In the Tahitian sun & then back to OZ.

After taking an incredible time to get through customs we were finally re-united with our dear friends Karen & Jean Chong after a period of some 9 years, it was so nice to see them after such a long break, unfortunately they had been waiting at the airport some nearly 2 hours & it was still only 7.30am when we finally gathered our luggage from the carousel.

While the girls obviously chatted about a miriad of things in Karen's car I went with Jean in his. Going into Papeete I noticed a big change in the overall landscape as many new buildings had been completed & the waterfront had undergone a real transformation.

The docking facilities for cruise ships had been upgraded quite extensively plus a much improved area on the seafront for " les roulettes " which are the mobile food vans that set up each night in this area & operate until about 1.00am in the morning.

I also noticed that the overall look of the city centre had been noticeably cleaned up compared to our last visit when the whole area looked decidedly run-down. It was nice to get to Karen & Jeans' & relax for the rest of the day & take a dip in their very inviting pool. Jean also prepared us a lovely lunch of " piosson cru " which is a meal of raw fish marinated in lime juice with chopped up tomato & onion, it is really moorish.

We spent the next couple of days re-discovering Papeete & went to the market in town to once again mingle with the locals selling their wares whether it be fruit & vege, jewellery, baskets, shell leis or meat & poultry, still a great market with plenty of choices. From there it was a quick trip to the Sheraton Hotel to see the Polynesian Jewellery Exhibition which was a stunning display of some superb creations, most of them out of our price range but the girls still managed to get a couple of nice items for the collection.

The next few days saw us relaxing in the pool as it was particularly hot & humid so the pool offered soothing relief from the heat. We did venture out to take a trip around the island just to see what changes had taken place & were sad to see that a lot of the lovely views of the ocean have now been blocked out by high fences that have been put up for security reasons, such a pity as some of the views out to Moorea were picture postcard stuff & now you only get fleeting glances of this beautiful creation.

We continued around the island stopping for a welcome beer at the golf club before driving down to the world renowned surf break at Teahupu where some of the world's best waves crash down onto the rocky reef during the Winter months in Tahiti, unfortunately we missed out this day as the waves were quite docile & not very rideable. We left a little disappointed & made it back to the house & relaxed for the remainder of the day.

Over the next couple of days we managed to catch up with some of our friends from my squash coaching days back in 1980 namely Franck Valgresy, Henri Yansaud, Ronnie Simon & his lovely wife Marie Therese we all enjoyed a lovely lunch at one of the many Chinese restaurants that operate around the town area of Papeete.

We were also lucky enough to be invited to a Tahitian ceremony at Jean's church which was really unique as there was no musical backing just the beautiful voices of the chior resonating throughout the church quite a treat.

The parishiners had also gone to a lot of trouble to decorate the interior with woven palm fronds, bougainvillea, hibiscus as well as the amazing bouquet of the tiare flower ( which is used in the flower caronne or crown of the dancing festivals ), & later during the mass people brought many different gifts such as coconuts, taro, yams, tomatoes, mangoes & other gifts to place in front of the altar as an offering to the " Almighty ".

To make it more special the Bishop said part of the mass in the Paumotu language which is the main language spoken in the Tuamotu Islands so I'm sure that they were impressed that he had learnt to communcate to them in their native tongue, I must say that the whole scene was great & it was a very special privelidge to be part of this particular ceremony.

We were also priveliged to share Chinese New Year with the whole Chong family with Jean doing all the preparation & cooking, there was so much to pick from I'm sure that he was expecting the rest of Papeete to turn up for this most fabulous feast.

A couple of days later Sara & I joined up with Ronnie for a quick 9 holes of golf ( Sara drove the golf cart ), it was a very enjoyable morning made even nicer by the surrounding views of the mountains & the lush fairways but thought that 9 holes were enough as Marie - Therese was preparing a Tahitian feast for us back at their house.

The view from the rear of their house was just superb with the back of their property lapping the water while in the distance one could see the waves breaking on the reef while in the background the the mountains on the smaller Tahiti Iti sloped their way down to the water's edge - all quite spectacular.

The lunch turned out to be a very " local " affair with many different Tahitian dishes set up around quite a large table including poisson cru, marinated mollusc from the pearl shell, fafaruu ( this is fish placed in a gourd for 4 to 6 weeks & left in the sun ) & then it is ready for consumption, if you can overcome the overwhelming smell it is a real delicacy, but it is not for everyone.
There was also a spicy chicken done with taro & yams, garlic prawns, mussels, large dish of bar-b-qued calamari, shredded chicken with Tahitian spinach, poi ( pawpaw ) suckling pork with an exotic vegetable dish done with coconut milk, absolutely fantastic, by the time we had finished lunch we were all lying around like beached whales.

Unfortunately our time had once again come to an end in paradise, we said our goodbyes to Karen that night as she was leaving early in the morning for Sydney on a 5.00am Air Tahiti Nui flight where she was seeing her son Moava before he headed off to Kapooka Army base to commence his basic training, we would catch up later on our way through Sydney on our way to Melbourne.

W e said our goodbyes to Jean & thanked him for his hospitality & for getting us to the airport, it was great to see Franck Valgresy there to see us off. We hoped that we could all catch up in the near future either here or back in OZ.

We were quickly through security & soon boarding our flight to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, we left on time at 7.00am. As we took off we grabbed our last glimpse of the amazing island of Moorea with its craggy peaks & beautiful bays surrounded by various reefs with rolling surf breaking on to their lagoons with some of the most superb shades of blue & green that make up these island paradises.

Tahiti was soon a wonderful distant memory so we just sat back & enjoyed the flight to Rarotonga & Auckland, at least this time the crew were friendly so the time past very quickly.
We had a couple of hours in Auckland so we made sure that we bought our " duty free " allowances before boarding our flight to Brisbane.

Our flight touched down a little ahead of schedule at 4.30pm & we were soon exchanging hugs & kisses with Kim ( Sara's sister ) & her husband Keith, the talking continued unabated from the time we picked up our luggage until we arrived back at their house, once there we relaxed with a very welcome cool drink.

After nearly 8 months away we could finally sit down & reflect on what we had managed to see & do during that time, as well as having the opportunity to stay in the Loire Valley for 4 months at Mareuil-sur-Cher we used our time to see all of the immediate area around us which included visiting all the major Chateaux.

During our time there we travelled extensively throughout the valley visiting some of the most lovely villages one could ever imagine to see, we also enjoyed the feel of a small village while living in a genuine " longere " farmhouse complete with our own vegie garden & fruit trees all very civilised & certainly a once in a lifetime experience for which we thank Joe & Kerin McGirr
for giving us the opportunity to persue a long held dream.

We thoroughly recommend that if any of our friends have the same opportunity to spend some time in this beautiful part of the world they should grab it with both hands as we now have lasting memories that will be with us for many years to come.

A special thankyou from both of us to our special friends Roger & Christiane ( Paris ), Jerry & Carol ( Salt Lake City ), Dave & Geri ( Tucson ) & finally Karen & Jean in Tahiti for allowing us to stay in their houses it was certainly great to see you all again, we just hope that we can repay all of you in Australia in the near future.

We hope that the blogger has been informative & has given you a closer look at what we were experiencing as it was certainly a lot of fun compiling it for all our friends, until next time whenever that may be our love & best wishes go out to you all,

Au revoir a bientot, Harv & Sara.

Salt Lake City & back to Tucson.

We were all still a buzz after the Cirque du Soleil performance of last night as we sat down for a nice breakfast in the MGM Restaurant. We sated our appetites, grabbed our bags & headed for Vegas Airport. Dave & Geri left us there to catch our flight to Salt Lake City before they headed for their long drive back to Tucson.

We were eagerly awaiting our arrival in SLC as it had been some 27 years since we had last seen Carol & Jerry Allen back in our Bougainville days. We landed at 3.15 pm & quickly had our luggage in hand. Carol & Jerry both looked fantastic & had hardly changed at all in those ensuing years- it was great seeing them after all this time it was just like we had never been apart.

After nice big hugs & kisses we took a drive into the city centre to re -orient ourselves since our last visit back in 1978, unfortunately the city is far bigger & busier since those days. We drove back through the outlying suburbs ( which had all developed since our last visit ) finally making to the Allens where we sat & reminicsed for the rest of the afternoon. We all went out for a nice meal at the local " Applebees " restaurant before settling down for some late night catch-up stories.

After a late start we took a drive around the surrounding lower slopes & discovered some really fantastic houses snuggled into the hillside with most of them having spectacular views back over Salt Lake. Later in the afternoon we watched our first Super Bowl final between the Indianapolis Colts & Chicago Bears. After leading 16-14 at half time the Colts through their dominant quarter-back Peyton Manning pulled away to win 29-17. Even though I didn't fully understand the rules of the game it was very entertaining to watch a full match, we certainly came away with a better understanding of the game. Half-time entertainment was from " Prince " but I'm afraid that some of the impact was lost because of an average sound coming from the arena.

We had another late start to Heber City before stopping at " Sundance " ski lodge owned by Robert Redford for a coffee ( we were a little disappointed as he wasn't there ) before heading off to Park City which is another very popular town for snow skiing. It is a lovely town with such a cute main street which is all heritage listed & maintains an 1880's facade on all the buildings. We decided that it was better to stay in Park City for dinner before heading back to SLC.

We spent the next afternoon driving past the Kennecott mine & part of the Great Salt Lake before returning home as we had Jerry's daughter Cathy & her husband Russell coming for dinner, we had another lovely meal prepared by Carol & the night & company turned out to be very nice indeed.

Unfortunately our time had come to an end and we said goodbye to our friends Carol & Jerry & hoped that we could catch up much sooner either in OZ or in the US. It was one of the special reunions of our travels around the world, it was just terrific to see them both looking so well.

Over the next couple of days we just lazed around the house in the nice temperate climate of Tucson, during this time we had a 2 hour walk into the neighboring Pima Canyon which was very good exercise for the legs.

We had a special last night in Tucson at the Westward Way Resort at the " Gold Room "
restaurant. We had a beautiful setting looking back over the Tucson city lights, backed up with a succulent & very imaginative meal, all very nice.

Our day of departure had finally come, Geri prepared yet another lovely lunch before our trip to the airport. This was an even harder goodbye as Dave & Geri had done so much for us during our stay there we look forward to repaying the favour back in OZ in the near future. We left nearly 90 minutes late out of Tucson but had time up our sleeve in Los Angeles so that was OK.

Another lengthy security check saw us finally through to get our Air NZ flight to Papeete. Like all longer legs on a plane it was quite boring & to make things worse the Air NZ staff were quite morose & very unfriendly. It is the only airline that we have travelled on that only provided dinner during this 9.5 hr leg, about 3.00 am a sandwich was offered with a glass of water- nothing else, very poor Air NZ. We arrived about 45 minutes late into Papeete at 6.15am.