This was published 15 years ago
Polynesian wonderland
Air Tahiti Nui is launching flights from Sydney to Tahiti. Susan Gough Henly discovers why you simply must book a flight.
By Susan Gough Henly
It is heart-warming seeing the bemused smiles of grey-haired men the first time a Tahitian lei is draped over their shoulders. Perfumed with the elusive musky scent of the tiare, the delicate creamy white Tahitian gardenia, these leis may be ubiquitous but they never fail to enchant.
As my husband and I meander our way between several islands of the Society and Tuamoto archipelagos of French Polynesia, these leis are never far away while we read and sun ourselves on the decks of our over-water bungalows. Their subtle scents are like messages from a better world.
This is not just a tourist affectation. Virile young Polynesian men sport the tiare flower over their right ears, on the opposite side to their hearts, to indicate they are available. Ageless long-haired women wear tiare and bougainvillea crowns at the market in Papeete or out to Sunday lunch. No one needs an excuse to adorn their bodies with frangipani, deep-pink ginger fronds, coral hibiscus and always the tiny white, proud Tahitian national flower.
For those who have not set foot on one of the 118 islands that make up French Polynesia, it hovers like a mirage of white-sand-ringed motus (small offshore islands) swimming in lagoons whose colours range from turquoise to teal to deep violet. (I wonder whether the Tahitians have as many words for green and blue as the Eskimos have for snow.)
There are the coconut palms, the outriggers and the pirogue long canoes, the blue Tahitian pearls, and the gorgeous women who've entranced visitors since the times of William Bligh and Captain Cook and who've seduced the likes of Gauguin, Melville and Brando. French Polynesia defines idyllic escapism, yet it is wasteful to think of it as merely the idyll of honeymooners.
We decide on a combination of adventure and relaxation, wandering all over the main island of Tahiti in addition to staying on an outer high volcanic island and a coral atoll. This way we can view the kaleidoscope of sapphire sea and swirling reefs from the air and arrive in tiny open thatched-cottage airports to the welcome of Tahitian string bands, and, of course, more tiare leis. Only then do we realise just how much ocean French Polynesia covers, indeed an area larger than Europe, four million square kilometres of water over which five archipelagos are scattered like jewels from a careless giant's purse.
We arrive on a balmy tropical evening at the Intercontinental Resort as a ute drives off with four young Tahitian women sitting in the back, their long tresses touching the bumper bar. Slender-hipped barefoot porters in orange pareos take our luggage.
Early next morning, our guide Carl Emery smooth-talked us around his native Tahiti in French and Ocker (his mother is French/Australian, his merchant marine father from the US). At the Papeete market, we see rows of parrot fish on ice, laugh with breast-feeding mothers, buy plump grapefruit and lychees and fat green bananas, ogle huge slabs of crimson tuna, smell the sweet flowers in hair garlands. At the Paofai Protestant Temple, groups of women, dressed in demure high-necked lacy muu-muus and brightly coloured straw hats, take turns singing a capella praises to God, transfixing those of us who grew up on a diet of dirge-like hymnal music.
We discover grottos the size of football fields, locals playing chess and grilling lobster on black sand beaches and long sinuous waterfalls descending from mist-shrouded volcanic peaks. Beside the Point Venus Lighthouse built by Robert Louis Stevenson's father, we see the Captain Cook monument marking his failed attempt at astronomy in the Antipodes. Apparently his men neglected to guard his instruments for measuring the Transit of Venus because they were too busy copulating with the locals.
SPEAKING of which, we visit the Gauguin museum, not, unfortunately, to view his vivid portraits of teenage muses as none of his paintings remain in Tahiti. However we get the general gist of things looking at a model of his house of pleasure and learn about his lust for the primitive at the turn of the 19th century, far from the madding stockbroker life in Paris where he left his wife and five children.
The scent of vanilla permeates the air as we leave the airport at Raiatea, the first island settled by the Polynesians. The highlight here is a Polynesian dance performance by local families to the accompaniment of drums, guitars and ukuleles. Girls dressed in green pandanus skirts and adorned with fragrant tiare, frangipani and ginger flowers lead us, with swaying bodies and undulating arms, over the seas in search of new islands. Laughing young men in white pareos and tiare leis dance with curvaceous black pareo-clad women, their pearl shell belts catching the light as they swirl their hips to the rhythms of the sea.
Nestled in a lush garden on the edge of a coral-lined lagoon, the Hawaiki Nui Hotel feels both classy and local. The bungalows are authentic: walls of pandanus, stucco and stones, roofs of thatch, queen-size beds facing directly out to sea. Outside, a deck, a fresh-water shower and stairs leading down to explore the balmy water filled with multicoloured parrot fish and sea perch darting over purple coral.
We swim, snorkel, kayak to a nearby motu and ride Marquesan ponies high up on the lush green hills draped in bamboo, avocado, grapefruit and noni, the tropical plant that reportedly has cancer-curing properties. And over the course of a day, local guide Lyses Terooatea reveals to us that beauty takes time to evolve in this tropical paradise.
We visit a pearl farm, a tiny aqua shack at the end of a long narrow jetty in the teal lagoon, beside which huge black-lipped oyster shells dangle from lines in the nutrient-rich transparent waters. They take at least three years to secrete their luminous crystalline nacre over a grafted mother-of-pearl bead to create iridescent pearls ranging from smoky blue to gold to aubergine.
And we marvel at the cradle of Polynesian culture, the ancient royal ceremonial marae of Taputapuatea, built of massive coral slabs. Warrior canoes came and went through the sacred reef passage here to Hawaii, Samoa and New Zealand. In a prosaic modern equivalent, we also find yachties stocking up on supplies at the nearby bustling port of Uturoa, a sailboat chartering hub.
The pink-sand coral atoll of Tikehau would have to fulfil everyone's island fantasy. The name Tikehau, which means peaceful landing, really encompasses a ring of islands around a large turquoise lagoon, which Jacques Cousteau described as having more fish than anywhere on the planet. Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort offers luxurious spacious over-water and beach-side bungalows in natural muted tones so that the shimmering azure of the water and electric hues of the fish get front-stage billing.
We snorkel between our over-water bungalow and the beach on the way to tropical breakfasts; recline on chaise longues in the shallows of the cerulean lagoon, tiny translucent fish tickling our toes; sleep in hammocks strung between palm trees; and paddle yellow kayaks to deserted beaches.
We visit the bird island sanctuary with Dan, a local pirogue rowing champion. He shows us the frigates, the pacific reef herons, the curlews and the masked boobys, some guarding their babies, others laying eggs that sit, proudly nest-less, in tree branches.
For adventure, there's a dive to the Passe de Tuheiva where yellow butterfly fish swim in front of our masks and giant barracouta and manta ray sashay into the cobalt blue depths.
So many colours, so little time.
TRIP NOTES
· Getting there: Tahiti is seven hours by air from Sydney. Air Tahiti Nui commences its twice-weekly direct flights to Papeete on July 9. Phone: 9244 2799, or see http://www.airtahitinui.com. Air Tahiti is the domestic carrier between Tahiti and the outer islands.
· Accommodation: Tahiti and Her Islands offer accommodation to suit all budgets from small pension lodgings to international resorts.
The Intercontinental Resort Tahiti is five minutes from Papeete International Airport. The five-star resort offers deluxe rooms and over-water bungalows, extensive recreational activities, two restaurants and a swim-up bar. See http://www.tahiti.interconti.com.
Hotel Raiatea Hawaiki Nui on Raiatea has 28 bungalows and garden rooms, pool, diving centre, kayaks, bicycles and boat trips.
Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort offers 38 bungalows, pool, diving centre, kayaks and boat trips.
· A sample package:
Five nights at the Tikehau Pearl Beach Resort and two nights at the Intercontinental Resort Tahiti includes return economy class flights from Sydney with Air Tahiti Nui, all transfers and free breakfast and dinner daily at Tikehau. From $3289. Conditions apply.
· Season: The dry season is from May to November with an average daily temperature of 27 degrees.
In Papeete, eat poisson cru and barbecued veal at the open-air roulettes and check out the inter-island pirogue canoe races and the Polynesian choral and dance groups in July.
For more information on Tahiti and her Islands, including latest deals, phone Tahiti Tourisme on 9281 6020 or 1300 655 563, or see www.tahiti-tourisme.com.au.
The writer was a guest of Air Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Tourisme.
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