Around The World In 80 Waves

Without my board I have flown into Tahiti and landed at Pape’ete the biggest town on the island.

It is a wonderful place which is similar in geography to Hawaii, but it seems to have retained more of it’s island charm, despite the years of French influence. (It is technically part of the European Union.) 

The primary industry of the island for many years was the production of pearls which the locals would dive down to the sea bed to prise from oysters.

Pearls are formed inside the shell as a defense mechanism against a potential threat, which can be as simple as a grain of sand. The mollusc creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritation, which then hardens.

Although tourism has probably overtaken it as a revenue generator on the island, there is still a huge operation here in the city, as well as a museum about the history of the jewel here.

I am single so the only pearling I will be doing on the island is likely to be the number of face plants I will be doing as a result of surfing crappy second hand boards thanks to LAN airlines!

I am however going out on the town tonight, and am hoping to meet the sort of girl to whom I could give a pearl necklace to.

Wish me luck!

Tahiti was somewhere I had to make time for on my trip, and I am looking forward to the next week there so much.

Heading for the island that is the largest in French Polynesia marks my return to lands of the people who introduced surfing to the world. 

The break of Tea’hupoo (pronounced cho-poo) at the south of Tahiti makes regular appearances in Billabong’s XXL contest, and is also one of the stops on the world championship tour each year.

The pros will be arriving here in August but the swell season has already started. This picture was taken a few weeks ago and the following link will show you more of what the chargers were surfing: http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/teahupoo-returns-round-two_96196/

Not to be outdone I have timed my visit perfectly just as a swell is arriving. (http://magicseaweed.com/Teahupoo-Surf-Report/619/)

Does this mean it will finally be time for my first ever tube ride?

Mind the gap please!

Easter Island was discovered by Europeans in 1772, but had been inhabited by the local Rapa Nui people for more than a thousand years.

It is most famous for its 887 statues called Moai created by the early Rapa Nui people, all of which face out towards the horizon from the island which is nearly 1300 miles from the nearest land.

My flight from Chile, to which the islands belong, is landing here to drop off and pick people up on the way to Tahiti where I will be spending the next week.

It is an overnight flight so sadly like every other ancient monument I have missed so far along my route this means I am not going to get the chance to see any of them.

I am genuinely disappointed by that, because they are fascinating. I first learned of the giant heads in the 2000AD comic story Hewligans’s Haircut back in the late eighties.

I can’t imagine I am going to get another chance to be somewhere so remote again so will have to make do with these pictures I found online. Gutted!

I should also point out that the island is widely regarded as a warning of the cultural and environmental dangers of exploitation to the modern world, because the Rapa Nui people completely cleared the island of trees to produce and move the monuments into place, which nearly resulted in their own extermination.

Given the carbon footprint of my own trip it is probably best I don’t say a great deal more at this time!

Congratulations to all those selected to be a part of this year’s tour of Australia, and especially so to Sam Warburton for being asked to captain the British and Irish Lions.

It makes him the first Welshman to be captain of the team since 1977. I can’t wait to get out to New Zealand and Australia where I can enjoy all of the tour later in my travels without having to get up early to do so. I will be seeing them play at least one game in the flesh too.

Being good enough to play for the team which only tours every four years and is made up of the best of the best of the home nations rugby sides, is the absolute pinancle of any player’s career if you are from the UK.

For that reason I think the press should be making more of the fact that anybody has made the team, rather than running the story with the headline that Jesus Wilkinson is not going because he didn’t feel up to it.

It is pretty insulting to everybody who does want to go down there and will be putting absolutely everything on the line for games which they may only get one opportunity to play in during their career. I can only offer my utmost support to anybody who has been selected.

The test match I saw with Genevieve and Clem in South Africa four years ago still remains the most brutal game of rugby I have ever seen. I’m looking forward to the same level of commitment this time around and no quarter being given by either side. However I can admit to wanting the Lions to win the series a tad more than I should, due to the two Aussies who abandoned me in the desert in Mexico.