After 32 days of confinement we were finally free!  We were allowed to explore, hike, and ride bikes around Mo’orea.  It has been months since Matt and I had exercised our legs on a good hike.  On our first day of freedom, we set out on 6.7 mile hike straight up 85 stories (almost 1,000’).  Our goal is to get to the ridge at Taraieie.

It started out easy enough along a paved road, then behind one of the two local markets.  The paved road turned to a nicely manicured dirt road sandwiched between beautiful private gardens. 

About 2 miles into our journey it started to rain.  Not a torrential rain shower, but it was enough to force us into hiding for 30 minutes.  Now our beautiful trail turned muddy and very slippery over the fallen leaves and tree roots. Gots to be careful in our flip flops (yes, stupid I know).

Matt has always been stronger when it comes to a hike.  He is literally like a goat climbing a hill.  He spent most of the hike looking for me and waiting. 

Along the way we found lots of fruit trees.  The soursop fruit which is really lovely (sort of like a berry and apple flavor) grows right out of the tree branch which sure looks funny to me.

Many beautiful flowers bloomed in the shade of the tall trees.  These particular bird of paradise flowers had a beautiful iridescent glow to them when the sun spotlighted them.

We made it to the top with relatively no drama.  It was a beautiful view of Vaiare Bay.

The way down was a bit of a challenge for me.  I kept slipping out of my flips, crashed on my arse a few times, and felt the aches and pains of someone who has not being hiking in a while.  But a hike is a hike as long as you complete it – and complete it I did!

It was a great day to be out moving. But I will admit I was pretty tired by the time we got home.

We get down and dirty cleaning and repairing the boat in our last blog.  Coming up next, we rent eBikes to circumnavigate around the entire island of Mo’orea.

Events from this blog post occurred during the third week of August, 2021.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind our adventures.