15 minutes of fame....

About 3 months ago Pacific Resort was lucky enough to host the crew from Maori TV’s Hunting Aotearoa program. The crew were in the Cooks to visit Aitutaki, Raro and Atiu to film a couple of episodes for the program. I did an interview with the surprisingly charming Howie Morrison Jnr which lead the episode on Aitutaki (episode 26 just screened). The crew had a blast, saying it was one of the best trips they’d ever had.

They hooked up with some local characters including the hilarious Peckham Maoate who took them spear fishing for eel, coconut crabbing and CHICKEN TRAPPING – yes a bizarre Aitutaki sport where you put an onion on the end of a very long pole with a noose attached and then try to snare the sleeping chicken 15 ft up in a tree!! Even more bizarrely on Raro the crew went shooting for Fruit Bats, which Howie actually eats bbq’d !!! Taste’s like pigeon apparently.

There’s been lots to tell and I know many people will have already heard the news. I was delighted to get an early morning text to tell me that I had won the South Pacific General Manager of the Year Award at the HM Awards in Sydney. The HM Awards are the premium awards for hospitality and Accommodation excellence in Australia, NZ and South Pacific.

There were as record 1300 nominations for the 35 awards, which were presented at a dinner for 500 in Sydney, with Ray Martin as host. Sadly I couldn’t be there but one of my colleagues accepted the award for me. Sounds like he was almost as excited as I was, with the table of industry folk he was sitting at offering a huge cheer when my name came up.

It is a delightful to be recognized in this way. My fellow GM in Sydney Marcus Tait suggesting this adds 10 – 15% my future salary – now that’s the money!!

Jen and I got the chance to celebrate in advance when on the night prior pacific resort hosted a wine dinner in conjunction with our always friends from Pernod Ricard to showcase their Jacob’s Creek Reserve wines. Chef James designed an exceptional five course dinner and with matching wines I don’t think Aitutaki had seen anything like this for a while.

The Toa Moana Masters Vaka crew helped the dinner numbers by booking the largest table, which coincided with the departure of the women’s #1 stroke, Tanya back to NZ. As if any excuses was needed this meant much excellent St Hugo’s and Steingarten wines were consumed but the killer stroke was the whiskey with Pernod Riacrd supplying bottles of Chivas Regal, Jamesons and The Glenlivet 12 year old to go with coffee…with the expected result.

It was quite a week as the day after that was Michael’s Birthday. The family took an extra day off to get on the lagoon in a much anticipated cruise with Lawton on the Glass Bottom Boat (funnily enough it’s actually the old one from Goat Island). The weather was great and Lawton gave us a wonderful tour both in and out of the lagoon (a first for the kids). The glass bottom gives a great perspective, snorkeling without getting wet…and lunch was a feast with a wonderfully genuine flavour. Big Thumbs up for Uncle Lawton – highly recommended.

Jenni’s month has been all about the school library, with her new designation as Librarian. Jen’s been imprisoned in the stifling heat of the new school library several hours a day sorting, labeling, counting, censoring (no books with dragons allowed at the Seventh Day Adventist school) and getting to grips with the idiosyncrasies of the Dewey Decimal system. My favourite report has been the Bible filled by Author under ‘G’…for God. But the reports are all positive, with our donated mats coming into good use when some kids ACTUALLY CAME INTO THE LIBRARY OF THEIR OWN ACCORD TO SIT AND READ SOME BOOKS – a breakthrough!!

She’s a star that Jen.

So that’s September – Part 1…with Jamie’s birthday on the horizon September Part 2 will surely feature a cake of some sort…standby til then.

Araura Oe Vaka & Bailey's Birthday

And now Bailey is 8! We had a nice family dinner, opened up some pressies (thank you very much), and enjoyed a slice of R2D2 cake before taking it to school the next day. I like May.

I have jumped in and created a blog for the Araura Oe Vaka Association (Araura is the traditional name for Aitutaki) which represents the three Aitutaki Oe Vaka Clubs. Check it out - Oe Vaka Aitutaki. It is just a small starter to help develop a web presence for the upcoming Queens Birthday Regatta, and for later in the year for a regatta to follow Vaka Eiva in Rarotonga in November.

For the record, in the weekend regatta just been, the Lipstick Brigade (my ladies V6 crew - pink pareau and big earings are compulsory) wiped the floor, defeating allcomers in both the 250m and 500m races. Then I filled a space with the Ranganui Retreat team and won two races there, paddling at number 5 (near the back).

Michael won in the Masters Men division and came second in the Open Men, as well as filling in with a few other crews. He paddles at number 1 (above). The kids paddled too but got blown around a bit - we had a king tide being pushed by a strong wind, so all the tamariki played at being swept away by the current. In the pictures below, Jamie, Michael and Bailey are paddling 1, 2 and 4, while Sienna and Quentin practice on the beach.

It was another good day on the water. I like May.

September 09 Part 1 (A Birthday, A Goat and A Whale)

September has been a busy old month, with birthdays, visits, Safari’s and lagoon cruises, 100% occupancy, athletics, school holidays (for a month!), the Pacific Mini Games, a day trip to Rarotonga and a goat…..but more on that later.

In today’s installment... Jamieson’s 5^th birthday! Hurray! Theoretically it is today actually, but as Nana & Poppa have just visited we bumped it up and had it last weekend. He didn’t notice at all, as the concept of calendars and time don’t feature much for Jamie, or the Island for that matter! I have NO IDEA where those 5 years have gone (other that the back hole in Warkworth) but when exactly did our middle child become a school boy? (Of course we use the term ‘school boy’ lightly in these parts, though we will pick up a uniform before school restarts and he might even deign to attend class because of it.) Where did those chubby cheeks, cheeky grins and ringlets go to? Where did this handsome, athletic, stroppy boy come from?

So, let’s get the important stuff out of the way – THE CAKE! The cake (chocolate of course) was going to be a Sponge Bob cake, but much to my relief (you try making fondant figures stand up in this heat!) there was an 11^th hour switch to Sir Dan Fortesque, hero of the Playstation game Medievil. Dan is a dashing character, literally a walking sketeton (as he has been raised from the dead after all) so a cartoon skull, with one eye ball and a bad dental job was well within reach without weeks of preparation (as per the legendary Thunderbirds cake). The kids were chuffed (husband too) which was lovely.

Jamie’s biggest surprise was his new pet goat, yes, GOAT. A wee Billy the Kid - very cute in light brown and white, and only a month old. Unfortunately we found out quickly that the kids needed lessons on how to hold a lead. Jamie held on while the goat had a sniff around, walked with the goat as he took a stroll, then dropped it as soon as the goat went for a run! So down the road it went, with a ute, 2 bikes and the airport bus avoiding it, and several of our vehicles in pursuit. Thankfully (very thankfully) the ute driver stopped and cornered the little beastie and presented it with a wry smile to us in the chase car! I’m sure the tale of the crazy Papa’a family who lost their goat while taking it for a walk was around the island in a day!

So a week later, Goatee, as he has been named, has settled right in. He follows at our heels when we walk past, comes for a walk to the beach without pulling on the rope, happy to sit in the car, or on Michael’s knee on the couch when he has a bottle! He listens to the kid’s voices and bleats for attention, and like to eat weeds and flowers more than grass. Of course if he touches my veggies there will be big trouble. He likes to have some time up on the deck in the afternoon so he can be part of the action too. He sleeps in the laundry outside at night and is generally a cuddly, happy chappie.

Of course Jamie couldn’t control himself with so many parcels all for him and has quite over excited by it all. The fact that Nana and Poppa were here made things even better. We went to the beach for a few hours in the surf and were lucky enough to see some whale action with spouts and tails and splashes just beyond the reef. Then it was out for dinner at the Boat Shed to complete a really lovely day.

The Merry Month of May

So…here is a rundown of our May:

• Bailey’s birthday rolled around on the 10th. He was very excited to have parcels arriving for him and of course the birthday cake at school again. This time we had a moko (ghecko) cake, with the moko perched on top of the cake with vines around the base. He had a lovely day and appreciated being the centre of attention - and all his presents!!! Thanks very much! (from Bailey)
  

• Mothers day was also on the 10th though through some screw up Michael had to go to work for a while in the morning. I hope all the mums had a good day.

• Correspondence school is finally coming together. Bailey now has two days each week at home with me at 'Mummy School', while our 'nanny/nana' Tav looks after Jamie and Sienna at her house. J&S love it, because Tav feeds them icecream, takes them to the beach and for rides on her motor scooter! As I dropped them off today, Jamie disappeared out the back of their place chasing a piglet so Tav had to ask her son to chase after him! In addition to this, Jamie spends one afternoon a week at Collette's house with her daughter Marie (Marie is one day older than Jamie), where he does 'Collette School'. As Collette is a teacher, she has them well organised with writing and spelling books. It can't be long before Jamie is reading on his own.
  

• We are in a much better routine because of this, with the kids playing with Marie and David (9) at their house on Monday, and David and Marie coming to our house on Friday. Tennis for Bailey is Tuesday -Thursday, plus a swim afterwards if it is hot.

• One Friday we stayed in the resort so we could take the kids to the Island show. It was quite late for them, but as we visited everyone getting ready Sienna announced that she wanted to dance. So the mama’s dressed her up and she performed in the show! Little Irene held her hand and told her where to go and when to dance and Sienna copied along. It was gorgeous – we were so proud! The second time she went on she had her thumb in the whole time as it was 9pm!

• May has been a crazy month for travel agent famils - at least 3 per week, with as many hosted meals. I have been doing 2 each week with Michael (otherwise I'd never see him)! Sometimes Poppy and Stephen join us as Stephen is the Sales and Marketing manager for Island Hopper Vacations. This helps to spread the load, and Poppy and I can whine to each other the following day about how dreary some of them are and about how much our husbands work!
  

• So one night when we had a group of agents in for dinner I left Tav at home with the kids and scarpered down to the resort for a quiet Pina Collada on the beach before I put on my work face. As I sat in my favourite spot - the sunset seat - I watched a lightening storm start over the southern part of the lagoon. It was amazing with flashes every 5-10 seconds. This continued for half an hour without any thunder and the skys got darker and darker. A lot of the guests were taking photos trying to catch a lighting bolt on film - a difficult prospect! Before I went into dinner I rang Tav to warn that the storm was creeping closer. An hour into dinner the heavens openned in some of the heaviest rain we have seen. The lower decks of the restaurant had to be evacuated up to the main floor so everyone was crammed together - mostly in good spirits. We were due to have the Fire Show on the beach that night, but Ipo and the boys did very well and performed 3 shows in the Port Chochere. That was after they had helped to sweep the flood waters out of the lobby! The inevitable 'average' thunder came along and I rang Tav - the kids were fine all in bed together. It was a funny funny night - you got to laugh really.

• The following morning I heard that Poppy's whole vege garden had been washed down the hill! I picked up the phone to call her only to find that the phone was dead. Cell phone too. I turned the computer on and there was no internet...then turned to the modem which showed no lights at all - a lightening strike took out the cell phone mast, our house phone line and our modem too. Thankfully the computer is on a wireless connection! It took Telecom Cook Islands 11 DAYS to get things working again and we flew our new modem up from NZ. TCI ARE USELESS HOPELESS PATHETIC and wouldn't know anything about customer service if a STONE FISH DELIVERED THE MESSAGE!!! Every day I went in there - "How are the repairs going" to be told "there are a lot". Breathe................ The computer came up with a boot error the day after that but I managed to repair windows just before I reformatted the lot of it!

• This place is hard on electronics actually. Our good toaster doesn't stay down anymore, we have replaced the DVD player and only the top half of the toasted sandwich maker heats up now. Both the old and new camera's are kaput....I don't quite know how we have managed all that....

• NB: Michael has a new strategy for getting out of dancing during the Island Night shows - he drums!!!

• My birthday (and Mrs Perry's) came along on the 29th. Thanks for the parcels everyone. The reading material in particular was much appreciated. Michael arranged for the maintenance guys at the resort to cut down the legs on a plastic chair so I can use it at the beach and it works very well. I was well spoiled on the day with Michael taking the day off and Poppy going to a huge amount of trouble to arrange for a trip on the lagoon to Maina and Honeymoon Islands in their boat Tiny Bubbles. This included hiring a skipper (as Stephen was in Rarotonga for Golden Oldies rugby), driving the boat down off the mountain on her own and putting a ribbon around the capstan! The 6 of us and the skipper went off for the day, had a lovely picnic with champagne and other yummies and spent the whole day lording it up on beautiful, mosquito free Maina. We tolerated the occasional visitor, but they were left in no doubt that we ruled the island!!! The kids spent at least 4 hours in the water, with both boys snorkeling without water wings now. It was a really special day.

• We have an exciting week next week with Mum and Dad coming for a visit. We are looking forward to seeing them so much. The kids are busting, and we are looking forward to a few games of 500!

• We have had an issue with a parcel that has gone missing in the post. We suspect that the main problem was that the parcel was sent in a Crocs box rather than a plain package, which made it a tempting target. It contained shoes for Michael and medicine for me, which ended up causing a major problem when I ran out and went through 3 weeks of withdrawal and pain until I obtained a new supply from Rarotonga. It was quite unpleasant for the whole house - enough said! We have another, more secure way of getting my medicine up here for next time, so lets hope that goes much smoother.

• And from the bizzare island stuff file....PR sent out their new wedding package with a special section for "Renewal of Vowels".......it didn't go past our desk, I can assure you of that!

xxJen

PS - We broke open the winter suitcase this morning - the kids had long pants and hoodies on as it was only 20 degrees! We must be getting soft!

Sienna's 3rd Birthday

Our little girl is now 3! I'm afraid that I couldn't quite get my head around a proper party - Saturday's are out for all the Seventh Day Adventist school kids (she would know 3-4 outside school) and Sunday is probably out for most of the rest (not that we know many anyway). So we took our birthday roadshow to the island!

Off to school for Friday in our Kia Orana day mufti wear, and Jamie told everyone in the middle of chappel that it was his sister's birthday. The school sang her 'happy birthday to you' and 'happy long life to you' fininshed off with rousing 'hip-hip-hurray' in English and Maori (I'm not sure what the difference was).

We had opened presents before school - the kids were so excited to receive so many parcels. Thank you for all your gifts of clothes, jewellery, stickers, books, balloons, sand toys and knickers! The boys were quite chuffed to see one or two things for them as well. We had a quick cake cutting with Michael before we took the cake to school for lunch.

Now, you know you are becoming a fixture when one of the kids calls you 'Auntie', as in 'Auntie, school hasn't finished yet' when I picked Bailey up early one day. We are even more of a fixture now we have shared our 'Girl in the Moon' cake amongst every kid in school.

We then took the cake to see Annie, and took a trip through her plantation for bananas, limes, guavas and even a late pineapple. Off home to get the remaning pieces into the fridge - buttercream doesn't last too long in the heat up here! Poppy and Stephen dropped around after school to exchange their piece of cake with lolly cake and a gossip.

We went out to dinner at the Boat Shed where we had a lovely dinner outside (kids off catching crabs) before a rain shower chased us inside. Then home for a video call with Nana and Poppa, and Fiona, Rose and Harrison. We had a very nice day and thank goodness for Skype Video calls that bring everyone much closer to Aitutaki than a phone call does.

xxJen

PS We went to church today and I have been invited by the Mama's on a special girls only outting next Sunday afternoon. You've got to be up for things I suppose, so off I will go. Report to come....pray for me...:-)

Happy Birthday Poppa

Happy birthday to you dad, 51 today right? Actually today is your birthday in NZ.....and if you came to visit us tonight you could celebrate tomorrow too! I think this might be the first birthday in 34 years that I haven't been with you. Missing you heaps and in the spirit of MANY MANY tropical sunsets, I offer you this from our first night:

xxxxJ