Hi everyone! Salut from the South Pacific Islands of Tahiti & Moorea. Although the largest and most famous of the French Polynesian islands, all advice suggested we leave Tahiti asap and get out to the other islands. This being the case, we booked on a 6am flight to Moorea, and consequently spent the night at the airport, having arrived in Tahiti at 11pm. We cleared immigration quickly (hooray for the EU!), grabbed our bags, and scoured the airport for the best sleeping spot. We bagsied a bench big enough for both of us and our bags. 5* luxury it was not, but we got through the night with a couple of hours' sleep, and we saw a lovely sunrise as we flew to Moorea the next morning. Our hostel, Chez Nelson, was located on the other side of the island from the airport, so we donned our backpacks and walked up to the main road to wait for the bus. We waited...and waited...and waited some more...but it never came. Begrudgingly, we got into one of the many taxis that had been passing us by for the previous two hours. The route to the hostel followed the coast, allowing us to appreciate the island's spectacular scenery, with turquoise clear waters on one side and lush green mountains on the other. Chez Nelson was located right on the island's main stretch of beach, and after checking in, we were straight down there. It was only a narrow strip of sand, and the sea was shallow and rocky; however, it was these exact same features that made the setting so picture-perfect. In the distance, waves crashed against the coral reef, and the deep blue of the ocean and white froth of the waves framed the calm turquoise waters of the lagoon, which stretched from the reef to the white sand beach, lined with tall coconut trees, leaning out towards the sunshine...aaahhhh! What better spot for recharging our batteries? After a relaxing day's sunbathing, a cold shower was just the ticket to wake us up before heading out to dinner - just as well, as the hostel had no hot water! We opted for a restaurant serving traditional french cuisine, as although Argentine steak is second-to-none, the French sure have a way with theirs! The next day, we decided to explore the local area and, true to form, we ended up having a drink poolside in the Intercontinental's Beachcomber Resort. While here, we also checked out the "Dolphin Encounter" and turtle sanctuary. It was all very peaceful and calm. Back at the hostel later that afternoon, we got chatting to Jimmy & Jacques, a couple of locals. It was great to both be able to laugh and talk with no language barriers, and our french can't have been too bad, as they thought we were French Canadian. It was during this conversation that the great "palmiers/cocotiers" debate took place. Kirstie was disillusioned to find out that the things "leaning out towards the sunshine" were in fact coconut trees, and not palm trees as she had hereto believed. K has always loved 'palm trees', still, as Z pointed out "a rose by any other name..." and all that; now K loves coconut trees too!!! Jimmy offered us a free snorkelling trip on the lagoon the following day, but this offer was changed to an ultimatum, after we mentioned we might be going to a disco at the Intercontinental that evening (ie. disco or lagoon trip). No one tells us what we can and can't do in such a manner...so we cut the conversation short...and went to the disco! Lagoon trip off, we spent the day at Les Tipaniers, a resort up the coast. We had lunch at their beachside restaurant, and were lucky enough to see a couple of stingrays swimming back and forth among the rocks below as we dined. Our exercise for the afternoon was an hour's kayaking. We had a spot of bother steering our 2-(wo)man kayak; we blamed the fact we kept going round in circles and grounding ourselves on coral reefs on the winds/currents/tides/the kayak itself...or perhaps we just need more practice! Back on the restaurant balcony, we watched the sun set behind the motu (small lagoon island) we had just kayaked around. The sky turned amazing shades of orange & pink - we should have photographic evidence soon...if they come out OK. The next morning we left Moorea behind and flew to the less touristy island of Huahine...more on this to follow soon! Hope you are all well! love, Kirstie & Zena