24th February

7th - 15th February - Papeete, Tahiti

Arrived late on the main island of Tahiti and were immediately ripped off by a very short, very expensive cab ride to the Radisson resort in Arue Bay. Never mind that, our hotel room was gorgeous with a pool and sea view, and we were staying put for a whole week. Lovely, a mini break amidst our maxi break. Just what I needed. I unpacked enthusiastically and searched through rucksack contents for any one item of clothing, let alone an outfit, that belonged in this resort. Umm, no luck. The gypsies had arrived. They probably thought we had nicked a credit card. We spent the majority of time lying by the poolside under the shade of a palm tree or jumping giant surf at the beach.
We took a day trip to neighbouring island, Moorea, which was absolutely beautiful. We hired a Peugeot 106, the smallest car the world, and within half a day had navigated our way around the whole island, visited the scenic view point, swum in a beautiful bay with white sand beaches and had an ice cream. A lovely day out.

We also hired a car on Tahiti and toured around most of the island. Although not nearly as attractive as Moorea, we stopped at a lovely beach along the way. We visited the Gaugin museum and learnt about his travels and time in Tahiti. He was a bit of a lad by all accounts.

We enjoyed our nightly natural spectacular over a cocktail.

Sadly, the Tahitians were not a friendly lot. There was a real edge to the main town of Papeete. However, we did brave it for one evening with new found friends, an Ozzie called Joy and the lovely Kiwis, Paddy and Phil. We went for a luxury meal at the Roulette, or Vans, a gathering of fast food caravans which are apparently typically Tahitian. It was great to spend less than 50 quid on dinner as far as we were concerned and tucked into greasy noodles very enthusiastically. From there we headed to the only open night club in town. What a spectacle - the yellow haired, giant moustached DJ presided over his illuminated, multicoloured dance floor, whilst the boys tried to repel the local ladies of the night. All great entertainment!!

From speaking to local Tahitians, the island is experiencing some real social issues, particularly problems with drugs. Of course, it is all down to the French!!

If we had our time again, we would head out to the Tahitian islands (when not on a budget)rather than spending a week in Tahiti. That said, I did not tire of the sea view from our balcony or the luxury of our hotel room and had a thoroughly relaxing week. An overly expensive, but lovely mini-break!

Facts about Tahiti:-

Modern Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island of French Polynesia.

Tahitians are French citizens with full civil and political rights. The Tahitian language and the French language are both in use.

Tourism is a significant industry, mostly to the islands of Bora Bora and Moorea.

Black pearl farming is also a substantial source of revenues, most of the pearls being exported to Japan, Europe and the US.

Tahiti History

Tahiti was estimated to have settled by Polynesians between AD 300 and 800 coming from Tonga and Samoa, although some estimates place the date earlier. The fertile island soil combined with fishing provided ample food for the population.

In 1774 Captain James Cook visited the island, and estimated the population at that time to be some 200,000. This was probably too high; another estimate from the same period was 121,500. After Cook's visit, European ships landed on the island with ever greater frequency. The best-known of these ships was HMS Bounty, whose crew mutinied shortly after leaving Tahiti in 1789. The European influence caused significant disruption to the traditional society, by bringing prostitution, venereal diseases, and alcohol to the island. Introduced diseases including typhus and smallpox killed so many Tahitians that by 1797, the island's population was only about 16,000. Later it was to drop as low as 6,000.

In 1842, a European crisis involving Morocco escalated between France and Great Britain when Admiral Dupetit Thouars, acting independently of the French government, was able to convince Tahiti's Queen Pomare IV to accept a French protectorate. George Pritchard, a Birmingham-born missionary and acting British Consul, had been away at the time of the agreement. However he returned to work towards indoctrinating the locals against the Roman Catholic French. In November 1843, Dupetit-Thouars (again completely on his own initiative) landed sailors on the island, formally annexing it to France. He then proceeded to throw Pritchard into prison, subsequently sending him unceremoniously back to Britain.