Easter Island - the remotest place on Earth

The first of many Moai you see when you reach the island.



Gis a snog



We are so far from anywhere, it's crazy



Cave drawings



14th November 2004, Easter Island, South Pacific.

The 10th November has already been and gone. I can hardly believe that our South American leg is over and that we have reached Easter Island. We took a domestic flight from San Diago because we are officially still in Chile, but Easter Island is a tiny blip in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 3500 km from anywhere, so I’m counting it more as Polynesia. 3,500km! No wonder the people here used to think they were the only race on Earth.

It's a weird place, boasting all the eccentricities that a tiny island with a population of 2400 warrants. You can't help but get a sense of Wicker Man when you talk to the locals. There is something just a little too friendly about them. Paddy and Rhiannan, a couple we met on the plane on the way over confirmed my thoughts. They were on the beach one day when a boat arrived with loads of fish. There was a group of about 20 locals waiting for it and when they were handed the fish they started pulling their heads off and scooping out and eating the brains. If that's not weird enough, they were smearing the blood from the fish onto themselves. Is that a group of people dancing round in a circle and chanting over there? No, sorry, just me becoming a little paranoid.

The island is beautiful. It’s only 24km from one end to the other. We’ve hired a jeep which is great fun on the dirt tracks. Even Tim has driven. There’s simply no-one around to crash into. (Don’t worry the Moai are well away on the beaches and the animals in the fields.) It has fantastic, deserted beaches with white sand and waves perfect for surfing. We’ve had to explore it in the rain...surprise, surprise. "This is soooo unusual!” Said the lady at our hotel. “It must be the full moon!" Yeah, whatever. This weather business is really starting to get to me now.

Everywhere you look there are horses with hundreds of foals, chickens with baby chicks and millions of little lambs. The only reason the island is called Easter Island is because it was discovered by the Europeans on Easter Day, (a chap called Admiral Roggeveen came upon the island on Easter Day in 1722) but all the baby animals that are around at the moment do feed the name.