Welcome to Paradise: Tahiti

En route to Mo'Rea



Don't you dare start to rain!!



Our whole lives in three bags



This is what the birds look like



And this is the average looking plant in your garden



This is what the buses look like - they are really trucks.



We managed to get a hotel on one of only two beaches on Mo'Rea. The rest sit straight onto lagoons.



Looks like rain again. It started spitting for a few seconds. I nearly started to cry. Then it stopped



This was taken with a cheap film camera. It has not been doctored and it does what we saw no justice. The sun sets were simply stunning.



Sleeping under the stars. Whatever. We had to spend the last night at the air port because the hotel cost £130 dollars a night and we simply could not afford to stay any longer. A lady who was making flower garlands to sell outside the airport gave one to Tim to give to me while I was asleep. I woke up feeling a little uncomfortable but surrounded by the most gorgeous smell. The whole of the island smells of flowers because the trees are full of them.



19th November 2005, Papette Airport, Tahiti.
Ok, nature isn't that cruel. Welcome to Paradise. It's extortionately expensive to visit Paradise. We had to cut our time down from 10 days to 4 days and spend two nights in the airport in order to afford to stay on Mo' Orea – an island 40 minutes by boat from Papette, but God let us in and what a place! If I ever go for hypnotism ever again and they ask me to visualise a beautiful place here's what it will be:

I am sitting by the edge of a lagoon. It is beautifully warm and a lush breeze is stopping me from getting too hot. To get here we have canoed from the next bay down to the coral reef and across some shallow rapids and then into another deep lagoon. There is hardly any need to snorkel. Pink, purple, red, bright blue, navy blue and green coral is clearly visible from the boat. After some of the best snorkelling I have ever done we arrive at the shore. Tim goes off to do more snorkelling. I sit at the waters edge watching a whole new world of fish that are swimming no more than a meter away from the shore. A huge ray glides over my feet and stops for a back tickle. This momentarily breaks my illusion as I realise that they are obviously well used to humans. I notice the shingle moving slightly and then realise it is a flat fish, perfectly camouflaged apart from two eyes on long stalks that are rotating in different directions. I lie back in the water and look forward to my huge coconut shell full of ‘poisson cru’ and good French wine that I am going to treat myself to when I get back to the hotel. Paradise indeed.

Regrets? Yes! Why the hell did we cut the time down so much? I want to stay at least 6 months hopping from one island to the next, really getting a feel for the culture and getting to know the people. Do you know they actually wear flowers in their hair for real? The left side means single and the right side means married. It feels like we’ve only just got here and now we are on a plane heading away already. Anybody reading this might think I’m being greedy. Many people will never get to see this most beautiful of places, but I can’t help feeling cheated. I wish, so much, that our trip was longer.