In the morning, we emptied the fridge of its last edible contents, handed a painful amount of very large banknotes over to the owner, and sat under the Motel Albert sign waiting for the bus to bring us to the quay.

The bus arrived at about 9.30, an old school bus with a greying Polynesian who must have been doing this job for years. We were the only people on the bus.

We had to wait quite a while for the next express boat to Papeete, and it was a sign of our adaptation to Pacific pace that neither of us (especially Keiron) got impatient and we sat blissfully in our 'dolce far niente'. It may have had something to do with the fact that neither of us was particularly looking forward to getting back on a boat again... In the end, we managed without being sick, though only just. Luckily the trip was only half as long as on the ferry.

We got our rucksacks and started walking, but five minutes later I was on the ground seeing stars. I had tripped over the edge of a ramp, and managed to put my hands out and break the worst of the fall, only to have the top of my rucksack knock into my head and my head into the pavement, like a game of billiards.

I heard a distinct 'toink' sound and sat down, very dazed and confused. I didn't even look around to see who'd noticed, the first instinct of people who fall over. If I had done, I would have seen about five men crowding round me, already discussing the accident in bloodthirsty detail. One of them handed me my glasses, which had gone flying and Keiron helped me up. A big bump was developing on my forehead in the meantime...

Walking to the hotel was no fun, with a big rucksack in sweaty heat and a thumping head, but thanks to Keiron we managed to find it in the end, sweat running down our backs. The lady was a lot friendlier in person than she had been on the phone and the room was a lot better than Chez Fifi, even though the bathroom did not give a lot of privacy.

We both felt much better after a shower and had lunch at Le Retro. We had a look around the Marché de Papeete and an icecream. Afterwards we sat on teh balcony of the hotel and I finished my book. In the evening we had dinner at Le Café des Negociants, a very nice burger.

Papeete is not as bad as I first thought. The main road, Blvd Pomare, is horrible, but there are quite a few nice shops. I also spotted a 'mahu', a man who's been raised and lives as a woman, a tradition in French Polynesia. Tomorrow we have to be at the airport very early as our flight leaves at 7.50, so we need to get up in the middle of the night...