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.

Jill Of All Trades...

Well while the Southern Cousins have been freezing themselves in NZ & Australia, we have had a few nights where the blankets have come out and we have even had to shut the windows. Then here we are today and it is bikini weather again! The kids have been making excellent use of the swings that Michael has hung from a plank nailed between two coconut trees. It is great to have another option for them.

It is nice to know you have a few feathers to your bow, but I hadn't realised that hair-dressing, teaching, weaving, writing sponsorship letters, desktop publishing, IT consultant and repairs, team uniform coordination and logo development were amongst them (at least not simultaneously).

Paddling has segued into steering for me, with a few tuition sessions from some of the 'uncles' and a heap of time on the water. Things have come pretty naturally and my crew have been complimentary. They aren't muttering about crooked courses or crashes anyway (except for one unfortunate incident in the lagoon during my first steering attempt in a sprint race, when I rode our canoe outrigger up the hull of another canoe!).

This culminated in a nerve-wracking session outside the reef, where

1. It was the first time I have paddled outside the reef
2. It was the first time I have navigated the Arutanga(main) passage, which is known for it's rather nasty temperament

While I made Uncle Jnr Moaote steer on the way out, when we were in the swells and paused to watch a large sea turtle, he jumped overboard and back I went to the number six seat. So off we went, concentrating VERY hard, trying to read the wind and swells, the safest but closest we could get to the reef, and all without slowing the canoe down too much.

At the turnaround we started to run with the swells, where nearly everything I had learned in the last 4km was thrown out the window, as the canoe behaves quite differently running with the waves. We had one minor gasp from the middle of the boat as we ran off one swell and started to pull away to the left it a sharp turn, but a quick correction meant the ama (outrigger) didn't leave the water, so quite safe after all. Jnr was keen to get me anticipating the swells to do some surfing, but that was really one bridge too far - next time maybe!

Once we got back to the reef, Uncle showed some tough love and made me steer back through the reef break. Stay left---not too far left---DON'T go right---here comes the wave---we need some POWER--- MORE POWER!!! Later they told me that the passage was pretty calm really, and it was pretty flat, but the currents are something else. I felt as much adrenaline as during Cyclone Pat, but I felt exultant to bring my crew safely home.

Michael has been doing a lot of training outside the reef, culminating last week in a 2.5 hour paddle south, past the end of the reef and towards Rarotonga! They saw some whales and turtles and by all reports it was a great paddle.

So on the rare night we aren't paddling, we are hiding out and recovering at home. I have been playing a bit more with my camera and lenses and my new tripod, and have the following to share from our lovely front yard, the Aitutaki Lagoon.

Birthdays, Visitors and Paddling

Well good grief, we are late bunnies this month. Too much paddling I'd say. When we are not on the water paddling (on alternate nights) we are establishing the Oe Vaka Aitutaki blog, editing and uploading regatta photos and compiling race results. The rest of the time is spent with correspondence school and work.

May/June has been a slow month for tourists on Aitutaki - due mainly to the misconception that the island has not recovered from the cyclone. The truth is that the place is looking great. The has been remarkable recovery in the vegetation and everywhere is looking green. Local fruit and veg is coming back and the weather has been superb for the last 2weeks - glorious sunshine, cloudless skies and perfect 25c - 28c most days. With the clear days the night time temperatures have dropped so the early morning scooter riding locals are now wearing overcoats, scarves and beanies!!

But while work has been quiet, the Shahs have not. Of course there was a birthday at the end of May (and the discovery of a few more grey hairs) and an impromptu visit by Nana Lorraine and cousin Harrison. They came for a week with a weeks notice, and it was lovely to have them. The kids especially enjoyed having Harrison to play with and went wild. Coincidentally there was a regatta on the day of Jen's birthday, so she was serenaded all day long. Michael organised a spread at the Fishing Club in the evening and we partied all night long. (Thanks to Nana the baby sitter)

The following weekend, after our visitors had left, the Vaka Maevatini regatta was held over two days. It was the first time this new, annual regatta had been held, and we were happy to be a part of the organising and the paddling too. Saturday saw the long distance races - 12km, 6km and 4km, as well as a traditional warriors welcome and canoe blessing which was awesome. Michael's Masters Men's team won their 12km race in 1:04:33, also being 2nd in the Open Men's category. After vowing not to do any distance races, Jenni ended up doing 2 x 4km races with the Masters Women (1st) and Mixed Masters (2nd). Prizegiving that night was one of the best nights we have had on the island, but the sore muscles and hangovers on Sunday (when Michael had to work) were just awful.

On Monday we had sprint races for the V6 (6 man canoe) and V1 plus some V1 distance races. Jenni spent most of the day doing timekeeping, while Michael's races ended up bunched together in the afternoon. None-the-less, Jen's crew won the Masters women in a tough race, and Michael took a 1 second win with the Masters men. There was another prizegiving, but we took off early with the kids.

Since then, it has been more of the same and more of the same.

Fishing for Mothers Day

What a lovely adventurous weekend! While NZ mum’s snuggled in front of the fire, I went to sea in a tiny boat, soaked by rain squalls, rocked by 5m swells and harassed by sharks. Ah, such a flair for the dramatic, but not a word of exaggeration!

The first fishing competition of the Aitutaki Game Fishing Club since February’s hurricane was held on Saturday, delayed by a week due to the island running out of fuel again… The weather has been typical for April & May with 4 out of 7 days of heavy rain. Enough rain that the children and I have started building dams on the driveway to divert water runoff from the road and hillside from our front yard. However we paddled with our vaka crews on the lagoon in a beautiful sunset on Friday evening and the stars were bright that night – all good signs for a fine Saturday.

I had made arrangements with Willie Bond (brother-in-law of our head housekeeper) to join his crew Tautu wharf at 6am. The stars were still bright when I left home but there were silent lightening flashes far to the north. I met Joe and Etu with the boat (a solid aluminum open boat, 2m wide and 7m long) at the jetty and we took off with the first hint of daylight across the lagoon around the coral heads to the very small passage at Papau motu. As the tide receded there was quite a current at the passage, which incidentally is small enough not to feature as a passage on any maps I have seen. Having convinced myself that these guys had used the passage many times before, I held on tight and we gunned it though. Well, so far, so exciting! We had a good head-start on the fishing grounds of the Eastern side.

We had lines in straight away and trolled to the FAD (fish aggregation device) that Etu explained would usually have flags to mark it, but that pesky lack of petrol had prevented boats from going out. Nothing was biting at the FAD but the flying fish were incredible to watch as the skated then flew across the glassy surface of the swells. The water surface was turned pink by the sun rising in a small patch of clear sky, surrounded by dark bands of cloud (absent the previous lightening flashes, I was relieved to see). We trolled south along the reef without a strike for half and hour before the rain started to fall. The surf was huge against the reef and it was quite beautiful to watch the smooth backs of the swells as they rose steeply revealing turquoise at the crest before collapsing into boiling mess of white. At this point we heard a single loud clap of thunder over the island, which we later found out, struck the sea directly off the resort where some of the other fishing boats were. We motored 10km down to the South-Eastern corner of the reef, off Motukitiu, also known as Shark Alley.

At last we had a triple strike, and in the now pouring rain, and rolling around in steep 4-5 meter swells from 3 directions, the guys hauled in while I kept the boat straight. It was too rough for me to hold my footing with a rod in hand so I was happy for the guys to go at it. From that strike we landed one 6kg yellow fin tuna and lost two more to the sharks, evidenced by a clean cut in the line and all sign of fish and trace gone. We patrolled the southern corner and again had a triple strike. By this time the rain was torrential and as we turned to the rods the reef and the motu (island) slipped from view. The squall got heavier and as my line was immediately severed by a shark I was able to wind it in while Willie peered through the gloom for the surf and Joe & Etu hauled in only to loose their fish too. There followed an anxious 5-10 minutes in the driving wind and rain motoring slowly along what we thought was the position of the reef, rolling over the heaving swells. Eight eyes strained to see either reef or land and eight ears were open for the sound of surf crashing. Because of the mixed up seas it was very disorienting (for me anyway), but low and behold eventually the motu appeared like a shadow safely off the port bow and we could set the rods again.

The rain let up a little for the next hour to a heavy drizzle. We got a single strike that Etu started to bring in. It was soon apparent that we would be there for a while as the line had gone straight to the bottom – at least 800m away. After 5 minutes on the rod, Joe took over and a harness came out. After 5 minutes of that Etu put on some gloves and started pulling the line in hand over hand while Joe reeled in. As I stood in the bow out of the way Willie jockeyed the boat forward and backward and even in a circle around the line. He looked to me. “Either a big tuna or a big shark” he commented. “Better to be a big tuna” he followed up with his ever present grin. After nearly 30 minutes of tossing and toil, there was a flash of big white belly. “Big shark” said Willie in disappointment.

It came to the surface thrashing about and revealed itself to be nearly 2.5m long. Etu took the long spike and delivered a stab between the eyes and the shark bashed the side of the boat with its tail. After several more blows they were able to put a rope around its tail, haul it a little over the side of the boat, and they proceeded to cut the tail off. Still hooked up, the shark bled out in the water and I waited for the rest of his friends to arrive in numbers. They didn’t, and it looked like it was a good way to make sure the shark was dead enough to bring on board. I have to say that I was in two minds at this point as to whether that was a good idea or not. My ego was pretty keen on rolling up to the weigh-in with such a prize winning beast in the truck (around 100kg), but the mechanics of getting the shark to the wharf were a bit more problematic. Even if we were strong enough to get the thing into the boat, in these seas it would be a dangerous proposition. That is assuming that it was dead enough not to want to take bite out of a leg while sharing our small amount of deck space.

So after retrieving the lure, the shark was set adrift, hopefully to feed his friends so they wouldn’t be so hungry for our fish.

The rain had become a relentless nuisance, and it was getting cold, so the skipper decided to start for home. On the troll back we landed a 7kg barracuda. We gunned it back through the passage and to the wharf. Sopping wet, we drove to town and weighed our two fish in. Most boats were still out and the day was finally clearing. Willie decided to go back out but I declined his invitation to join them in favour of a hot shower, lunch and a nap!

When we met that night for prize-giving, I was amazed to hear that they had gone out 7km from the island in the afternoon and caught another 55kg of fish, including the biggest tuna at 15kg. In the end we lost out by half a kilo on the aggregate catch weight, but everyone was impressed by the shark photos that I had printed out and taken with me. We should have bought the shark tail in – it might have been the extra 500gm we needed!

Mothers Day was lovely, with breakfast in bed and dinner and a movie with the family. Nice.

January & Cyclone Nisha

I have just looked at the calendar and suddenly there are only 3 weeks left before the kids and I fly out to Auckland. Michael and the boys have just had a week in Rarotonga, while Sienna and I stayed home in the peace and had our nails done. Our first split holiday was a bit odd, but the boys had great time with their Dad and I had a quiet time with my daughter. Also in January was a trip to One Foot Island, which started out fine and sunny and ended up soaked to the skin, swimming in the torrential rain.

Tupuna’s Café sponsored a kids fishing competition at the Game Fishing Club, and we took our home-made poles to the harbour and spent the morning in the sun pulling in tiny fish. We all had a great time, with Bailey catching 5, Jamie 3 and Sienna 2 fish. None larger than 200g! We thought Jamie might get a prize for his 25g rock cod, but there was a last minute weigh-in at 60g! There was a great turnout with 40 kids strip-mining the seas – it would have looked lovely to the passengers of the cruise ship that had stopped by for the day.

The Christmas holidays are over thankfully, though when I dropped the boys at school on Monday I found that the pre-school teacher was still in NZ and there was no reliever… except me! So now I have a class of 18-20 3 and 4 year olds from 8.00-10.30am. It is exhausting, but not too bad! I have only put my hand up for a week though – I am not completely insane.

We have had some very hot days this year. The temperature on the deck was 38 on one day, and the air-conditioner has been getting a good work out. The reciprocal side of that is now it is wet, and warm sea temperatures mean that Tropical Cyclone Nisha is floating about between the Cook Islands and Samoa. The predicted track brings it close to our shores (like, right over our heads maybe Saturday afternoon), and may be a category 3 by then, which means winds 80-100knots. Of course one thing you can say about cyclones is that they are not always predictable, so both the track and intensity could change (for better or worse) or die away completely. NB: Aitutaki is due north of Rarotonga at approx. 159W 19S. In the mean time, the island emergency plan has been activated, (which at this stage means the police are notifying everyone) and it is time to check on candles and torches and things. Our own situation is quite good – we have a very well constructed house, are well elevated above sea level, and are connected to the emergency generator and water supply from the resort. So we shouldn’t need to evacuate to a community hall but can sit back and have a ring-side seat as we watch things fly.

In the meantime, take a look at yet another beautiful Aitutaki sunset from last week.

A Deserted Island Paradise...and some Fishing Action

We have had an exciting two weeks in busy Aitutaki. We spent three nights on the motu (small, uninhabited island), attended the school prize-giving and sponsored a game-fishing competition.

Maina

Our trip to Maina Motu was incredible. Maina is on the south-west corner of the lagoon and is everything you want on a deserted tropical island - white sand, warm waters, native birds, no mossies, lots of hermit crabs, and LOTS of sun. We had the use of a friend's beach hut, but slept outside on the second night and cooked over the fire. Quentin (Snr & Jnr) from Wet & Wild took us out on Sunday morning, and deposited us in the sand, and that is pretty much where we stayed. Our days consisted of lying on the mat under the trees on the beach, reading books and waiting for the sun to move across the sky, whereby we would pop up, move the mat and go for another swim. Heavenly - no cars, no TV, no phones. Just the peace was relaxing with the blues and whites and the stars at night.

In the evening we gathered wood and coconuts, lit the fire, cooked dinner & toasted marshmallows, then lay back to watch Jupiter set, the satellites pass and the stars shoot. Our night on the beach was a little chilly due to a fresh breeze, but we would have all made it through to sunrise if not for a 4am shower of rain! Never mind. It was the most relaxing sleeplessness I have ever experienced! Tuesday afternoon rolled around and we said "Ka kite a kone Maina" and heading home to much appreciated fresh water and soft beds.

Prize Giving

The following day was the school parents day, which we didn't quite understand but we thought we would just roll up to school and find out about it in the morning. The boys were dressed and in the car when the principal rode up and gave us the English language newsletter that said there was no school today and the Parents day/prizegiving/reports/parent-teacher thingee started at 2pm. Crazy place!

So at 2pm we arrived for the Tekaaroa SDA School Prizegiving which had lovely flowers, lovely singing (yes even from our boys) and 2 hours on small chairs... Bailey received a Certificate of Academic Achievement in Maths, Oral English, Reading English and Physical Education, plus the Academic Excellence in Reading and Academic Excellence in Numeracy awards for Grade 3.

Jamie received a Special Award for being a Great Explorer in School, which was signed by ALL the teachers as Jamie doesn’t like to confine himself to one class, but flits in and out of all of them. It was a very funny and quite appropriate solution to the problem of assessing a child who never appears in a classroom long enough to observe!

It was really nice that the school made a special effort to give some speeches in English, and the Chairman of the school board translated the Maori for us. Michael and I were unexpectedly called up to present some of the certificates which was also nice.

Fishing Competition

L: Michael and his 8kg Yellow Fin Tuna on the Mary J. R: Weigh-in time, with the kids and the Aitutaki Game Fishing Club in the background.

To finish off the week Pacific Resort Aitutaki sponsored a tournament at the Aitutaki Game Fishing Club. Michael had to be at the wharf by 4.00am to get out to the good off shore spot by sunrise but the fishing was worth it. His boat pulled in 6 tuna - Michael's weighed in at 8kg, which paled next to the comp winner with a 22.5kg tuna. It was a fun night at the fishing club with all the locals were there, and all five of us, plus a few others, had special tournament shirts. I took the kids home for Viriama to look after and settled in for a very good night.

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!

Swimming, Snorkeling, Sailing

We have had a regular sort of busy week or so...
Saturday
Bailey and I went to sailing for the first time in a month and Bailey did really well. Jim (the coach/rescue boat driver/gear rigger and repairer/general Jim Friday) didn't give him a chance to hesitate and they went out from the beach to the sand bar - futher than he had been before. Bailey left the beach at the same time as one of the larger cruise boats which didn't cause him concern but made his mother have kittens. He was then sailing to and from the sand bank a dozen times and doing quite well. Jim came back in to pick up a couple of parents in the rescue boat at which point Bailey forgot to tack away to return to the sand bank and kept on going. He then decided that he had better turn around now and jibed - with the result being that the boom donked him on the head and swept him overboard! Of course he had a life jacket on, and the boat didn't go far. We motored over and pulled him out - no damage done but he got a bit of a fright. We went back to the beach and that was that for the day.
Sunday
Dinner at the resort with Stephen and Poppy and two......unusual......travel agents out of the States. Enough said.
Monday
First day on the school 'bus'. The driver wanted to have them in the truck cab but the boys were quite determined to sit in the back. Hurray - one less trip to make with my dwindling fuel.
Tuesday
We received Bailey's correspondence school papers - all two cartons of it! WOW masses of resources for art and maths, two terms worth of booklets and CD's - about 4 hours of work per day! So we started Mummy school on Tuesday. Maths was great and a piece of cake. English was....complex - an activity booklet, spelling, handwriting, creative writing, independent reading, guided reading, shared reading........and I'm sure I have left something out. Technology - Bailey's first choice - very cool 'design your own paper bag'! PE - running and skipping (we haven't got to that yet)! Jamieson was UNIMPRESSED that his brother should get so much one-on-one attention and had the mother of all tantrums. I'm suprised he didn't put a hole in his bedroom door, where he endured a prolonged period of TIME OUT! I will need to find activities for them to do at Mummy School...
Wednesday
Bunked off school and went on the lagoon. We attached ourselves again to a Bishops Cruise and had a lovely time again. Bailey loves snorkeling. Lots of sun and snoozes on the way back to the island. I mean, it's not like the kids will be missing out on anything....
Thursday
...except the notice that said the whole school was going snorkeling on Thursday! So typical - 2 days notice, 2 teachers in the (admittedly very shallow) water, 2 mums on their motor bikes coming to see the Papa'as wife to get togs for her 2 boys who are sitting on the beach while everyone else (50 kids) are in the water. So Sienna and I went along to the beach, 25m along from the resort, and stayed until 12 when we all went home.
Friday
Bliss - Pareau day and a full day (to 1pm) at school for Jamie.
Saturday
Sailing again, and I took all 3 kids. There was a nice king tide and a stiff breeze. Bailey, Jamie and Sienna helped the mums (no dads there) rig the boats and off they went. But Bailey did a leg off the beach and then back and was motoring along at a fair clip when he burst into tears and decided he wasn't having any of it. So he sailed back to mum on the beach and a cuddle. "It was going toooooooooooo faaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssstttt" That's ok, we'll try next week. Most of the older kids weren't there due to a series of vaka (waka/canoe) races. So it turned out that the senior crews were paddling from town to Ootu beach, where we were - some 18km. So we hung about for the crews to arrive which was very cool. There were lots of supporters there, lots of biscuits that Jamie could ask for. My island boy has NO shortage of confidence at all! So the kids swam all morning, a beach full of parents watched, and it was nice.
Sunday
The rain is back for a few days. We were amazed that Sienna slept through the (more gentle) thunderstorm (although I confess to feeling quite nurvous myself and each flash). She is sleeping in the same bed and one or both of the boys and is actually sleeping through the night, which is very nice. Michael went to work of a while, preparing for our time off, and we looked in on the staff village where our house will be built. It is nice and close to the beach and there are two 2-year-olds there for Sienna to play with, so that will be nice, though the house will be much smaller. So it was an easy day - hot chips for lunch, a bit of mummy school (still a novelty) and an early night.
Monday - today
Michael has flown to Raro, we are following this afternoon, and we will be there until Saturday on our first round of remote leave. It will be good to get off 'the rock' for a while. The kids are excited to be going on the plane, and have a 'family holiday with 5 of us'.