What a waste!

On the hill about Matavai Bay is what used to be the Hyatt Regency.

Apparently this was a beautiful hotel. It was built when the local regulations basically said you couldn't put up a building higher that a coconut palm - so they designed it to flow down the hill. You caught the elevator down to your room instead of up.

The hotel has been abandoned since the late 90s. The combination of distance from the city and mismanagement meant it couldn't survive financially.

There have been a couple of proposals to turn it into apartments or a retirement village, but too much money was required to bring it up to scratch. There is a caretaker living there, but the building is basically just rotting away.

I guess now, after more than 10 years, it is well past being able to be rescued. So, this huge hotel and its restaurant and bar down on the beach are just being left like this. Apparently there is not enough money to pull it down.


And that's what made us grumpy. It is such a waste, it looks bad, and it smacks of the arrogance of multinational businesses to think they can just leave their mess behind.

Tahiti part 1

The great thing about flying to Tahiti is it’s only a 5 hour flight from Auckland. The stink thing is you arrive in Papeete at 3am!

So, we got to our room at the Radisson Plaza about 4am, had a couple of quick drinks and then collapsed into bed.

Not for very long, of course. I’m not great at that whole sleeping thing at the best of times, and the excitement of a tropical holiday meant there was no chance of a decent sleep. So, by 9am I was well past pretending I would get any more sleep and was dying for:
a) a cup of tea
b) a look at our resort in daylight
c) something to eat

So, first for the cup of tea. I can handle those little pottles of UHT milk they give you in hotel rooms – I’ve had to acquire the taste over the years. But what’s this new and evil twist? The milk is sweetened and – ugh – vanilla flavoured! I couldn’t even get the cup of tea to my mouth without gagging at the smell.

We had a gorgeous room – they’d upgraded us to a duplex, so there was a separate bedroom and full bathroom upstairs, with a lounge and toilet downstairs. Both levels had their own air conditioning and balcony – the downstairs one was a generous size with two sun loungers and a dining table and chairs.

We consider ourselves well-prepared travellers – knowing what an expensive destination French Polynesia is we had packed a few essentials (and brought in plenty of duty free spirits). So we had a good sharp knife, some Tupperware containers, a lemon squeezer and – most essential of all – a cocktail shaker.

We may not have been as prepared as some of the local tourists though – we even saw one couple set up a BBQ on their balcony!

We caught the shuttle into town that first day and visited the market and supermarket to stock up on limes (for the margaritas), baguettes and cheese, lots of fresh fruit and other nibbles. And plenty of water and fruit juice. And normal milk. This meant we didn’t have to pay exorbitant hotel prices for breakfasts and alcohol, and could have snacks on the balcony while we watched the glorious sunset over nearby Moorea. And sip margaritas.


Papeete is well worth exploring, but it only takes a few hours to cover all the city sights. Other than that it’s just another Pacific Island city – hot, dusty and with the added bonus of traffic jams. We were staying just outside the city on Matavai Bay, so there was plenty of peace and a lovely outlook over the sea.

I was constantly struck by the similarity of the Tahitian language to Maori – same pronunciation rules and lots of very similar words. Lots of people spoke at least some English, so between that and my appalling French we had very few communication problems.

Next instalment – something that made us very grumpy indeed!