Just a quick one to let everyone know we have arrived safe and sound on Easter Island. Our tent is up and we have amazing views of the ocean from our camp site. This place isn´t actually as expensive as we were expecting so we don´t have to live on fallen fruit after all, which is a relief! We´ve hired a scooter for a couple of days to get around the sights of the island and have already seen several stone heads and the Island so far lives up to its reputation. More to follow, love to all. X

Day 1, We arrived in Hanga Roa after a nice flight, albeit delayed for 3 hours. A representative from the camp site was at the airport so we got a ride the 500 metre or so distance. The camp site sits on a peninsular with waves crashing from the open ocean and really is a lovely setting and not to far from the only (small) town and main road. We wandered to the supermarket to find dinner, cooked it, then retired to our tent to start the morning afresh.

Day 2, During the morning we took another walk into town to get our bearings. We searched through the miriad of rental companies to find the cheapest deal for hiring a scooter and took an early lunch. During our search the weather really cleared and with beautifull blue skies over our heads we took a walk up the inactive Rano Kau volcano. From here you can see both sides of the island and really get an idea that you are in the middle of nowhere as when you look out to see there is nothing but the curvature of the earth to see over the ocean. Rano Kau was the first volcano to erupt out of the ocean starting the creation of the island of volcanic material. The crater that we climbed up to is 1km across and in the bottom many native plants that can only be found in this particular part of the island are protected from the elements by the surrounding crater walls. The depth of the crater has created a microclimate in the bottom and the only surviving specimen of the Toromiro tree in the world can be found here.

A short walk from the crater is the ancient village of Orongo. Here the small stone houses are set into the hillside looking out over the ocean. Also there are many examples of the petroglyphs carved into the rocks in the village. Another hours walk back down the volcano back through the eucalyptus forest we were back at the campsite and ready for dinner.

Day 3, First things first, we collected our scooter from the hire place in town which would be our transport for the next three days. We called it Runty (long story) and we wasted no time; after packing a lunch, in allowing Runty to take us to the far reaches of the island. Along the coastal road there are many examples of stone heads, some restored, some still left toppled and some empty platforms where they would have stood facing inland. The first was Hanga Teé, a single standing Moai (head) and since this was our first glimpse we were well impressed. Further on we found more, mostly toppled or damaged heads, including the so called ´hats´that were made from a different rust coloured rock and originally rested on top of many of the heads. Some have been restored but not all. Our furthest point of travel took us to the fifteen heads, Tongariki, an impressive row of heads restored on their original platform in an amazing setting. They all face away from the sea and although they have matching expressions, vary in height and to some extent, shape. We sat a contemplated for a while, having our packed lunch and waiting for the crowds to leave before taking our photos. There were also horses that live wild sauntering about which added to the atmosphere. As we were leaving it started to rain but we weren´t bothered until it started to REALLY rain, with winds to match we hopped off the bike a scuttled for the shelter of a cave. It turned out to be the perfect place to wait out the shower and we were soon on our way.

5 minutes up the road from the site of the 15 Maoi was Rano Raraku. This is another extinct volcano but the face of this one is where the Moai have been quarried for the island. Both the outer and inside face of the volcano are covered with 390 finished and semi finished Moai. Some are still in-situ having not been completely carved away from the rock. Some are laying down and some have been stood up. There are ones that are just heads, some that are bodies and heads and some even that are half buried in the ground giving the impression that they have just raised their heads to peek out from the grass. The quarry was an amazing place with great views of the island and almost an overdose of stone heads. Once we had finished there it was getting on a bit so it was back to our humble canvas cover to see what tommorow had in store.

Day 4, During the night the weather had taken a turn for the worse. During the morning, over breakfast, it got worse still and the days tent casualties started. People were appearing with soaking wet sleeping bags and generally peaved looking faces! After a while the winds died down and the rain stopped. we took advantage of this and headed over the island to the other side to check out Easter Islands only beach, Anakena. Nearly all of the island has some sort of cliff or rockface at its edge but this area has a nice sandy beach and palm trees as you would expect to see on a South Pacific island but with the addition of 5 Moai. Whilst exploring the area the rain started and the winds picked up. We sheltered, hoping that it would pass as it did the previous day but it only seemed to get worse. There was nothing for it but to bite the bullet and head back to the campsite. Twos-up on a scooter in a tropical storm is not an experience that either of us would like to repeat and at some points the ride the wind was so strong it had slowed the bike from its usual cruising speed of 80kph to 20kph!

The rest of the day was a write-off as we sat in the kitchen drying our stuff off watching tents succumb to mother nature. Some flooded, some ripped and some flooded and ripped. Our little tent stood strong! The relentless rain and wind carried on throughout the night and we were lulled to sleep with the sounds of crashing waves and driving rain.

Day 5, The wind had dropped but the rain remained and we were in no rush to get wet again. We had a leisurely breakfast and sat around chatting with the other campers for a bit. A recent arrival at the airport brought some more camping customers and we watched as they put up their tents, slyly putting bets on which ones would go first if the wind and rain got back to the standards of the previous day! Actually it looked like the weather would improve as the day went on so we headed off to see the remaining sights and get the most from Runty. Ahu Akivi is the only set of moai that face the ocean and nobody actually knows why. The road to the site, being unpaved had got hurrendously wet and muddy during the downpours meaning we had a pretty slippery ride up there but we made it in time to snap a couple photos before the rain re-started and we went back to camp. After lunch the rain really did stop and the sky actually cleared so we headed back to the same place, took some more photos then rode further along the track in search of the ´cave of two windows´ we had been told about. At some point we abandonned Runty to walk the remainder of the track as we had just one too many close calls to landing in deep mud. The cave entrance looked like nothing more than a small hole in the ground but once it had been sqeezed through it opened up into an open space with two windows in the edge of the cliff, waves crashing below. The many caves on the island were created by air pockets in volcanic lava as it hit the ocean and set, pretty cool!

The day was deemed a success as we had ticked off our final sight on our island wish list. The following day we would be returning Runty, and awaiting our evening flight to Tahiti.