Bora Bora...Heaven on Earth!

Well, we spent February 16th traveling from Queenstown to Auckland, then to Tahiti.  Air Tahiti is the only airline that flies into the French Polynesian islands.  Despite the airline being a bit dated, we were very excited to arrive on our flight to be greeted by the most amazing smelling Tahitian gardenias.  The flight was only 6 hours long, but we did cross the International Date Line again, so we actually went back to February 15th.  We arrived in Papeete late at night on the 15th and went right to the hotel.  We had to stay in Papeete, because there were no more flights to Bora Bora that evening.  When we got off the plane, we were met with wonderful Tahitian music and beautiful Leis.  Again, the flowers just got us excited to think we were finally in the tropics. 

After a quick rest that evening, we woke up early for a morning flight to Bora Bora.  The flight is about 45 minutes long, so we arrived on the island before 9 am.  When we arrived to Bora Bora it was as beautiful as all the pictures you see.  The island of Bora Bora has a shelf around the island that slows the ocean tide.  The water is calm much like a lake would be.  However, this calm ocean water is crystal clear and a vibrant aqua blue. 

We took a quick boat road to our resort the Hilton Bora Bora Nui.  Again, we were met with more Leis and refreshments.  Now this is what I am talking about.  It was nice to finally have someone pampering us after all the adventures in New Zealand.

We stayed in an extravagant hut right over the water.  We had sections of our floor where you could see right into the water and check out the fish.  The end tables in our our room lifted so you could even feed the fish right from the couch.  The accommodations were spectacular.  Our very first night we so the brightest, most picturesque rainbow.  Aaron claims we found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  It is called Bora Bora!
 

Aaron and I spent the next 5 days eating, sleeping, laying out at the pool, the beach, and our hut.  Aaron was all about snorkeling so he geared up almost every day to go and check out the fish.  We played a lot of phase 10 and just took in the spectacular views.  This was the perfect ending to a perfect sabbatical. 

I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband, friend, and travel partner.  This has been a dream vacation for the both of us.  We feel so blessed that we have had the opportunity to take such an amazing trip together.  I know we will always remember the wonderful memories we created during our sabbatical and cherrish these memories for the rest of our lives.