DAY 5
TAHITI NUI & TAHITI ITI (Tahiti, PYF)
Wednesday February 14th, 2007
TODAYS MILEAGE – 93 miles or 150 kilometres
TRIP MILEAGE – 5126 miles or 8250 kilometres
What a better place to spend Valentines Day than on a tropical paradise. There's something missing though!!! ;-)
Last night was a bit rough sleeping. According to the owner, the air conditioner in my room had packed it in and he was going to remove it rather than replace it. My room is on the hillside of the house and as such has very little ventilation. Even with the sliding door, all windows open, the lack of any type of fan to get a breeze going and you can visualize why sleeping was a touch difficult to say the least.
At around 11PM there was an influx of house guests, due to the Air New Zealand flight arrival, so rather than beat them, I decided to join them in conversation. Rob was a final year med–school student from Richmond (Virginia, USA) while Karlheinz and his wife Heide were from just outside Stuttgart (Germany). We chatted about all topics covering the globe until around 1AM when I decided to try and check the eyelids for holes again.
By my reckoning, if you are forking out 26,850 XPF ($391.95 AUS or $307.56 USD) for three nights accomodation and it's advertised as air conditioned, then you should get what you pay for. Unfortunatley there was no point arguing with Beni, as he could have easily said find somwhere else and then I'd be forking out more than double that for a room. Talk about frustrating.
I woke about 4AM swimming in sea of sweat and thought bugger it – I may as well have another shower and greet the day. Due to yesterday's "avalanche" having killed of any plans in visiting Tautira on Tahiti Iti, I decided to try an visit it today. I overheard Karlheinz and his wife saying they were at a loss for something to do, so I suggested they join me. With a toss of a coin (tails won), we headed off in in clockwise direction through Papéete
First was a quick stop at the beaches of Ahonu and Orofara Surf Breaks. Not much was happening, so we continued on to the Trou du Souffleur or Arahoho Blowhole about 22 kilometres from Papéete just before Tiarei. Unlike advertised, if you are expecting anything like the Kiama Blowhole (New South Wales, Australia) or similar, then you're going to be disappointed.
Don't be discouraged though, as the beach and bay adjacent to the blowhole was a perfect spot for some photos, a swim and some body surfing.
60 kilometres from Papéete is the town of Taravao which was established in 1844. It serves as both the halfway point in circumnavigating the island by road and as the access to Tahiti Iti.
Being Tahiti's second largest population centre, about 2000 people, we decided to nickname it "Los Angeles" in deference to arguably the Unites States second largest city. It was also a further 18 kilometres on to Tautira, which records the highest annual rainfalls on Tahiti.
Tautira is also the end of the road on the Northern side of Tahiti Iti and to be quite honest, in reality ... there's bugger all to see. There is absolutely no tourism infrastructure outside of Papéete, never more glaringly so than in Tautira.
Seeing as it was half–past lunchtime, it was decided that we would dine back in "Los Angeles". My German friends we not sure of where to eat, so I used the tried and trusted method of selecting a dining establishment – pull up where all the locals are eating. At the very intersection of the Tahiti Nui and Tautira roads was a dilapidated looking building with a full car park. Good enough for me and I wasn't disappointed.
I had a prawn & crab curry that was rich, creamy and the right amount of curry for it to be both naughty and nice. Washed down with a couple of Tabu local brews and I was Buddha happy.
After lunch we went in search of the much hyped Musée Gauguin, a further 5 kilometres from Taravao towards Papéete. After paying 600 XPF ($8.75 AUS or $6.87 USD) I would have to say the visit would have over–priced if it was free. I can cross it off my list of "things to do", but you'd have to be a deadset keen on Gauguin to rate the museum although it is pretty nice spot.The afternoon rain showers followed us back into Papéete which made an ideal motivator to park up on the front porch and partake in Heineken's and Cab Savs.
Tomorrow's my last day in French Polynesia, so I'm not sure what mischief I should get up to.
Fitzy