Getting There

Getting to Tahiti was one of the more terrifying events of my life. Air NZ postponed our flight on Monday morning so we had no chance of making our connection. They cited possible fog, but really it was operational difficulties = pilots need a sleep in. This meant that we would miss out on two days in Tahiti.
So at 11.20pm we got in the car and drove. Unfortunately I was too doped up with cough medicine to help with the driving, but felt in terms of solidarity, I should stay awake also. About 11.45pm the radio started to play the sound track of a horror movie, with a woman wailing and a violin played col legno (with the wood of the bow) shrieking  like a banshee. Our first stop was in the middle of the Gorge - at Tauranga Bridge. It was so dark I thought I was blind, and so quiet I thought I was deaf, and losing these two senses was very disorientating and frightening.
We stopped in Matamata for a coffee and toilet break at 3am. The guy in the service station was very chatty! Can't have been a busy night.
The traffic jams started about 5.15am, but we got there safely and vowed never to do that again.
After a sleep and breakfast in the Koru Lounge we had a superb flight of 4 and 1/2 hours, and we were very glad we had got premium economy seats.

 Because we had golf clubs we had to get a private transfer, but soon settled in at the InterContinental. We went to the casual restaurant that night, but this is where Duncan reckons he got the best tuna meal

The wine met with our approval, but we were frantically doing the sums on cost - it was the first day, and we soon gave up doing this.

Mine was creamy goats cheese and a red berry pickle in little filo parcels which was also absolutely delicious.

 We soon learnt that the sun goes down between 5.15 and 5.30

From our balcony looking towards the primitive shapes of  Moorea Island.