Escape to Vanilla Island

I've washed up here looking for such uncomplicated simplicity. I grew up 1000 kilometres south-west of here in the Cook Islands and, three decades later, I'm looking for an island in French Polynesia that might approximate the magic and simplicity of my childhood memories. I've come seeking cultural immersion, not the homogenous tourist experience that often comes with five-star service. It's ironic that the more professional holiday destinations become, the more often they lose the qualities that made us want to visit in the first place.

French Polynesia comprises 118 islands, of which Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora receive about 80 per cent of all visitors to the territory. There are 65 inhabited islands in the territory, many of which can be accessed only by infrequent, costly flights.

Tahaa, however, is an inexpensive 40-minute direct flight north-west of Tahiti and there are eight flights a day, followed by a 15-minute boat ride. It's quite possible to feel like the last person on Earth just an hour or so's travelling time from the capital, Papeete.

I disembark on the island of Raiatea and we glide across the lagoon to Tahaa. It's just a few metres deep in places, making it easy to see the manta rays and technicoloured fish that dart in front of our vessel's bow. Waves break on the distant reef and yachts loll in the lagoon. Bora Bora looms on the horizon but it's the villages and undeveloped hinterland of Tahaa in the foreground that hold my eye.

I'm set down at the island's main wharf and escorted tomy pension, which has overhead fans, mosquito nets and a hand-thatched roof – refreshingly simple after the glamour of a five-star Tahiti resort last night.

I quickly find a routine that's hard to break. It starts with a breakfast of fruit – coconut, banana and pawpaw sweeter than candy. Then a swim – the humidity requires frequent lagoon immersion. There are cars and mopeds to hire but I discover speed is a wasted commodity on Tahaa; touring by bicycle opens the island to me. There are 70 kilometres of sealed roads on the island. I pass vanilla plantations (three-quarters of French Polynesia's vanilla comes from Tahaa, otherwise known as "Vanilla Island") and their perfume hangs in the air.

Though there is less to do on Tahaa than more developed tropical destinations, I find my days fill quickly. I spend my time talking to locals, riding my bike, snorkelling and reading. Most of the island's activity is focused on copra. By the lagoon, people hack at coconut shells drying in the sun. It's hard, physical activity and the workers appear happy to be distracted by passersby.

English is not as common as on Tahiti, which creates an isolation that can either enhance your desert-island fantasies or bring on loneliness.

On Tahaa, it seems everyone is known by what they do best. Big Leo, who I meet one day brandishing a machete on his family's coconut plantation, is famous for his ability to catch mahimahi, Polynesia's most prized game fish. On a good day, Leo says he can land 50 15-kilogram fish. Thierry, who I meet beside a pearl farm, is the "Tahaa turtle". He's unloading 60 of the largest sea cucumbers I've ever seen from his tinny. He tells me he dives to depths of 22 metres without oxygen and can make more than $600 a day selling sea cucumbers to Chinese buyers. But he risks his life to do so, holding his breath 50 times a day for up to three-and-a-half minutes each time.

I ask if he worries about dying. "Six hundred dollars a day," he says by way of an answer. Life is tough on Tahaa and many, including Maurice the farmer, worry about their children's future. "Everybody is wanting to go to Tahiti," Maurice says. "Many of our people go to work, too, in Bora Bora. It's easy there, no coconuts. "I understand, Iwent to Tahiti but I came back, there were so many stresses. I hope my children see life is better here."

I discover pleasure in the simplest of pursuits; I pass through eight villages (the largest village, Patio, has just 1500 people) and I start to see subtle differences in how each community functions. At night, there's little to do but share drinks with locals at one of two main public bars (there are more in the island's resorts) and study the night sky. One evening I count 19 shooting stars in an hour.

The hour before dusk is my favourite time. Beside the lagoon, which mirrors the changing colours of the evening sky, people play petanque. They're silent, intense games, played by Polynesians with angry tattoos but gentle faces. The smell of those things so unmistakably Polynesian – wild ginger, salt, vanilla, backyard burn-off – lingers on the breeze. Somewhere close a dance troupe rehearses to a frenetic drum beat.

I can see Bora Bora from where I sit at sunset and can imagine honeymooners sitting down to five-course meals. I'm happy to slip away soon to my pension for a hearty feed of fish caught today by Big Leo, the coconut farmer, and listen to the lagoon slap against the shore. Later, stars will shoot in a clear night sky – all the luxury anyone ever really needs in Polynesia.

FAST FACTS
Getting there Air Tahiti Nui flies to Raiatea from Sydney for about $1530 low-season return: on Qantas to Auckland (3hr), Air Tahiti Nui to Papeete (5hr), then Air Tahiti via Bora Bora (1hr). Melbourne passengers fly Emirates to Auckland and then on to Raiatea as above and pay about the same fare. Most schedules require an overnight stop in Papeete both ways. There are two 15-minute boat shuttle services operating daily to Tahaa from Raiatea and a taxi-boat service.

Staying there Accommodation on Tahaa ranges fromsimple pensions from $200 a night to five-star resorts out on the motu, such as Le Tahaa Island Resort & Spa with rooms from $1000 a night (room only); see letahaa.com. Tahiti Travel Connection has seven-night packages in Tahiti and Tahaa from $2621 a person, twin share, including domestic and internal airfares, two nights' accommodation at Papeete in the Hotel Tahiti Nui, five nights' accommodation with half board daily in Tahaa at L'Hibiscus Tahaa in a garden bungalow, land transfers and taxes. Valid for travel until December 21. Phone 1300 858 305, see www.tahititravel.com.au. For more information, phone 1300 655 563 or see tahitinow.com.au.

Craig Tansley travelled courtesy of Tahiti Tourism.