Road Trip
28 August 2009 | Moorea, French Polynesia, 17 29.56'S:149 51.13'W
Linda
We'll the Sundowner beach gathering last night was a great chance to meet some new people. 4 from Washington, 2 from Brazil, 1 once from the US and 2 from ... I can't remembe.r. Some heading north, some west and some not quite sure yet. 3 months (which is a typical visa) is not even close to enough time to scratch the surface of what's to be seen here. I'm already saying 'next time around'.
There is a smallish cruise ship anchored across the bay. When it comes, the rental car companies offer good deals so we signed up for an 8 hour rental. We started our road trip today with a drive up to the Belvedere for a beautiful view over the island and the ocean. On the way back down we stopped at the agriculture school to see their fields of pineapple, papaya, pamplemousse, tiare flowers etc. They have a visitor center where you can taste different jellies from their crops. They also sold some very tasty ice creams and sorbets. Brad tried the Passionfruit, I had the Carrisole (a big spiky green fruit that you eat when it's quite soft) and Jane the Gardenia (tiare flower). Yumm!
Since we got a late start this morning and I wanted to stop a lot and look at pearls, we didn't have time to hike to the waterfall. We did have a picnic lunch at a small marina near the ferry dock in Vaipo then circled the rest of the island. Friendly locals, beautiful scenery and once again, another lovely day in paradise.