Just to let everyone know that we are alive and very well in sunny French Polynesia. We have set up our little tent on Moorea and have our own little stretch of beach and excellent snorkeling opportunities right on our doorstep. Luckily the price of stuff is not as high as we had been led to believe but its still stretching our pockets.

We are putting up some notices in the yacht clubs to try and get passage to New Zealand by working as crew so keep your fingers crossed for us.

We will bring you up to date on what else happens in due course.

Monday 2nd......No change as yet, we are VERY relaxed and in no particular hurry to go anywhere. We are still keeping hopeful that we will get work on a yacht to New Zealand and we have a contact so we'll see.

After leaving the rain soaked isle of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) we were looking forward to the sunny part of French Polynesia but not the associated prices. We had heard that French Polynesia is the second most expensive country in the world so cheap accommodation would be a must. Our plane landed at approximately 11pm. By then all the buses had finished running so we asked a taxi how much it would be for the 15 minute ride into Papeete town. He wanted around 18 pounds which would leave us about 5 quid to live off for the rest of the day. By this time we had got talking to the only other backpacker on the plane, German guy called Cirrus (or as I thought he said Zeus which is what I called him for the next two weeks). We decided that this price was far too high and thought about walking into town. We found that we could not do this as it was along a motorway so I suggested that as we all had sleeping bags and roll mats that we find a nice quiet verge at the side of the airport parking and sleep there until sunrise when we could get a bus into town.

We found the darkest area behind some bushes to avoid the night time security turfing us out. Sadly the lack of light also meant that I did not find the fox (?) poo that I ended up rolling in during the night. I found out about this in the morning, when, even after leaving our sleeping area I was trawling around a nasty niff. A quick change of clothes and a wash in the airport toilet and it was off into town.

The prices of the accommodation in our guidebook were extortionate so after we remortgaged our house to buy a meagre sandwich and a bottle of water we took the short ferry ride to the nearby island of Moorea to track down some of the only camping available. As it turned out Moorea is a lot quieter and less hectic than Tahiti so after setting our tent up under the shade of a huge tree in the campsite we headed to the beach which was no more than 20ft away from our tent flaps for a well earned swim and relaxation.

For our first couple of days we really didn't do much on the island. The small supermarket was within walking distance and as we were cooking all our own meals and making our own entertainment during the day we started to relax and not worry about the cost of everything and we could just about stay in our budget. When we were tired of laying around in hammocks or on the beach we could simply put on our snorkelling gear and head out to the reef which was right on our doorstep. This was the first time that I had ever snorkelled around coral and was amazed at the many different types of fish that could be seen. When I had got used to snorkelling we headed a bit further round the island to a spot that we had been told there was an abundance of marine life. This was true but we also had a bonus sighting of two hugely overweight women and one scrawny guy snorkelling completely in the buff! No I tell a lie… No clothes apart from a straw hat on the man! I said to Katie I was glad that I didn't have prescription lenses in my snorkel mask as I surfaced to see one of the huge orca sized women splashing around in the shallows with legs akimbo.

A couple of times during our stay we headed back to Tahiti on the ferry in order to post some of our "Crew Available" notices around the marinas. We had come up with an idea of sailing to New Zealand in lieu of flying and therefore hopefully saving ourselves the 2500 pound airfare.

We had had a chance encounter with an English lady called Carole on our first day on the island who was possibly looking for crew on board her Catamaran but as I was smelling faintly of fox poo and we both hadn't showered for 36hours we thought we might have blown it. Anyway we managed to get her email address and eventually we got to see her on board her boat.

She seemed happy with what she saw and said that she would let us know her decision. We headed back to Moorea to await her reply. All the lying around on beaches and generally doing nothing started to take toll on us so one day we hired some bikes. The island of Moorea has basically one road that runs round the perimeter of the island. This road is 62km and we reckoned that this would be a good way of getting some well-needed exercise. We set out with the sun beating down on our backs. We regularly stopped for a drink and to take in the breathtaking scenery. We stopped in two huge bays on the way. Opunohu bay and Cooks bay. Apparently Captain Cook never actually anchored in the bay named after him and weighed anchor in the less scenic but still impressive Opunohu bay but for the picture postcards they named the more scenic looking bay after him.

Around the corner from Cooks bay is "Fruits of Moorea". This was where they process all the pineapples and other delicious tropical fruits that can be found on the island. We had been tipped off that any weary traveller passing can drop into their factory for a free taster and a chance to buy chilled cartons of the juice. With the temperature fast approaching the mid thirty degree mark we couldn't resist so we pulled in just about the same time as a couple of tour parties. Now I don't know if the staff there thought we were part of the tour (even if we were more dishevelled and sweaty than everyone else) but when we got to the tasting bar in the shop for our free tastes we were able to sample the fruity shots of alcohol there ranging from 8% to 25% volume absolutely gratis. We quaffed our 8 different shots, purchased the most tasty pineapple juice we have ever had and wobbled off to complete the rest of our bike ride.

Around half distance we stopped at the beach for a cooling dip and relaxation and then it was a simple 30km ride back to the camp site. As I was riding along I became increasingly aware that Katie was slipping further back. At one point I tried to emulate the smiling photo I had taken in the morning looking back from my bike to hers. On closer inspection of the final phot Katie could be seen signalling me with two fingers. It was time for a rest and a team pep talk. The next 20km was a real grind and as the camp site came into view Katie managed to muster enough strength for a sprint finish before getting off the bike and cursing the seat, the pedals, the gears and anything else that sprung to mind!

A couple of days rest soon saw us right and we decided then to tackle the cross island walk. Up to the Three Coconut Pass and back over to the other side. Our Lonely Planet (or lying planet as it was fastly becoming known) told us about the position of the trailhead and described the walk in its entirety. When we trekked up to the start we found that the path was hideously overgrown and hadn't been used for many years. We decided that we should continue to the lookout and at least we would get a good look over the two bays. On arrival, after taking in the view, we took a path that led off from the rear of the lookout and after following this for a couple of hours we actually found ourselves miraculously at the top of the "three coconut pass". The views from the top on the knife edge ridge were amazing being able to see both sides of the island at once. Apparently on a clear day you can see some of the surrounding islands on the horizon but we weren't lucky enough to see them no matter how hard we strained our eyes. Another two hour trek saw us back at sea level on the opposite side of the island. A small walk and 3 hitched rides later we were back at our tent ready to throw ourselves in the sea and cool off.

The next day we had a good bit of news… Carole from the Catamaran Sonadora was prepared to take us on as crew to New Zealand so as a celebration we splashed out and bought a rotisserie chicken and chips for tea and even washed it down with a beer. To hell with the budget! The next few days before we joined the yacht were spent snorkelling and generally enjoying being on solid ground when sleeping. We have a feeling that we might be bobbing up and down on the briny sea for a while after leaving peaceful Moorea.