It was a good day to get out the bicycles and go exploring. Huahine has one road that runs all around the coastline and is flat and we'd been told about a ancient site, known as a marae, 5 miles north of town. Nothing beats bowling along a country road with the wind through your cycle helmet and a sea breeze on your face. Huahine, in common, with all the French Polynesian islands we've visited, is pretty and kept clean and tidy by the residents. All the houses seem to have a keen gardener who clips the grass and tends their plants, dogs wag their tails as you cycle past and everyone waves a bonjour.
A marae was the temple of the ancient polynesians for honouring their gods and making human sacrifices. Allegedly Capt James Cook attended a sacrifice at this marae in Maeve beach. This one is a series of paved oblongs with an offing platform and standing stones. After the London Missionary Church sent envoys to the islands to convert the population to Christianity in the 18th century the Maraes have been unused. Or perhaps not because there are reports of evidence of new burnings in the old sites. Nothing as extreme as a human sacrifice, but evidence that the old ways are not completely forgotten.
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