Harro's trip to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) - Tiki Travel

H harro Member Australia Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 686	H harro Posted posted on Fri, Sep 8, 2006 7:15 AM thanks everyone for the comments! yes i feel very fortunate to have made it to Rapa nui and i'm sorry for making anyone jealous (!!) - hopefully if you cannot make it there yourself you can enjoy it thru other people's experiences. midnite - thanks for the photo comps - i'm no pro at all, just a hack with an average pocket sized digital camera like this: its about 3 yrs old and cost about $US350. The only trick i use is to flick it to "sunset" setting when the sun is setting (no kidding!), and "scenery" setting when it's not! and i do my best to be patient and compose the image within the screen as best as possible before i take the shot. It's just luck that we had some gorgeous sunsets that day! just to make you even more furious, during the forced 28hr stopover in the insanely overpriced city of Papeete (Tahiti), we managed to scam our way onto the private beach of the Sofitel resort (because we were staying at the cheapest, dirtiest hostel on the island that of course was miles from any beach) and for about 3 out of those 28 hours it stopped raining to reveal these photo opportunities: we were even fortunate enough to witness a special song and dance by the locals for the guests: it was totally amazing!! more of these tahiti pics at http://harro.fotopic.net/c982601_1.html oh, and the sandwich scene... ahhh can't quite remember if i had a sandwich there or not but the seafood and the fresh juices were to die for! twitch - yeah the scene with the kids and the horses and the warship and the moai was just surreal, and just like you said - the kids wouldn't know any different!! tiki chris - your blog is mind boggling! there is so much valuable information on there that i can't begin to comprehend it all - i need a free week to devote to it! tama - yes I picked up many many treats for myself / friends / family / tiki bar, but on a backpackers budget meant i had to be careful so i spent many hours gazing and deliberating over the WEALTH of hand-made crafts that were available in order to make sure i was making the right purchases. And there were many amazing carvers and craftsmen/women on the island as this is obviously the main income for the locals. in the end i chose to buy the majority of items from carvers who weren't selling their wares thru a store in the town, but from the actual carvers themself as they sat on a blanket nearby to some of the sites. It just felt a bit more authentic that way. Although i gave many of them away as gifts, i kept some nice carvings and pendants for myself - I'll try to take some pics and post them here soon. i also just bought a magazine here called "New Scientist" which had a cover story on the theory of the collapse of Easter Island. It was an interesting read, i'll try to scan it in and post it as i doubt it would be available outside Australia. cheers, harro.

thanks everyone for the comments!

yes i feel very fortunate to have made it to Rapa nui and i'm sorry for making anyone jealous (!!) - hopefully if you cannot make it there yourself you can enjoy it thru other people's experiences.

midnite - thanks for the photo comps - i'm no pro at all, just a hack with an average pocket sized digital camera like this:

its about 3 yrs old and cost about $US350. The only trick i use is to flick it to "sunset" setting when the sun is setting (no kidding!), and "scenery" setting when it's not! and i do my best to be patient and compose the image within the screen as best as possible before i take the shot. It's just luck that we had some gorgeous sunsets that day!

just to make you even more furious, during the forced 28hr stopover in the insanely overpriced city of Papeete (Tahiti), we managed to scam our way onto the private beach of the Sofitel resort (because we were staying at the cheapest, dirtiest hostel on the island that of course was miles from any beach) and for about 3 out of those 28 hours it stopped raining to reveal these photo opportunities:

we were even fortunate enough to witness a special song and dance by the locals for the guests:

it was totally amazing!! more of these tahiti pics at http://harro.fotopic.net/c982601_1.html

oh, and the sandwich scene... ahhh can't quite remember if i had a sandwich there or not but the seafood and the fresh juices were to die for!

twitch - yeah the scene with the kids and the horses and the warship and the moai was just surreal, and just like you said - the kids wouldn't know any different!!

tiki chris - your blog is mind boggling! there is so much valuable information on there that i can't begin to comprehend it all - i need a free week to devote to it!

tama - yes I picked up many many treats for myself / friends / family / tiki bar, but on a backpackers budget meant i had to be careful so i spent many hours gazing and deliberating over the WEALTH of hand-made crafts that were available in order to make sure i was making the right purchases. And there were many amazing carvers and craftsmen/women on the island as this is obviously the main income for the locals. in the end i chose to buy the majority of items from carvers who weren't selling their wares thru a store in the town, but from the actual carvers themself as they sat on a blanket nearby to some of the sites. It just felt a bit more authentic that way. Although i gave many of them away as gifts, i kept some nice carvings and pendants for myself - I'll try to take some pics and post them here soon.

i also just bought a magazine here called "New Scientist" which had a cover story on the theory of the collapse of Easter Island. It was an interesting read, i'll try to scan it in and post it as i doubt it would be available outside Australia.

cheers,
harro.

Post #253048 by harro on Fri, Sep 8, 2006 7:15 AM