Honeymoon in paradise
The wedding is over – the service, the greeting of relatives and friends, the feast, the toasts, the speeches, the photographs, the farewells. The culmination of months of planning has come and gone in only hours. With an undeniable sense of relief that the stress of their wedding day is over, the newly married couple are driven to the airport.
Emerging into the hot tropical air, the honeymooners catch the fragrance of frangipani blossom. As they stroll towards the Immigration counter a beautifully scented tiare flower is placed behind the ear of the bride and groom by a smiling Tahitian girl.
Joining the immigration line, the couple is serenaded by the lilting strains of Polynesian love songs, played by a group of Tahitian men on ukeleles and guitars.
From Faa’a it is a quick transfer to the capital town, Papeete, and the next day, to one of a wide choice of island destinations. Already the hectic world the newlyweds have just left is almost forgotten, days of bliss stretch ahead, for they have chosen to spend this very special time in their life together in one of the loveliest places on Earth, one synonymous with love and beauty, the islands of French Polynesia.
The Tahitian environment in which the honeymooners find themselves is sublimely beautiful: beaches of creamy white sand overlooked by palm trees that sway to the rhythm of the trade wind, tropical shrubs that glow with vibrantly coloured flowers, lagoons of shimmering, breath-taking blue, underwater worlds teeming with marine life, reef waves rising and breaking, their susurration comprising nature’s loveliest serenade, sunsets that produce sky shows of almost unbelievable colour.
Turning inland, they see that natural beauty is also abundant there – soaring volcanic peaks, steep-sided valleys, waterfalls that plunge hundreds of metres down mountainsides, fast-flowing streams, pools of cool, refreshing water, rainforests with giant trees, volcanic peaks thrusting hundreds of metres up into the tropical sky.
In French Polynesia nature is at her most generous and spectacular, showing off her creations with abandonment and abundance. For visitors, the senses are joyfully overwhelmed by the riotous beauty of these islands.
