And so just like that, we left our home for the last year, putting the Land of the Long White Cloud in our rearview mirror, so to speak. It was bittersweet to leave, as we’ve had so many great times, seen so much amazing scenery, and in particular, have met so many tremendous people this year. But at the same time, we hadn’t been doing too much in Auckland besides going to the beach for the past few weeks, so it did feel like time to get back on the road. It’s also tough to feel too bad when you’ve got your ticket punched for French Polynesia, so there you are. 
The warm waters at Mahina
Before leaving NZ, we did some cursory research on French Polynesia, which we can sum up for you pretty quickly: it’s composed of heaps of small, remote islands in a big ocean, it’s gorgeous, it’s useful to know French there, and it’s expensive as. To be honest, if not for Couchsurfing, we probably would have been much more hesitant to go there, as the guidebooks are sure to let you know that anything worth doing is tres cher in Polynesia, owing to the fact that everything must come a long, long way to get there.
Stay out of the bamboo!
Thus, when we looked up CSing hosts in French Polynesia, we were pleasantly surprised to see quite a few hosts for such a small and far-flung place. As is our usual practice, we sent a bunch of emails, got a few replies, made plans to meet some CSers, and mostly left it at that. I’ve gone back and counted the times we’ve said this, and this is now the thousandth time, but wow did we get lucky with the people we CSed with in FP. Perhaps it is simply French hospitality or a laid-back and generous attitude due to living in a tropical paradise, but we were blown away by the warmth of all our new CSing friends. Our karmic travel debt continues to mount.
Andrew takes in the stunning coastline
After an uneventful 5-hour hop from NZ, we landed in Tahiti on Saturday afternoon, gaining back the day we’d lost earlier in the year. We’re more than OK with getting it back in Tahiti. We landed at Faa’a airport, where we were to meet our first host, Estelle, who was good enough to pick us up there. Unfortunately, when we went through customs, we didn’t have Estelle and her husband Dan’s address, so we only filled in their town, “Mahina” as the destination for our first night in FP, which was unsatisfactory for the customs agent. He wouldn’t let us leave the airport without meeting Estelle, who true to her word was there waiting for us, and was able to quickly assuage his concerns that we’d be sleeping on the beach, or pulling some other sorts of shenanigans.
Driving through FP’s capital of Papeete to their home in Mahina is a good way of rapidly disabusing one of the fantasy that Tahiti is just a sleepy, lush, tropical paradise untouched by the outside world. Malheursement, mais non! Even though Lonely Planet prepared us for the fact that it is substantially developed and populated place, we were still somewhat astonished at the dirty and congested nature of the town. We were most surprised to learn from Estelle that it can take an hour to drive less than 10 miles from Mahina to Papeete in morning rush hour traffic; congestion in paradise, eesh. Not to say that the whole of the island is all bad or anything, but Papeete isn’t anyone’s idea of paradise and is generally best swiftly passed through.
We spent two nights with Estelle, Dan and their two children Lou (aged 5) and Yanis (aged 2). When we arrived, the family took us to the local beach which was teeming with locals surfing, kayaking, and swimming in the warm afternoon ocean waves. After a year in NZ’s picturesque but chilly beaches, swimming in the tropics is pretty great. We can see why so many Kiwis take beach vacations in Fiji. That evening Dan made us a great chicken dinner and we slept very well. We later figured out that they’d given us their room, which was even more generous when you realize that their other bed wasn’t equipped with mosquito netting.
Becky was grateful to sleep underneath mosquito netting
The next morning Estelle took us and the kids to the local market in Papeete, which was packed with stalls of local fruits, fish, baked goods, and handcrafts. We spent an hour wandering through the stalls and sampling some of the products. Apparently, the market starts very early in the morning and even though we arrived by what we thought was a very reasonable 8:00 AM, many of the stalls had already closed.
The bustling morning market in downtown Papeete
Later in the day, Estelle and Dan were kind enough to let us borrow their car to do a tour around the island. It’s been a bit of an adjustment being back on the right-hand side of the road, but we’ll figure it out before too long. Tahiti gets increasingly quieter and more rural as you venture away from the traffic and noise of Papeete, and seems to be chockful of black-sand beaches filled with surfers catching some of the Tahiti’s famed waves. We went for a quick hike to visit some waterfalls, to the delight of the mosquitoes, who found Becky to be on the menu.
A cascading waterfall in Tahiti
In the evening, we went into Papeete with the whole family to have dinner at the Roulottes, or trucks, in Vaiete Square. In Tahiti, it’s common to see these trucks parked along the roadside, serving takeaway food, mainly fish or Chinese dishes, to the locals. At the square these trucks are concentrated in one area along the waterfront and feature tables with wait service. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of grilled mahi mahi and really enjoyed the ambience of the setting. Unfortunately, a tropical rainstorm brought our meal to an abrupt end, reminding us that we were visiting FP in the beginning of its rainy season, sending us diving under some nearby awnings.
The Roulottes, before the rain
Our stay with the Dellanoys was a great time, and we really enjoyed our conversations with the family in spite of a slight language barrier (it’s always good to have a French-English dictionary close at hand!), and they spoiled us with their hospitality. Between the roast chicken dinner, dinner at the Roulottes, a lunch featuring local delicacies including cru, which is prepared with citrus juice and coconut milk, and allowing us to borrw their car, they went so above and beyond the call of CSing duty! They are just a lovely family and made our first few days in Tahiti a memorable experience.
Andrew and Becky with the Dellanoys
The next morning we mastered the local bus system when Estelle dropped us off at a bus stop on her way to work. We had a lot of luggage with us, so we had decided to unload some of it at the airport instead of carrying it around the islands over the next few days. The rainy season was really making its presence felt, so we felt lucky to be waiting under one of the few covered bus stops. We successfully made it into Papeete but had to change buses to get out to the airport. Unfortunately, as soon as we got out of the first bus, the rain really started to come down. We were soaked by the time we got on our second “bus,” which was a relic of the old “Le Truck” system on Tahiti. These trucks are a throwback to an earlier day in public transportation in Tahiti and are certainly rustic, with a low ceiling and bench rows lining the back of a large flatbed truck. Using our mastery of the French language, “L’airport, s’il vou plait”, we managed to get there and finally unload our bags.
Our next stop was to meet our next CS hosts. When we decided to go to FP our research showed that the best plan is to leave Tahiti for one of the smaller, nicer islands. We had decided to visit Moorea, Tahiti’s sister island, and were extremely lucky to find another CS host on the island. We met Sebastien and Zouzou in Papeete at the pearl shop where Sebastien works. They were another great couple – friendly, enthusiastic, and extremely helpful. Zouzou helped us by our ferry tickets and then we were on our way to Moorea.
Moorea has a much smaller population than Tahiti and is certainly more scenic. There are beautiful white sand beaches, stunning lagoons, and a gorgeous mountain interior. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much of this during our few days there as everything was quite often covered in clouds and soaked in rain. Still, we had a great time in Moorea, again largely due to our CS hosts. Zouzouz acted as our personal tour guide, driving us around the entire island (which took a little over an hour) and stopping at all the points of interest. When the weather cleared, she took us to the local beaches and other scenic areas. As in Fiji, we enjoyed some snorkeling among the coral and tropical fish just meters from the water’s edge, and soaking in the warm tropical water.
The interior mountains on Moorea
In the evenings, we were treated to Sebastien’s delicious cooking. He likes to prepare the local delicacies, including various raw fish dishes. We’re normally not sushi fanatics, but his cooking, combined with the freshness of the tuna, could convert many people, we suspect. Sebastien and Zouzou both spoke English very well, and they were terrific to talk to, having had their share of travel adventures. We would have loved to spend more time with them on Moorea, and will perhaps have to come back again sometime when it’s not the rainy season, and after they’ve built their modern Polynesian home. We can dream, can’t we?
We enjoy a delicious dinner with Sebastien and Zouzouz
After a few mostly rainy days away from Tahiti, we ferried back and met our third and last FP CS host, Thibault, at the docks. Thibault, who is from Versailles, works as a controller for a subsidiary of a French firm in FP, and his girlfriend, Ellie, makes modern lamps from driftwood found on Tahitian beaches. Cool lamps, but only in FP, as the cost of shipping just about anywhere eclipses the price of the lamps themselves. They live in Punaauia, down the west coast of Tahiti, near one of the few white-sand beaches on the island.
The white sand beach at Punaauia
We spent a day and a half with them, and they were just tremendous hosts as well. We shared Hinanos (local Tahitian lager, don’t worry, I bought plenty of merchandise as souvenirs) with them and their friends on their cozy porch, and Ellie prepared a delicious shrimp curry on the night we stayed there. The next day, our last in FP, was thankfully dry, and we enjoyed the white sand beaches for our last time before our imminent return to the northern hemisphere winter. With a flight at 8:30 pm, Ellie gave us a ride to the airport, where we met up with Thibault and enjoyed a few more Hinanos at the airport cafeteria with them.
These over water bungalows cost beaucoup bucks in French Polynesia
We were sad to get to only spend a few days with our last CS hosts, but we keep finding ourselves saying that these days. Despite having almost no plan for how we were going to spend 5 days in Tahiti, we had a most excellent time, meeting some great CSers and enjoying many of the best parts of FP without having to spend a fortune at a hotel in Bora Bora. We really lucked out in Tahiti and have CSing to thank for it – Couchsurfing, you’ve done it again, cheers to all our new friends in French Polynesia!
Having one last Hinano at the airport with Thibault and Eli
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