Polynesia paradise

BORA Bora is as picture-perfect as it appears in the glossy travel brochures and that's just one of the many reasons why you should head to this magical island.

Picture perfect ... Bora Bora is a perfect getaway for honeymooners or couples in need of relaxation.

PIGS, chickens and dogs all have a job on the family boat on the French Polynesian Island of Bora Bora.

The pig is the navigator. When it's dark and the family are searching for land they will throw the pig, attached to a rope into the water because pigs will automatically swim towards land. Then they will pull the animal back on board.

The chicken is the clock. Every hour it crows so the family will never lose track of time.

And the dogs, which are considered friends, will guard the boat. What they're guarding against I'm not sure, because it is hard to believe anything bad would happen on this sleepy, scenic island.

Dressed in a loincloth, his long black hair falling down his back to his tattooed derriere, our tour guide for the day, Patrick Tairua, was the man who told us the animal story.

It was just one of a hundred that he told throughout our day with him.

Part tour guide, part storyteller, Patrick was an unlimited well of information – mostly true but some suspected to be embellished for tourism purposes.

With his loincloth, Pareo (a traditional Tahitian sarong worn as a dress slung from his shoulder), ukulele and tattoo-covered body, Patrick was a picture of traditional Tahiti.

It did become apparent, though, through his motorised canoe, incessantly ringing mobile phone, and vice-like handshake that Patrick was a picture of traditional Tahiti with a modern twist. He was also a most memorable tour guide.

The youngest of his Polynesian family of four boys and four girls, Patrick, who said he was 21 but after closer inspection looked suspiciously like he was in the 40 age range, runs his Maohi Nui tour daily from Bora Bora's 15 resorts.

He also conducts traditional wedding ceremonies for the thousands of international guests who visit the island known to be a mecca for honeymooners, and three nights a week he organises his traditional dance group to perform in the island's resorts. We were treated to one of these performances on our last night staying at Club Med Bora Bora.

Scantily covered by that loincloth again, Patrick and a group of men in the same garb danced, pounded their chests, picked up rocks weighing in excess of 100kg (a national Tahitian sport) and gave a dramatic rendition of fire twirling.

The women, in grass skirts, coconut bras and flower leis around their necks swayed their hips in an impossibly fast fashion while the Club Med crowd watched, mesmerised.

Our group of six embarked on Patrick's Maohi Nui tour from our base camp at the Club Med resort.
Piling into his motorised canoe we were chauffeured around Bora Bora's lagoon which is made up of countless shades of blue and green.

The colours and scenery of this magical island are exactly as you see in every promotional photo ever taken. They look like they have been doctored with a seriously stocked palette of oil paints.

Looking off the side of the boat directly into the water, it is so clear you can see the sand at the bottom, and if you keep looking outwards from the boat towards the skyline, there is a distinct point where the brilliant blue of the lagoon's water turns to green before becoming a reef, and then whitewashed surf.

This scenery has provided enough inspiration for mid-week office daydreams to last a lifetime.

When you first arrive on Bora Bora after a 45-minute plane ride from Tahiti, preceded by an eight-hour plane ride from Sydney, you need to get a boat across the lagoon to the main part of the island, which is home to 15 resorts.

The resorts share the 31km volcanic island with the residents' homes, a few schools, 7000 dogs, cats and chickens and Mt Otemanu, a 700m basalt rock, which from certain angles looks like a giant back tooth.

The population of Bora Bora numbers 8000 and locals joke there is one dog for every two people on the island.

Bora Bora's mainland is lapped by the lagoon, which is dotted with smaller coral islands called motu.

Part of Patrick's tour is to stop on the 300m by 150m motu called Tenana Nu that belongs to his family.

With the lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other and the soon-to-be-built Four Seasons resort to its left, this motu or island is a highly sought-after piece of real estate.

As Patrick explained, every Tahitian family has a house or small portion of land which is passed down through the family, and to sell it would be detrimental to future generations.

That's why when he was offered more than $20 million by overseas developers for his family's motu, Patrick declined.

"Money you spend. Land is still here and when you die it is still here so the next generation will still be able to use it," he says. "I hope the kids decide to keep it, but that is their decision."

This information, like so much of what our group learned on our Maohi Nui tour, you can't read in official tour books or promotional material.

As well as the physical landscape of the island, which you can't help but soak in, people on Patrick's tour get the priceless opportunity to pick his brain about everything from the political, social and economic climate of the island to the more personal details of his life – which upon talking to Patrick for five minutes, you can't help but suspect has been very colourful.

Patrick's is among many of the tours and activities offered from Club Med's Bora Bora Resort, which attracts guests predominantly from France, the US and Italy, but also Japan, Germany, Australia, Argentina and Belgium.

His is a full day trip, but resort guests can also experience half-day sight-seeing trips, water activities such as snorkeling, kayaking, sailing catamarans and aqua gym and a rough-and-ready four-wheel-drive safari, which leaves you breathless and fearing for your life as you're thrown around the back of the guide Ari's four-wheel-drive on the way up what they call Hyatt Point.

Offering day trippers a magnificent panoramic view of Bora Bora, the point received its nickname 20 years ago, after the foundations of a Hyatt resort were abandoned at its foot.

The concrete pylons still jut out of the water, giving the air of a haunted building site.

If sight-seeing isn't your thing, and you would prefer to idle your Bora Bora holiday away from the comfort of your resort, there is nothing stopping you from doing just that.

Club Med Bora Bora, which at full capacity can cater for 300 guests, but when we stayed in early January had only 80, predominantly caters for honeymooners or couples in need of relaxation.

Depending on what time of year you choose to go, you will either be surrounded by the holidaying Europeans, or like us, there will be a smattering of Americans, a few French, some Japanese and one or two Italians.

Resort manager or Chef de Village as he is commonly referred to on the island, Dominique Toledano, says the busiest times of the year for Bora Bora Club Med are during the European summer in June, July and August, and also over the Christmas and New Year period.

Toledano says every Club Med (there are 100 resort "villages" in 36 countries around the world) has its speciality, and Bora Bora is all about relaxation.

The bar, which has a thatched roof and looks out over the crystal-clear lagoon, is the perfect place to spend those few hours in the afternoon just before the sun sets. Reclining in our deck chairs, beverage of choice in hand, ruminating on a hard day spent snacking from the Club Med's extensive menu and snorkeling, swimming and kayaking our way around the lagoon, our group, all nicely pink from the sun, were a picture of decadence and rest and relaxation.

While Bora Bora is not short of resorts, because of the inflated prices of food, drinks and groceries on the island – a can of Coke I bought at a local shop cost $US6 ($7.70) – the Club Med resort is a popular choice for guests because of its exclusive "all-inclusive package".

For five nights, packages start at $3761 and include not only accommodation and some activities but also an all-day open bar, unlimited snacks and a buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

For guests watching their waist lines, don't bother until you return home. It is almost impossible to be restrained around the unlimited choices available, just make sure you make the most of the resort's physical activities.