Past Mahina the coast road swings away from the lagoon and starts to feel like proper east Tahiti, with the mountains standing straight up on your right and a roar of surf on your left. Tiarei sits in that long strip of narrow plain, and the waterfalls above it are the reason to pull over. They are the Faarumai falls, reached by a short drive inland from the main road and then a walk through dense, wet forest of tree ferns, hibiscus and tall mape trees. The falls drop from the high ridges that hold the rain coming in from the sea, so the water is rarely absent, and in the wet months from November to April they thunder.
This side of the island gets far more rain than Papeete, and you feel it in the green. Everything drips, the moss is thick on the roadside walls and the air has a mineral, flowery smell, like a greenhouse with the door open. Riders who think of Tahiti as a beach with a road beside it are often surprised by how much of the circuit is rainforest, with heavy cloud sitting low over the valleys by early afternoon. If you want the falls looking their best and the path dry enough to walk without slipping, go in the morning and carry a light rain jacket anyway.
The coast road itself is a pleasure here, mostly flat with long gentle bends, a few one-lane bridges over rivers that tumble straight from the mountains, and dark volcanic beaches where surfers pick their way over the stones. Watch for loose gravel after storms and for dogs and chickens that regard the tarmac as a village square. Not far along the road there is also a blowhole at Arahoho where the swell pushes up through lava rock, which is worth a stop on a heavy sea.
Do not count on much here beyond a roadside snack stand or a small shop in Tiarei. Fuel is better taken in Mahina behind you, or at Taravao ahead, and it is wise to carry a little cash for the stalls. The access road to the falls can be closed after landslides, so if a sign says the path is shut, believe it.