Happy Anniversary

Chris and I have been busy entertaining visiting friends and family for the past month, but I am back online now. Here we are celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary at Tamarind House restaurant - conveniently located next door to us.
& no need for the curling tongs on Raro, the 80% humidity makes my hair curly all day long.

What's Wrong with this Picture?

I wondered why I kept getting shocks of the DVD player and the computer...

Hanging out with Chicks

Winter on its Way?

Currently it's 9.42pm at night and we are sitting on a mild 25.6 degrees with 77 percent humidity.

Today was the lowest recorded temperature since records began - which was last week when we brought back a shiny new thermometer from our recent NZ trip - a chilly 24.7 degrees, with the high not going over 27 degrees.

Most of last week the temperature hovered around 30 degrees during the day, with our hottest day reaching 31.2 degrees. Oh & did I tell you the air-con broke down at work last week? Thank goodness it was fixed promptly.

Oh, & I have worked out that Cat Hot is roughly 30 degrees.

Ye New Stone Wall

When life gives you lemons, make G&Ts with a lemon twist. When the sea surge dumps rocks in your garden, build a sea wall to protect your home from the next high tide. Ok, maybe 'seawall' is overstating the matter. It's a border a best.


BTW it turned out that a Red Ant colony had been planning on making their new home under some of the rocks and they weren’t too happy to be moved on. Ouchie!

Coconut Tide Line

The seas have returned to normal and we are left with the mess to clean up. The high tides swept coconuts, debris, sand and rocks on to our lawn, including several sizeable chunks of coral.

High Tide

Well the tropical depression has now passed us by and did not develop into a cyclone. But the seas are still fierce, and quite a bit of damage occurred to the wharf around Trader Jack’s at last night’s high tide. At our place the sea has reshaped the beach and managed to sweep up on to the fringes of our lawn.
Pictured: 7.30 last night. The waves surge over the decks of Trader Jack’s and litter the car park with chunks of concrete and coral.

Harvest

Everywhere I look around the island there are pawpaw trees laden with fruit. Except in our garden. We have five trees and a few months back one tree finally managed to squeeze out a fruit. I’ve been watching that pawpaw’s growth like a vegetarian hawk. Watching it grow. Watching it stubbornly remain green, week after week. But at last it turned yellow, signalling the time of harvest was at hand…

Ideas are welcomed for what we should now do with it. Eat it raw? Blend it with crushed ice and vodka? Maybe bake it with brown sugar and serve it with ice-cream?

Catch-Up

I may be coming back out of my "retirement" as I have dusted off my CV and have applied for a job with one of the local newspapers. The job involves assisting with their website and creating graphics for adverts. So, please cross your fingers for me. Speaking of websites, I am helping the Cook Islands Library, where I volunteer, create their own Blog. Check it out HERE.

On the home front, Chris has just completed his diving PADI course. On his last dive they saw Eagle Rays and reef Sharks. Eeepp!

Shopping List for the Week

• 1 pair of jandals
• 1 snorkel

Go Postal!

A parcel from my cousin in the UK reached us two days ago. He posted it over a month ago & I was surprised how incredibly long it took to get here. But then, I conceded, maybe the address had something to do with that…

Thanks Paul & Nicola, your parcel really made my day. =)

The Call of the Wild vs. the Dulcet Hum of Civilisation

I was just sitting at my desk, contemplating my love/hate relationship with the ukulele when I heard a hauntingly familiar tune go past my window and I had one of those moments of clarity. Suddenly I understand what separates civilisation from the wild untamed kingdoms.

And Rarotonga, despite it’s tiny landmass, an ancient volcanic isle lost in the deepwater of the pacific blue, is still as civilised as any massive booming city I have been too like Auckland or the humid exotic metropolis that is KL, because here on Rarotonga we have a Mr Whippy.

I think now I finally understand how S&G felt when they were going on about prophets and subways. Excuse me now, I have an ice-cream to buy.

Evening Sunset Viewed from our Clothesline

Library Learning

I was putting books away while volunteering at the library yesterday, when I glanced up and there in technicolor on a poster of Flowers of the Cook Islands was my Freaky Flower. Turns out it is a Gloriosa Lily. Mystery solved.

I just had a quick look on the net and saw ten stems of it sells for US$125. Yikes! Maybe we shouldn’t have lawnmowed it.

More Flowers

Check out this freaky flower/weed I don’t know what that I found in the garden. Looks like it should be able to catch stuff and eat it!

Dog Gone it!

The neighbour's 2 puppies have decided to adopt us. I guess they like our garden better. This has provided us with some amusing and some not so amusing incidents. A few weeks back they were keeping me hostage inside as every time I went outside they threatened me with their horrible little muddy paws. If that wasn't bad enough they nicked a pair of jocks of someone's line and tried to get me to play fetch with them. But most recently they’ve decided to drag people’s rubbish up onto the deck: old nappies, jandals, dishcloths, tincans, rotting hunks of tuna. But today they out did themselves. The black puppy managed to steal a machete.

Personal Goal setting: Learn to DRIVE

Today Chris gave me my first driving lesson. Doing figure 8s around the garden under the tamarind trees.
I can report no wild chickens, stray dogs or cats were harmed.

Thirsty?

Ok. It’s hot here. So I have to drink a lot of water. I found I quickly got sick of plain old water. I started making my own flavoured drinks: lemon tea (very refreshing), or ice coffee (very delicious). But sometimes I can’t be bothered slicing lemons and straining coffee grinds so I reach for a packet of kiwi summers long past. You know what I’m talking about. Raro.

Night Adventure

Chris wrote about this in an email, so I’ll just quote him:

Went out to the beach the other night with the torch to see if we could see fish, etc. I was wading in the water when suddenly I saw a snake eel. Bloody hell it scared the hell out of me, and I was out in a flash. I'd seen them before and they were scary then, but at night and being in the water as well was worse. My mind knew what it was, but the body wasn't convinced. Those buggers look like sea snakes, man. Let's just say I'm not wading in the water at nighttime anymore. But I will set up a burley bag one night and see what gets attracted to it. Worked real well when we went snorkelling at the marine reserve. Heaps of fish, some looked like trevally, and I got a wee nip by one.

Intrepid Explorers

Mum and Alice have been enjoying swimming in the lagoon. Alice found 2 giant blue starfish. Also they say they are upholding the tradition of being tourists by pointing at stuff a lot.