April 10 Day 54
The next day we decided to try the public beach which had a larger area clear of coral to swim in. It was fairly busy with families and such and there wasn't much space in the shade. Meg researched black pearls and I got a snorkel to go with my mask to we could see what was in the water. There were quite a few colourful fish and some huge anenomies with orange coverings and yellow tentacles.
Other than that we did lots of reading, hanging out on the beach, eating and talking with our fellow campers. We picked up a big bag of local mangoes that kept getting better as we ate our way through them. We gathered to watch the sunset, ate and everyone went to bed early again.
April 11 Day 55
I saw two rays while snorkeling and we spotted some crabs skittering around. Otherwise very relaxing and similar to yesterday. One bit of excitement came when Giovanni talked about how we lose a day crossing the International Date line and I checked our plane ticket and found that this was so. I immediately tried to change our Auckland booking, but couldn't, and message the place we were staying to let them know that we would be a day late and they could make the room available. It also meant that Meg would miss the Sunday service close to our hostel and we would only have two nights there. So it goes when travelling.
April 12 Day 56
It was our last day at the campground so we went for a final swim at the public beach and then packed up for our check out. We called the motor scooter rental guy and he said he'd drop off a scooter at our campground at 10 am. I called every 5 minutes starting at 10:20 and no answer. Meg eventually walked there and he said that he didn't say anything about a drop off and was waiting for us. Another woman was there complaining about him misusing the $900 deposit on the scooter and Meg gave up on the guy. Our plans for exploring the island were dashed.
We decided to take an early ferry back to Tahiti and our campground host said there would be a bus between 1 and 1:30. We had a final swim, ate our last mango and headed to the bus stop at 12:45. No bus. We looked into getting a taxi but they were prohibitively expensive so we hunkered down and waited for the 3:30 bus.
There were a group of people that were just hanging out in the shade of trees and drinking beer all day. We ate our baguette and cheese and were talking to the Australian couple from the campground when a bus showed up at 2:25.
Of course, we got on it but no one else was expecting it and we had it to ourselves for the entire 45 minute trip to the ferry terminal. There we met Giovanni again, who had gotten there quicker than us by hitchhiking. We got our tickets and waited for a bit. Before letting us board, they had us go into an area which was hot and humid for half an hour before the boat docked, which didn't improve our mood. Also, we were hauling our bags and no one told us about the baggage depot until we were on the ferry.
The trip over was uneventful and we were within walking distance of out hostel (Microsoft maps gave us a completely random location for our hostel, good thing we double checked with Google maps). We checked in to our tiny, windowless room and heard clusters of giggling girls about. We got settled, had showers to make us feel human again, and headed out for dinner.
Downstairs we met Kai, who we had talked to on the ferry to Moorea. He was staying at the hostel and told us the girls were with the Easter Island Girl's soccer team, who were playing in a tournament in Tahiti. We headed out to the food truck area by the water, which was apparently the place to eat. About a dozen trucks were set up serving French and Asian food with tables and plastic chairs. The food we had was fairly expensive (apparently still cheap for Tahiti) with mediocre food in large servings. We had trouble paying as our waitress was so busy she didn't notice us.
On the way out we saw Kai and Giovanni together and Kai was going to feed him some local dish involving raw fish and coconut milk. We took a walk along the shore and saw the marina was well lit and even had racks for coral to grow on with the corresponding fish all viewable from the shore. The boats were all huge, many of them ocean-going.
When we got back the girls had calmed down and we had a good sleep before our early flight.
The next day we decided to try the public beach which had a larger area clear of coral to swim in. It was fairly busy with families and such and there wasn't much space in the shade. Meg researched black pearls and I got a snorkel to go with my mask to we could see what was in the water. There were quite a few colourful fish and some huge anenomies with orange coverings and yellow tentacles.
Other than that we did lots of reading, hanging out on the beach, eating and talking with our fellow campers. We picked up a big bag of local mangoes that kept getting better as we ate our way through them. We gathered to watch the sunset, ate and everyone went to bed early again.
April 11 Day 55
I saw two rays while snorkeling and we spotted some crabs skittering around. Otherwise very relaxing and similar to yesterday. One bit of excitement came when Giovanni talked about how we lose a day crossing the International Date line and I checked our plane ticket and found that this was so. I immediately tried to change our Auckland booking, but couldn't, and message the place we were staying to let them know that we would be a day late and they could make the room available. It also meant that Meg would miss the Sunday service close to our hostel and we would only have two nights there. So it goes when travelling.
April 12 Day 56
It was our last day at the campground so we went for a final swim at the public beach and then packed up for our check out. We called the motor scooter rental guy and he said he'd drop off a scooter at our campground at 10 am. I called every 5 minutes starting at 10:20 and no answer. Meg eventually walked there and he said that he didn't say anything about a drop off and was waiting for us. Another woman was there complaining about him misusing the $900 deposit on the scooter and Meg gave up on the guy. Our plans for exploring the island were dashed.
We decided to take an early ferry back to Tahiti and our campground host said there would be a bus between 1 and 1:30. We had a final swim, ate our last mango and headed to the bus stop at 12:45. No bus. We looked into getting a taxi but they were prohibitively expensive so we hunkered down and waited for the 3:30 bus.
There were a group of people that were just hanging out in the shade of trees and drinking beer all day. We ate our baguette and cheese and were talking to the Australian couple from the campground when a bus showed up at 2:25.
Of course, we got on it but no one else was expecting it and we had it to ourselves for the entire 45 minute trip to the ferry terminal. There we met Giovanni again, who had gotten there quicker than us by hitchhiking. We got our tickets and waited for a bit. Before letting us board, they had us go into an area which was hot and humid for half an hour before the boat docked, which didn't improve our mood. Also, we were hauling our bags and no one told us about the baggage depot until we were on the ferry.
The trip over was uneventful and we were within walking distance of out hostel (Microsoft maps gave us a completely random location for our hostel, good thing we double checked with Google maps). We checked in to our tiny, windowless room and heard clusters of giggling girls about. We got settled, had showers to make us feel human again, and headed out for dinner.
Downstairs we met Kai, who we had talked to on the ferry to Moorea. He was staying at the hostel and told us the girls were with the Easter Island Girl's soccer team, who were playing in a tournament in Tahiti. We headed out to the food truck area by the water, which was apparently the place to eat. About a dozen trucks were set up serving French and Asian food with tables and plastic chairs. The food we had was fairly expensive (apparently still cheap for Tahiti) with mediocre food in large servings. We had trouble paying as our waitress was so busy she didn't notice us.
On the way out we saw Kai and Giovanni together and Kai was going to feed him some local dish involving raw fish and coconut milk. We took a walk along the shore and saw the marina was well lit and even had racks for coral to grow on with the corresponding fish all viewable from the shore. The boats were all huge, many of them ocean-going.
When we got back the girls had calmed down and we had a good sleep before our early flight.
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| Another Tahitian sunset. |
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| A look at the mountains on Moorea. |
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| Meg and the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Girls' Soccer Team. |
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