Arrival in Tahiti

Missing in Action

Our flight from Auckland to Tahiti arrives an hour late at 11pm. Polyensian dancers greet everyone as we enter the terminal. We have a short line-up to go through immigration… much better than our experience at Auckland Airport.

Unfortunately it is downhill from there. No luggage arrives at the baggage belt for over an hour. No explanations for the delay. When the bags finally start arriving all the passengers erupt in cheers and clapping.

We do not see Will Farrell waiting for his baggage. We get one bag but the other never arrives. We stand with a few other unfortunates staring at the empty baggage belt going around hoping that more luggage will arrive but that’s it.

We stand in line with about a dozen other people to make a missing bag report. We are told our bag is still in Auckland and will arrive tomorrow morning in Tahiti and then be flown to the island of Moorea where we will be staying. It is our responsibility to pick up the bag from the Moorea airport. They give us a toiletry pack with one t-shirt and a pair of shorts, some toiletries and a $100 USD refund on our credit card. John is happy to have the t-shirt because all his tops (and our booze) are in the missing bag.

It’s after 1:00am when we walk out of the Arrivals Hall, luckily there is a cab available as the airport is deserted. By 1:30am the cab driver arrives at the hotel, removes the luggage from the trunk and drives off. John and I hoist our backpacks (and my neck pillow) and go to the lobby to check in.

In the lobby after checking in,  I say to John, “Where is our remaining suitcase?”

“I thought you had it” he replies.

I run back out onto the street and fortunately there it is, sitting alone on a dark curb.

We get to sleep shortly after 2:00am.

Good Morning Tahiti

Our alarm goes at 6:30am. Today is Sunday. Yesterday was also Sunday. Because we crossed the International Date Line we get to repeat Sunday again.

John picked this hotel because it’s cheap and it’s walking distance to the ferry terminal to catch our 8:50am ferry to Moorea. We are at the terminal by 8:00am. A dock worker takes our big suitcase and puts it on a cart and points us to the waiting area. We wonder if we’ll see that suitcase again ” />.

We are now off to Moorea, a 45 minute ride. The day is hot, humid and sunny. Like Hawaii, there is a gentle scent of flowers in the air.

French is the official language spoken in French Polynesia.  Moorea is one of the many islands that form French Polynesia including Tahiti and Bora Bora.

Arrival to Moorea

Moorea’s lush, emerald mountains rise from the sea. Even from a distance it looks like paradise.Actually the landscape is a lot like Kaui.

Our car rental agent meets us at the ferry dock in Moorea and drives us to his nearby shop. You can tell it is an independent business because the car is so clean and well kept. There are also rules such as no eating or drinking anything other than water in the car, don’t put your suntan lotion on in the car and no parking under coconut trees. Fair enough. John assigns me the job of making sure he does not park under coconut trees. We are also warned not to stand under the coconut trees. Sounds like the coconut trees in Moorea like to drop their nuts on people and cars.

In Moorea we are back to driving on the right rside of the road which now feels very wierd after almost 3 weeks of driving in the left in New Zealand.

You can drive around the whole island in 1.5 hours. I have not seen a single branded food or retail store. Everything seems to be mom and pop businesses.

It’s Sunday so a lot of places are closed and what is open closes and opens at erratic hours.
It looks like restaurants close at 2pm and open back up at 5pm. The grocery store closed at noon.

Things are also very expensive but we knew that there would be sticker shock here.

We decide to drive around the island to get our bearings.

Teotea Lookout

Our first stop is Teotea Lookout. Such a gorgeous view of beach, bright turquoise water and overwater bungalows with glass floors and king size beds. Check out the picture…this is where we would like to stay but will NOT be staying because they are over $1,000 USD per night. Ouch.

From the lookout we can see Tahiti in the distance.

We stop and get a few snacks at the grocery store before stopping at a few restaurants ( all closed) before finding Allo Pizza which is Trip Advisor recommended. We have a seafood pizza which I enjoy.

Ta’Ahiamanu Beach

Continuing around the island, we check out a few lookouts before going to the stunningly gorgeous Ta’ahiamanu Beach; palm trees, white white sand and water in so many shades of bright aqua and turquoise. What’s not to love.

A cruise ship is anchored nearby.

Further around the island we visit a church from the 1890s.

Evening at our Airbnb

We check into our waterfront Airbnb at 3pm. We have a four poster bed with netting and a deck. The owners invite us to use their pool and kayaks. We are thoroughly exhausted having only four hours sleep and a big time change so we have a light supper and an early night.