Tahiti has been on the radar of European’s since the early explorers. It was visited by Wallis, and Cook……they decided not to claim it for Britain. The Polynesians themselves arrived 1000 years ago and settled. Their history is in the close language links to Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and the Maoris of New Zealand. The main European influence came from Protestant Missionaries in the 1800’s.
We visited the point where James Cook attempted to track Venus’ path across the sun. His observatory was rebuilt as a lighthouse.
The ball represents Venus and the star, the Sun. At this point was also a memorial to the voyages of the missionaries as they visited the islands down as far as Australia and to Fletcher Christian and the Bounty. Christian visited the island and left accompanied by Tahitians who had befriended the Bounty and its crew.
Overall, our trip around the island with our cheery guide, showed us the beauty of the island and the layback attitude of the people. As a French colony, the island is still dependent on funding from France to help the economy. On the ship tomorrow so the blog may be a feast or a famine.
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