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.

School Books for Aitutaki

We are delighted to report that the books and computer that were so generously donated by many old friends, family and new friends for the Teka'aroa SDA School in Aitutaki have been received by the school with many, many thanks.

The shipment, which had been put together by the Manns and Shakmanns in Warkworth, then delivered to East Tamaki, was finally landed on the last day of Term 1. As soon as school resumed, we delivered 12 boxes of library books and an Apple computer (from Milford Baptist Kindergarten) to the school in their temporary home, "The Shed".

The children were delighted to help open the boxes and look through the books, as 90 percent of their books were lost when the library and other buildings were flattened during Cyclone Pat in February. They are already checking books out of their library for home reading, which is delightful to see - their own toys and books having been largely destroyed.

We made a presentation to the school board, who were touched and greatful for everyones generosity. They are very thankful and quite delighted. The books are an incredible resource for our students, and the computer was in use the day after it was received!

We are particularly proud of the role that the children played in raising awareness and funds for Aitutaki. The SDA teachers are currently discussing the best use for the $530 that was raised by Sherwood Primary School after Chloe Mann (our neice) put a proposal to her principal for a mufti day and coin trail. Felix Tucker (Sienna's God-Cousin) at Red Beach Primary School also made an amazing contribution with books that he collected. It was delightful to see our old school Warkworth Primary being so generous with the books they had taken out of circulation from their library.

Thanks to the following for donations of books and assistance:
• The Shah Family
• The Tucker Family
• The Mann Family (Snr)
• The Mann Family (Jnr)
• The Shackleton-Mann Family
• Pacific Resort Aitutaki
• Warkworth Primary School
• Sherwood Primary School
• Milford Baptist Kindergarten
There were many others who donated books as well.

Meitaki Atupaki - Thank you very much
Kia Manuia - Good luck & live well

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.

Oe Vaka Mania

It’s all about Oe Vaka Right About Now. The ’Funk Soul Brother’ is paddling up a storm in the V6 Masters Mens team and the team has been accepted into the Vaka Eiva Festival in Rarotonga in November.

The V6 six-man masters crews are lining up for the sprints over a 250m course, with races of 250m, 500m, 750m and 1km. Yes, that does involve doing turns at each end of the course, an impressive team skill indeed. Last year there were 800 paddlers from all over the pacific – it is an awesome and prestigious regatta.

As a warm-up event, the Aitutaki clubs organized an open day on the sandspit at Aketua. It was open to team entries in 5 divisions and anyone who wanted to have a go. Pacific Resort had three mens teams, a womens team and a tamariki-rikiriki team (small children). And we paddled all day! Michael and the Nga’s Snr and Jnr took the three kids out for a practice, and then Bailey & Jamie (much to Sienna’s disgust) teamed up with two other staff kids to win the Jnr-Jnr race. They were stoked!!

Carly and I were the only ‘staff’ women, so we recruited Poppy and Teara and a Pacific Resort guest Jill and we paddled all day – Open, Masters an Mixed races, heats and finals. It was awesome fun and quite exhausting. After we won our first race, we were all quite excited, and celebrated by collapsing on the beach mat for a wee snooze. From there forward, the paddling got a bit more ragged and a bit louder and funnier. After the 7^th race I was spent – my legs could hardly hold me up. It got a bit giggly then.

The men were more serious (go figure). The club masters race was the first one up and looked very impressive, with the crews developing so much momentum they were surging up the course. After that the business and family teams come out, and Michael and I paddled in the mixed races together. As a number 1, Michael set the pace of the paddling, and I can vouch for him being a hard task master. I think he forgot the amateurs in the boat sometimes! Paddling at number 1 is a hard job – I did it for one race and that was enough. Number 2 is good – no turbulence, and number 3 is also good, but you have to call the stroke change. That is, on the 9^th stoke you call ‘hup’ and then after the 10^th stroke you switch sides. It takes a bit of practice to remember the count, and extra puff to talk…..

Thank God that Sunday is a Day of Rest. So I did – flat on my back nursing a wheat-bag, which in 30 degree heat is like sitting in a sweat box. On the upside I could walk by the end of the day! Moan moan moan, but it was really awesome fun. There is another two open days scheduled for this month, so bring it on! Michael is training three times a week, and I am off for my first training tonight.

This last weekend we went out on the lagoon for the day. Shamefully, it was Michael’s first trip out (in a boat with a motor) since November. Shame! It was lovely, especially after several days of heavy rain. Blue, blue and more blue.

Crazy Beautiful

Aitutaki is crazy beautiful, and crazy and beautiful, and sometimes both at the same time.

School holidays have started, though it feels like our kids have been on holiday since November! So it is home school (The Correspondence School) for them every morning, and some old fashioned '3 R's'.

While the house isn't being a school, it is a vet clinic. There are volunteer vets on Rarotonga that come to Aitutaki a few time a year predominately to desex local domestic and wild cats. They needed somewhere to do it so we volunteered our front deck! Things happened at relatively short notice, so the usual practice of putting out humane cat traps to collect some of the wild cat population didn't happen, but we still got through 15 desexing operations and a couple of examinations.

All they needed was a table, some water and a sheltered spot. Then the cats were put in a sack and anethatised via injection. Once they had three or four boys 'asleep' they lined them up on our outside table and 10 minutes later there were two tiny testicles in the bin! It was quite briskly done and not without a little sympathy, but we had to giggle at the little boys all lined up on a towel sleeping off their anesthetic.

Our Gorgeous Georgie was first up, and spent the rest of the day staggering about drunkenly and sleeping. Unfortunately Fantastic Freddie has not come home, and has either gone wild or more likely been 'adopted' by another family as he was quite pretty and very loving. I did have a moment of hope as one local came up our steps with a cat that could have been Freddie's identical twin. Unfortunately she was quite certain that they had had the cat for quite a while and I was quite disappointed. Once the vets had left, with Georgie's bits in a bag, my young lad came home with a girl-friend. We call her 'Fraidy-Cat' or 'Scaredy-Cat' as she is happy to frollic with George on the deck and eat the food, but human contact is not permitted!

In the last week of term there is always a primary school inter-sports day at the high school. Term 1 is always volleyball. The kids love volleyball. The SDA school is not known for its sporting excellence, and not actually having a school made little difference. It was a lovely morning, much more relaxed than it often is, with everyone just happy to have a go without getting too worried by results and number of kids on teams.

Sienna filled in with the Grade (Year) 1&2 girls and was full of competitive attitude. Jamie was in the Grade 1&2 boys team (though he felt he really belonged in 'his' Grade 5&6 class) and had a great time running about the place. I 'coached' Bailey's Grade 3&4 boys and we had a great victory in one of the games - it was so cool to see how proud the boys were. It was a very hot day with barely a cloud in the sky. Lots of mama's had cooked food to sell at lunch time and workers from around the island rolled up to share lunch too.

We finished with a staff match that I was invited to join which was really good fun. I haven't done anything remotely contact since my rheumy Arthur-itis friend came to visit 4 years ago, and I had forgotten how much fun it is to be active in a team. Did I mention that it was hot? Nanny Tav played with me too and it was a jolly good time.

Speaking a sports and jolly good times, the rugby league has been a bit of a Friday night feature in the last month. The Aitutaki Sharks have had 3 home games in a row and are within sniffing distance of the semi finals. So nearly everyone on the island that isn't working can be found at the Vaepae field with a chilly bin, a mat or a chair (especially if you travel by bike) and an opinion, cheering on the Sharks. It has been great fun and certainly the easiest way to announce we are back on the island. The boy were still in Australia mode, hanging around not wanting to stray too far. Then they hooked up with their friends and we didn't see them until the game was finished.

Another item for the happy-happy-joy-joy list was finding an excellent dentist in Rarotonga. An 'Aitutaki installed' filling fell out of Sienna's mouth a few days after we arrived back in Aitutaki (isn't that just the way?!) and half of her tooth had just crumbled away. It was well beyond the local 'dentist' at the hospital so we booked into the only private dentist in Raro and Sienna and I flew across for the day. Well, it turns out he is the son of our old neighbour Mama Nicholas and he was brilliant. He excavated and rebuilt Sienna's dead tooth and ground down a high filling for me and $80 later 'bob's your uncle'. It was the best and cheapest dentist visit I have ever had, not including the $600 worth of airfares...

Shah Road Trip - Aitutaki

Home at last. Having paused in Rarotonga for a few days to just sit and do nothing (except a bit of grocery shopping) we flew to Aitutaki. We watched the sun setting the clouds on fire in the west at the same time as the full, pink moon arose from the east. Then suddenly the lagoon was there, and the island, and the runway. And the rain. That wasn't quite in the script... So we ran through the rain to the terminal, only to get equally drenched within the terminal building. Noone has fixed that roof yet. Jen and the kids took the resort car home and Michael followed in the truck with our (now) 16 bags and boxes. 30 seconds after walking in the door the kids have the lid off the lego box and are into it. It was dark, and we had no idea what time it really was, let alone what time we felt it was, so off to bed and a bit of a sleep in the next morning, the last of our holiday.

Michael hid out at home for the day - time enough for work to start on wednesday (which was not the belief of the Raro team who seem to think that combining holidays and work meetings is quite acceptable). We were reunited with big cat Georgie who is quite pleased to see us home. Freddie is AWOL, out on the prowl, but he pops into the resort each night (at dinner time) to say Hi to everyone. Both cats have been nicknamed Michael and Jenni as they have been accompanying security on their rounds, checking out reception and generally making sure things run smoothly. Next time we catch Freddie, both cats will be on the plane to Raro for the big SNIP! That should keep the lads closer to home.

Today, Thursday, is the second day for the boys back at school. The SDA school is currently located in a large packing shed at someones house, with years 2-6 in together (40 kids) down one side and lunch tables and library (with salvaged books) down the other side. The 'School-in-a-box' resources from UNICEF are being put to good use, and the Red Cross Breakfasts in Schools is just finishing. The boys were pleased to be back and the kids at school were pleased to see them. Another warm Aitutaki welcome for The Shahs. The Year 1, new entrant and preschool kids (another 40) are in the home of the principal in her lounge room and tarp covered porch, again with resources recovered from the rubble, plus UNICEF stationery and photocopied books.

Everyone seems to be in good spirits, but there is a lot of frustration on the island with the slow speed of the rebuilding. We all know that nothing happens quickly up here, but 6 weeks before roof repairs start is such a long time. The immediate cleanup is finished, with damaged buildings cleared out, but there are still some piles of timber and roofing iron beside houses, and the broken branches are similarly heaped around the place. Those that are able have returned to maintaining their perfect lawns (a Serious Responsibility on Aitutaki) but many of those lawns have big white marquee style tents with overflow beds and belongings from extended families living together. On the plus side, the trees have greened up and the land looks healthy, if a little bare in places where the big trees used to be. A few pawpaws are about the place and flowers are blooming in pockets around the place, and people still have a wave to share as we pass each other on the road. It is nice to be home.

Shah Road Trip - Gold Coast

Coffs to Gold Coast - 6 hours later...it was certainly a long haul with flying visits to the BIG banana at Coffs and teh BIG prawn in Ballina. We followed that with a trip 30 min inland to Cunugra to visit friends. The irony was that we were worried about how late we were running, yet when we got there we weren't so late afterall, as Queensland is 1 hour behind NSW. I dont' know what they do in the border cities... It was quite late by the time we found Treasure Island Holiday Park on the coast and several U-turns later we pulled onto our site. Popcorn, tea and biscuits were the order for dinner.

The next morning we went off to Dreamworld on the bus. We had a good time there, but with kids our age (4-5-7) and 2 of the kids rides not working, it was difficult to feel we got AU$265 worth of value! Still, Sienna was delighted to meet Dora the Explorer, the Nickelodean rides a good workout, and if I never hear the screaching from the rides on the Tower of Terror again it will be too soon. So all in all the overall impression of Dreamworld was loud, and don't expect a value proposition if you have under 10's. And then you have to keep them out of the gift shops!

We eventually got back to the campervan with three exhausted kids (and two exhausted parents) only to be surprised by a knock on the door by Jen's parents. The kids in particular were delighted. We bailed on our plan to visit SeaWorld the following day and did a bit of shopping and swimming in the excellent pool at the holiday park.

We celebrated Sienna's 4th birthday that night with a buffet at the park bistro (!) and the worst bottle of wine ever created. We would name and shame, but it was so bad our memory has blanked out the details. We had a prolonged packing session the following morning (utilising 3 more bags than we arrived with) and rolled out of the park on the way to Brisbane and our final night in Oz. We checked into the Quest River View and into a nice 2bed apartment. Jenni fell asleep, feeling more shattered than ill. Unfortunately the afternoon nap was cut short by the party that cranked up in the next door apartment, which lasted until they went out clubbing at 1am. Several calls to reception for action went un-actioned, so Quest River View are on our filthy list.

We resisted the urge to bang on our neighbours door when our alarm went off at 4.30am to catch the shuttle to the airport. The kids made friends with the Senior Constable standing outside the building restricting access to the building (due to an accidental death due to a fall several hours earlier, we have just discovered), who gave them stickers and talked about what Police do. Watch out for us on Police 10-7 (of the Australian equivalent) as they filmed us from across the road).

We had two good flights with Air NZ that day, and while Jen ran the length of Auckland Airport to search for the boys who had slipped off the plane ahead of us, Michael found them being escorted out of the cockpit of the plane where they had been invited for a look-see. Kudos to the ground staff at Auckland Airport who grabbed our bags off the baggage line for us so we could go through international transit and not through arrivals and check-in again. Seasoned travellers would be well aware of the convenience of checking bags through to their final destinations. What can we say other than things were tired and foggy that morning, and we missed giving that instruction at Brisbane check-in. Not to worry, everything arrived intact in Rarotonga (all 17 pieces!!!) and we stepped into that lovely, thick, warm, scented tropical air knowing we were only a short step to home.