Polynesie Francaise

I have already used Bienvenue et Maeva for a previous post and I really can’t think of another that would make any sense!!

I have no idea when my fascination with Tahiti and French Polynesia began, I felt the same about Hawaii and I have visited there a few times and so the desire to get to Polynesia was amplified. My close friend Rita, who I have travelled with a lot, went to Polynesia last year and said how super it was so that sealed it for me and I knew that I could get there from NZ.

French Polynesia is what is known as an overseas collectivity of France and is divided into 5 island groups. French Catholic missionaries arrived on Tahiti in 1834 and it was declared a French protectorate, to allow Catholic missionaries to work undisturbed.

As a French overseas collectivity, the French central Government has direct responsibility for justice, university education, defence and foreign affairs. The local government of French Polynesia retains control over primary and secondary education, health, town planning, and the environment. I asked about education and the curriculum follows the french system and french is the official language.

Christianity is the main religion, mainly various Protestant churches but I was really surprised with the amount of churches, each village had a church of every denomination, even if they were only 2/3 miles apart! The other thing is that 7th Day Adventist churches were plentiful, not sure why that surprised me, but it did. The churches have a strong hold over their communities, funding schools and private education, just my observation.

My flight from Auckland landed in Papeete, Tahiti – the capital, I then had to work out how many islands I could reasonably visit in the time I had and make sure I spent enough time in each place to make it worthwhile.

I had done my research (as always) but I really was none the wiser so I really based the itinerary on what flights fit in to the time I had, which ones were direct and to get a variety experiences. Air Tahiti had pre planned routes so I just worked with one of them.

Started off in Tahiti, obviously, 2 nights there, Maupiti, Raiatea and Bora Bora, all part of the Society Islands. I arrived into Tahiti late on a Saturday evening and I had hired a car, Sunday was so quiet, everything was closed so I just pottered, went to the supermarket and drove the coastline. I rented an Airbnb as decent hostels were few and far between and as this was my dream trip and I wanted to be comfortable. All the accommodation over there is really very expensive, everything is expensive – food, drink and everything else that we need on a day to day basis.

In/on Tahiti – I don’t know the correct terminology!- I stayed slightly to the west of Papeete in a town called Puna’unia in a 1 bedroom flat that was on the beach with a view that far exceeded my expectations of a place that I had only dreamt of. It is true that the ladies all wear flowers in their hair, they all wear colourful clothes and laugh loudly! The picture below what was in the fridge when I arrived – says it all 😁

As you know, I am really getting in to recording video’s when I think they can add more than writing and I took one of the balcony of the apartment. I think that I have already posted it at the time I took it, but I will post it again as I really like the views! I didn’t plan to stay too long there as it is really a capital and I wanted to see as much of the archipelago as possible. I took pictures, just to remember that I had actually been there!

Obviously I know it was a French area but I was surprised at really how French it is! French is the first language, all the signs are in french, the supermarkets are French and have all French products. Actually the supermarkets are Carrefour and Champion – all French companies. Tahitian is also a language, the local dialect, of which there are many across all the islands but from what I was told, it is only the older generation that still speak it and this can cause issues in multi generational households. It was amazing how fast my French came back to me, I am no where near fluent but I fooled everyone into thinking I was a natural French speaker 😁🧐. I was also able to ask loads of questions to find out about the community, how they lived and how they perceived their French ‘rulers’.

Maupiti was about 90 mins from Tahiti, to the west, 90 mins by plane so that is quite far!! The area is only 12 square km and has a population of around 1200. Tourism is now the main income but the main crop is Noni, Morinda citrifolia, a fruit-bearing tree in the coffee family. There are over 100 names for this fruit across different regions, including great morinda, Indian mulberry, beach mulberry, vomit fruit, awl tree, and cheesefruit. Not sure what vomit fruit is though!!!

I have to admit that I did very little reading about the island apart from the guest house I stayed in, I would say that I was looking to wing it but I was just being lazy. The guest house was fine, options were limited and I would have my own bathroom which was a huge bonus! It was really hot and the ceiling fan was broken 🥵 but I had a pedestal fan – didn’t do too much to alleviate the humidity but I was in French Polynesia….

The BnB provided breakfast and dinner which was good as there was not much in the way of places for dinner, lunch was fine but everything closed at about 3pm, after lunch. The place had 5 rooms but only one other was occupied but a really nice young French couple and they told me that they had hired bikes to get around. Which is what I did the next day, went to the local shop and got a bike – no idea what I was thinking as it was a fecking hilly island with a temperature of around 35 degrees and high humidity and nearly killed myself going downhill with brakes that only worked if you pedal backwards. I will not be doing that again, especially as I was told, as I was leaving, that there was a company that provided electric bikes 🤨.

There is 1 beach in Maupiti which was not far from my pension but was all uphill, which meant that access to the beach was then down a steep hill – I should have found another way – will not elaborate further.

The beach was lovely, shallow and warm. The highlight though was when I was sitting in the water and I heard this kind of shimmering sound and when I looked up there was a load of little fish, silver and almost transparent arching in and out of the water – was mesmerising and I just sat there while the swam past, jumping in and out making this sound that was like trees blowing in the wind. I couldn’t take a video and I never experienced that again but it was amazingly special and you will just have to take my word for it!!

There was a beach cafe, not like at home, a shack basically, but the food was fresh and tasty and it was very popular! Everyone cycled there and were just hanging out!

Views from the air show the beauty of the islands, which I saw from the plane.

When I left the beach, I did not want to go back the way I came, it was not far but was all uphill, like 45degrees with 90% humidity so obviously I went to other way around the island which took 30 mins but was mainly flat!

It was a great bike ride as everyone who I passed waved at me and said hello, it was so cute. I have a couple of pictures and video’s to show I did actually cycle round and how hot it was – any excuse for an ice cream!

I have to say that I am really loving looking back at all the pictures and videos, now that I am used to seeing myself and watching me talking, just to re live everything. I am currently in Busan, South Korea and I have 16 days left of this trip – SIXTEEN – how did that happen???? It is great to watch back the videos and remember how I felt at the time, I will have to really do more of that when I get back, or maybe get the blog made into one of those picture books so I can look lovingly at it on my shelf and think back…….. 🧐🤦🏻‍♀️😎.

The place that I hired my bike from was the local store and ice cream place and I got talking to the owner, who was shocked that I would pay £15 for a bottle of wine, and it turns out that they have to order all the items for their store a month in advance as the boat only delivers goods once a month from either Tahiti or Raiatea, she said that when it’s gone, it’s gone. Also that they only have schools up to 16 and then the students have to go to another island for anything more and families send their kids off to finish their education. I did not delve further but I had loads more questions like are there specific places for these kids stay, who looks after them etc etc. The lady at the pension said that there aren’t many things for young people to do or work for unless they join the army or go to France for work. She used the word ‘vagabonds’ when explaining what can happen. I noticed that people get married and have kids very young, that seems the way. Having said that, they were a lovely family and we had a laugh together, but I could see that life was hard for them.

The picture of the bike propped up on a bank was before I went swimming off that jetty, it was only as I got out I saw the sign that said no swimming 😎😂 – I did think that people who drove by had an odd look!!

I realised that fish is the main thing that people eat, raw, part cooked, grilled etc etc, and it is tuna – white or red as they say there. I forgot to ask if both sorts come from the same fish just different parts. I enjoyed it the first time, but after the 4th meal I got a bit bored!

I had raw tuna with ginger, then with lemon and onion, part cooked with hot oil and seasoning, grilled tuna steak and tuna kebabs – don’t get me wrong, it was all lovely but not every day! At home tuna is somewhat of a luxury but in Polynesia, its an every day meal.

So, from Maupiti I went to Raiatea, from the main island I had to take the navette (boat) to the airport which was on a different ‘Motu’ – islet, such a different way of getting a plane! The flight was a short one on one of those lovely small propeller planes! It is a great way of getting a Birds Eye view of the area.

Raiatea is a larger island with a bit more touristy stuff going on, mainly local pearls. As it was a bigger island I decided to hire a car to make the most of everything that was there. I stayed in a really nice little AirBnB run by a lovely lady who had been widowed the year before.

The island is widely regarded as the “centre” of the eastern islands in ancient Polynesia and it is likely that the organised migrations to the Hawaiian Islands, and other parts of East Polynesia, started at Raʻiātea. A traditional name for the island is Havai’i homeland of the  Maori people. Situated on the southeast coast, and close to where I was staying, is the historical site of Taputapuatea, which was established by 1000 CE. The site was the political and religious center of eastern Polynesia for several centuries, and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017 for its historical significance.

So, I am going to have to post this now as I have reached my storage limit and it will take me a while to work on that!! I have a great video of flying in to Raiatea!! I am loving watching all the videos that I took, such amazing colours of the sea, sky and underwater.

I am now in Taiwan, last country of this most amazing experience. In 10 days time, I will be landing at Heathrow – it is a strange feeling but I am going to make the most of the next 10 days – Taiwan is incredible!!

I will be back soon 🙏🏼.