The Christmas Day that never was

After a wonderful time on the islands of French Polynesia it was, with some sadness, that we took our last flight from the remote Motu of Rangiroa back to the main French Polynesia Island of Tahiti where we had begun our journey 4 weeks before and from where we would take our international flight to New Zealand.

... and yes, we spoiled ourselves once more with this lovely beach bungalow in Rangiroa!

So many special memories from the last 4 weeks but one magical moment was when diving in the Tiputa Pass of Rangiroa, with the sharks keeping a safe distance from us a dolphin twice as long as me and 3 times as wide (no sarcastic comments please) swam through the middle of us and spent a minute exploring who these strangers were in his world - just amazing!!!

OK, back to Tahiti. Having arrived there on Christmas Eve this was perfect for the Austrian who, of course, celebrates her Christmas on Christmas Eve. Having spoke to other travellers it was recommended that we head down to a Chinese food court near the harbour. With our Christmas cards exchanged this is probably the first time I have sat on a plastic chair eating Chow Mein (and drinking beer from a paper bag as alcohol was officially not allowed) on Christmas Eve - as always, it was a very special and memorable time!

 A lovely but very "different" Christmas :-)

 Our waiter (or waitress???) ;-)

As some of you know, Christmas for the British side of this couple is celebrated on Christmas Day itself (Christmas Eve is normally down the pub). 07:00am Christmas Day morning we were checking in for our flight to New Zealand and at 9:00am, to the roar of the 747 engines, our plane lifted off headed for New Zealand.

We safely landed 5 hours later on Boxing Day (26th) in Auckland!? ... Hang on a minute I cried, where is my Christmas Day??? ... International Date Line - we had just fast forwarded 24 hours. This has to be the first time in my life I have never actually had a Christmas Day - I spent the next few days in protest, wearing a Christmas paper hat everywhere we went in public. (Comment from Monika: You will not believe how often James cried for his Christmas Day and how many strange looks we got when James walked around with his bright red paper Christmas hat...! ;-)