Arriving in Auckland at 6am from Papeete I realise that I managed to book a hotel night for a night that we literally just skipped – we had just crossed the dateline….. No matter, after several incredibly beautiful weeks on the waters of French Polynesia but starved of decent food, most notably fresh vegetables but […]
Tasmania – Part 2
One of the many things we were looking forward to on our Tasmania trip, were the hikes. It turns out though, that hiking – or tramping, as they call it down under – is not a spontaneous affair here, but something to be planned and pre-booked, at least for the Great Walks such as the […]
Animals of Tassie
The Tassie Devil and the Tassie Tiger are only a few of the numerous and fantastic animals that live in Tasmania. Many more incredible animals hide in the mainland, as well as in the water. Seals and penguins are some of those animals. Sadly, animals of Australia face the day-to-day challenges of deforestation, drought and […]
Tasmania – Part 1
FINALLY we get to discover the much hyped “island off the island” Tasmania. From the beautiful backdrops seen in movies like “Lion” to all the food and travel blog hype, Tassie seems to be THE place to be in 2019/2020. Thierry and I originally had planned to go there in Jan 2006 when we were […]
From coconut shooting to curried bénétiers: The cruise begins! Huahine – Taha’a – Bora Bora
We start our cruise with a different view on Huahine. Gérard takes us to a secluded little bay that used to house a treehouse hotel in the 80s, beloved by locals and tourists at the time until a hurricane blew it away. Now it is an overgrown small stretch of beach, forlorn and idyllic. The […]
Sunset dolphin escort from Rangiroa
Rangiroa, the most known of the Tuamotu archipelago, is famed for its world class diving, with two big passes teeming with fish. We arrive from Tikehau after another night of fighting the waves with face forward winds. Our poor captains don’t get much of a rest in these choppy waters. Jules takes us out on the […]
Rapid Destroyers VS Fire n’ Fairies: the ultimate race down Whanganui
The challenge: 124km in 3.5 days, down rapids and narrow gorges. Who will arrive first (and dry)? Rapid Destroyers: the team Members: 3 Member 1: Nilay AKA Amazing Spotter Member 2: Vyas AKA Brave Swimmer Member 3: Papa AKA Super Director Number of falls: Day 1: 2 😐 Day 2: 0 😄 Day 3: 0 […]
Going Outback, 600mio years back. Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park
Dec 19-23, 2020 Australia being as huge as it is, if we don’t want to spend a big chunk of our 6 weeks on the road between visiting our good friends in Sydney and Melbourne (with the bonus of going to the Australian Open thrown in), we finally settle on Uluru as a must-do destination. […]
Arriving in the Tuamotus – Tikehau
The Tuamotu archipelago is known in the diving community as one of the most beautiful and adrenaline spiking places to spot abundant sealife and do “current diving“. It is a collection of atolls with very little land, often just strips a couple hundred meters wide, encircling a or several lagoons. The topography is strikingly different from the […]
Bora as it was 30 years ago (so they say): Magnificent Maupiti
We arrive in Maupiti the old fashioned way: the catamaran’s sails up, passing the island’s famous (and often infamous 😯) pass. The pass is so incredibly narrow and fraught with dangerous rocks close to the surface, that you can only access the pass if the swell is in your favour. We get lucky – Papa […]