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Published: March 5th 2007
Our final two stops before New Zealand took us to the islands of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Moorea (just off Tahiti). After thinking it would never happen to us, we got upgraded to business class on the first leg of the journey! Much excitement ensued as we were presented with delightful meals on white bone china crockery, and lots of fun buttons to press which moved the seat backs to near-horizontal. The flight passed swiftly and we slipped from our ridiculously large seats and walked into the matchbox airport in Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui's one and only town (village in truth). The island is home to just 3000 people and is most well known for the mysterious Moai heads which can be found all over the place. There were two tribes about 1000 years ago who took it upon themselves to dedicate their lives to carving giant stone heads from a volcano crater on the island. The crater itself is out of this world - there are over 300 heads just scattered around, some half carved into the rock face. The finished articles were rolled (on logs so the historians tell us) to the islands edge and placed on platforms
looking inwards to the land. These two tribes of ancient people got so carried away they chopped down all the trees in an effort to out do each other and hence the island is mostly rolling grass and well big heads.
We were lucky enough to be on the island during their annual festival which included a large amount of dancing around in not much, painted up to the eyeballs. In one event, two groups are sent out to catch fish over 3 days, and the winner is the one with the biggest catch. All the fish is then cooked up on a big BBQ and given out free to who ever fancies it. The crowning glory came on our final day on the island when we headed to a 125m high hill in the centre of the island for a display of masculinity (or insanity?). The brave contestants slipped on a g-string, got themselves seriously painted up and launched themselves down the 45 degree slope on two banana tree trucks reaching speeds of 60 mph, much to the delight of the big crowd. The winner was the one who's sledge went the furthest as the hill flattened out.
After all that excitement we headed to the extortionately priced (yes, even more than England) French Polynesian island of Moorea. We pitched the tent by the beach and lived on french baguettes. We pretended not to notice that everyone was really rude and unfriendly and did extremely well in not labelling this a general French trait. The island itself was everything we hoped from a pacific island: clear turquoise waters, white sand and dramatic hills covered in lush green vegetation. We spent the days relaxing on the beach or cycling around the bays. The highlight was snorkelling around the reef watching all different coloured fish and giant sting and manta rays in their amazing underwater world.
So here we are now back in the western world, enjoying all that New Zealand has to offer. We are loving talking english again to the very friendly and laid back Kiwis. On Lauras birthday we bought a big red campervan and shortly afterwards we met up with Tim's parents. Since then we have been seeing some of the North Island together....first impressions.....well take England, make the people friendlier and less formal, improve the weather and scenery and remove about 90% of
the population. AND they have a Neighbours omnibus on Sunday! What more can we say?
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mavisb
non-member comment
Fantastic as usual
Hi Both, Fancy being lucky enough to have a look at the Easter Islands! Loved your photos of the place. Isn't it great being upgraded to First Class on the airline - could definitely get used to travelling that way. Bet you'll enjoy New Zealand, it's so like England but slightly slower and not so manic. (We're off to Headgate Theatre this Saturday to watch the play of The Barber of Seville - it's been updated by Rod Green. Looking forward to a good evening.) As usual, take care of yourselves. M