Tahiti

Tahiti
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We spent the day today in Tahiti. Our lecturer expert on French Polynesia, Heidi, with whom we have also become good friends, told us that if we were only to spend the day in Papeete, we would not be happy with Tahiti. To really appreciate the island you have to go out of town and take the only road inland, which after about five miles becomes impassable for a normal car and we really would need a four wheel drive. Since Tahiti is her home, she offered to arrange a four wheel drive vehicle for us to rent, but she was unable to find one. So we decided to do this anyway and just rent a normal car. On the day before we invited our fearsome three-some to join us - Terry Waite, Paul (comedian) and Sandro (concert pianist) in our rental car to see the island. When we met in the morning to go ashore, Terry opted out because, really for him, walking is difficult since he was tortured when he was held hostage by being beaten with chains on the bottom of his feet. Sandro needed to practice the piano so only Paul joined us in our rental car. We had a hilarious time together.

Alida and Dick having fun
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Heidi had told us where the only road leading to the interior was as well as other sights to see, so we set off. She was right – this island is truly spectacularly beautiful. We found the road which follows the river to the interior and also found a park with several beautiful waterfalls cascading down steep mountains.

Few average people speak English on the island so Alida’s fluent French was very important to help us get around.

Occasionally we learn new expressions from our friends onboard. Here’s the one for today: “All you know is all you know, until you learn something new”.