Tahiti road trip

CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Sun 6 Jun 2010 01:32
Tahiti..........Probably the most evocative name in the South Pacific....... full of history....... from the early Polynesian explorers, the scientific voyages of Britains Captain Cook, the mutinous Fletcher Christian on board the HMS Bounty and more recently the French influences creating what is now known as French Polynesia and Tahiti its centre of administration.
A commemorative plaque in honour of the early Polynesian explorers, arguably the greatest navigators of all time!
For Trish and I it represented a change of pace from the sleepy Marquesas and Tuamotus to the more frenetic lifestyle of Papeete.
With its more cosmopolitan inhabitants, sidewalk cafes, restaurants to suit all tastes, markets, boutiques, supermarkets and....daily traffic jams!
Curious arrives in Papeete chased into harbour by one of many fast ferries to the outer islands.
We took the opportunity to hire a car along with crew of Freestyle and see more of the island,
travelling clockwise around the main island on day 1 and then heading south to Tahiti Iti on day 2.
The lighthouse at Venus Point marks where Captain James Cook arrived to take his transits of Venus
The stone commemorating the arrival of HMS Bounty
The stone under the Breadfruit Tree, Captain Blighe's mission was to take Breadfruit
saplings back to the Caribbean to provide food for the slaves.
The roll call of HMS Bounty's ships company
Away from the small coastal plain the island has big volcanic mountains, deep
cut valleys and many waterfalls.
Its also been great to catch up with friends made en route.