Mo'orea, French Polynesia

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We arrived in Papette airport to the sound of strumming guitars and singing, flowers in the hair for all the visitors, what a good way to start! A bit of cash machine trouble but after going through all of our cards we managed alright… The French Polynesian coins – French Polynesian Francs - are massive, they look a bit like pieces of eight, real pirate country, the notes are pretty special too. We took the boat in the rain to Moorea and then this American school bus around the island to our camping. It is all so tropical! Campsite right next to the sea – see photo! -. At the campsite there is about 5 small tents and about 10 bungalows, everyone is v nice, either traveller types exchanging stories or people from papette staying for the weekend. The beach is a gorgeous white with a 500 m lagoon with coral and waves which break at the point when the shelf ends and the sharks begin. The coral is a bit disappointing, they are in small clumps with not much colour but there are plenty of small fish. Think people blame the recent El Nino or global warming. We then pitched the tent and got sun burnt then hid from the sun!

Moorea is a really nice island with lots of lovely people. Met one guy called Jimmy, a black pearl trader who helped us drink our duty free in return for three black pearls which we thought was a pretty good deal! Most of the time on the island was spent happily on the beach or checking out the local cafes – the speciality poissen en cru is raw fish in coconut milk and rice, really good.

After a couple of days on Moorea we went down to the airport and brought some air passes so that we could visit loads of other islands, more of that later just thought should share a few pics with you..



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Photos

The campsite
The buildings at the back are the bit where the campers can all cook, hang out, put up their hammocks etc..

Comments

[caz]

you lucky things! us people stuck in old Blighty couldn't fail to notice the snow and/or biting, freezing wind that we have been having of late... This doesn't seem quite fair to me! Save me a black pearl x

[Lucy]

The beach looks amazing! how many other islands do you get to visit with your newly aqcuired passes?

[WILL]

HELLO, SOME QUESTIONS PLEASE
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO CAMP ON MOOREA FOR 2 PEOPLE? HOW MUCH IS FOOD BOUGHT FROM SUPERMARKET? HOW LATE DO BOATS RUN FROM PAPEETE TO MOOREA? THANKYOU, PLEASE HELP, I'M GETTING WORRIED ABOUT MY STAY BEING UNAFFORDABLE. X X