Advertisement
Published: April 5th 2009
Huahine Our next stop was Tahiti, and from there we caught a tiny plane to the beautiful island of Huahine. We were really lucky to find a slice of paradise called Motu Mahare (an even smaller island separated from Huahine by a few hundred metres of water in a truly amazing setting) which was made even better as we were the only guests. Our hosts, Kim and Walter were fantastic, lending us their kayaks, bicycles and snorkelling gear so that we could explore. It was lush, especially the crystal clear lagoons and colourful coral reefs.
We spent a day cycling around Huahine, taking in the sights. Stopping at a river to feed some huge eels - buying the food was a little difficult as I attempted to use my very poor French! (Not sure the GCSE vocab included words for ‘eels’ and ‘tin of mackerel’).
The Motu was covered with coconut palms and Kim and Walter would supply us with a chilled, fresh coconut each day - just as the heat was peaking. One evening we also had a great lesson on how to make coconut milk, using Si’s favourite tool - a machete.
Moorea We then flew to the slightly larger island of Moorea. Our previous accommodation had set the bar high, but even with this in mind the kitchen at the camp site (our initial home on the island) was a definite biohazard. Hiring a scooter gave us the freedom to leave our accommodation behind and explore the island fully. It also gave us chance to see how amazing some of the resorts were, and we were soon haggling for a room at the rather plush Sofitel.
On the day we moved from accommodation hell to heaven, we had booked a two dive package from a great place called Moorea Blue, based at the Pearl Resort. We had our best dive yet, getting up close and personal with turtles and sharks, including several rather large and intimidating lemon sharks.
We were viewed with suspicion as dirty and dishevelled we arrived at the Sofitel - the two of us, Lucy’s 20kg backpack (and a couple of others for good measure) on the back of our tiny scooter. When we checked-in, Lucy discovered that I had upgraded us to the “Deluxe Water Villa” and memories of the camp site were fading fast.
The scene was set and to Lucy’s surprise, I popped the question on the balcony, and after “five long years” we were finally engaged! With the budget annihilated, we celebrated with “cheap” Tahitian beer and burgers on room service.
Our mobile phones are now out of action for the rest of our trip and writing this on Easter Island, it’s a bit difficult to get in touch with friends and family - this is the best we could do (sorry)!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 19; dbt: 0.0529s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Sarah
non-member comment
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Hey guys, imagine my surprise reading your news as I caught up on your latest blog!! So happy for you both. Looks like a gorgeous setting too. Congrats again and lots of love to you both, Sarah.