To view our travel-blog in date order, click on the link of the post you wish to start reading (eg Bon Voyage) and when you get to the bottom of the page, click "Newer Post". Enjoy!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Our Big OE 2007
To view our travel-blog in date order, click on the link of the post you wish to start reading (eg Bon Voyage) and when you get to the bottom of the page, click "Newer Post". Enjoy!
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Home Again
... and surprisingly (perhaps not) I didn't feel any different. I did spare a thought that we were exactly half a world away from Greenwich. I changed the time on my camera and cellphone to make it seem more significant.
We landed at Auckland feeling almost, but not quite, at home. We transferred our luggage and walked the short distance between International and Domestic terminals. McDonalds was looking like a very desirable option for lunch so we had a big meal and remarked how cheap everything was at home. There was a short wait before we boarded our plane so we had a quick look around the shops first.
The ride from Auckland to Christchurch went well about from a little turbulence leaving Auckland. Will seemed to be getting excited about the prospect of seeing all of his family again and he sat and enjoyed the ride. After the flights we had been on, these short hops back to Dunedin were just a bus ride in comparison.
Our plane landed in Christchurch and we turned the corner and pretty much boarded our last plane almost immediately. It was a little ATR72 plane that we had never enjoyed in the past but this last trip was a breeze. There were heaps of seats free so we spread ourselves around the front of the plane and watched the sun setting as we flew above the clouds. Almost as soon as we reached the top we were making the descent again. Before we knew it we broke through the clouds and saw the flickering lights of Dunedin city welcoming us home again.
We landed at Dunedin airport and disembarked. We picked up almost our entire luggage except for our carseat which must not have made the transfer in Christchurch. Granny bay arrived to pick us up and Will clutched on to her like a koala beer. We borrowed a carseat from the airport (a brand new Phil & Ted’s) and we were on our way home to our house and Winston.
Will fell asleep in the car just before Mosgiel and my efforts to keep him awake were in vain. We were greeted at our house with a big welcome home party which was really sweet and a wonderful way to end the trip. We were so glad to finally be home again.
We landed at Auckland feeling almost, but not quite, at home. We transferred our luggage and walked the short distance between International and Domestic terminals. McDonalds was looking like a very desirable option for lunch so we had a big meal and remarked how cheap everything was at home. There was a short wait before we boarded our plane so we had a quick look around the shops first.
The ride from Auckland to Christchurch went well about from a little turbulence leaving Auckland. Will seemed to be getting excited about the prospect of seeing all of his family again and he sat and enjoyed the ride. After the flights we had been on, these short hops back to Dunedin were just a bus ride in comparison.
Our plane landed in Christchurch and we turned the corner and pretty much boarded our last plane almost immediately. It was a little ATR72 plane that we had never enjoyed in the past but this last trip was a breeze. There were heaps of seats free so we spread ourselves around the front of the plane and watched the sun setting as we flew above the clouds. Almost as soon as we reached the top we were making the descent again. Before we knew it we broke through the clouds and saw the flickering lights of Dunedin city welcoming us home again.
We landed at Dunedin airport and disembarked. We picked up almost our entire luggage except for our carseat which must not have made the transfer in Christchurch. Granny bay arrived to pick us up and Will clutched on to her like a koala beer. We borrowed a carseat from the airport (a brand new Phil & Ted’s) and we were on our way home to our house and Winston.
Will fell asleep in the car just before Mosgiel and my efforts to keep him awake were in vain. We were greeted at our house with a big welcome home party which was really sweet and a wonderful way to end the trip. We were so glad to finally be home again.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Tahiti to New Zealand
We all woke up just before the alarm. We checked out and made our way down the hill and across the road to the luggage storage facility and picked up our gear. Check in was fairly slow but we were fortunate to be near the front of the ever increasing queue. The temperature was rising rapidly as the sun came up and the fans struggled to keep the air circulating over the queue. We were glad to make it through passport control and in to the air conditioned waiting lounge.
Will discovered a playground area in the lounge that had slides and a big house for kids to play in. It was surrounded by sofa seats and so we dumped all our gear and set him loose. He ran around for over an hour going up and down the slides, climbing over the walls of the house and attempting to speak to some of the French kids. He found a girl who looked about five years old that he kept going over to and giving her hugs while she stroked his hair which was very cute to watch.
We boarded our plane and after a little bit of noise and some French toast for breakfast Will settled down and started to get sleepy. He listened to the “Small, small world” recording on my cellphone several times before dropping off to sleep still clutching it tightly. We packed him into his bassinet and he slept for a couple of hours while we watched Astronaut Farmer and several episodes of various American TV sitcoms. Somewhere over the Pacific, our plane crossed the International Date Line...
Will discovered a playground area in the lounge that had slides and a big house for kids to play in. It was surrounded by sofa seats and so we dumped all our gear and set him loose. He ran around for over an hour going up and down the slides, climbing over the walls of the house and attempting to speak to some of the French kids. He found a girl who looked about five years old that he kept going over to and giving her hugs while she stroked his hair which was very cute to watch.
We boarded our plane and after a little bit of noise and some French toast for breakfast Will settled down and started to get sleepy. He listened to the “Small, small world” recording on my cellphone several times before dropping off to sleep still clutching it tightly. We packed him into his bassinet and he slept for a couple of hours while we watched Astronaut Farmer and several episodes of various American TV sitcoms. Somewhere over the Pacific, our plane crossed the International Date Line...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Tahiti
Will woke up in the middle of the night and started kicking around a bit. He woke up and asked to come into “Daddy’s bed” which we made the mistake of obliging him with. He lay there for a bit before waking up proper and jumping around. He didn’t go back to sleep easily but after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing between his bed and ours, he eventually went back to sleep. After the broken sleep in the middle of the night, we slept in and were almost too late for breakfast.
We had another continental breakfast before checking out. We had a fantastic time at Pension Motu Iti that we will recommend it to everyone we can. We waited outside for a bus which was about quarter of an hour later than we expected but we still had enough time to catch our ferry. The ride back felt bumpier than the ride in but maybe we were too tired to notice the first time.
The ferry ride back across to Tahiti was definitely more turbulent than the first crossing and Lou started to feel very ill. I sat with Will and amused him with his LeapPad and a pack of lollies of which I ran out of just before we made land. We decided we would check our luggage into our accommodation before we went shopping so we tried to find Le Truck going the other way. The bizarre thing was, noone seemed to know where we should catch it from and we crossed the road at least three times asking various bus drivers before Lou finally got sick of it and went to an Information centre for help. It turns out that Le Trucks leave from a depot a couple of blocks into the island which we would never have found by ourselves. Soon we were on our way to Faa’a.
The Tahiti Airport Motel is situated on the hill directly across the road from the airport and is half way up a dodgy driveway that looks as though someone drove a concrete mixer to the top of the hill and simply poured it down to make the road. I was a bit apprehensive about it but my fears were not justified as the room was very nice - tidy, spacious and air conditioned as well as a good view back across the island towards Papaete. We unpacked our gear and popped into the storage facility to pick up a few things (most importantly the adapter and hair straighteners) before catching Le Truck back into the city.
We wandered into the market and marvelled at the number of Tahitian pearls for sale. I wanted to buy one for Mum but got a bit pearled out and couldn’t decide on the one I wanted. We bought a bongo drum and some vanilla pods for ourselves and we all shared a drink from a coconut. Since Will hadn’t slept he became quite cranky and demanded to be set free from his pram. We told him we would find a playground for him and that made him happy.
Down the main street was a pearl shop that we had passed earlier and we finally found a pearl for Mum that we all liked. We bought some postcards and stamps before walking to the McDonalds we saw from Le Truck earlier. We set Will free into the playground and bought him some chippies which he frequently came back to. We walked further up the road to the Champion supermarket for some dinner then we caught Le Truck back to the motel.
In our room we enjoyed our dinner of French bread, soft cheeses and salami washing it down with glasses of mango juice and yoghurt drink. Will didn’t complain when I put him in his bed and he fell asleep almost immediately. There was absolutely nothing on TV (apparently this goes for all French television) so we packed up all our gear finished off our dinner. I set my alarm for 5:00 in the morning to give us enough time to get sorted and we went to sleep around 9:00.
We had another continental breakfast before checking out. We had a fantastic time at Pension Motu Iti that we will recommend it to everyone we can. We waited outside for a bus which was about quarter of an hour later than we expected but we still had enough time to catch our ferry. The ride back felt bumpier than the ride in but maybe we were too tired to notice the first time.
The ferry ride back across to Tahiti was definitely more turbulent than the first crossing and Lou started to feel very ill. I sat with Will and amused him with his LeapPad and a pack of lollies of which I ran out of just before we made land. We decided we would check our luggage into our accommodation before we went shopping so we tried to find Le Truck going the other way. The bizarre thing was, noone seemed to know where we should catch it from and we crossed the road at least three times asking various bus drivers before Lou finally got sick of it and went to an Information centre for help. It turns out that Le Trucks leave from a depot a couple of blocks into the island which we would never have found by ourselves. Soon we were on our way to Faa’a.
The Tahiti Airport Motel is situated on the hill directly across the road from the airport and is half way up a dodgy driveway that looks as though someone drove a concrete mixer to the top of the hill and simply poured it down to make the road. I was a bit apprehensive about it but my fears were not justified as the room was very nice - tidy, spacious and air conditioned as well as a good view back across the island towards Papaete. We unpacked our gear and popped into the storage facility to pick up a few things (most importantly the adapter and hair straighteners) before catching Le Truck back into the city.
We wandered into the market and marvelled at the number of Tahitian pearls for sale. I wanted to buy one for Mum but got a bit pearled out and couldn’t decide on the one I wanted. We bought a bongo drum and some vanilla pods for ourselves and we all shared a drink from a coconut. Since Will hadn’t slept he became quite cranky and demanded to be set free from his pram. We told him we would find a playground for him and that made him happy.
Down the main street was a pearl shop that we had passed earlier and we finally found a pearl for Mum that we all liked. We bought some postcards and stamps before walking to the McDonalds we saw from Le Truck earlier. We set Will free into the playground and bought him some chippies which he frequently came back to. We walked further up the road to the Champion supermarket for some dinner then we caught Le Truck back to the motel.
In our room we enjoyed our dinner of French bread, soft cheeses and salami washing it down with glasses of mango juice and yoghurt drink. Will didn’t complain when I put him in his bed and he fell asleep almost immediately. There was absolutely nothing on TV (apparently this goes for all French television) so we packed up all our gear finished off our dinner. I set my alarm for 5:00 in the morning to give us enough time to get sorted and we went to sleep around 9:00.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Moorea
Everyone had a good long sleep and we all woke up at 6:00. We emerged from our mosquito netted beds and enjoyed a lovely continental breakfast at the restaurant. I used the internet to catch up on our emailing and after borrowing a mask and snorkel we went for a walk around to the nearest beach which was a good couple of kilometres away. I was horrified to discover that I had left the power adapter in storage back on Tahiti so the search began to find some way of recharging our devices.
The beach was almost deserted and the water was perfect for some snorkelling. We spent a couple of hours underwater looking at all the tropical fish swimming around our ankles and the coral. We used our underwater camera to take a few photos but we will have to wait until we get back to NZ to get them developed. There was a colourful little fish that took quite a fascination to me and it followed me around wherever I went.
We left the beach as it started to get packed and the heat was getting more intense. I was delighted to see a pair of exposed breasts on the beach – an apparently common sight on the Tahitian islands! We went back home and had another swim before putting Will down for a sleep. It took him quite a while as either he was too hot or he was too cold when we moved the fan in front of his cot. Eventually we found the right combination of sleepsuit and speed of fan and Will finally dropped off.
The wind had picked up in the afternoon and the water was a bit cooler for our next swim. Will enjoyed jumping off the wharf into my arms and he got another mouthful of tasty water when he jumped off once without warning. We met a Welsh doctor on the island whose roommate had an English-Continental adapter so I managed to use it in tandem with my NZ-English adapter to charge up my camera and laptop. We enjoyed our meal so much last night that we had the same again. I sampled a glass of Hinano, the beer of Tahiti, which went down very well indeed and we went to bed feeling full and happy.
The beach was almost deserted and the water was perfect for some snorkelling. We spent a couple of hours underwater looking at all the tropical fish swimming around our ankles and the coral. We used our underwater camera to take a few photos but we will have to wait until we get back to NZ to get them developed. There was a colourful little fish that took quite a fascination to me and it followed me around wherever I went.
We left the beach as it started to get packed and the heat was getting more intense. I was delighted to see a pair of exposed breasts on the beach – an apparently common sight on the Tahitian islands! We went back home and had another swim before putting Will down for a sleep. It took him quite a while as either he was too hot or he was too cold when we moved the fan in front of his cot. Eventually we found the right combination of sleepsuit and speed of fan and Will finally dropped off.
The wind had picked up in the afternoon and the water was a bit cooler for our next swim. Will enjoyed jumping off the wharf into my arms and he got another mouthful of tasty water when he jumped off once without warning. We met a Welsh doctor on the island whose roommate had an English-Continental adapter so I managed to use it in tandem with my NZ-English adapter to charge up my camera and laptop. We enjoyed our meal so much last night that we had the same again. I sampled a glass of Hinano, the beer of Tahiti, which went down very well indeed and we went to bed feeling full and happy.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Los Angeles to Moorea
We were seated quite early but the plane was inexplicably delayed for an hour before takeoff. Will had fallen asleep on me not long after we sat down and he became quite a dead weight. The plane took off and as soon as the seatbelt light went off I put him in the bassinet. He slept for two more hours before waking up. That was all we could get from him and the next five hours were a bit rough for everyone who were trying to sleep - including us. The Air NZ plane to LAX had a Winnie the Pooh game that Will absolutely loved but unfortunately the Air Tahiti Nui plane didn’t have that game which Will requested quite regularly. Needless to say we didn’t get a lot of sleep and we were relieved to finally arrive at Tahiti.
It was 5:30 in the morning when we got off the plane and Tahiti was quite warm even before the sun had risen. We figured out the conversion rate and extracted 20,000 XPF (around NZ$300) from the ATM. Before we left Scotland we had organised our luggage so we would only need one bag in Tahiti and we were happy to find a secure luggage storage facility just outside the airport where we put the rest of our bags.
The local equivalent of a bus pulled up to take us into town: Le Truck – pretty much a giant truck with seats in the back. We drove into Papaete and I was surprised to see the amount rush hour congestion. I thought that we would be able to walk around the island but Tahiti is a lot bigger than I expected. We hopped off outside the ferry terminal and took a quick look around the market before buying tickets to Moorea. We had a good hour to wait before the ferry so we popped into a café for a coffee and some pain au raisin.
The ferry trip to Moorea was smooth and the views were amazing. The water was a brilliant blue and you could see the fish swimming around in the shallow water. After half an hour we pulled into the terminal on Moorea and caught a bus around the island to our accommodation. It was a bumpy ride but it afforded amazing views of the water. Moorea is a much smaller island than Tahiti with a 62 km road right around the island. We arrived at Pension Motu Iti and sorted out our room. The Pension was located right on the waterfront with a sheltered wharf and a small beach and is also a fully functioning Pizzeria! This is very close to my idea of heaven…
The water was calm and clear so we jumped off the end of the wharf for a quick swim in the refreshingly lukewarm water. Will got a mouth full of water and after sampling it he declared “Tasty!” We had a cool shower and we all went down for a sleep. I woke up after an hour or two and left the family to sleep while I caught up on my log outside. A tropical downpour hit and I was impressed with the force of the rain as well as the clear blue skies accompanying it.
After a couple more hours I woke up Lou and Will so their sleeping patterns weren’t messed up and we went for a walk down the road. It was HOT so we headed back and chilled out before dinner. We had a pepperoni pizza and chippies and they were really good. The restaurant was sitting on the water’s edge and as the sun was setting the views of the horizon were beautiful. We crashed into bed early and everyone was asleep by 8:00.
It was 5:30 in the morning when we got off the plane and Tahiti was quite warm even before the sun had risen. We figured out the conversion rate and extracted 20,000 XPF (around NZ$300) from the ATM. Before we left Scotland we had organised our luggage so we would only need one bag in Tahiti and we were happy to find a secure luggage storage facility just outside the airport where we put the rest of our bags.
The local equivalent of a bus pulled up to take us into town: Le Truck – pretty much a giant truck with seats in the back. We drove into Papaete and I was surprised to see the amount rush hour congestion. I thought that we would be able to walk around the island but Tahiti is a lot bigger than I expected. We hopped off outside the ferry terminal and took a quick look around the market before buying tickets to Moorea. We had a good hour to wait before the ferry so we popped into a café for a coffee and some pain au raisin.
The ferry trip to Moorea was smooth and the views were amazing. The water was a brilliant blue and you could see the fish swimming around in the shallow water. After half an hour we pulled into the terminal on Moorea and caught a bus around the island to our accommodation. It was a bumpy ride but it afforded amazing views of the water. Moorea is a much smaller island than Tahiti with a 62 km road right around the island. We arrived at Pension Motu Iti and sorted out our room. The Pension was located right on the waterfront with a sheltered wharf and a small beach and is also a fully functioning Pizzeria! This is very close to my idea of heaven…
The water was calm and clear so we jumped off the end of the wharf for a quick swim in the refreshingly lukewarm water. Will got a mouth full of water and after sampling it he declared “Tasty!” We had a cool shower and we all went down for a sleep. I woke up after an hour or two and left the family to sleep while I caught up on my log outside. A tropical downpour hit and I was impressed with the force of the rain as well as the clear blue skies accompanying it.
After a couple more hours I woke up Lou and Will so their sleeping patterns weren’t messed up and we went for a walk down the road. It was HOT so we headed back and chilled out before dinner. We had a pepperoni pizza and chippies and they were really good. The restaurant was sitting on the water’s edge and as the sun was setting the views of the horizon were beautiful. We crashed into bed early and everyone was asleep by 8:00.
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