Hi everyone! I am home! I have reurned to Melbourne once again!
Moorea was great. We stayed in nice hotel huts on the beach of the Black Pearl Resort. Very posh. I then made my way back to Papette on the island of Tahiti to fly out for Melbourne. Between very bad airplane food and long delays in Sydney as the planes were coming from Melbourne frozen (urg,cold!) I was glad to get home eventually. I am organising myslef for uni and cleaning my still disasterously dishevelled room! Coming home party....or Reutrn to reality party soon!
Cara =)
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Island hopping in Tahiti!
Hey!
This is our last day in Bora Bora. The last couple of days have been slow, lazy and lovely. I went to the Hieva festivities which basically celebrates July (why not celebrate the whole month right?). Bora Bora is known throughout Tahiti to have the most beautiful Hieva celebrations. I saw dancing and singing. It was wonderful and similar to other Polynesian dances...the Hula in Hawaii and Haka in New Zealand....only this was local people performing for themsleves as much as everyone else. All other performances that I have seen have been just that, a performance, a show. I dont know how they can hula for 2 hours straight! Went to Club Med yesterday. Took a boat trip out and went snorkling...the water was incredibly clear and that perfect blue colour!
Tomorrow the gang is off to Moorea. I think everyone is excited for a change....Bora Bora seemed a bit small to contain everyone. Moorea should promise many things to do. We will be staying at a dreamy 5 star resort apparently...what more could you ask for in paradise?
This is our last day in Bora Bora. The last couple of days have been slow, lazy and lovely. I went to the Hieva festivities which basically celebrates July (why not celebrate the whole month right?). Bora Bora is known throughout Tahiti to have the most beautiful Hieva celebrations. I saw dancing and singing. It was wonderful and similar to other Polynesian dances...the Hula in Hawaii and Haka in New Zealand....only this was local people performing for themsleves as much as everyone else. All other performances that I have seen have been just that, a performance, a show. I dont know how they can hula for 2 hours straight! Went to Club Med yesterday. Took a boat trip out and went snorkling...the water was incredibly clear and that perfect blue colour!
Tomorrow the gang is off to Moorea. I think everyone is excited for a change....Bora Bora seemed a bit small to contain everyone. Moorea should promise many things to do. We will be staying at a dreamy 5 star resort apparently...what more could you ask for in paradise?
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
En Tahiti!
Salut et Bonjour!
Je suis en Tahiti! I am in Tahiti! In my element speaking French again! I love it! It is wonderful! So what has happened so far?
Well I arrived in Tahit...made it and everything with my Mother and Patrick chasing the airport bus at 5am with my plane tickets....gosh, made it 'round the world fine but home is challenging it seems! I pulled another all nighter packing...can't seem to kick that habit! So, I flew first to Sydney and then onto Tahiti, the best known island in French Polynesia which has a total of 180 islands. I met my grandmother Nonie at the airport and went to stay at the Sheraton Hotel! Nice, nice, very nice after my extensive budgety trip in Europe and Thailand's 'charm'. It was nice to see everyone again- my Papa Chuck, Aunt Jill, Uncle Danny and cousins Jason and Kaylen. I took a shower and was feeling the heat abit since I had just come from Melbourne's winter and before that Thailand's heat and before that Europe's average temperatures! My body must be begging for stability! Had a quite night after that.
In the morning it was buffet breakfast (just in case you didnt feel completely spoilt in the hotel already) complete with mago and banana juice. We then walked into the city, Papaette. Where I went sightseeing....a bit different to Europe! I saw the main church which had stained glass windows with dipictions of Christ and Ialnd themes...very different to Europe. Did you know Christ has a conch shell!?! lol. Tahiti is a translators dream as most things are bilingual in French, English and Tahitian! So I spent ages in the Peral Museum reading everything 2 or 3 times!
The next day the family flew to another island...the island of Bora Bora. Beautful blue water and white sand that you see in the photos....that what you see in Bora Bora! We have rented 2 condos. The first is a house on stilts over the water...where I am currently couch surfing with Noni8e and Papa in the bedroom. The second is designated to the Colegroves and is across the road on the moutainside supplying nice views of the water. We have also rented a tiny green Fiat...the next size up from a smart car or golf buggy I tell you! We squeezing 7...yes, SEVEN people into this tyiny thing....I am stikll not sure why. I guess people can't seem to decide what we wantt o do each day and since the island is so so so incredibly small (32km of round circumnavigates the outside) it doesn't make sense to have 2 cars doing nothing. It is even more of an insentive as the pacific franc here is pegged to the Euro so everything is nice and pricey!
So yesterday we went swimming and snorkling right off our front deck. The water is clear and warm (although Thailand wins the warm water award thus far for Riley beach in the south). There is a ladder into the water and shower to rinse off. Its lovely and Cara feels posh as! We then tried out Auntie Jill's 'seven to a car theory' and circled the island in our green golf buggy. Nonie made scones in the evening...imported from Califonia...one of the falvours was California Apricot...how cute is that!
Today we were going to spend the day at Club Med doing activities and going out on boat trips but we post phoned utnil tomorrow as the wather looked questionable! We ventured to the Bora Bora hotel for another posh breakfast! And then the rain started! And it still continues as I am writing this...however I am prefectly happy sitting in pardise whether the weather it is wet or dry (a few days of rain and I might reconsider that statement). I am borrowing the Activities Room in the Bora Bora Hotel on this rainy day! Bye for now. Maybe photos soon thought probably not as it seems a bit too much to ask of Tahitian computers!
Love Cara xoxox
Je suis en Tahiti! I am in Tahiti! In my element speaking French again! I love it! It is wonderful! So what has happened so far?
Well I arrived in Tahit...made it and everything with my Mother and Patrick chasing the airport bus at 5am with my plane tickets....gosh, made it 'round the world fine but home is challenging it seems! I pulled another all nighter packing...can't seem to kick that habit! So, I flew first to Sydney and then onto Tahiti, the best known island in French Polynesia which has a total of 180 islands. I met my grandmother Nonie at the airport and went to stay at the Sheraton Hotel! Nice, nice, very nice after my extensive budgety trip in Europe and Thailand's 'charm'. It was nice to see everyone again- my Papa Chuck, Aunt Jill, Uncle Danny and cousins Jason and Kaylen. I took a shower and was feeling the heat abit since I had just come from Melbourne's winter and before that Thailand's heat and before that Europe's average temperatures! My body must be begging for stability! Had a quite night after that.
In the morning it was buffet breakfast (just in case you didnt feel completely spoilt in the hotel already) complete with mago and banana juice. We then walked into the city, Papaette. Where I went sightseeing....a bit different to Europe! I saw the main church which had stained glass windows with dipictions of Christ and Ialnd themes...very different to Europe. Did you know Christ has a conch shell!?! lol. Tahiti is a translators dream as most things are bilingual in French, English and Tahitian! So I spent ages in the Peral Museum reading everything 2 or 3 times!
The next day the family flew to another island...the island of Bora Bora. Beautful blue water and white sand that you see in the photos....that what you see in Bora Bora! We have rented 2 condos. The first is a house on stilts over the water...where I am currently couch surfing with Noni8e and Papa in the bedroom. The second is designated to the Colegroves and is across the road on the moutainside supplying nice views of the water. We have also rented a tiny green Fiat...the next size up from a smart car or golf buggy I tell you! We squeezing 7...yes, SEVEN people into this tyiny thing....I am stikll not sure why. I guess people can't seem to decide what we wantt o do each day and since the island is so so so incredibly small (32km of round circumnavigates the outside) it doesn't make sense to have 2 cars doing nothing. It is even more of an insentive as the pacific franc here is pegged to the Euro so everything is nice and pricey!
So yesterday we went swimming and snorkling right off our front deck. The water is clear and warm (although Thailand wins the warm water award thus far for Riley beach in the south). There is a ladder into the water and shower to rinse off. Its lovely and Cara feels posh as! We then tried out Auntie Jill's 'seven to a car theory' and circled the island in our green golf buggy. Nonie made scones in the evening...imported from Califonia...one of the falvours was California Apricot...how cute is that!
Today we were going to spend the day at Club Med doing activities and going out on boat trips but we post phoned utnil tomorrow as the wather looked questionable! We ventured to the Bora Bora hotel for another posh breakfast! And then the rain started! And it still continues as I am writing this...however I am prefectly happy sitting in pardise whether the weather it is wet or dry (a few days of rain and I might reconsider that statement). I am borrowing the Activities Room in the Bora Bora Hotel on this rainy day! Bye for now. Maybe photos soon thought probably not as it seems a bit too much to ask of Tahitian computers!
Love Cara xoxox
Friday, July 07, 2006
Cara was home....and now she is off again! To Tahiti!
Hey y'all!
The blog shall continue even though I am home.....because I am leaving again already! And I promise photos of home when I return! You are just going to think I jet set like this all the time!
I leave for TAHITI in 3 hours....that is, a 4:40 airport bus on Friday morning! I am off to Tahiti which is an island in French Polynesia for a family reunion planned by my grandparents (on my Mum's side). This 2 week holiday of fun and sun involves my Aunt Jill (my Mum's sister), Uncle Danny and 2 cousins Jason and Kaylen. Sadly my Mother and Patrick cannot come as they have to run the chocolate store which is really running them!
I picked up guides to Tahiti today....so organised and prepared! I blame the library system I tell you! I am also pulling an all nighter to pack and prepare....I am currently trying to shove lots of things into a tiny tiny suitcase (which I am oh so proud to be taking)and an even smaller back pack. Its working and I refuse to take a lot of luggage! Besides, I don’t need room for souvenirs as everyone says Tahiti is very very expensive....guess they have to ship everything to that tiny island in the middle of the Pacific!
On the HOME front...it does feel weird and the real world is scary! What have I been doing for the past week and a bit now that I am finally back in Melbourne, Australia? I spent the first couple of days being really lazy, sleeping a lot, trying to get used to the fact that the days go so quickly because it gets dark so early and UNPACKING!!!! For those of you who don't know my parents moved while I was gallivanting around the world and so all my worldly possessions were boxed and moved into a beautiful new house several streets away. And then those boxes were placed into a very nice new room....full of boxes! I think I had a difficult transition…going from carrying everything you own on your back for a year (or stashing it in a sparsely decorated apartment) to sorting through EVERYTING....clothes, stationary, craft, furniture, heirlooms and things that I've had since I was 10 years old. The question I repeatedly asked myself was "Do you want to keep this?' and myself just kept shrugging and looking at me blankly! I also passed a lot of time being shocked that I was actually home, calling a billion companies to announce that my address had changed (you hate the one company who wants it in writing) and generally at a lose end with myself! The last couple of days really improved however!
MONDAY saw me going into the city of Melbourne to visit my university and 'sort things out'. I also had the small goal of investigating my future! Ooohhhh, scary! I need to look into what 2007 holds for me! Right now I would rather not do Honours (a fourth year of study) in Science and am pondering a graduate certificate (6 mo.) or graduate diploma (12 mo.) in a artsy subject like Creative Writing or something new and exciting like that! I also looking into a Masters in 'Media and Communication, Science and Society' which allows graduates to work in varying positions usually associated with scientific journalism or promotion. It sounds quite interesting actually...more interesting then it sounds now. Monday evening I was invited to dinner with my old friend Dave and his parents. We had Thai food....which was yummy and seeing as Australia is so multicultural, it was very authentic! And I should know! I was eating real live (live with bacteria....no, honestly it was fine!) Thai food on the streets no less then 2 weeks ago! Dave and I watched a movie afterwards.... and old favourite of ours.
TUESDAY, I met Rhiannon to exchange some things from Thailand. Most importantly she gave me all our photos on DVD! YAY! In Thailand Rhiannon and I decided to share picture taking (or 'documenting' as I like to say) responsibilities. So took photos with her film camera and I was assigned to digital duty. After prisoner exchange, I took the train into the city again (something which I am sick of already!) and met my university friends Laura and Jennifer. We chatted for 3 hours solid before I trained it back in the other direction to meet my buddies Blue and Kristel for a dinner invitation with Blue's parents. Uncooked chicken brought back fond memories of our childhood holidays to Blue's country house...we lost Kristel at this stage due to sickness induced from raw chicken but Blue and I soldiered on to go and see Xmen 3 at the movies!
WEDNESDAY I doddeled away the day a bit at home and chatted with a future Lyonnais exchange student from Melbourne Uni telling her everything I could think of. I once again went to the city that evening for dinner with Lisa and Michelle....close university friends....in first semester of last year we completed identical subjects and had identical timetables to match. Michelle didn't know I was coming so it was a big surprise....I love surprises! We had dinner on Lygon Street (famous for a multitude of Italian restaurants) after which we tried to hunt down my ex-Lyonnais house mate Ben (a Melbournian). We finally found him and it was great to see him again! Something familiar...some element of my world tour now in Melbourne with me.
TODAY, THURSDAY I was sooo conscientious and again spent time organising things at university. I joined the university student union which is now voluntary due to changes made by the government. It was a good thing to do as students can take advantage of many services and the more people who join the more money the union has to spend on services. Also, to work for the union as I did before I left (in catering, gowning graduates, media etc...) I had to become a union member. I am officially the first student to join the voluntary student union. They took photos! Watch the international press! I got a show bag too! Then it was home for a chiropractic appointment (Cara loves her Chiropractor as he is the best in the world), a bit of shopping, packing, packing, packing (with a visit from Kristel in between)........ I almost feel reincorporated into society again...and now I am leaving!
Talk to form Tahiti!
Cara who thinks you're awesome! =)
The blog shall continue even though I am home.....because I am leaving again already! And I promise photos of home when I return! You are just going to think I jet set like this all the time!
I leave for TAHITI in 3 hours....that is, a 4:40 airport bus on Friday morning! I am off to Tahiti which is an island in French Polynesia for a family reunion planned by my grandparents (on my Mum's side). This 2 week holiday of fun and sun involves my Aunt Jill (my Mum's sister), Uncle Danny and 2 cousins Jason and Kaylen. Sadly my Mother and Patrick cannot come as they have to run the chocolate store which is really running them!
I picked up guides to Tahiti today....so organised and prepared! I blame the library system I tell you! I am also pulling an all nighter to pack and prepare....I am currently trying to shove lots of things into a tiny tiny suitcase (which I am oh so proud to be taking)and an even smaller back pack. Its working and I refuse to take a lot of luggage! Besides, I don’t need room for souvenirs as everyone says Tahiti is very very expensive....guess they have to ship everything to that tiny island in the middle of the Pacific!
On the HOME front...it does feel weird and the real world is scary! What have I been doing for the past week and a bit now that I am finally back in Melbourne, Australia? I spent the first couple of days being really lazy, sleeping a lot, trying to get used to the fact that the days go so quickly because it gets dark so early and UNPACKING!!!! For those of you who don't know my parents moved while I was gallivanting around the world and so all my worldly possessions were boxed and moved into a beautiful new house several streets away. And then those boxes were placed into a very nice new room....full of boxes! I think I had a difficult transition…going from carrying everything you own on your back for a year (or stashing it in a sparsely decorated apartment) to sorting through EVERYTING....clothes, stationary, craft, furniture, heirlooms and things that I've had since I was 10 years old. The question I repeatedly asked myself was "Do you want to keep this?' and myself just kept shrugging and looking at me blankly! I also passed a lot of time being shocked that I was actually home, calling a billion companies to announce that my address had changed (you hate the one company who wants it in writing) and generally at a lose end with myself! The last couple of days really improved however!
MONDAY saw me going into the city of Melbourne to visit my university and 'sort things out'. I also had the small goal of investigating my future! Ooohhhh, scary! I need to look into what 2007 holds for me! Right now I would rather not do Honours (a fourth year of study) in Science and am pondering a graduate certificate (6 mo.) or graduate diploma (12 mo.) in a artsy subject like Creative Writing or something new and exciting like that! I also looking into a Masters in 'Media and Communication, Science and Society' which allows graduates to work in varying positions usually associated with scientific journalism or promotion. It sounds quite interesting actually...more interesting then it sounds now. Monday evening I was invited to dinner with my old friend Dave and his parents. We had Thai food....which was yummy and seeing as Australia is so multicultural, it was very authentic! And I should know! I was eating real live (live with bacteria....no, honestly it was fine!) Thai food on the streets no less then 2 weeks ago! Dave and I watched a movie afterwards.... and old favourite of ours.
TUESDAY, I met Rhiannon to exchange some things from Thailand. Most importantly she gave me all our photos on DVD! YAY! In Thailand Rhiannon and I decided to share picture taking (or 'documenting' as I like to say) responsibilities. So took photos with her film camera and I was assigned to digital duty. After prisoner exchange, I took the train into the city again (something which I am sick of already!) and met my university friends Laura and Jennifer. We chatted for 3 hours solid before I trained it back in the other direction to meet my buddies Blue and Kristel for a dinner invitation with Blue's parents. Uncooked chicken brought back fond memories of our childhood holidays to Blue's country house...we lost Kristel at this stage due to sickness induced from raw chicken but Blue and I soldiered on to go and see Xmen 3 at the movies!
WEDNESDAY I doddeled away the day a bit at home and chatted with a future Lyonnais exchange student from Melbourne Uni telling her everything I could think of. I once again went to the city that evening for dinner with Lisa and Michelle....close university friends....in first semester of last year we completed identical subjects and had identical timetables to match. Michelle didn't know I was coming so it was a big surprise....I love surprises! We had dinner on Lygon Street (famous for a multitude of Italian restaurants) after which we tried to hunt down my ex-Lyonnais house mate Ben (a Melbournian). We finally found him and it was great to see him again! Something familiar...some element of my world tour now in Melbourne with me.
TODAY, THURSDAY I was sooo conscientious and again spent time organising things at university. I joined the university student union which is now voluntary due to changes made by the government. It was a good thing to do as students can take advantage of many services and the more people who join the more money the union has to spend on services. Also, to work for the union as I did before I left (in catering, gowning graduates, media etc...) I had to become a union member. I am officially the first student to join the voluntary student union. They took photos! Watch the international press! I got a show bag too! Then it was home for a chiropractic appointment (Cara loves her Chiropractor as he is the best in the world), a bit of shopping, packing, packing, packing (with a visit from Kristel in between)........ I almost feel reincorporated into society again...and now I am leaving!
Talk to form Tahiti!
Cara who thinks you're awesome! =)
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