Blue Lagoon

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Having escaped the cold of New Zealand, I threw out my jackets and jumpers for the shorts and t-shirt on the island of Tahiti. Being fowarned that French Polynesia can be quite expensive, I was out to find a place to camp on these magnificent islands to avoid breaking the budget. Tahiti isnt really what you would imagine, Its urban sprawl along the coast brings loud trucks, pollution and noise and not really what I would expect from a tropical paradise.

About a half hour cruise to neighbouring Moorea, is much more like it! Amazingly coloured lagoons, the mountains inspiring and also forboding add a feeling of enchantment to this tropical abode.

The people are very laid back and relaxed but seemed to have lost any tribal heritage they once had. They traded in there padles for motorised boats and bought up mammoth cars with flashy lights and immense sound systems. Kinda not what I was expecting they have also picked up alot of French influence, most biking around with a baguette in the one hand while steering with the other.

I guess what really annoyed me was the lack of available space to freely camp. Most land that was free was fenced off and marked propriété privée. Even along some of the beach was privately owned and I thought was the ocean also privately owned? When is man going to learn we do not own the land but it owns us. The following is an excerpt from Chief Seattle's speech to all people.

"The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? The land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water how can you buy them?"

"This we know the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself"

Truly wise words from a great man, and its funny to see everyone scrambling these days to have their own little piece, funny to realise that that little piece they "own" in time, will be there to bury them. Money, the ruler of the modern world has laid a vicious wound. But it wasnt going to stop me enjoying my time here even if I have to pay for my little slice of ground where I pitch my tent.

I decided to hire a bike for a day and managed to go around all 60km of moorea, it was absolutely worth it, amazing vistas of mountains and lagoons at every corner and only a few odd shops with eccentric owners along the way.

Moorea is the best place to just relax and unwind, even though it is not far from tahiti, there is definetely a feeling of isolation that you can only really get from a remote island.

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