Our turn to the South Pacific

French Polynesia was not on our radar.

Maybe some childhood memory of exotic images captured by high-end travel mags or the movie musical South Pacific lingered, but making it on this trip’s bucket list? . . . didn’t register on the affordability scale. But the time had come for us to get back to Sydney and we were pointing home from Quito, Ecuador. Surely there would be a reasonable direct flight to Australia or even one to New Zealand where a quick visit with a friend was in the cards. That reasonable affordability scale seemed to shift when researching non or limited stop flights. Do we go through Santiago? Is LA cheaper? Online research landed us in the “WT_!” price range for flights. Maybe a pit stop in Hawaii? Hmm, not cheap. So where else is a possibility for indirect return if a direct flight breaks the bank?

Well, Tahiti sits in the middle of the ocean about mid-way. Skyscanner to the rescue, and a 30+ hour transfer through Miami to LAX landing in Pape'ete with a six-day stay on Mo’orea turned out the cheapest option. Tack onto that a few nights with a good friend in Auckland - plus a few more nights at an AirBnb on Waiheke Island - and our final itinerary is set. Yes, it was more affordable to stay on the road two more weeks than return to Sydney and face the cost of living there. . . the classic "no-brainer".

Off season on the Îles de la Société is as laid back as it gets. We tooled around Mo’orea on push bikes soaking up the local vibe in between doing nothing but sun-worshiping, book reading, kayaking and swim/snorkeling in the shallows off the deck of our bungalow style retreat: Mo'orea Island Beach Hotel. In the distance we watched the sea crashing against the lagoon, a unique natural division between lake-like still water and the great Pacific beyond. Mesmerizing. Most nights were spent down the road at the local grille Sea You Soon for the Plat du jour or Poisson du lagon and our daily greeting of "Ia Ora Na" sung to us as only French Polynesian's can.

Afraid we were becoming as comatose as sea cucumbers (yes, if you didn’t know, such a thing exists) we scheduled a guided half day mega-snorkeling tour with a French expat skipper named Alex. The lagoon water we admired from our home base was pristine, crystal clear as it gets, but where he took us was another level. While the Galapagos was a fast moving, exciting carnival of colour; here, along-side the coral gardens of French Polynesia, we lazily drifted. There was plenty of time to closely follow fish through the shallows or stand still for them to satisfy their curiosity.

With Alex’s insider info and cheeky personality, we had an awesome experience getting to know some actual locals in his hood. He seemed to know everyone and in this case the friendly natives turned out to be rays and sharks. Amazing! And yes, the facial expressions of sting rays do look exactly like cartoon characters.

Our limited exposure to French Polynesia revealed one of the most beautiful natural settings we’ve experienced. We don’t say that lightly. It is a visually stunning paradise just as those cloudy travel-mag-memories promised.

The view from the ferry as we left Mo'orea

In no time, a ferry ride, an overnight in Tahiti and then the second leg of this flight plan took us to Auckland, New Zealand. We’ve known Marina for over 20 years and had that easy, rested stop you crave after so many consecutive travel days. With our hostess-with-the-mostest/tour guide, we exhaled, got a good feel for Auckland through a local’s eye and took in some of its surrounding beauty. A day trip to Tawharanui Regional Park on the northern edge of Kawau Bay combined beach, swims, mountain views and wildlife - four favourite things. Thanks Marina for the three days of connection in your lovely Takapuna hideaway.

And finally, after eleven months, we found ourselves at our last stop. Over the years, many Sydney friends had recommended Waiheke Island NZ as an easily accessible destination combining wine tasting and island life. Its ferry ride distance from Auckland made it our closing location for some reflection and planning around reentering the “real world”. The cute little Blacksmith's Cottage sits on a hill above Onetangi beach and it was ideal. The owners’ attention to detail is worth a shout out - so easy to feel right at home. We loved sitting with a glass and/or cuppa on the deck, soaking in the self-painted sunset sky . . . promising to never take the luxury of time for granted.

In no time, we were as prepped as we could be, and then just like that flew across the Tasman to Sydney to begin our next chapter. Like always, we’re flying a bit by the seat of our pants - excited by the prospects, not knowing where our next uncharted turn will take us.

Heading back to where we started