Firstly I have to thank Ian Campbell from Launceston, Tasmania, Australia who must be following my travels because he took the time to write and correct an important fact. I obviously put the decimal point in the wrong place and enlarged Pitcairn Island! It is actually only 1.8 sq miles. Thank you Ian.
Tahiti is actually made up of two islands: Tahiti Nui (Big Tahiti) and Tahiti Iti (Little Tahiti). These islands are 404 sq miles (honestly Ian!) with a population of approximately 170,000, most of whom were out and about in the afternoon. Apparently the school kids have Wednesday and Friday afternoon off, so if you find yourself on a cruise to Tahiti on either of those days, stay on the ship ;). Everything was very expensive on the island and it seems you can only buy traditional costumes, Billabong or Roxy. So I still haven’t had retail therapy, might try Auckland for that! 
We went on a 4WD safari into the lush mountain interior and were promised a cool refreshing dip in the natural river pool, we all decided against that when we saw the water; very rocky and quite muddy. Tahiti doesn’t have the gorgeous sandy beach with the solitary palm tree that was in my mind, you have to go to neighbouring islands to see those visions. Last night, we watched an amazing electrical storm on the horizon.Our next stop is Raratonga, maybe I’ll see them there.
Pick me, pick me!
Dear Julie and Phil, I was amused to see myself mentioned at a yahoo group that tracks mentions of Tahiti and Polynesia from around the world.
ReplyDeleteI can understand you being a little disappointed by Tahiti as well. When we were there in 1990, after Rapa, Pitcairn and the Marquesas, it seemed big, dirty, and expensive. We'd swum in a small pool on Hiva Oa or somewhere and found the touristy bustle, noise and prices of the 'big island' not to our taste. Rather like Hawaii, you need to go to smaller islands to really get a good feel of the place.
Rarotonga in the Cook Islands is much better - more touristy than it was in 1990, but still smaller, quieter and much, much cheaper than French Polynesia.
And Auckland is a world city like Frisco or Sydney, you'll love it there, even at the height of summer. Best, Ian.
09:46 [22:46GMT, 14:46PST]
Sa.7 Feb 09