One year in the books : Part Un

Ia ora na!  (hello in Tahitian, pronounced oh rah nah) Here are some pictures from our trip to French Polynesia to celebrate our first year of marriage.  We flew into Papeete, Tahiti then took a ferry to the neighboring island of Moorea.  From there we flew to Bora Bora and a few days later onto the atoll, Tikehau.  Each of our destinations was quite unique but all incredibly beautiful and fun yet relaxing.  Wish I'd brushed up on my (limited) francaise!!  I'm going to post pictures from Tikehau separately because I have heaps.  I'm so thankful for an amazing husband to share this life with and to have the incredible travel opportunities we've had.  Laissez les bon temps rouler!  

After a rainy and rough ferry ride over to Moorea our taxi man lets us out to get our first real glimpse of paradise.  That is Tahiti in the distance. 

Monopoly money!!

Contemplating his future maritime expeditions??  This was the front porch of our little bungalow at Fare Vaihere (our guest house on Moorea).

Our front "yard".

Practice makes perfect!

Beverage of choice.

It's go time.

Still cloudy but water was crystal clear.

Our host and tour guide, Phillip attracting new stingray friends (slimy).

Those dark blobs are coral reef albeit not in the best condition. A world of beautiful fish though! 

Camping island style

New day = new possibilities.

View of Fare Vaihere from the boat.  We had to be shuttled via kayak in order to not damage the motu (reef). 

View from the top of Magic Mountain.  You can see now how the motu bleeds from the edge of the island - well volcano. 

Close up

Squeaky bikes are the best form of transport on island time.

Photo op!

H U M I D

Sorry Max. 

Our first proper Tahitian sunset

The hubs and wifey

Ahhhhh and now onto Bora Bora!! 

 The lagoon here was unBELIEVABLE.  I took this from the pier at the airport.

Boat taxi to hotel.

Wicked

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

After thinking and eventually vocalizing "That can't be safe?" we thoroughly enjoyed watching this duo paddle around the lagoon in front of our hotel.

First proper Tahitian moonrise!

Stunning

A lot going on with this face right now.

Public beach outside our hotel apparently voted best beach in the world by the NY Times at some point.  I was struck by how calm the water was despite the line of storms in the background. 

Another interesting face... on the way back to the airport. Next up - Tikehau!!  Stay tuned. 

Somewhere in the South Pacific

There's more to come!

Sunset on Tikehau atoll

Fire on the Mountain

I had to share the sunset tonight here in Auckland. That sky!  I hope everyone back home is enjoying the 3 day weekend - Happy Memorial Day!  

The Tiger Balm Years

This past weekend I flew down (without the hub) to Wellington to celebrate my beautiful friend, Anna's 30th birthday.  I was so thrilled to find that she is loving her graduate program and has made some really great new friends!  I couldn't have been more proud of her. Thanks for an awesome weekend NayNay and Welly!!  

Anna posing outside her school on her birthday.

We took a stroll down to the water before lunch.  Shout out to Malcolm Fontier!

Mmmmmmmm birthday bubbles.

A few of her new fun friends at the start of the epic Let's Get Physical party on Saturday night!

Naughty by Nature sweet moves dance party.  Legendddddd

Gimme warmth - perfect end to epic celebrations.

All in a day's walk

We made our way down to Tongariro National Park over the weekend.  The highlight was traversing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing on Saturday aka "the best one day walk in New Zealand."  We were lucky to have great clear weather.

The crossing passes between two volcanoes, Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Tongariro, with views of a third, Mt. Ruapehu.  Ngauruhoe has a near perfect cone and (along with Ruapehu) starred in the Lord of the Rings trilogy as Mt. Doom.  Mt. Taranaki, the other big volcano on the north island, was also visible on Saturday.

The crossing starts at around 1100m, tops out around 1900m and then it's all the way back down to about 750m.  Our sore legs today can attest to the elevation change!  We took a chilly side trip to the top of Ngauruhoe for some extra Cinco de Mayo views.

That's Mt. Taranaki in distance about 130km away

Ngauruhoe Summit

Jesse finally convinces me of the utility of fingerless gloves by eating cheese and crackers on top of a windy, freezing mountain!

A few hobbits + some CGI = Mt. Doom

Home stretch