23 August 2010 - Moorea

What a beautiful place!

Words just can't explain, and my pictures don't do it justice either, it is simply astoundingly pretty!

Paul and I went on a tour that was advertised as a 4WD safari. They sat us in the back of what was basically a ute with bench seats and a canvas roof, and off we went. The first place we went was a hair-raising ride up a mountain - the road was through a farm and it was partly cement and partly gravel, and really really steep and winding. Not to mention, the driver was having trouble with either the gears or the 4WD mechanism, and at a couple of points I started hoping our travel insurance was as good as they promised! And, at the end, there was about a 300 foot pathway to walk up, even steeper than the road. However, once we got there, the view was just spectacular - as I said, photos simply don't do it justice. Then, we went to quite a few other places, all through the most beautiful scenery you could imagine. We saw a pineapple farm where they grow lots of other fruit as well, a school where they also have a shop where they sell pineapple jams and juices, a marai (a sacred place of the Polynesian people before they all converted to Christianity), the Le Belvedere lookout where we could see the two big bays on the north side of the island - Cooks Bay where the cruise ship Paul Gaugin was anchored and d'Opunohu Bay where the Dawn Princess anchored. Just beautiful.

Came back and blew some of our excess francs (see yesterday's post!) on a dress and a shirt - lord only knows how I'm going to fit everything into my suitcase!

Then, just lazed around the ship until it was time to leave.

Paul got a dose of the sun and didn't come to dinner tonight, but I went because their famous French Onion Soup was on the menu and I wasn't going to miss that!