mask and camera – an amazing experience. One feisty little black fish wanted to nibble my feet.

Tahaa is much less developed than most of the islands in the area, there is one road around part of the coast. The interior is completely undeveloped. Any accommodation is right down on the water level. There is only one substantial hotel, a very upmarket Relais & Chateaux, as we passed a helicopter took off from its landing pad and headed off towards Bora Bora.

We stopped on a motu for lunch. The island is owned by an extended family who have divided it up amongst themselves. Some parts are inhabited all the time; some just for weekends; our part had a couple of cabins for overnight stays and some tables and chairs for lunch. The message about our vegetarian food hadn’t got through again so we had a choice of bread, rice and coconut cake. Lunch was leisurely, the rest of the group were mainly French so have a different approach to smoking at the table. We ate our rations quickly and went to look at the stingray hospital that nurses injured animals back to fitness. We spotted a strange rainbow coloured cloud above Tahaa. We’d never seen anything like it, neither had our captain, Julian. Wikipedia later told us it’s an irridescent cloud and not that unusual.

Final stop was a vanilla plantation. 99% of the world’s vanilla comes from Madagascar but Polynesia contributes a small part of the remaining 1%. I had my own guide in English who explained that yields had been falling over the past few years because of climate change. The vanilla flowers in winter when it’s sunny during the day and cool at night, without the flowers there are no beans. The changes in weather patterns have shortened the flowering season. Yields in the past have been as high as 300 tons per year, it’s now down to 16. Vanilla production is very labour intensive. The flowers are members of the orchid family and look very impressive but they have no smell so don’t attract bees and have to be polinated by hand. Once picked the pods are dried in the sun for 45 minutes a day then stored in wooden boxes. This is repeated daily for 3 months. Florence decided to stay on the boat and was entertained by local kids trying to outdo each other diving off the dock. I found a hibiscus flower with rich pink flowers and picked one to put behind Florence’s ear, to match the pink skirt she’s wearing today.

Back to the hotel around 4pm, time for our afternoon swim. We had been planning another bike ride but as we got ready there was a tropical downpour so we settled on a game of scrabble instead, the letters wouldn’t come out for me today and Florence won easily.

Finished the day with dinner and another bottle of Tahitian wine. There’s a lovely
pink wild ginger flower on the table.

Our Favourite Fish So Far

The 6:00 alarm wasn’t welcome this morning. It had been raining overnight so it was warm and humid when we got up. Finished packing then breakfast before a 7:30 pickup for the airport for our next flight. Today, we were travelling to Raiatea, another short flight away. We got to the airport about 7:45; it took 5 minutes to check-in then a short wait until the plane arrived. We were soon boarded and on our way – it’s only a 15 minute flight this time. We were on the right of the plane so we saw Raiatea’s sister island – Ta’haa – as we landed. They share the same lagoon and were formed from the same volcano a few million years ago.

Our driver was waiting for us; she hugged us like long lost friends. We arrived at our new hotel – Raiatea Lodge – at about 8:45. It only took 1h15 door to door from our previous hotel – Air Tahiti are very efficient. The room is hay fever sufferers nightmare – there are flowers everywhere, it seemed a shame to sit anywhere and spoil them.

We decided to take it easy this morning – even more so than usual. We caught up with emails and the news, and wrote a frew diary pages. Florence wrote a list of all the things we wanted to do while we’re here. Soon enough it was lunchtime, we shared a tasty goat cheese salad and a couple of juices.

It might have been a lazy morning but the afternoon was all action! The hotel owner had recommended snorkelling off the end of the pier opposite the hotel. We found some fins and were soon in the water. There were plenty of fish to see. I’m sure we see new ones every time we go in the water. One stood out though – a long thin bright yellow one about 75cm long – it wasn’t at all bothered by us and let us get as close as we wanted – it appears to be Chinese Trumpet Fish.

We returned to the hotel for a quick dip in the pool before changing for our next adventure – another cycle ride. The bikes couldnt have been more different from Huahine; only one gear, back-pedal brakes and most importantly, comfortable saddles. The road’s flat and smooth with very little traffic so it was a very easy ride. We rode a few miles down the coast, crossing a couple of tree lined rivers that disappeared into the jungle. One house had a sign on it ‘A Vendre’ (For Sale). Florence slowed down to have a good look.

Once we’d returned the bikes and Florence had re-organised the bike racks so the same colours were all together, I got us a couple of beers to cool us down. It was soon time for sunset. The hotel looks out onto the lagoon and the sun was quickly sinking into the palm trees.

There are a number of boats along the coasts suspended in frames with a rope and some wheels to lower them in and out of the water. They look particulalry good silhouetted against the last of the light. The lagoon water is very smooth, the waves all break on the reef surrounding the islands, so the colours of the sky were perfectly reflected in the water.

There weren’t a lot of vegetarian options on the menu but the chef managed to put together a plate of vegetables for me that was very tasty. After all our exertions this afternoon we treated ourselves to caramelised banana profiteroles for dessert.

Good news. Florence’s missing laundry has turned up at our previous hotel and will – hopefully – be sent on to our next one.

Hello Huahine

Woke early again this morning, it’s our last morning on Moorea so I was probably sub-consciously trying to make the most of it. Florence had other ideas and slept a while longer.

Breakfast again had a good variety of fruit, followed by a cheese omelette today. Check-out is usually 11:00 but they kindly let us stay until our transport arrived. Nothing seemed to fit in the bags very well so packing took longer than it should have done. Plans to go for a cycle were abandoned in favour of a final swim in the pool.

By midday we were waiting in reception for our airport transfer to take us 5 miles down the road to the airport. The airport facilities were minimal – one shop and a food caravan outside – a roulotte; we ordered a mango juice and a coffee. It’s hot and humid this morning but there’s a slight breeze to keep it bearable.

The plane arrived and a few lucky people got off; about 10 of us got on and before we knew it, we were on our way. We could just see our resort out of the window as the plane climbed over the ocean. Today was a proper flight – almost twenty minutes long; we reached quite an altitude but there are some huge clouds towering high above us.

Our next island, Huahine, soon came into view in front of us. There are actually two islands within the lagoon split by a narrow channel between them. We’re soon on the ground, everything happened quickly and we were soon reunited with our bags and on our way to the hotel, the Matai Lapita Village. It’s an eco-friendly hotel. The bungalows are based on the design of Polynesian boat houses with very high pitched roofs. The decor is rustic but very nice. We soon settled in and took a walk round the grounds. The hotel doesn’t front the sea but has a lake in the middle with palm trees and water lilies all around it. Exploration completed, it was time for a swim firstly in the sea and then in the hotel pool. The sea was very flat; there were large waves breaking in the distance on the edge of the lagoon but there is nothing left of them by the time they reach the beach.

By now, it was getting close to cocktail hour so we had a quick shower and returned to the bar area to get a table with a good view of the sunset. Florence had a Mai Tai, I had a Margarita; Florence’s was the better choice. The sun sets over our next two destinations, Raiatea and Bora Bora, their mountainous outlines silhouetted by the sunset, just visible through the clouds.

After cocktails and sunset, we moved to the restaurant for dinner. There wasn’t much choice for vegetarians but they told us they could do any dish without the fish or meat for us. I settled on spinach cakes – surprisingly tasty. The hotel advertised a musical evening – ‘Special The King Tour’ – this turned out to be an Elvis impersonator with a cheesy keyboard. We agreed that if he played King Creole we’d get up and dance – he didn’t.

Another Day in Paradise

Woke around 6:00 this morning, it’s already light but there’s quite a lot of grey in the sky and the ground is wet – it’s clearly rained quite hard overnight. Breakfast begins at 6:30 – presumably because anyone who comes from the U.S. or further east wakes early for a few days while they adjust to the time difference. The advantage of an early breakfast is that there is plenty of choice, although we’ve only managed to find avocado on one day so far. The fruit choice looked good today so I loaded a plate with passion fruit, pineapple and mango, like so much here the colours and flavours are turned up to 11.

We were in reception at 8:00 for our pickup for today’s activity – a catamaran trip around the Lagoon that surrounds the island (this is Monday’s trip that we re-arranged to today due to bad weather). Our captain for the voyage was Arnaud. His mum, Odille, picked us up and took us to the boat. She’s lived here for 2 years but 40 years on various French overseas islands. She told us that after 40 years of sun, she wakes every morning hoping for rain. It’s a short drive to the catamaran, we’re lucky – it’s just the two of us today. We sail across the mouth of Ōpūnohu Bay and along the coast of the island, it’s still quite rough outside the lagoon so we stay on the calm waters inside. The bay has been accepted by UNESCO as World Heritage site and will be added to the official list soon. The views were amazing, on one side a clear blue sky and beautiful blue water, turquoise where it’s shallow and richer blue in the deeper areas. On the landside, the spike green covered mountains tower above the ocean, clouds swirl around the summits. Some sufers were waiting for waves next to a gap in the reef at the mouth of the bay.

After about 45 minutes, we stopped at a shallow area where rays and sharks congregate, this time there’s no feeding. We stood on the bottom while the sharks swam round us, although we’ve been told they are completely safe it’s still a bit unnerving. As well as the two big attractions, there are numerous smaller fish smimming around.

Back on board, we’re given a cool pineapple juice to refresh us before the next stop. This was a channel between two small islands, the water is incredibly clear. The area is protected so fishing isn’t allowed. The fish seem to know this and congregate in large numbers. There was a huge variety of colours, shapes and sizes – and they were much less timid than usual. Two rays seemed to enjoy swimming around us. The journey back is partly under sail – so peaceful to glide along across the beautiful water. Arnaud gives us a small Mai Tai cocktail and a plate of fresh fruit to keep us going. All too soon we’re back at our starting place, a very memorable morning.

We had a quick swim in the pool before walking into town for lunch, a slightly eccentric salad with couscous, cheese and tofu as well as some fresh vegetables. This wasn’t enough for Florence who had spotted a patisserie sign. We chose a banana cake and a pineapple cake to share. I also ordered an expresso. I added some sugar and took a sip – it was disgusting! Then it sank in – that was a salt bowl on the table not sugar. The clue may have been the two packets of sugar on the saucer – I’d thought that was odd. I ordered another and explained my mistake, they were very nice about it and didn’t charge me… but did tell everyone else what I’d done.

Back to the hotel, we took out a kayak for a paddle along the coast, there’s quite a strong current today so we went upstream first then back which should have been easier but somehow wasn’t.

Our next maritime adventure was to try out paddle-boarding. We didn’t go outside the hotel beach area but just had a go to see how it felt. It starts off very wobbly but it soon starts to feel okay, the hardest part for me was getting off without falling in.

Took a few photos around the hotel and watched the sunset – it’s our last night tonight. We then cleaned up for the evening and went back to the Moorea Beach Cafe for dinner. We had a very nice meal and bottle of wine by the sea, fish were jumping, crabs wandering on the beach.

Yet another excellent day.