Tahiti : 13-15 Sep 07

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We arrived late in the evening to the island of Papeete, Tahiti. Living in Montreal had been an advantage for us, as Tahiti is in French Polynesia, hence the official language is French.

This location is our relaxation and splurge. We had booked three nights at the intercontinental hotel Tahiti, two of those in the garden room and one in the overwater bungalow. Due to a mistake by the hotel we ended up with two nights in the overwater bungalow - bonus.

The hotel was absolute luxury! We woke early the following morning and relaxed out on the balcony looking at our view of the bar pool and the Pacific Ocean. What a wonderful way to start our day. After brekkie, we caught "Le Truck" (an open air bus, which looks more like a truck) into the city of Papeete. We walked around the bustling city of Papeete, lunched at the local markets on baguettes and then returned to the hotel to move into our wonderful overwater bungalow. The afternoon was spent lazing in the pool bar sipping cocktails. We could sure get used to this lifestyle. In the evening we returned to the city of Papeete to enjoy a lovely Italian meal in one of the local bistros.

The following day we decided to travel to one of the neighbouring islands, Moorea. We caught the ferry over and decided to hire a scooter to allow us to see the island. After an intense induction session, we were off, scooting our way around the island. We couldn't have asked for better weather. The sun was shining brightly, no wind and we even got a suntan. We scooted our way around the first half of the island, with breathtaking views. We made our way up to the view point, which overlooks two of the bays on the island then made our way back down to the bottom. However, we couldn't start the bike! We were in trouble! For some unknown reason the bike would not start! Suzi had to flag down a car who kindly provided us their mobile phone to ring the rental agency, who suggested that we kick start the bike. Fortunately it kicked over and we were on our way again. We had visions of being stranded on the island of Moorea, which wouldn't be a bad thing as it is a beautiful island.

We were off again hooning our way around the island. All plans of a leisurely lunch and snorkelling were shelved due to too much time lost. We made our way around the island to make it time for the 1350hr ferry back to Papeete! After our adventure today we returned to the hotel to once again laze by the pool and sip cocktails. We could sure get used to this lifestyle. This evening we enjoyed a meal at the hotel - seafood buffet, which was a good feed, and a show by the local men and women of the indigenous Tahitian dancing. A really enjoyable night. We then returned to our overwater bungalow. Did we mention that we could get used to this!

Our last day in Papeete was a lazy day. We snorkelled by near the bungalow and in the lagoonarium, and sat by the pool soaking up the sunshine and generally enjoying the atmosphere. Our time in Tahiti was nothing short of relaxing. Such a beautful island.

Next stop NZ.

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Photos

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A beautiful sunset from the balcony of our overwater bungalow.

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Our bungalow at night.

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Tahiti viewed from Moorea.

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Fish in the lagoonarium.