Huahine Forever

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Huahine Forever, a inscription carved on the docks at the port town of Fare on Huahine is what it feels like to be on this gorgeous isle. Having survived the ardous 9 hour freighter to the Island, I was met with beautiful mountain vistas along with crystal clear blue waters teeming with tropical fish practically swimming around your ankles.

This island is truly inspirational. I can see how anyone can simple fall in love with its lagoons and peaceful atmosphere. It is simple timeless, nothing changes, nothing probably ever will nor should it. Camping out at edge of the beach was relatively inexpensive and you get to hear the roar of the ocean as it breaks along the edge of the lagoon not far from shore.

It was farily difficult to stay on this island without spending money, the basics of food consisted of baguette and cheese for approximately 4 weeks. I will happy never to see a baguette again in my life ( Well at least awhile ). Most of the people didnt speak any English so it was difficult to get into any in depth conversation with my broken French but it was good that I learnt alot.

The people here are very French indeed, they have adopted the culture and everything with it. Including the love of wine, in fact they all seem like compulsive alcoholics with a love also for a certain green herb. There are some excellent archeological relics that exist here where ancient rituals and sacrifices were performed to appease the volcanic gods. It did seem like there is a connection with this art and their current hedonist culture.

I rented a bike again and went all around the island which took almost the whole day. Some locals along the way were extremely friendly and introduced me to some eels and invited me to their house for some wine. After, the white sand beach on along the top corner of the island was amazing and due to it being filled with extinct white coral, it was possible to bike along it. It was a great experience to see such white beaches and calm waters.

I was unsatisfied with my search for a traditional polynesian culture on this island, I travelled further afield to nearby raiatea which had an excellent camp site with free kayaks so you can paddle out to the motus (mini islands ) at your leisure. However, this island was very big and I had grown a liking for the much smaller Huahine.

Bora Bora is the most famous of all of French Polynesian, its volcano is about 7 million years old and along with Maupiti the oldest of the society Islands. This island is overgrown with tourism and it has seemed to have lost its charm due to the copious amounts of hotels scattered along its shoreline. I guess what astonished me the most is the laziness of the Polynesians, everyone there drives even though the circumference of the island is only 30km and took me a leisurely 3 hours to bike around. It just seems unfathomable that you cart out all those big cars and all the petrol that goes with it just so you dont need to pedal on a bike.

The vahine or Women of Polynesia are truly mysterious. It seems as Gauguin, the famous French painter who lived in Polynesia for a great deal of his life captured this essence extremely well. They keep to themselves alot and rarely say hello or make eye contact. There is certainly a great feeling of being lost out in the middle of some far away universe on these islands, the aura of these islands is something that cannot be described in words.

I guess one of the amazing traditions of these islands is their tattoo styles. It has been a trait of their people for since the dawn of their civilisation of creating probably one of the most unique and intricate tattoo styles I have ever seen. Almost ninety percent of the men seem to have tattoos in one form or another and some to the extremes of having them covered from head to foot. The best part about them is that all the different weavings and symbols have an ancient meaning and they also look very good.

To the island of Maupiti, the farthest island of the society archipeligoes only to find the people here, even though are more traditional with the way of life hunting and spear fishing they are all complete alcholic stoners. I had finally found a place where I wasnt to be charged to place my tent on private land, only to be continually hassled to come out and partake in the local debauchery. I could not stand it more than a few days I had to escape this island of worldly pleasures and felt disheartened that a culture, even though adopted the western christian religion seem more bounds to the pits of hell than I have found in most places I have been.

Typical day for a polynesian :

Get up for sunrise at 6 am
Eat a hearty breakfast of baguette, cheese perhaps some fish
Rake abit of leaves and dirt from around the house
Rest
Chop some leaves of trees, maybe collect a fee coconuts
Rest
Eat some lunch, open first carton of cheap spanish wine
Listen to the radio awhile
Maybe chop some more branches
Drink some more
Eat some dinner
Drink..
Drink..
Go to bed

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