French Polynesia and the Cook Islands
May 2018 - Island hopping across the Pacific
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Ia Orana! We took the scenic route from New Zealand to Chile (on our way to Africa) via French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, and finally Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Wow!
Immediately after arriving on Moorea (near to Tahiti) we met cool locals who sang songs to welcome us to Polynesia. Great stuff! This place has a lot more going on than beaches, lagoons and volcanoes.
Ever since we moved to a South Pacific island (New Zealand's "Te Ika-a-Maui"), we've been keen to better understand the culture. Exploring other Polynesian islands helps. On Moorea, our (bad) French skills came in handy, but the locals now all want to practice English, as the unstoppable power of globalization reaches the most remote corners of the Earth. Aucun problème! Moorea is a very nice place. But that's not why we visited French Polynesia really (this time). After a week on Moorea, we boarded a cruise ship for a family reunion (Mom's idea)...
The best example of tourism gone mad is Bora Bora island, the world's premier playground for the wealthy. You can be sure that if Bora Bora locals sing songs to welcome tourists to Polynesia, they are doing so for money, a lot of money, not for aloha. We mostly enjoyed the postcard beauty from the lagoon, not the island itself (known as Boring Boring by locals who understand culture). Anyway, the cruise was fun, and we can now recommend going on a cruise as an excellent venue for a family reunion. Our ship also stopped at Rarotonga, one of the Cook Islands, a country connected with New Zealand through history and treaty, and a favorite place for Kiwis to go on holiday. Now we know why it's so popular! It's not quite as pretty as Boring Boring, but it has a nicer vibe.
This was our first cruise ever, and it will likely be our last cruise too. Great food and gorgeous island scenery with family and friends is a winning combination, but we prefer simple and cheap. Luxurious comfort is great but it's unnecessary, expensive, and it feels fake without authentic local culture, but it's hard to say no to Mom... The cruise ended and our family flew home, but we had to wait 6 more days for the next flight to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), so we chilled out some more on Tahiti island, not a bad way to kill time....
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