Back to civilization for three short nights! Papeete, the main city in Tahiti Nui (the large island), felt HUGE after spending time in the Cooks! We arrived at night and were picked up by the hotel's owner Beni, a super friendly and helpful Swiss guy. He informed us that since we'd arrived on a Saturday night, we'd be best off to rent a car the following day as everything was going to be closed and we'd have nothing to do.

We walked along the waterfront to an area where the roulettes (food trucks) all gather for some cheap and delicious eats. Brian was happy to discover that the main fare there was Chinese, so we had some chow mein and a crepe and got an early night's sleep.

We woke up early for the Sunday market- a farmer's market that runs from 4:00-8:00 am allowing everyone to make it to 10:00 church service. The market was big and coulourful and loaded with tropical fruit!! Hooray for mangoes and passion fruits!! We stocked up on lunch foods and then waited for our rental car to pick us up. Being on island time, it was late, but being of island hospitality, they gave us a discount to compensate; all worked out well.

We drove down the west coast of the big island, stopping at maraes (temple ruins), black sand beaches, and botanical gardens. Then we headed down to the bottom of Tahiti Iti (the little island) to see Teahupoo's giant waves; there's a reason it's the surf capital of the world! We then continued our circle up the beautiful east coast which was filled with more black sand beaches, an odd blow hole, and the spot where Captain Cook first landed on Tahiti and the infamous mutiny of the Bounty took place. All in all it was an excellent day other than the off and on rain. Sadly, the rain became more of a problem when we decided to walk for dinner. We spent almost half an hour trapped under the only shelter we could see while a torrential downpour took its time. I'm still cursing the fact that we forgot our rain jackets in Toronto!!

We spent the next day on a 4x4 tour through the interior of the island. We had been super excited about the tour, but ended up quite disappointed. Oh well, not everything can be perfect! We'd expected more hiking and information, but in reality we were just driven up and down mountains while breathing in the diesel fumes and being shaken around. Dinner back at the roulettes made the day better than it started and another great sleep put all to right.

Right now, we're on the plane to Huahine for our next island adventure.

Ia Orana!! (apparently the French don't like the 'K' that the Cooks use for hospitality)