Tahiti

We have been in Tahiti and surroundings for the last month and what a little paradise they have got here... Its not even that expensive!

Dear Papeete, which everyone says is chaotic and messy I must disagree completely. Its a pleasure and so easy to get around downtown. The Paofai gardens are gorgeous, the local market delightful and you can have delicious meals at the local Roulettes (food hawkers in converted vans) for very reasonable prices.

We are now in a free mooring ball in front of Marina Taina, have free dinghy access to the marina premisses, free water and a bus right in front. Carrefour (massive supermarket) is a 2 minute walk and we can even bring the trolleys all the way to the dinghy dock and not worry about returning it! How is that? To be completely honest I really don't believe we have been this well treated in ages!

Well the whole bond thing is a f%#k up and cost an arm and a leg (you have to deposit a return tkt to your home country, NZ$4000 in our case which they refund you when you leave in local currency)with all fees and terrible exchange they provide. But we could have saved us a lot of hassle if we were so not against using agents... it would have saved us a lot of time and money. So apart from all this this is nothing short of paradise.

Since we arrived we have caught up with quite a few of Russell's old windsurfing mates and they have been nothing short of lovely to us. Jean Claude and his lovely family have showed us around, throw Russ in a windsurf board for the first time in 13 years and provided us with a lovely dinner. Thierry has lent Russ is million dollar views workshop just up the hill from where our boat is. There Russ got all the toys he can dream of to construct our new rudder. By the way, the infamous rudder has eventually washed ashore in Kauehi, apparently it was in pretty good nick but the people that saw it didn't know it belonged to us and left it where they found it. If it wasn't over 400 miles up wind to get it... anyhow Russ is half way into the project. The blade is made and the casing is half done. Russ believes one more week and we will be ready to go again.

Mike and Adi along with Nathan, Jeannie and Ruby Secker have been and gone, we had a blast with all of them. It was all a bit rushed with Mike and Ads as they only had 2 weeks - we are used to have them around for way longer! But we managed to fit in a bit of everything for them: rough sailing, the shits, tahitian dancing and tahitian rum, a local hangi, some small and huge scary waves, including some dodgy pass experiences, loads of snorkeling and some standboard paddling which we all loved. Brisa loved their company and there wasn't one day she didn't invade their room in the mornings to give Adi (her adored Adi.. she still asks about you babes...) a good morning kiss and make a complete mess on their bed. Sorry guys, its her territory too!

With the Seckers we had some lovely high class times, loved the car rides, girly talks and Russell's semi organized excursions that always ended up well because he has his back protected by some higher power. The Seckers gave us an update on what's going on in NZ and the sad state of affairs in Christchurch and how the city and its people are trying to cope. We loved and adored all our talks and plays with Rubs our lovely Star. Brisa is mad keen on you girl, another name she still mentions even after 2 weeks! Especially when I am putting a dvd on, she asks about "ubil, ubil"?

So after a month of much socializing and carefree life, we are back in the grind of cruising life, fixing things, cleaning, organizing, planning and finding things to complain in our near perfect life... We are shameless like that.

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