Day 13
We were up and about early so as to be ready for Rhondda at 10:30. She was right on time and was a real delight. She took us around town and showed us the local sights. She was full of fun information and treated us just like she had known us for years. She took us to a beach that had a lovely café where we had brunch. I ordered pancakes, but what that really meant was crepes, which was even more of a treat as I love crepes. Guy and Rhondda both had scrambled eggs and toast. Everything was all piled on top of each other. ;) We had a great conversation as Rhondda is a trauma nurse at Auckland’s largest hospital and apparently has a very important job there. She travels all over for work and pleasure and was full of great stories about her and her mom. After brunch she drove us around a bit more and headed for the airport. She hated to drop us off early, but we assured her that was just fine. We told Rhondda that next time we were in Auckland we’d call her and treat her to dinner. She said next time we come to Auckland we can stay at her house. What a sweet lady. I wish we had more time to spend with her. That just added to our already sad faces to leave New Zealand. What a magical place. Two weeks isn’t even close to being enough time to see it all. At least we have our bearings now and when we go back we’ll know where to fly in and out of better and how long it takes to get from one location to another.
It was a good thing we got there a bit early, because the line to check in for Air Tahiti Nui was LONG. We stood in line for well over an hour and by the time we went thru security, I had NO TIME TO SHOP FOR DUTY FREE ITEMS because our flight was already boarding! Bummer! But we loaded onto our plane, which was huge and I just don’t see how those suckers take off. It was a nice flight with only minor bumps and was only 4 ½ hours long. I had dinner, which was actually pretty good and watched two movies, only snoozing for about 45 minutes. It was dark when we arrived so we saw nothing, but I get a feeling it is like Jamaica….some shady areas that you’d have to watch out for and then your nice resorts. We got some money exchanged at the airport in Auckland so we could pay for a cab to the hotel. I asked the girl at the Tahiti airport how far away our hotel was and she said only about 15 minutes away and to take a taxi. When we got to the hotel, which only seemed like a 10 minute ride, the Sheraton was now a Hilton and we thought she’d brought us to the wrong hotel. But apparently they have just recently switched. The cab driver told us it would be 2800 Franks so we paid her that, but figured we were getting ripped off. We did as we later found out there are around 87 franks to the dollar. So our 10 minute cab ride cost us over $30. The guy who carried our bags to the room was walking out and I handed him 2 French coins and told him I had no idea how much I was giving him. He said that’s okay and “Thanks”. I’m still not sure how much I gave him. With that said, the hotel menu shows a club sandwich at about $21 USD. I did hear someone say it was really overpriced here. So with our big plans of sunbathing only, I don’t think we’ll rack up too much in expense here.
When we checked in they were not very nice here. Maybe they don’t care for Americans since they are French. Either way, our room is very nice with a hard wood floor and we are only here for the night. Tomorrow when we get up we are heading out for the boat ride to the other island where our “hut” is going to be waiting for us. The forecast said 30% chance for thunderstorms but I have a feeling it is like Florida where the hot afternoons stir up a few short showers. It is like 80 degrees here tonight at 10pm. Our plans for tomorrow are to be in our swimsuits all day then eat supper, sleep, then be in our swimsuits for as long as we can possibly stay. Our flight doesn’t leave until 11:30pm, so we’ll have to figure out what to do all evening.
So the weirdest part of today is we left Auckland at 3:30pm on Monday and arrived in Tahiti at 9pm Sunday. So somehow we backed up a day and we are thinking we are now only 4 hours difference from home time. That we can’t figure out. I try not to think about it, but I think I saw an old twilight zone show about it. Ha ha
Ok. No internet unless you pay for it, so I’ll try to find a wi fi spot tomorrow or pay for it when we get to the other location. Hope to get some great shots tomorrow of our hotel. I hope it is all we think it will be. :)
Cheers!