Coach tour around Tahiti Nui
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Wed 12 May 2010 05:55
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Wednesday 12th May
You'll notice that the blog is called
"Coach tour around Tahiti Nui", I say Tahiti Nui as there are two parts to
Tahiti. There is the bigger island which is Tahiti Nui and the smaller island
Tahiti Iti and surprisingly 'Nui' means big and
'Iti' means small. The tour was arranged by the BWR with everyone taking
part so like all the other coach trips we've done on the rally it was like
another Saga Holiday, particularly towards the end when everyone would fall
asleep inbetween stops. We've had glorious sunshine for the last few days but
would you believe it today it rained continuously but we didn't let it dampen
our spirits!
First stop, Point Venus, the location where
Captain Cook set up an observatory in 1769 to record the transit of
Venus across the face of the sun to try to calculate the distance between the
sun and the earth and it is also where the first Protestant
Missionaries arrived and set up their camp in 1797. This favourite landfall for
the early European explorers was in the Baie de Matavai.
 Baie de Matavai and a picture
from Paul's rain shelter
 Point Venus where Cook set up
his observatory, today this is a lighthouse
 This monument is for the
European Missionaries, Samuel Wallis, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville and James
Cook
 This monument is for Captain
Bligh and the crew of the 'Bounty'
The spectacular Blowhole of
Arahoho was our next stop. We were amazed with its force when the natural
phenomena of the pounding waves were forced through a lava tube. Unfortunately
no picture as the rain was coming down so hard at this point there was no time
to dilly dally and take photos!
At the Faarumai Valley we got to
view one of the most beautiful and photographed waterfalls in French
Polynesia.
 The coastal drive took us through
the typical sleepy south seas picturesque villages of Maha'ena, Hitia'a. Fa'aone
to Tarava'o where the larger island Tahiti Nui joins the smaller island Tahiti
Iti. After crossing through the flower village of Papeari, we arrived at the
over water Gauguin Restaurant where we would be stopping for lunch. The
meal was fantastic but the view wasn't so great as all we could see was rain, it
wasn't quite the picturesque view of the lagoon and Tahiti in the distance
as we were promised but then you can't control the weather! After
a delicious lunch we were back on the coach for a short hop to the
Paul Gaugin Museum. Paul and Amy took one look and opted not to go in the museum
and instead they spent the dedicated 40 minutes in the bar. I however dedicated
4 minutes to the museum and 36 to the bar as the museum was really not that
interesting.
The rain was really coming down
now and we were losing the will to live but we only had two more stops. On our
return to Papeete we passed through the west coast of Tahiti stopping off at
Fern Grotto Mara'a which consists of ferny caverns at the bottom of the
mountains with crystaln clear pools that sare set in a fairytale
park.
 And finally we visited Marae
Arahurahu, the most significant ancient stone temple of the island. Only one
picture of this as at this point the rain really was bad.
 Although the weather was awful
and we missed half of the scheduled visits because of the rain our
spritis remained high, nothing to do with the consumption fo red wine on the
coach of course. But all in all it was good fun with good company!
It was however a sad day as it
was time to say Goodbye to Raylah who are leaving the rally in Tahiti. Much fun
was had with Jeremy and Simon and they will be sorely missed!
  Amy and Simon to the left with
their pints of red wine on the coach and Jeremy to the right demonstrating what
happens to you when you drink too much red wine - you put hairy red fruit on
your eyes and pretend you're crazy!
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