our awesome world adventure

Four relaxing days at sea. Then we arrived at Hilo, the main town on the “Big Island” of Hawaii.

This volcano, Mauna Kea, is now inactive. Hard to believe from this view it is 14,000 feet, plus more than 20,000 feet to the ocean floor, making it taller than Everest.

We then took our first bus tour …

… and went to Kilauea … a mere 4000 feet, but active today. We went to the top, as close as it’s safe, and had a look in.

The stories, and the exhibits at the National Park office, were just fascinating. What you see here is steam and gas rising from the crater within a crater that has a lake of glowing lava (visible at night) at the bottom. The heat creates it’s own micro-climate – hence the dark grey cloud.

Down the side if this same mountain, lava has been creeping toward the village of Pu’u’O’oo just this year!!

Nearby steam rises from cracks in the ground. And believe it or not there’s a 30 or so room hotel perched right on the crater rim …

We then went to see where lava had flowed (across the road) in 1974.

New plants now struggling for a foothold …

Then a walk through beautiful rainforest …

To a lava tube that you can now walk through …

Then, being a commercial tour, we had to be taken to the largest macadamia farm in Hawaii. Not a great deal to see here, but the coconut and macadamia ice cream was yummy! … and the flowers in little botanic garden nearby were quite special …

For those enjoying the photos I have just posted updates to the postings for the last four ports … Papeete, Huahine, Rangiroa, Nuku Hiva …

… love this free wi-fi in Starbucks in Hilo, Hawaii … visited the volcanoes this morning … fantastic … more later …

… 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.

Rangiroa is completely unlike our other stops in French Polynesia. It is a vast rugby ball shaped atoll 20km wide and 80km long. We anchored at the entrance to the lagoon on one side, and the other side was mostly invisible from the ship: just a couple of little “hills” in the far distance.

The entrance to the lagoon is narrow and looked pretty treacherous when the tidal current was running through: suitable only for small ships obviously. It does have a tiny airport. The population is barely 3000. Tourism seems to be the main game, mostly because it is a scuba diving mecca.

As you can see below there are no hills: 3 to 5 metres above sea level about does it. Below you can see where the tenders went in on the right and a little sandy motu (with one poor little tree) in the foreground.

Ashore we found these happy “burglars” who cheerfully charged $US50 per person to “water taxi” us to the “acquarium” beside the motu … a 2 minute fast boat ride each way!

There, we spent over an hour snorkelling from another anchored boat among the sharks, eels, and abundant fish. The coral wasn’t much to speak of, but the fish were GREAT! And, actually it was worth the $US100 for the experience.

After lunch on the ship we came ashore again and walked to the outside of the atoll (about 300 metres) …

… and then along a bit and found the gorgeous Kia Ora Resort

… we had a couple of (very expensive) drinks and an ice cream treat

… and then wandered slowly back to the ship …

A wonderful, more enjoyable than expected, day!

More from Rangiroa …

In addition to charging $US300 to take 6 people for a 2 minute very fast ride … look, this guy can do it with no hands!

Atolls are very flat …

… and here’s little “one tree” motu. It protects the “acquarium” on the other (lagoon) side.

The outside of the atoll is obviously pretty rough and bleak at times, but very pretty this day.

This is NOT a beach for swimming though … just for sitting and thinking …

… and walking and looking …

At Kia Ora Resort …

… I enjoyed an ice cream sundae …

… and, isn’t it funny how Nana Jan always seems so at home in a place like this?

Huahine is quiet and impossibly beautiful …

It has a small population of about 6000, a tiny airport for domestic flights, a narrow and hazardous entrance to it’s harbour suitable only for small ships to anchor, and hence not many tourists.

We hired a little Fiat Panda (a bit slow up hills) and drove a good portion of the 80km of roads on the whole island. Beautiful road: best in French Polynesia, hardly a pothole.

What a feast for the eye, on a near perfect day.

At one stage Jan said it seemed like a landscape architect had come and planted out the whole island.

We have noticed that the Tahitians place great personal pride in keeping their environment tidy: tidy yards, well kept (even though not great quality) housing. Huahine is the best of the islands in this regard. The contrast with, say, Tonga is palpable.

Along the road sides were beautiful plantings, and everything looked like it had been whipper snipped the day before.

Sure enough, late in the day we passed a crew of about 10 men, big brushcutters roaring.

The beaches were pristine white. The colours in the lagoon just amazing.

And the views from several high vantage points were spectacular.

At one stop we were invited to look at the sacred eels … Hmmmm … a few hard to see eels in a concrete drain? … but the nearby street stall had FREE lady finger bananas for the taking … deeelicious!!

Just one little Polynesian hotel on the island which we found for lunch … (plus lots of pensions, of course!)

So anyone out there thinking of having a nervous breakdown? This is your place to recover!

Thumbs up to Huahine … our best stop in French Polynesia!

More from Huahine …

Our first stop around the island was a recommended snorkelling site. “Go to where the Sofitel Hotel was. Ignore the stop barrier. Just go past it and over to the beach. It’s great for a snorkel.”

Hmmmm … We arrive at the barrier. “DO NOT ENTER”. Nowhere to park. But, the only soul in sight (fiddling with his mobile phone under a tree) waved us through and pointed at the “beach” … reef shoes mandatory! The snokelling was average.

All that remains of the Sofitel is a rusty fire hose.

Everywhere the place was perfectly groomed. Along the road sides and down to the waterfront.

More views down into the bays.

This is not a river. Huahine is actually two islands joined by one little bridge. This is the channel between them.

As afternoon settles in …

… it’s time to take the car back to the little town of Fa’re

… and ride “le Truck” back to the ship.

Take one bare 10(?) tonne truck chassis. On top, mount a large wooden box. Top half of the sides open with drop down/pull up perspex sheets for windows (propped up when it rains, down for a/c when it doesn’t). Leave a hole in the side for a door. Low flat roof/ceiling to ensure steamlined low profile for racing. Wooden benches to sit on. Seat belts? … forget it!

Et voila. A perfectly satisfactory bus!

If you need a quiet Pacific Island holiday, come here!

Papeete is the bustling capital city of French Polynesia on the main island, Tahiti.

We actually sailed the 18km or so from Mo’orea to Papeete at 3 in the afternoon and arrived in Papeete at dusk.

Next morning the Papeete waterfront was just picture perfect.

Last night we had a fabulous farewell Italian dinner with Ann and Bettie, and because they had to be holed up in a hotel all day waiting for their flight home to LAX, we asked them to join our round the island Avis car drive. So after moving rooms (cabin next door would you believe!) we set off …

Belvedere Lookout “the best coastal view on Tahiti” was first stop. That’s Mo’orea across the water.

Then Venus Point, where Cook came to watch the transit of …

Then an interesting side trip into the hinterland to find this, one of three waterfalls in the jungle. (We passed on the 4 hour trek to the 985 foot monster waterfall.)

Around every turn a quiet village and a great view. Lunch was a shared baguette and local juice beside the road. Then we found the Paul Gaugin Museum … shut down and deteriorating fairly quickly by the look of it.

But adjacent was a beautiful Botanic Garden … unfortunately not enough time to explore … and also this – one of the best, cleanest examples of the little black sand beaches that occur all over the place.

The black sand is actually pristine clean, but your brain (mine, anyway) tells you its dirty … a strange feeling!

Then to a real Grotto … That’s Bettie and Ann in the background at the entrance under the drips …

Back to Papeete, a local beer (great!), and wine (not so great!) along the waterfront.

The ship didn’t leave until midnight, so after dinner we went out and joined the locals who come out with food trucks, plastic chairs and tables to create a temporary “Hawker Centre”. Jan is waiting here patiently for her perfectly delicious Crepe – butter, brown sugar and lemon, YUM … mine was banana!

More from Papeete,Tahiti …

It was a perfect morning at Belevedere Lookout … flat sea across to Mo’orea. And then after lunch, Mo’orea from a different angle across the Tahiti lagoon.

At Venus Point, the place looked kinda dirty, but its not at all. That dark brown sand plays tricks with the mind.

Then Jan and Ann stumped along this jungle path and found this waterfall.

Time for a baguette for lunch.

And then the Botanic Garden adjacent to the defunct Paul Gaugin Museum.

Near the grotto, we found this classic specimen of the tropics …

… and lots of these …

They run wild all over French Polynesia, and in the early mornings the roosters offer up the distictive morning chorus! “C’mon Henrietta, let’s get a move on!”

Back in town at dusk, we had drinks right here, looking over at the ship.

And after dinner, joined the locals eating out …

Mo’orea is bigger than Bora Bora, and the island itself is prettier. It just doesn’t have the fabulous lagoon.

We approached in the early morning, past the reef in beautiful calm conditions.

The sun came up, and here we anchored in the safe harbour called Cook Inlet.

We went ashore and found a guy to drive us for a three and a half round the island tour in his very comfortable taxi van. He spoke very knowledgeably and fluently about his homeland for the whole time, non-stop. A great experience. History, geology, missionaries(!) and religion, politics, medicine, raising families, Tahitian pornograhpy – nothing was missed.

They grow a lot of pineapples and other stuff in the inland valleys.

We went up to the Belevedere Lookout and looked down on the ship in the right hand inlet …

… and up at the so called Bali Hai mountain.

Here we found a teacher giving her kids a lesson outdoors …

Then to a resort for the requisite stop. Jan did some of what she does best, at a stall in the foyer.

A stop by the lagoon.

And another, overlooking the Sofitel Resort, and across to the island of Tahiti itself, just 18km or so away.

Back to the ship in the gorgeous harbour, and farewell to Mo’orea in the afternoon.

… would be a finalist in any competition to judge the most beautiful island in the world … a massive central mountain surrounded completely by a fringing reef enclosing a spectacular lagoon …

We appraoched before sunrise …

…wind and rain gone … the lagoon was a mirror …

…we found Wind Spirit had made it here before us …

Here we decided to rent our own boat, and set off for a day of exploration of the lagoon (well, the southern half anyway) … Captain Corageous at the helm, with occasional “help” from the navigator up front …

For morning tea, we stopped here …

We then moved on to explore where all the 4 and 5 star resorts have expensive over water rooms …

… found some different angles on the mountain (someone’s getting the finger here I think)

… and then it was time for lunch … dropped anchor in the lagoon and ate our baguettes and drank local juice …

We then found our way to Matira Beach …

… where we met some of the locals who were having a hard day …

… then past the Sofitel, before dropping off the boat …

Back on the ship, a point blank view of the mountain as sunset approaches …

Then farewell to Bora Bora under a full moon …

First day, Raiatia and it’s twin island of Taha’a … rain and a huge surf breaking on the fringing reef of Taha’a welcomed us … it was something of an indication of the day to come … sunny breaks between heavy rain showers driven by strong winds.

But the “town” gave us a sunny welcome.

We arranged a boat excursion with some locals, Mark and Eric … (girls, this one is for you …)

They took us to a pearl farm in this gorgeous tropical setting … black pearls are a big deal in Tahiti.

Everything was explained by another local, Isabelle … and of course, you were able to make purchases.

Then we were taken to a snokelling place …

Where we snorkelled with these locals … that was fun!!!

The rays were up to about 700mm across and the sharks were maybe 1.2 metres. Afterwards we fed an annoying tourist to the sharks …

Then we went into the jungle to a vanilla farm. Taha’a is one of two places in the world where vanilla beans are grown successfully.

Here we met Brian(?), a former French Foreign Legionnaire, who explained everything about the extraordinary, labour intensive process of creating vanilla esscence from the beans.

We then had a great lunch of local produce (seafoods and fruits) on this little sand island (motu) … time for a swim after lunch …

And then off to another place for a drift snorkel (drifting along in the current) through a channel between islands over coral beds. And I did make it back …

  
This was supposedly one of the great sights … hmmmm … it just made me appreciate what an absolute wonder of the world we have in the Great Barrier Reef … we should all be doing everything possible to save it!

And so it was farewell to Taha’a and Raiatia

What a contrast. Samoa is as steep and covered in dense jungle, as Tonga is grassy and flat with coconut palms.

We crept into beautiful little Paga Pago harbour before sunrise.

Parked right in town, surrounded by a substantial fishing fleet and sea containers. At least Samoa has an industry – the tuna processing factory across the harbour (choice smell!) employs about 4000.

This time we teamed up with our new found friends Ann and Bettie (they’re from Virginia Beach in “the saath”) and headed off with Nancy and Alex (seen below) in their Ford Mercury (old bomb) “taxi”. The only similarity to any taxi you’ve ever been in was the delapidated taxi sign on the roof (probably bought from the the local everything store). All went well while the road was flat around the coast, not so when it came to climbing hills!

The coast is gorgeous. One can only imagine how gorgeous it would be in the sunshine.

And then it rained. This was serious rain. We retreated to Tisa’a Barefoot Bar for shelter, and met one of the locals!

Like the Tongans, the locals were all pretty friendly. The beaches are “guarded” by a local who collects money if you want to set foot there. In a brief break in the rain, this guard rushed up and kissed everyone welcome. But it was raining so much that she didn’t ask for money today.

We retreated back to town and to the ship for lunch and it started to fine up a bit, so we (minus Bettie now) headed off and found a “taxi” (a trusty big Nissan this time) that could climb hills and headed to Vatia (seen here).

What a treat. Steep driving through serious jungle …

… to a lookout stop over the harbour …

… and then to the north coast …

We looked down on this magnificent postcard “island” and then went down and through the village for a closer look.

Back to the ship after a great day, despite the rain. They call this mountain over the harbour “rainmaker” … it obviously works!

The locals use some interesting transport.

And it looks like the Governor lives high on the hog, on a hill overlooking the town and harbour with a view any Point Piper resident would be pleased with.

And so farewell to Samoa, and north to French Polynesia for better weather and warm sunshine.