Tahiti by Paul Gauguin

Garry and I were reminiscing recently with friends. They’d just returned from their first cruise, a voyage to New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands. Their anecdotes brought back memories of our first cruise in July 2004. At the time, Garry’s cousin, a travel agent, offered us a discounted, last-minute porthole stateroom cruising Tahiti on the Paul Gauguin. On a whim, we decided to book it. 

A few weeks later, we flew out for Papeete. Our flight arrived late so we booked ourselves into the Hilton Hotel for an overnight stay. The following day we woke to perfect tropical weather. A pattern that persisted for our entire time in Tahiti. After a complimentary breakfast, we retired to a couple of sun loungers for a lazy morning by the hotel pool.

Later that afternoon we checked out and made our way onboard the Paul Gauguin. This is a relatively small and intimate cruise ship. It carries a maximum of 330 guests, who are attended to by a total of 209 crew. Despite its compact size, the boat boasts three superb restaurants including a fine-dining venue called L’etoile.

For the next seven days, we cruised through some of the South Pacific’s most picturesque islands. Our first night on board saw us set sail for Raiatea and Tahaa. We woke the following morning to be greeted by stunning views of a lush, mountainous island enclosed by an equally stunning lagoon. The largely unspoiled shoreline was dotted with small villages and fringed by palm trees. 

Raiatea and Tahaa share the same fringing reef. The captain took advantage of this unique phenomenon. We sailed through a narrow reef break in Raiatea and traced a route along Raiatea's northwestern coast before crossing over to Tahaa. It’s hard to describe the breathtaking beauty of such an expansive lagoon. 

For example, as we sailed along Tahaa's west coast, a photogenic red-roof protestant church in Tiva sailed into view. This simple structure, surrounded by a low brick wall, sits right on the water's edge. Its dazzling white facade stands in stark contrast to the tropical wilderness that surrounds it. Interestingly, Tahaa is Tahiti's largest producer of vanilla pods. It's responsible for more than 80% of the nation's annual production of this fragrant spice. 

After a morning of lagoon cruising we dropped anchor at Motu Mahana, an idyllic white sand island on Tahaa’s western fringe reef. The crew set up a private playground for us to enjoy. This includes a floating cocktail bar, deck chairs set along the tide line so that we could dangle our feet in the water, and a sumptuous BBQ lunch.

I made good use of the complementary snorkelling gear and swam out to explore the coral. Sadly, the colourful underwater seascape I’ve previously enjoyed off Port Douglas was nowhere to been seen. Instead, largely barren rock and dead, broken coral covered the lagoon floor. Although, much to my surprise, the dilapidated reef was still teeming with life including schools of adorable little Zebra fish.

However, the real highlight of our cruise came on 21 July. This was the morning we glided into the truly spectacular Bora Bora lagoon. Our first glimpse of its iridescent surface, framed by the iconic Mount Otemanu, was simply breathtaking. It’s easy to see why the French impressionist painter, Paul Gauguin, fell in love with this island.

Our boat spent two nights moored in the Bora Bora lagoon. Garry and I took advantage of the extended stop and booked two memorable excursions. The first was an outing into a remote corner of the lagoon to feed wild manta rays. To this day, we still talk about the unique experience of being relentlessly “humped” by a school of hungry rays.

Our guide led us into the water where we stood waist-deep and hand-fed dozens of extremely friendly rays. These hungry creatures swarmed us, riding up our backs and thighs, often without warning, as they fought to get to the food on offer. In the distance, timid reef sharks continually circled but never ventured close enough to make us panic.

Our second excursion saw us spend an afternoon circumnavigating Bora Bora on ski jets. Our tour guide took us on an exhilarating ride around the dazzling aquamarine lagoon that encircles the island. Our excursion included a brief stop on the island’s far side. Here we beached our jet skis, quenched our thirst with freshly shucked coconut water and, watched local artisans at work.

For the final two days of our cruise we sailed to Moorea, Tahiti’s second largest island. The boat then anchored overnight in Cook’s Bay. We spent most of our time onboard lazing by the pool. We’d booked three nights at the Hilton Moorea Lagoon Resort immediately after our cruise, so we saw limited value in exploring the island while still onboard the Paul Gauguin.

After docking back in Papeete, Garry and I caught a morning ferry back to Moorea and checked into the Hilton. I’d booked us an overwater lagoon bure. The room featured a private balcony with stairs that stepped directly into the lagoon. The lounge floor also featured a glass panel that let us observe fish swimming below.

While in Moorea we hired a couple of Vespa scooters and spent a day encircling the island. Our circuit included a detour to enjoy views of Opunohu Valley from Belvedere Lookout, a stop to explore the decaying stone Ahu platforms at Marae Titiroa and a photographic stop at the island’s iconic Eglisede la Sainte Famille Church.

The church is an attraction I recalled from my first visit to Moorea back in 1999. This white, twin-spired chapel, built in 1897, has long been a popular subject for painters and photographers the world over. However, while it celebrates the joy of Christ, other locations on the island like Marae Titiroa, bear witness to Christianity’s darker history. 

The marae was once the island’s centre of worship. However, early missionaries removed the idols that stood along its stone ahu platform and threw them into the sea. The site was subsequently abandoned as the native population was converted to Christianity. Today very little is known about these ancient sites or the rituals they promoted.

A quick shoutout for the classic tourist photo we took from Moorea's Toatea Lookout.  This hilltop location delivers a stunning idyllic view across the island's eastern lagoon, framed by a string of picturesque overwater bungalows at the Sofitel Kiaora Resort. This is the image you can see above.

Our final night in Tahiti was spent at the Intercontinental Hotel near Papeete’s international airport. It was here we witnessed one of the island’s most extraordinary sights. The hotel is perfectly located for a truly spectacular sunset. As the sun sets behind neighbouring Moorea Island, its dying rays flare through Moorea's peaks and set the sky alight with dramatic shadows framed by golden streaks. Early the following morning we flew home with Air Tahiti Nui.

The image above of the Paul Gauguin was taken from a ferry we caught back to Moorea after disembarking on 25 July.  The boat docked shortly after 7:00am. This meant we got to enjoy another full day on Moorea once we'd checked into our hotel.  We stayed an additional two nights, three days, on Moorea. I'm not sure about the grey smudges?  If memory serves me well it's smoke haze blowing towards us from the ferry's funnel.

Flames alive

We experienced a little drama this week after a destructive fire broke out in central Sydney. The blaze started in a row of vacant brick warehouse buildings on Randle Street near Central Station about 4pm on Thursday. The buildings had been vacant for about 12 months pending the start of a major multi-million-dollar restoration the largest structure into a new boutique hotel.

Garry was the first to spot the fire. I was working in our showroom so he called and urged me to step outside to take a look. At its height, flames from the fire could be seen leaping into the air from our apartment balcony. The air was thick with smoke and a layer of ash was descending on cars and houses throughout the area. Television station helicopters took to the sky and were soon broadcasting live images of the growing inferno.  

It was surreal watching the drama unfolding on television, only to look up and see it with our own eyes. It reminded me of many times living in London where we witnessed firsthand the impact of an international news event unfolding around us.

As we watched, huge explosions could be seen as the fire engulfed the site. At one stage, a huge fireball rose moments before a major wall section exploded outwards, showering the street in bricks, concrete, and other debris. Later in the day, could still smell smoke in our apartment and in the corridors of our building. It all brought back surreal memories of the record bushfires we endured for months on end in late-2019.

In the days since four children have come forward to help police with their investigation. It appears that they may have started the blaze as part of a childhood prank gone wrong. 

UPDATE: 31 May
A 60-tonne long-reach excavator began tearing chunks of brickwork from the two highest walls of the 110-year-old warehouse, yesterday morning. Authorities are keen to demolish the most unstable sections as quickly as possible and reopen local streets that have been closed for a week.

Northland by camper van

Our recent Christmas vacation in New Zealand brought back memories of Garry’s first McGregor family Christmas. Garry and I flew to New Zealand for a long-anticipated family reunion in Mount Maunganui in 2003. At the time, my brother Hamish and his family were flying in from Austria. My youngest brother Matt and his family were driving down from Auckland, and Garry and I were coming in from Sydney.

We hired a camper van, in part, to provide Garry and me with accommodation at my parent’s holiday home. Understandably, beds were in short supply given the number of family members coming into town. It also made it easier to schedule several excursions including an overnight trip to Rotorua, and a brief three-night circuit through Northland, before returning the van to Auckland Airport. The trip up north was particularly special as I finally completed a childhood dream of visiting Cape Reinga.

We spent almost a week with the family.  Along with the classic Christmas Day festivities with my family, we also enjoyed a day trip to White Island, the Bay of Plenty's active volcanic island. Perhaps the most memorable family moment was on Christmas Eve.  After the children had gone to bed Garry, Hamish and I spent an hour making sandy reindeer footprints in the yard with a cardboard stencil.

Our first Kiwi adventure together had a slightly rocky start. When we collected our camper van at the airport, I discovered we'd been allocated a manual stick shift vehicle. Garry confessed he’d never learned to drive a manual car and I'd not thought to explicitly request an automatic.  

As a result, plans for shared driving duties were abandoned and I was duly appointed our designated driver. This wasn’t an issue for most of the vacation. Although, I still have terrifying memories of the traffic jam we encountered on our penultimate day in New Zealand. I spent at least half an hour riding the van’s clutch, fearing the worst, as we crawled for kilometres up Johnston’s Hill near Warkworth.

Fortunately, this was a rare moment of distress during what ultimately proved to be a wonderful experience. On 31 December, we drove to Northland, taking a scenic route via the rugged Waihi gorge and the equally memorable coastal road along the shores of Kiapara Harbour. It took us almost eight hours to reach our final destination for the night, Paihia, near Waitangi.

 

As we made our way north, we stopped to experience the majesty of Tāne Mahuta in the Waipoua Forest. Tāne Mahuta is New Zealand’s largest kauri tree, which is approximately 2,000 years old and still growing. Nearly 18 metres to the first branch and 4.4 metres in diameter, Tāne Mahuta is rightly called 'The Lord of the Forest'.

 

Our first three days of the new year were spent exploring Northland’s iconic tourist destinations. The year started with a blast. We booked ourselves onto a full-day, 4-Wheel Drive, tour to Cape Reinga. Its itinerary included a drive along 90 Mile Beach, spraying our way through the trickling low-tide waves, followed by an excursion on The Giant Sand Dunes at Te Paki Creek. At the base of the dunes, our tour guide handed us sandboards and left us to hurtle down their sandy slopes. We had a ball.

It was then on to the highlight of our day. We spent several hours exploring the rambling ridges of Cape Reinga and its iconic white lighthouse. The cape is every bit as picturesque as those childhood postcards and calendars I can still vividly recall. Here the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean in a spectacular swirl of currents that leaves a white water line snaking out to sea. 

At the northernmost tip of the Cape is a gnarled pohutukawa tree, believed to be over 800 years old. According to Maori oral history, the spirits of deceased Maori leap from this tree into the ocean to return to their ancestral homeland of Hawaiki.

We enjoyed a leisurely picnic lunch under cloudless blue skies at the cape before returning to Paihia. Our journey home included a stop at Northland’s famous Mangōnui Fish & Chip shop. Naturally, we did the proper tourist thing and ordered an early dinner of its finest battered fish.

The following day we took time out to explore the Stone Store at Kerikeri and the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi. I’d briefly experienced the area on a road trip during a Summer break from University in 1987. It was nice to return and relive some of these memories and share them with Garry.  This included the impressive Ngātokimatawhaorua. At 30 metres in length, it's said to be the world's largest ceremonial canoe. It was built to mark the centenary of the Treaty of Waitangi’s signing in 1940.

Our final evening in Northland was spent at Waiwera Beach, a sleepy beachside village south of Warkworth. Much to our delight we secured an unpowered site in the local campground that backed onto the beach. There’s honestly nothing more magical than waking in the morning, swinging open your van’s rear doors, and watching the waves break as you lie in bed.

I'll finish this trip down memory lane with a few images from our overnight stop in Rotorua. Garry would never forgive me if I don't include a photo of me flat on my back at the Champagne Hot Springs near Waiotapu. In a classic rookie tourist moment, I tripped on a shin-high, hazard fence while attempting to take the perfect photo.