Out and about in Moorea

On Monday we hired a car so that we could visit some favourite spots of ours. 

When asked the lovely lady at Avis to show us on the map where 'Snack Mahana' was she wrote it on the map but said "it's closed on Monday". Bugger, this was one of the main reasons for hiring a car; we had, had such a beautiful lunch experience there last year. 

Buzzing off in our little hire car Lance manoeuvred carefully on the right (but wrong for us) side of the road. Suddenly the heavens opened like only tropical skies do and huge puddles appeared. There was only one road for us to take and it circumnavigates the island. Any in roads are out of bounds for most hire cars because they are bumpy and all head up to the mountain. 

Familiar sights greeted us and despite the rain showers we managed to take a photo of our resort from   up above. 

 

When we finally came to Snack Mahana we thought we would just stop and reminisce and whaddya know? It was open!

We got a table right by the water again! This place is in an old house and there are plastic tables and wooden slapped together booths for eating at. But in every other expect it is a restaurant. We had the same delightful waitress as last year but were dismayed to find that they had no mahimahi fish so we had to have tuna. Lance had the most delicious tuna sushimi and I had poisson cru, which is raw tuna with cucumber, tomato, and a few other yummy things all marinated in lime juice and coconut cream. It was huge and so fresh. 

Speaking of coconut cream, my new friend Sonia had some freshly squeezed and gave me a cup. I drank some and rubbed the rest through my hair and over my face and body and I felt a million dollars after I rinsed it off. Anyway, I digress.

As we were sitting in the sunshine waiting for our orders the rain came down again in bucket loads and we, and others had to run to some undercover tables. 

We left a little damp, but extremely satisfied. 

Back on the road we were on the lookout for a little place that I had bough a pearl choker from last year. I was after some earrings to go with it. Once again we were successful and found Lendroit without a problem and I purchased some nice pearl earrings. 

We also stopped in to the resort that we had stayed at last year, Bali hai. We had heard that it had been sold and were interested to see what was happening. It is now Aimeo Lodge and looks like nothing has changed apart from the name. 

Our last stop was the supermarche or supermarket (sorry I know, no accent on the e). We picked up some cheese, salami and macaron to snack on later with the wine that we brought in from NZ with us. The supermarket has more non consumables than consumables. I'm talking clothes dryers, clothing and more! 

Back at the resort we had more lazing on the beach and invited Steve and Sonia for a drink before dinner. It was lovely entertaining on our wee balcony. Kiwi ingenuity was at play when we realised we only had cups and saucers. Saucers quickly became cheese boards and teaspoon handles became cheese knives. 

We had dinner together at the resort, and all agreed that some live music would have been pleasant. Anyway, it was a nice evening. 

Another day rolled over and really we are just reading in sun loungers and swimming. We brought our own snorkelling gear with us and sum swimming goggles. We just use the swimming goggles as we don't have to swim anywhere to see the coral life. The tide hardly moves so the beach is always ready for us. I can't stress to you how perfect it is; straight out of a travel brochure. 

   

We decided to leave the resort for our last dinner and invited Steve and Sonia to join us. Moorea Beach Cafe sends and small bus around to pick you up and then delivers you home again.  In fact most restaurants here offer this service. 

The Moorea Beach Cafe is set on the water's edge in a tasteful and nautical way. They are very attentive and have a great menu. Lance had surf'n turf, and I had parrot fish on gnocci. This was after an entree of fois gras for me and can't remember for Lance. Lance said his surf'n turf was delicious,mine was just okay. The company was great and we shuttled off home to bed.