Io Rana, French Polynesia

[panama hat]

New Zealand weather being what it is (crappy), we finally escaped to Tahiti . . . the trip being a birthday present from my wife. I'll leave commentary to a minimum and post a few pics at a time, though all I can say as a synopsis - best trip of our lives, best vacation of our lives, best 'place' ever experienced. Sincerely, a couple of weeks of pure bliss.

Îles du Vent (Windward Islands)




Can't wait . . .




Oh, sweet welcome at our first hotel . . .



My wife bought me a bit of a good read



Pool minus the fruit and Champus distraction



Much needed sun, heat and water . . .



. . . and our go-to drink:





The way the flights are organised it just makes sense to stay close for a few days to get acclimated and do some on-the-ground planning and the Hilton is a good choice for this.

[S Landreth]

great start!

Waiting for the Teahupo’o pictures

[Stretchy]

It looks very nice and relaxing. Just what holidays are for.

I don't see any other guests in the photos. Was it just the time of day the photos were taken?

[DrWilly]

A great chance to practise your French.

[panama hat]

I don't see any other guests in the photos. Was it just the time of day the photos were taken?

There were some, but the place wasn't full - French/European summer holidays hadn't started.

It looks very nice and relaxing. Just what holidays are for.

Oh, it was, mate . . . . . . until we started the more strenuous activities.

A great chance to practise your French.

Happy to announce it is still as good as my English. The ethnic mix is lovely; Caucasian (largely French, either born in Tahiti or France), Polynesians and a sizeable number of Chinese (10%) who came over around 1870 to work on plantations. It was cool to see people coming up to my wife and starting to chat in French . . . basically we all passed as local. Luckily we all speak French.

The food . . . after the barren wasteland that is NZ in these terms it was like refugees landing in paradise . . . the main dish is a type of ceviche made from tuna (which is rolled in salt and rinsed off afterwards to clean the fish), lime, coconut milk, cucumber, onions and tomatoes. Always, and everywhere . . . and the ubiquitous baguette.


As a type of prosciutto-sliced piece of heaven . . . with a cold Tahitian beer or Orangina for my youngest daughter

. . . and styled three ways, with tarot/root veg and loads and loads of green beans

Simply divine and not expensive.


Thought I had a pic of Tahitian beer, but can't find it but this is what it is, you can see it on the coasters:

[david44]

Will you visit Bora bora well worth it if you time , it was a long sail but v short flight under an hour back in 1990s, I refer aitoki or even Rarotonga despite being Francophone there's a colonial odour that doesn't sit well with me

[panama hat]

Will you visit Bora bora well worth it if you time

No Bora Bora this time - I had the opportunity when I was taking a Uni break and was working at Club Med New caledonia to go to Bora Bora but sadly I had to get back to studying. This time we didn't go because we didn't want to pack in too much and because Mrs Hat did her eardrum in during a scuba div a few tears back and Bora Bora is very much a diving paradise.

Colonial ardour . . . hm, tough one. They have elections. They have the highest living standard in the region. They have freedom of the press. No poverty. Excellent education for all etc etc . . . You will find few people (Polynesians) rant about how bad France is . . . we actually observed quite the contrary. Everyone benefits from having French citizenship and here are so many mixed marriages/children who create a balanced and egalitarian feeling . . . Raro/Cooks? No, thanks. Westernised to the nth degree through mass tourism, all Cook Islanders have NZ citizenship, the best and brightest are all and have all left for NZ to work, brain and muscle drain en masse - colonialism by any other name.


Ok, after a few days soaking up the Piña Coladas we went to Moorea, an island about 45 minutes ferry ride from Papeete . . . big ferries, modern and clean - same goes for the ferry terminal . . . (picturen not mine)

Again not my photo because my pics simply didn't do this entrance to Moorea harbour any justice whatsoever:

The dock at Morea was 'slightly' different from Papeete . . .

Moorea was going to be a double-dip visit. Two days this time and then again for three/four later.

The mountains are breathtaking - craggy and very obviously volcanic, almost always capped by fog/mist.

[DrWilly]

Simply stunning

[BLD]

Great stuff, keep em.coming

[S Landreth]

we went to Moorea,..........

SOOOOOOOOOO close – 3 hours and 11 minutes

How to get from Moorea to Teahupoo

seeing what they eat would be nice but most people would rather see this……..

hope it was a nice day out and you were able to get some good pictures of Teahupoʻo while you were swimming

[panama hat]

hope it was a nice day out and you were able to get some good pictures of Teahupoʻo while you were swimming

Thank you for posting a photo of me about to pipe a medium curl . . . dude . . .


We stayed a few days at the Sofitel Moorea, a nice place . . . didn't get a water chalet, far too expensive at NZD$1400/night . . . and having two daughters (teen and twen), that'd be x2

Anyway, the wonderful thing about this spot is that it links with a rather long beach that has something special going for it . . . you go to the top of the beach, swim out close to the reef and then put your head down and enjoy the 10-15 minutes ride to the Sofitel. The rip takes you right over rocks full of fish, some that I hadn't seen before, though we do snorkel/scuba quite often.

Planning my battle of the rip . . . and simply loving the sun and warmth




The look of this 'lagoon' is simply not replicated by a photo, it needs an aerial




A word of caution . . . these are coral atolls and you do need little rubber shoes to happily walk in the water . . . which we didn't have, so the alternative was to gingerly walk in a few metres and try to shallows swim as best as possible. A bit of a sad fact is that many beaches in Tahiti are privately owned, either by tribes or individuals . . .

Aerial (obviously not mine)




Because I'm a bit of a map-nerd, this will give you an idea of the size of French Polynesia:




and this shows you how isolated it is

[Bonecollector]

Looks stunning mate, I am hoping to sail around there oneday! Hope you and your family are having an amazing time. What do you two kids think of the place? Any hiking trips booked?

[panama hat]

Another reason for being on Moorea the first time was to visit an artist who specialises in Tahitian black pearl jewelry. She has a shop in Papeete and we asked f she could design/make a necklace for my wife, so we went to pick it up.

Three black Tahitian pearls with a grade A (coloured) silk band. Turned out very nicely, I think.

Back in Papeete we loved simply walking along the water, having a baguette (jambon et camembert is the go-to and stay-with choice) and lime water . . .



Baguette you say? Take your pick.






Walking . . . in this case the marina which had some very impressive boats anchored . . .
and we almost met up with Helge



alongside local boats



A few signs to keep the public order, including one seldom seen elsewhere

[cyrille]

That Paul Theroux book on Polynesia is a great read.

[aging one]

This journey takes me way back. In 1980 I bought a ticket here in Bangkok to go home to San Francisco. UTA French Airlines and valid for a year. You bought it here in Bangkok in dollars, $500.00 even. But you did not get a ticket you got a receipt to redeem in Singapore. The ticket one way was SIN/JKT/SYD/AUK/Noumea/Nandi/Papeete/LAX.

The greatest ticket ever. After touring Asia for 6 months using the last 6 to get home through those destinations was just fantastic. Damn those were the days.

[panama hat]

Looks stunning mate, I am hoping to sail around there oneday! Hope you and your family are having an amazing time. What do you two kids think of the place? Any hiking trips booked?

Oh, it is stunning . . . just the simple transition from sea to mountains is impressive. The kids loved it - it was nice to see local children playing volleyball or football in the parks and generally being outdoors and looking fit and tanned, so my girls said. The large number of mixed kids/people also made a lasting impression, being an integral part of society by ethnicity itself.

Hiking . . . Coming up.

That Paul Theroux book on Polynesia is a great read.

'The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific' - looked it up and will definitely make an effort to get it, thank you Cyrille.

The ticket one way was SIN/JKT/SYD/AUK/Noumea/Nandi/Papeete/LAX.

Jaysus , what a brilliant journey. Six months . . . how long did you stay in each destination, AO?

[hallelujah]

That Paul Theroux book on Polynesia is a great read.

You'd be hard-pressed to think of any of his travel books that aren't.

[DrWilly]

I enjoyed most books by Paul Theroux but I have not read that one. Thanks for the map comparison I had not realised just how large/extensive French Polynesia actually was. How busy was it with tourists? You photos make it appear that’s it’s not particularly busy; certainly not crowded like other destinations such as Bali.

[happynz]

'The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific'

He was going through a divorce at the time of writing, so there is a tinge of bitterness. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

[panama hat]

Thanks for the map comparison I had not realised just how large/extensive French Polynesia actually was.

As I said, I am a bit of a map geek . . . maps put things into perspective. In this case what would political independence look like for the people . . . tough call.

How busy was it with tourists?

Just right . . . not many, not empty. As you're walking around, as I mentioned, you don' know who is a tourist and who is a local.
Actually, one group can be nicked as generally being local: Chinese. As my wife said: 'Tahiti must be the only place in the world where Chinese people look cool'. True . . . tanned, tropical shirt/pareo, shorts, sandals and longish hair for the oldies . . . Polynesian tats for the young ones - and most are mixed.

You photos make it appear that’s it’s not particularly busy; certainly not crowded like other destinations such as Bali.

Nothing like Bali or Mallorca or Thailand. It is too far out of the way for the English/Aussie/Euro yobs and too expensive . . . cheap it ain't. You'll get a few Americans (From Pittsburgh - 'have you been to Pittsburgh? You should come, it's beautiful') - one was on our dive-boat among Swiss, French and us . . . he regaled us about his many visits to Hawaii and how he always dove there . . . Fat cvnt . . . when his wife started talking about their business and how many employees they had a Swiss woman cut her off just before I could and told him that she should save her monetary prowess stories for other Americans who would be impressed. The seppos were a bit ruffled but stopped . . . and the everyone spoke French . . . except the Seppos obviously. Prior to their showing off everyone was considerate and spoke English if they could.

So, moneyed tourists really, as there are amazing and amazingly expensive resorts around . . . students and young-uns living/visiting and working in Tahiti for also were around.

Generally a nice feel, no aggro even after a few hours at the outdoor pub.

He was going through a divorce at the time of writing, so there is a tinge of bitterness. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

A must-read then . . . I'll order it.

[aging one]

Jaysus , what a brilliant journey. Six months . . . how long did you stay in each destination, AO?

Lets see, 10 weeks in Oz, 5 in New Zealand. Only 10 days in New Caledonia, 2 weeks in Fiji and then a month in Tahiti mostly on Moorea. Still cant believe that ticket existed all these years later. Found out UTA was subsidized by the French government to fly to their former colonies in both Africa and the South Pacific hence the incredible fare.

[panama hat]

And Backspit sends his regards



Only a matter of time

[aging one]

And Backspit sends his regards

Got the same. Dude is an idiot. I literally had forgotten about him and he reminds me what an idiot douchebag he is.

[happynz]

A must-read then . . . I'll order it.

The divorce must have had him feeling a bit grumpy.

A brief passage from Theroux's book "The Happy Isles of Oceania" that Australians would not take as an insult, but rather as a point of pride.

"It is an underdeveloped country. The Australian book of etiquette is slim, but the outrageous book of rudeness is a hefty tome. Mockery is the assertive warmth of mateship. Australia is the arse of the world. The country is shaped like a bum".

[panama hat]

^ Thems fightin' words!