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| Leaving Tahiti |
We arrived at Fa'aē International Airport, Pape'ete, Tahiti, in 26℃ humid heat at 5.30am and wondered what the midday temperature was going to be like. We already felt as if we were starting to melt.
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| Pape'ete, Tahiti to our left |
We had thought about renting a car in Pape'ete and heading over to Mo'orea via ferry but we didn't because we were unsure if the car rental places would allow us to take a hire car from one island to another. Also the ferry crossing bookings were very unclear and, if not being guaranteed a place on the ferry at a designated time, we didn't want to wait all day to get to Mo'orea. So Paul decided it would be more convenient to fly across and then rent a car. So we had to wait a few hours for our 10am flight to Mo'orea.
The aeroplane we boarded was smallish aeroplane with engines under the wings. If only I had lived on the islands - I could have tried to applied to work as an air hostess as the overhead luggage compartments weren't too high to reach for a change. Being short, I was never accepted for air hostess training either in Cape Town, South Africa, nor London Heathrow because of height restriction criteria.
Our flight from Pape'ete to Tema'e, Mo'orea was only about 10 minutes only. We arrived at a tiny airport where you collected your luggage beside the check-in desk once it was offloaded from a small truck.
We looked for the car rental desk and an airport staff member kindly told us that we had to phone in advance to the car rental office in Vai'are to request the car be dropped off at the airport. This
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| Flight from Pape'ete, Tahiti, to Tema'e, Mo'orea |
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| Mo'orea is in sight! |
we didn't know because our car rental booking stated we would pick the car from the airport. The lady kindly spoke to an elderly wizened lady (she looked looked as if she was in her 80's and still going strong!) who owned a mini-bus - she was one of the locals who provided a taxi service on the island, and everyone who provided a taxi service to visitors charged the same price. The lady's driving left much to be desired and we just clung on to our seat, leaving our lives in fate's hands. Fortunately we got to the car rental place in one piece! Giving paying her, we gave the lady a quick hug before she set off back to the airport.
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| To our accommodation along the coastline. |
Getting our rental car went smoothly. As we were going through the paperwork Paul looked out the window and discovered that there was a Suzuki in the yard. The rental website didn't show as having any available at the time and it would have to be brought over from the mainland at an extra cost so Paul booked a small car on the website instead. On seeing the Suzuki outside Paul enquired as to whether we could rent it or not. Yes, it was available and we could rent it at the same price that we had booked the car for. Wonderful!
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| Patio of our lodgings |
It was a half an hour journey around to the other side of the island to our AirBnB house rental which we eventually found after a few false hopeful stops. Staying in a hotel on the island is very pricey, ditto staying at Bed & Breakfast place. The place that we rented was at a good price - similar to that of staying at a local backpacker's lodge so we opted to have a house and privacy.
After a quick shower, we headed to bed for an afternoon nap; got back in the Suzuki and looked for a grocery shop so we could at least cook ourselves a meal, of sorts, for tonight. We were going to have soup but discovered that the crooking pots at our rental place are
huge; our soup would have liked a mere drop in a bucket. So we ended up ditching the idea of soup and 'wined and dined' on a baguette with some cheese.
It is a balmy evening outside but inside it is warm. Methinks we will sleep with the fan on. Time to go inside - we are getting bitten alive by mozzies!
PHOTOGRAPHS
Leaving Tahiti
Arriving on Mo'orea
Our accommodation
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