Today we are leaving Auckland on November 17th and arriving in Tahiti on November 16th. Going back in time as we land in Tahiti – somehow that seems very appropriate. We spent a slow morning at our airport hotel in Auckland – which was a very nice place. It was set on 10 acres, and in the morning I spent a couple of hours in the gardens by the pool, and Joanie spent some time in the gym.
We finally packed up, returned the car, and spent a few hours in the airport, which we are getting accustomed to doing – with all the international flights we’ve been taking. Add to that, that the plane was delayed by almost an hour, and the day was spent basically in transit.
![]() |
Great place to spend the night after a long traveling day |
The flight on Air Tahiti Nui was a fast and comfortable 4 ½ hours – with pretty good food, free drinks and I had a movie to watch on my iPod and Joanie, of course, had her Kindle.
We arrived in Tahiti around 10pm, and found a taxi for a very expensive ($35) ride to our hotel – and that was after some negotiating. When we got to our place, it was awesome! A two story apartment, with very contemporary furnishings, but this was really only a place for us a spend the night and a few hours in the morning before we were to catch our ferry to Moorea.
![]() |
A flower petal welcome on our bed - just one small problem through... |
And speaking of that, Joanie put her bargaining skills to work again – she found a couple of New Zealanders that were going to the ferry on a pre-paid bus. So instead of taking another expensive taxi ride, we waited for their bus to arrive and worked out a very good deal with the driver, and off we went. But that didn’t happen on this November 17th – you’ll have to read more about what happened once we got to the ferry on the posting for the next November 17th!
![]() |
The Grounds of our Airport Hotel - not too shabby |