Have sorted the memory/storage issue and so I will carry on with Raiatea! So as I said in my previous post, Taputapuatea is a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape serving as the most sacred and central ancient religious, political, and ceremonial centre of the Polynesian Triangle.
From Raiatea, I book a trip to Ta’haa, an island about 30 mins away, which is world famous for its vanilla production, which accounts for about 80% of all Polynesian production. The island specifically cultivates the Vanilla Tahitensis variety, obtained by crossing the pods of Vanilla Planifolia with those of Vanilla Pompona. The aroma of vanilla is so unmistakable in the air that it is also known as Vanilla Island. That all sounds technical but I learnt that vanilla is part of the orchid family and that orchid grows wild on the island – the vanilla there is a wild plant!
Another source of income for locals is the harvesting of black pearls and coconut products.
I have no idea who the chap in the photo is, I believe that he is a tour guide and he called everyone ‘petits chous chous’ he was very funny and reminded me that I found some of the South Pacific Islanders very in touch with their feminine sides…..
I am starting to realise that the pictures and therefore my experiences in the South Pacific are based around the ocean, my snorkelling trips, the beauty of the area. I am sure that all the notes, videos and pictures all seem the same. I am not sure what to do about that so I will just add pictures and video’s and add some interesting facts as I go along!!
After Raiatea came Bora Bora……. I was determined not to like Bora Bora as it is such a cliche, but I was blown away from the moment I landed.
Bora Bora was an independent kingdom until 1888, when the French annexed the island as a colony and forced its last queen to abdicate. During WWII the United States chose Bora Bora as a military supply base and constructed an oil depot, an airstrip, a seaplane base, and defensive fortifications.
Bora Bora is among the smaller of the islands of the Society archipelago: the main island measures only 8 km from north to south and 5 km east to west. The island’s economy is driven almost entirely by tourism. Several resorts have been built on the motu surrounding the lagoon. Now, over-water bungalows are a standard feature of most Bora Bora resorts. The bungalows range from relatively inexpensive basic accommodations to luxurious and expensive ones.
It was because of the connections with the US during WWII, Bora Bora has become a main destination for Americans, it is much more developed than the other islands, more set up for tourists.
On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese air force attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the United States entered the Second World War. The US Navy needed a refueling depot between Australia (the last bastion of resistance to the Japanese offensive), and the Panama canal. The strategic position of Bora Bora, the deep water bay at Faanui and the fact that it had only one easy to control pass, made it the ideal candidate. So in 1942, the Americans launched Operation Bobcat, and 3,500 US military personnel arrived in Bora Bora. The airstrip remained the only international airport in French Polynesia until 1963.
From the moment I got to the airport, I was totally taken with Bora Bora, although I didn’t want to be 😂
I wanted to really explore the island and I booked an ATV excursion and of course a snorkelling boat trip.
I rented an Airbnb for my 6 days there as the hostels were really basic and I wanted to be comfortable to make sure I had a good time, and having a hire car made it easy to get around. I went to the supermarket to get breakfast, water, wine etc and when I got back to the apartment there were two young girls – although I found out that they were around 30 – stood looking lost. I recognised them from the airport and transfer navette and I asked them if they were ok. It turns out that they were given the wrong address for their accommodation and pretty stranded so I offered them a lift to their place as it was only 10 mins away. They were very sweet and I met them for dinner the next day. Turns out that one of them was there for a physio placement in Tahiti and her friend accompanied her from France to support her start of the placement. I may get in touch now I am back – they may ignore me – who knows.
That is the thing when you travel, you meet lots of people and have some great experiences and conversations, some not so much, but it is a very transient experience – which I think is absolutely fine and part of the whole experience. I have some email and Insta contacts and I may never see them again, but the whole point is to widen horizons and explore who people are to gain some sort of perspective.
Once again, tuna was the main source of protein, although I did buy some food from the supermarkets. Again, many locals do not cook for themselves so the supermarkets, even the smalles ones, had cooked food like chicken and rice, fish etc. There is also a large chinese community and one of the supermarkets around the corner from the main harbour was obviously chinese owned as the Chinese New Year decorations were up and there was lots of chinese cooked food available – dumplings, stir fried veg, rice etc.
Totally random now, but I took a supply of tea bags with me, I am really out of sorts for the whole day if I don’t have a proper cup of tea in the morning! I topped up my supply from extras that were in the places I stayed at! I bought milk at times but then when I was in a hostel somewhere in Australia, someone left a tupperware of powdered milk – heaven!! That box lasted me until the day I left to come home, I did contemplate bringing it home as a souvenir but dismissed that thought when I realised how silly that was!
Anyhooooo, back to Bora Bora. I was advised to take an ATV tour and so I booked it without thinking, a reoccuring thing with me, as I thought it would be a 4×4 thing around the island. It definitely was not that. I was picked up by the company around 8.15 am and we then went to pick up another group that was joining us. I was not aware that we got there early so was sitting around waiting for them to arrive off a transfer from one of those over the water hotels. During that time, the guide decided to sing me a song…
It turned out that there were only 3 of us on the excursion, myself and a really lovely couple who live in San Francisco but are from Lebanon. So, this ATV tour, I was a bit worried when I saw what it was all about and I nearly ran off, but I had jumped out of a plane, so I could drive this 4×4 beast. We started off on the road and I got used to the feel of the vehicle, how it reacted etc and then we turned off the road and I had no idea what was coming! We were working our way up to Mt Ohue on a really rugged track that a regular vehicle could not travel on. We took it slowly going up through very rough ‘track’ of rocks, small boulders and then the heavens opened and it absolutely pelted down.
Got to the top and the view was incredible as it had stopped raining and the mist had cleared, in the pictures, you may be able to see that I was drenched, but was totally dry when we got back to base! I was told that I did really well, for a girl 🤐, but I did take it as a compliment as it was really hard!
It is really hard to convey the whole experience as pictures and videos can only do so much. Selfishly, I am really enjoying looking through all the pictures and videos. I am actually sat at home in Newlyn as I flew home 2 weeks ago. I stayed with Rajiv and Tayla for a few days which was so nice, and got to spend time with Ajay and Abi too. I did not do very much for a day or two apart from sit and watch tv with Pepper but after that, I felt a bit more human.
I knew that coming back would be hard, I can’t believe that the trip is done – I mean how fast did that go?! It is hard being back but I have to say that looking through everything, it is all coming back to me and my heart is happy re living it all.
But, enough of that mushy stuff, the next excursion was a boat/snorkling trip and I was really excited. There were about 7/8 of us and the usual starting off being all tentative and trying to work everyone out but it was a great group of people. The trip was run my locals who had grown up around the ocean – did you know that Moana means ocean?
We were promised Manta Ray, Black Tip sharks, colourful fish, good food and fun! We did have a bit of rain but it did not spoil anything. We went to an area which is known for Manta Ray but there had been boats there already which may have disturbed them, but then we went to another area and we swam around for a bit and then I saw them, they are beautiful and graceful creatures, I was so taken with them and how graceful they are.
Honestly, I have so many pictures of the ocean and I have not edited them at all, the colour is real! The picture above is the view from the apartment.
I think that it is still quite difficult for the locals, even with the increased economic activity on the island. The economy is almost entirely dependant on high-end luxury tourism, attracting over 100,000 visitors annually accounting for over half of French Polynesia’s tourism GDP. Having said that, I took a video of all the guides having a bit of fun whilst working and apparantly arranging a night out at the pub!!
Going out onto the open ocean meant coral, the sea bed and beaches are made up of old and broken coral bits which still carry bacteria. You guessed it – I slipped and fell on my backside but not before grazing my knees. The poor guide sort of went into panic mode and I had to have the full on irrigation thing – it did sting rather and healed ok but I am left with scars on both knees! At least I can say they are from South Pacific coral!!
2 weeks travelling around The Society Islands went far too quickly and I have to say that it was the reason for the whole 6 month trip and it was well worth it. Looking back through the pictures and videos brought it all back to me and how much I loved it there. I then flew back to Tahiti for a night and then back to Auckland to travel around the North Island, NZ. I did mange to squeeze a cheeky trip to Fiji and Tonga though! I will sign off now, I know there are loads of pictures and videos and I got rather carried away but I could not help it! I hope you are able to watch and see it all, my thought was to try and convey the awsomness of it all.
Adventures of Nisha 