I can hardly believe that our South American leg is over and that we have reached Easter Island.

We took a domestic flight from San Diago because we are officially still in Chile, but Easter Island is a tiny blip in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 3500 km from anywhere, so I’m counting it more as Polynesia.

3,500km! No wonder the people here used to think they were the only race on Earth.

It's a beautiful place, boasting all the eccentricities that a tiny island with a population of 2400 warrants. You can't help but get a sense of Wicker Man when you talk to the locals. They are incredibly friendly, but might they be too friendly?

Some friends we met on the way here told us they were on the beach one day when a boat arrived in the main bay loaded with fish. There was a group of about 20 locals waiting for it and when they were handed the fish they started pulling their heads off and scooping out and eating the brains raw. If that's not weird enough, they were smearing the blood from the fish onto themselves apparently. The guys swear they were not winding us up.

Is that a group of people dancing round in a circle and chanting over there? No, sorry, just my imagination running wild.

The island is beautiful. It’s only 24km from one end to the other. We’ve hired a jeep which is great fun on the dirt tracks. Even Tim has driven and he's not got a licence. There’s simply no-one around to crash into. (Don’t worry the Moai are well away on the beaches and the animals in the fields). It has fantastic, deserted beaches with white sand and waves perfect for surfing.

We’ve had to explore it in the pouring rain...surprise, surprise. "This is soooo unusual!” Said the lady at our hotel. “It must be the full moon!" Despite it being spring, it's been raining and really cold throughout the whole of Chile. I was hoping that we might catch a bit of sunshine this far out, but no joy.

Everywhere you look there are horses with hundreds of foals, chickens with baby chicks and millions of little lambs. The only reason the island is called Easter Island is because it was discovered by the Europeans on Easter Day, (a chap called Admiral Roggeveen came upon the island on Easter Day in 1722) but all the baby animals that are around at the moment do feed the name.

It's real name is Rapa Nui - just about the only research fact the Kevin Costner got right when he made that awful film of the same name. Costner you are crap. Give it up.

After paying $15 US to watch a VHS of the film we went to the only restaurant that remained open. There we had the worst meal we've had so far. It was so bad I can't even tell you what it was. It was indistinguishable and totally inedible. Whatever it was had some sort of super sweet BBQ sauce all over it. I should have known when I heard a massive crash and saw the chef walk out and slam the door - no joke. The next thing we saw was a male waitor wearing a burka looking really flustered who approached us and slammed two plates of not sure what on our table - yes, I did say burka.

The food was bad, but we were laughing so much it didn't matter. Welcome to Faulty Towers Easter Island style. I've spotted him since on a news report - he'd ditched the burka and was working in a jewellery shop on the island wearing a bright yellow sun dress with red roses on. Hopefully his jewellery making skills are better than his cooking.

According to official Chilean literature the first settlers on the island arrived from South America, but this has been contested, not least by the locals. . You don't need to be an expert to work it out, you just need to look at the people. They do not look remotely South American. And woe betide if you even mention them in the same sentence as Chile! They are fiercely nationalistic.

There isn't that much to do here for the locals that are used to the place, so alcohol plays a very large part of life and once the younger locals get a few down them, they become very bitter about their ‘parent nation’. There is even an office run by an independence movement where you can get a free Rapa Nui stamp in your passport.

According to the tourist board the people who built the Moai originally came from Peru. This is because there is some similarity between Rapa Nui and Inca stonework. One of the sets of Moai close to the airport is set on a wall that looks exactly like the Inca walls in Cuzco.

There have been other suggestions that the Island is what’s left of a lost continent or was even built by aliens. Was ET into fish brains? No, I’m sure he wasn’t.

According to the locals it was discovered by the Polynesians in about 400AD. They built the Moai in the form of their leaders. They also formed the ‘Rongorongo’ - the only written language in Oceania.

It’s said that once the population peaked at about 10,000, resources became scarce, especially since all the trees on the island were being used to move the Moai from the quarry to the beaches, so a once peaceful society began to decline into civil war and, apparently, cannibalism – which I can only assume is the real reason those locals were smearing blood all over themselves, reminiscing the old days when visitors never knew they existed. (I am joking here)

Eventually, all of the Moai standing along the coast were torn down by the islanders. Many of them still remain face down in the ground. Those that are standing again have been put back up by archaeologists.

The fact that this island is more than 2,000 miles from any other population, (Tahiti and Chile being the closest), doesn’t help clarify the history books. It’s one of the most isolated places on Earth. The island itself is in the form of a triangle. It’s made of volcanic rock and has a volcano on each corner. Apparently the early settlers called it "Te Pito O Te Henua" – which means Navel of The World. There is a spot you can go to which is supposed to mark it. We, of course, had lots of fun sticking our fingers in the World’s belly button – and not even a whiff of fluff – I promise.

Despite the rain ..and more rain...oh, and look...more rain, we’ve managed to explore the whole island. They have some amazing caves to wonder into as well as the fabulous Moai.

I can't quite put my finger on what it is about them that is so cool, they just are. The fact is, that no-one really knows why they were really built and why so many of them were knocked down again. All I know for sure is that I am writing this journal from one of the remotest, coolest places on this planet. I feel so privileged to be here. I just hope our hotel owner doesn’t try to cook us for tea – she seems to have taken a bit of a shine to Tim!

All too soon, and we’re repacking our backpacks for Tahiti. I love this place and wish we could stay longer. It’s our last day and after relentless rain the sun has come out in all its glory.

We’ve been eating nothing but cheese empanadas because we spent all our budget on the jeep, but it’s been so amazing.

As well as the Moai we’ve found some fantastic caves, seen some cool rock carvings, and looked right into the mouth of a volcano. We've also sat in the very spot the leaders would have done hundreds of years ago waiting for their sportsmen to swim out through shark infested waters to a tiny islet about a km away and return with a bird's egg. Whichever leader's athlete got back first (uneaten with an unbroken egg) would rule the island. Now there’s democracy!

We haven’t been eaten by anybody and we've seen no evidence of raw fish brain consumption either. We’re packed and reluctantly ready to go. How much of a treat is it when you are really sad to be leaving somewhere for Tahiti??

I’ve been waiting for the sunset over the Moai shot, but so far there’s been no sunsets, because it’s been too cloudy. I am right now looking at a fantastic sky and a gorgeous sunset, but I’m at the airport and nowhere near an ancient man with a hat. Damn.

Time to go. We’ll at least we’re not going home. Tahiti here we come. Surely we are finally going to be free of rain?