Rangiroa, Fakarava, Tahiti and Moorea.

For those of you that read our travel blog because we visit challenging and off-the-beaten-path destinations, you might as well just skip this post. We've been lolling around in a tropical paradise! We thought this part of the trip would be a cultural adventure, but really, it's become a holiday and not much more. So feel free to not read this post, but come back for the next one when we leave French Polynesia and go to Easter Island. Ooohhh, that should be interesting!

Anyway, we arrived in Rangiroa, another of the coral atolls of the Tuamotu archipelago of French Polynesia. Because we had left our bookings for this trip so late, we now had to stay in two different accomodations on each island, just in an attempt to get rooms. Our first accommodation here was a sort of resort but it was hardly luxurious. We had a shocking bed - an old spring mattress that sagged seriously and made boinging noises every time we rolled over. On the plus side, the place was located on the beach and had wifi. The wifi was important becuase the Tiges were playing Port! There was poor internet right through the resort but good internet outside the main office. There was a wooden table and chairs near the office with an old palm frond roof that was missing all the fronds in the centre. The game was at night time and it was raining. The only way we could watch the game and protect the computer from the rain coming through the roof was to put an umbrella over the computer. What a classic way to watch a game. And we won!

John went diving again and saw lots of sharks and dolphins - the area is famous for them. I went snorkelling in front of the resort but it was nothing special.

We explored the area by bike. The wind was consistently very strong on the seaward side of the motu but calm on the lagoon side. The wind made a significant difference to the effort required to pedal the bikes!

One day we had lunch at a great little cafe overlooking the famous pass. Like the pass at Tikehau, the water funnelled between two motu. Lots of sharks and larger marine life live here.

We took a snorkelling trip to the pass. We were joined by a lovely French family who we later stayed in touch with. The first stop was out on the seaward side, looking for dolphins. Within five minutes I was feeling a bit seasick as we bobbed around on one to two metre waves. Suddenly we saw the dolphins near us and jumped in.

This photo is the result of trying to take a photo while being thrown up and down waves!

The dolphins came quite close but didn't stay long. It was so cool that we could hear them in the water too.

We clambered back into the boat in the rough water (it was almost as difficult as getting back into the dive boat at Tikehau) then moved on to the pass. We were dropped off at one end of the pass and the boat followed us through. The current was quite strong and we whizzed along quickly. There was no time to stop and look at anything!

We saw some grey reef sharks.

We drifted right through the pass and out to a small island. The waters around here are called "The Aquarium". The fish life was striking but we shared the main aquarium area with five or six other boats.

After the first few days we moved to a small pension with only four rooms and it was great. It wasn't on the beach and was quite simple but the owner was lovely. I came down with a tummy bug, which luckily didn't last too long. I was surprised to pick this up as Polynesia is really clean. It's nothing like Asia in that respect. We were forced to just take it easy for a day, something we rarely do. It was fun!

Once I was better we snorkelled outside the big resort near us - the Kia Ora. Check out the overwater bungalows. That's John snorkelling in front of them.

Again, some of the fish were very friendly. They were obviously hoping for food.

The French family that we met on the snorkelling trip were staying at the Kia Ora so we went there a couple of times for drinks and meals. Yanick, Angeline and Manon were lovely and we had a couple of enjoyable evenings with them.

We then flew to the next atoll, Fakarava. Our first accomodation here was the most expensive of the trip. We arrived and thought we had landed in heaven. We had a nice bungalow right on the water - with aircon! - and this was the view that greeted us.

The snorkelling was ok. Once again, there were only outcrops of coral, not a reef to speak of. I'm a bit smitten with the organic shapes of the things in this photo. I'm not even sure if they're a coral. 

While I was snorkelling, I caught a glimpse of what seemed to be quite a large shark nearby although visibility wasn't great at the time. My heart might have pounded a bit. A startled word might have slipped up my snorkel!

I snorkelled back into the beach to find John ensconced at one of the tables in the water. How cool is this?

I wandered up to the bar and came back with sunset drinks. Awesome!

We sat with our feet dangling in the water, drinking our drinks and watching the sunset. Sensational!

The sun had just set when John saw a shark approaching us, then another. They were huge! They certainly weren't reef sharks.

One of the sharks slowly circled around us. We both instinctively pulled our feet up out of the water. Wow!

I looked out of our window early the next morning and found this ball of fluff fast asleep on our balcony. There are lots of dogs and cats on the islands.

Before it got too hot, we went for a walk, We were staying near the main town, which was still very small. It was really interesting. First we found a church. It's the only church I've ever seen where the light fittings and banners are all made from shells! They use shells to decorate everything here. Each place we stay at gives us a shell necklace. We're getting quite a collection!

A small container ship was pulled in at the port and everyone was busy unloading water, fuel and groceries. A brand new supermarket was located at the port and the fresh fruit and vegies had just come in. There was quite a crowd gathered around to grab them as they were being unpacked. I know we have struggled to get fresh fruit and vegies but I had understood that the locals grew their own. I guess that they can't grow everything. It was a good insight to see how reliant people on the atolls are on supplies coming in on the ships.

Fakarava was the neatest of the atolls we visited. There were few ramshackle places and more houses that were neatly painted. They were all very scenic though.

We moved accommodation again. This one was not flash like the last one but was again located right on the lagoon. It was all perfect except for our terrible mattress. It was another old inner-spring mattress where every spring could be felt. It also smelled. Ewww. 

Again, we had half-board at our accommodation. This meant we got breakfast (basic) and dinner which was always three courses, two of which were usually fish. Again, I just said I don't like raw fish and I was able to eat everything. Some of the fish was delicious!

There were two restaurants nearby for lunch and they were both great and overlooked the water. It was all pretty perfect really!

That night at dinner, a French guest pulled us aside to show us something. Just in front of the kitchen, in about 40 cms of water, were five sharks fast asleep on the sand! 

When the meal was finished, the staff tipped the food scraps into the water. The sharks very slowly woke up and started eating. They were happy to slide all over each other to get the food. In such shallow water, they sometimes had half of their bodies out of the water!

I did some research and learned that these are Nurse Sharks. They're also called Sleeper Sharks due to their ability to sleep while lying still. Most sharks have to continually move. They are considered to be relatively harmless - there have 'only' ever been 44 attacks on humans reported. Most of those were because they were provoked and none were fatal. I felt more comfortable about them once I understood them a bit more but it wasn't until the last day that I would snorkel on my own!

We rented a scooter one day to explore the island. It really didn't take that long! We look like we've got billiard ball heads.

We opted for another sunset drink back at our first accommodation for our last night so we used bikes from our current accommodation to get there. I love that they had official parking space for bikes!

It was our last morning here and, to be honest, idyllic as the location of our accommodation was, we were relieved to get away from the horrible bed in this place. We were sent off in spectacular style though by a gorgeous rainbow.

We did a bit of a postie's run on the plane back to Tahiti, passing more atolls on the way.

We rented an apartment in Papeete this time and it was fantastic to have a bit of space - and a mattress without springs!

We only had two days here so on our first day we caught a ferry across to Moorea. This island was beautiful - lush, green and rugged. We hired a car and visited our first marae, old places of ceremony. They usually consisted of areas marked with stones. Their locations in the beautiful jungle were spectacular.

At a viewpoint we overlooked two bays. The one on the left was the one that Captain Cook anchored the Endeavour in.

The ferry trip back was quite crowded. I managed to grab a couple of flower garland shots.

Back on Tahiti we hired another car the next day and drove around the island. We visited more marae, again in beautiful settings.

There were some caves near the road. This one was raining on the inside when it was dry outside!

Another cave in a beautiful setting.

These plants float on the water and are appropriately called water lettuces.

We visited a garden. These tree roots were amazing!

Lunch stop was at a very basic looking place but inside was a pretty good French-style restaurant. John was impressed!

This sideways blowhole was amazing. The noise it made as the spray spurted out was loud and scary if you weren't ready for it.

The famous Venus Point where Captain Cook came to measure the transit of Venus across the sun. It was 250 years ago that Cook landed here.

So that was the end of our French Polynesian sojourn. It wasn't exactly what we expected. It was more of a holiday than a journey of discovery, however we enjoyed our forced downtime.

The Polynesian people are wonderful. They are so friendly and laid back. They are so laid back that flying between islands was a breeze. We could take full water bottles on board and there was no such thing as security checks or queues. It was such a refreshing change. 

I love the colours of this country - the blues and greens of the sea, the lush greens of the jungle and the bright, bold colours of the flowers and clothes.

The islands are simply magical with their stunning seas and drop-dead gorgeous settings. The big downfall though is the expense. It's probably the second-most expensive country we've ever visited, after Switzerland. 

The half-board supplied with the more remote island accommodations was an experience. The food was always good but there was too much of it. As it was too hot to exercise much, our entire use of calories came from snorkelling, which was hardly going to burn up a fraction of what we ate. Consequently, I've gained some very unwanted pounds. We'd better do some serious walking soon!

At every place we stayed, they always gave us a shell necklace. We ended up with quite a collection!

It's now 3am and we're at the airport about to fly to Easter Island. We're really looking forward to this part of the trip.

Au revior to you and to the last of speaking French for a while, thank goodness!

Heather and John.

Lost in Tranlation in Tikehau

Welcome back to our little slice of tropical paradise.

We flew from Bora Bora to Tikehau with the Italian couple we had met earlier. They spoke perfect English and were great fun. It turned out that they were staying at the same place as us in Tikehau.

Tikehau is a coral lagoon without an island in the middle. I'll throw in a brief geology lesson here to explain one theory for this unusual feature. During the ice age there was an island surounded by a coral reef. After the ice age, the ice began to melt and the sea slowly rose about 120 metres over many millenia. The coral slowly grew upwards, keeping just below the sea's surface, Eventually, the water rose above the island, effectively drowning it, but the reef kept growing. What we see today is a massive coral ring around an island that is no longer there. Weird, hey? Over the years, plants started growing on the coral, creating low islands. These islands are beautiful but the soil is very poor and it's difficult to grow anything.

This is what it looks like from the air. I couldn't fit all of it in one shot - it's about 40 km across! 

The sea breaks through the reef at regular intervals forming heaps of motu, small coral-based islands.

The Italians, Monica and Daniele, and us were met at the airport and taken by 4WD then boat to our accommodation. You've got to love a place that you can only get to by boat!

As soon as we arrived we saw many reef sharks hanging around directly beneath the restaurant balcony. The staff (and customers) of the restaurant throw all the food scraps into the sea so there is a resident school of sharks here. 

After every meal there would be a feeding frenzy as the scraps were thrown out. Scraps from the dinner table were just tossed into the water from where we sat. I'm sure that there were some kids at one stage throwing out perfectly good food, just to watch the sharks eat! 

There are also heaps of remora fish. I've only ever seen these attached to larger fish before but here they seem to live quite happily without being attached. I guess the regular supply of food scraps helps. They look weird with their suction-cup heads.

That night we met Irene and Bertie, a Swiss couple, and the six of us quickly became friends. We had such great times with these people.

Monica, Daniele, John and I did a lagoon tour the next day. We were excited to maybe see mantas but sadly, the mantas weren't there. John was so disappointed. We then went to an island where birds nest. I didn't expect this to be very interesting but it was quite amazing! Thousands of birds, mainly noddy terns, nested in the low trees. We could get quite close to them without even trying.

How gorgeous is this little guy?

There were also red-footed boobies. I love those red feet!

We had lunch on yet another gorgeous motu. I had brought some breadrolls with me which was just as well as the lunch was raw fish followed by a cooked fish each. (I'm not a fish lover).

We had time to snorkel and swim around the island. It was all so picture perfect.

Again, there was a resident school of sharks here. Monica threw out the food scraps....

Next stop was a place where a Taiwanese religious group had established a farm on a motu. (You never know what you're going to find sometimes!) It was quite interesting to see how they grew fruit and vegetables in such an unforgiving environment. It was very difficult to get fruit and vegetables in Tikehau. The meals at our accommodation were great but nearly always consisted of fish and carbs. Most fruit or veges were tinned. The fact that I took a photo of lettuces is an indication of how exciting it was to see greens!

That night, the staff had a surprise for Monica and Daniele. They were on their honeymoon and the staff brought out a special cake for them. They then played a song while the Italians danced. It was lovely.

John was well enough to dive again so he got the last spot on a very full boat and I joined the boat as the only snorkeller. It can be hit and miss being a snorkeller on a dive boat and this was more miss than hit. In my first five minutes I saw a turtle, a few barracuda and a huge Napoleon wrasse, which I've never seen before, then I didn't really see anything else of consequence for the rest of the trip!

This Napoleon wrasse is about 90 cm long!

The turtle was a hawksbill.

One thing I've seen a lot of in Polynesia is huge schools of these little guys. They're gorgeous.

I love the way they swirl with the water movements.

John had two great dives though. As well as seeing the things I saw he saw heaps of moray eels, a large Oceanic reef shark and a mermaid (that was me snorkelling above him!)

The most interesting part of the trip was getting back onto the boat after the second dive. I followed above the divers as they swam slowly through the pass between two motu. The current was quite strong and we drifted through it quickly. As we left the protection of the reef, though, the waves really started picking up. The boat came to pick us up but the water was so rough that the ladder was thrown up and down, making it really hard to get out of the water. There were four of us left in the sea when they made the decision to move to calmer waters. The four of us had to swim to the new position, which was a problem for one guy near John as he had already handed in his buoyancy compensator and one fin to the boat but still had his weight belt on. He then had to try to swim like that through rough water. John stayed with him while the other girl and I stayed together and we all managed to get there in the end.

Monica, Daniele, Irene and Bertie all left one day before us. The night before they left, we all had a great night telling jokes and stories. Half the fun was explaining why Tasmanian/Austrian/insert-preferred-country-or-region-to-make-fun-of jokes are funny to each of us! John told his "Jean-Claude" joke. Bertie doesn't speak much English and it was so funny watching John telling the joke in sections then everyone would wait while Irene translated for Bertie. When John got to the punch line, it was all lost in translation. Here's what happened. John had just said, "I go down in flames" It was so funny!

Saying farewell to our wonderful friends.

John and I caught a lift back to the main island and rode bikes around it. It didn't take very long!

To get back home, we wandered across what was supposed to be shallow water between the motus but the tide was up and we had to take our shorts off to get through.

On our last day there I had a short snorkel in the channel. I went between meal times to avoid the sharks! See if you can spot a fish in this photo.

It gave itself away when it moved.

The staff at our accommodation were fantastic. Within minutes of our arrival we were all laughing and making jokes. What I really loved was that the women ran the place. I occasionally saw a man in the kitchen (I think they did most of the cooking) or working outside but it was the women who were front and centre. 

Every second night, Camelia and Moon would play Polynesian music. It was good fun as they obviously loved doing it.

The place was picture-perfect. Our bungalow was next to the water. It was basic but worked well.

Look closely at the palm fronds on the buildings though. They're fake! They're made of plastic. From a distance you certainly wouldn't know but close up it was pretty obvious. How bizarre.

Mum, you would have loved the food here. The cheapest and easiest food for them to eat is fish. When we first arrived I explained that I don't like fish much. I could tell by the looks on their faces that this was not what they wanted to hear. Somehow, they chose to interpret my request as not liking raw fish. Raw fish in coconut milk is one of the most common meals here. So when raw fish was served, I usally got something else, often a salad or cooked fish. So I got fish every day. The thing is, some of the fish dishes were amazing! Italian fish skewers and grilled mahi mahi with a delicious sauce were my faves.

We were really sad to say goodbye to these great people. This is Moon. She always sang as she worked and you'd never see her without a smile on her face.

Esther was also great value. With her smoker's voice, she did a great Al Jolson impersonation one night.

Bye Moon!

We waited an hour or so in the very simple airport and I had to laugh at the security sign that said you can't carry batteries, hand grenades or ...... chain saws on the plane!

As each plane landed or took off, a fire engine would drive out to be prepared for an emergency. We had to laugh that there was a boat ready too!

We had a great time on Tikehau, largely thanks to the wonderful people - both the staff and the other guests.

Until next time.
Heather and John