… is the main island in the Marquesas about 1000km north of Tahiti. It’s different again … a kind of dark and forbidding looking place: very dark green sea, dark chocolate brown sand (where there is any), high and steep mountains with dense dark jungle plunging down to the sea. But to brighten things up, a quite extraordinary collection of bright tropical flowers.

Not many people live in this remote place. Those that do live off some export of copra, timber and various fruits, and a trickle of tourists. They obviously manage pretty well with the abundant natural food sources: animals (pigs), fish, fruit and vegetables. No McDonalds here … and it shows on the healthy faces of the locals!

We anchored in this bay …

… and tendered ashore to the little town …

… and met Richard. We found him on the internet before leaving home. He was a superb guide. Nice new unbreakable Hilux (needed on some “pretty ordinary” roads for some of the way); and a fountain of knowledge on the local history, geology, flora, and anything else we wanted to know.

Our 4 hour tour took us up and over mountains, past beautiful lookouts over the island’s many bays …

… and over to the beautiful north coast …

… through one archaeological site, where one of many villages in use more than 1000 years ago, has been recovered from the jungle. Fascinating.

This banyan tree is more than 500 years old, and the story goes that when Europeans first came here there were 100’s of human skulls hanging in the tree!

More from Nuku Hiva …

In addition to our guide, Richard, Jan met some of the locals … check out the wild boars’ teeth around their necks!

More views from the heights …

Complete with wild tropical flowers, just everywhere …

…and more from the fascinating old Polynesian village … remains tracable back to 850 AD … this what a house looked like apparently … back part partly enclosed, with a lower level outdoor living area out front … (some things never change!)

and just so you know, that Banyan tree is pretty big!

Back in town we were encouraged to visit Notre Dame Cathedral. We figured we’ll see a few churches on this adventure, so didn’t enthuse in advance.

But what a surprise … some thing different … something very in keeping with the island. The pulpit is carved from one tree trunk.