Climbing Mount Aorai, Papeete, Tahiti

(See: photo album of the same name.)

It all came together at the freezer section of the Carrefour grocery store.

We had all but given up on the idea of climbing Mount Aorai (2,066 metres). It is described as Tahiti's finest, with beautiful views, amazing trails, and rustic cabins to spend the night in, but the stumbling block was how to get to the beginning of the trail.

We needed to get to Hotel Belvedere, which is about 10 kms from Papeete. The guide book said that the hotel provides a shuttle bus which picks patrons up late morning and then takes them back down to the city around 8 pm. The bus is free, but it is expected that you have dinner at their restaurant. We called the restaurant to find out about the shuttle, only to learn that in no longer exists. There are no buses that go there and the taxi fare is so expensive that is was out of the question. Another thought we had was to rent a car, but the logistics of getting the rental and the cost of it was again, out of the question. So, we had decided that it wasn't going to work.

Back to the freezer section. Zoe, Maia and I were on land exploring. On our way home, we were going to pick up a few groceries. Our timing was perfect. As we entered the grocery store, along came Michael and Liam. We had left them on the boat trying to solve battery issues. The timing was perfect! I had wanted all of us to go shopping together because, thinking we were going to be leaving Tahiti soon, I'd planned to fill our freezer and I had wanted everyone's input. I had especially wanted Michael's input, as he is great at finding new and interesting foods.

Freezer diving was really not on Michael's agenda. He really wanted to get back to the boat, but I wanted his help. I soon realized though, that it was not perfect timing after all. It was going to be too stressful and much too rushed because Michael's mind was not on food, it was on the battery issues that had been plaguing us. I told him that he should go back and that the kids and I would decide what to buy.

At first, I don't think he believed me when I said that I would do it on my own. I had to repeat it many times, with each repetition a little stronger: no, really, I'll do it.....really, go back to the boat.....really, go!...no problem.....I'll do it!.....go back to the boat!!! We were so embroiled in our little dialogue that it was a bit of a surprise when we heard a woman's voice asking us, in English, if we needed any help. She said that she was passing by and heard us speaking English and thought maybe we needed assistance. I jokingly said asked her if she knew of a marriage counselor to help us figure out the frozen food issue! After a good laugh, her family, who had been standing a ways away with looks of 'there-goes-mom-again-talking-to-strangers', joined us.

We stood in the frozen food aisle for quite some time chatting with this family who had come from Belgium some 8 years before. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes into the conversation, when Kristel, the mom, invited our kids for a play day. Wow! Of course, the kids were thrilled, but I thought she was crazy!!!!

So, it was arranged that two days later she would come and pick the kids up at 10 am. Then at 5 she would pick Michael and me up to go and have dinner at their house. Wow, again!

Just before saying goodbye, Michael thought to ask if they knew of any way of getting to the base of the mountain at the Belvedere Hotel. They said that they didn't, but offered to drive us there and pick us up again. Triple wow! We were so overwhelmed by their generosity.

The kids spent a great day playing with Sara and Roos. They went to the pool, played Wii, did crafts and made jewelry. We had a fabulous beef fondue dinner on their patio overlooking the ocean and the island of Moorea. We talked a lot about the differences between living in Canada, Belgium, and Tahiti. It was great to learn so much about Tahiti. Conversation flowed easily, the kids played energetically and the evening passed much too quickly! See the 'Kids' Day at the Ottenbourg's photo album.

We definitely wanted to get together with this great family again, so we invited them to the boat for Liam's birthday celebration. Their dinner was on a Thursday and Liam's birthday was on the following Tuesday (See 'Liam's Birthday in Tahiti' photo album). The weekend between was the planned hike up the mountain.

We had make arrangements for Kristel's husband, Jan, to pick us up at 8 on Saturday morning, but due to a strong wind on Friday night, we needed to re-anchor on Saturday and we just wouldn't have had time to do that before 8 and be ready for the hike. We emailed Jan and Kristel to ask if we could switch to Sunday. No problem they answered and at 9 am, Jan came to get us. A quick stop to buy baguettes and at 9:30 we were unloading at the Belevdere Hotel.

In huge duffle bags, Michael and I carried all the sleeping gear: sleeping bags, warm clothes and rain gear and all other odds and ends. Thankfully, Julie and Graham had lent us their Therma-rest mats and we pulled together some other sleeping mats for the kids from on board Gromit. The kids carried the food and water. They had 4 litres of water each and the fixings for the 4 meals we would be eating. Lunch on the first day consisted of pre-cut cucumber, BBQ chicken breast with mayo on baguettes and dried apricots. Dinner was canned beans, canned salmon on baguettes and the remaining cucumber. We still had a small bag of marshmallows from the States, hidden away on the boat, which the kids thought would be a nice treat at the top of the mountain. We built a teensy fire and roasted away! The next morning, we opened a 1 litre tetra-pack of milk for our granola. On the way back down the mountain at lunch, we had canned chicken in flat breads, Edam cheese and the remaining bit of baguette. Of course there were lots of snacks like crackers, cookies and an absolute necessity: chocolate!

Just before 10 am, after having checked out the large signboard outside the restaurant, which maps out the hike, we said goodbye to Jan and proceeded very energetically towards the beginning of the trail at Fare Rau Ape. Now, our guide book says that from Fare Rau Ape to the summit takes 7 hours: an hour and a half to Hamuta, another two to Fare Mato then two and a half hours to Fare Ata, where most hikers spend the first night in order to cover the last 40 minutes to the summit the following morning.

After the hike, we got thinking about who the hikers might be that could do the whole climb- 2066 metres - in 7 hours. Certainly not a mom and dad with kids carrying sleeping gear and meals, who have spent most of their time on a boat with little or no leg muscle exercise - short of the odd trip up the mast!
We were extremely pleased to have made it to the first hut at Fare Mato: 1400 metres in 5 hours.

'A picture is worth a thousand words'. In light of that, I'll let the photo album entitled Climbing Mount Aorai, tell/show the story of our mountain hike.


Here is a link to the website of the Ottenbourg family:

www.ottenbourg.com/blog

There are pictures of our activities together.