And this morning…
Friday, 25 September 2009
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
22/9 Claire – More coloured food
Very excited to see Sandra today as we’ve not seen each other for over a year. Very sad to see Mog and Jacks leave today, it’s been a brilliant week.
Having tried purple I have now moved into a new week with Sandra where it’s OK to try blue cocktails and pink dip. I just hope these don’t make me sick that wouldn’t be a easy stain to remove ;o)
Having tried purple I have now moved into a new week with Sandra where it’s OK to try blue cocktails and pink dip. I just hope these don’t make me sick that wouldn’t be a easy stain to remove ;o)
Saturday, 19 September 2009
19/9 Claire – Goats
There’s a very relaxing sound of bells chiming all around the villa most times of the day and it’s from these fellas. This morning they were stomping down the road, about 150 of them, and some took a pit stop at the bottom of the villa drive.
You have to keep all gates closed as they get in the villa, eat the garden, drink out of the pool and crap all over the patio, apparently.
You have to keep all gates closed as they get in the villa, eat the garden, drink out of the pool and crap all over the patio, apparently.
18/9 Claire – Local wine
Hmmm, wine in the same bottle as you would buy vegetable oil. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the white wine and it really does just look like you’d fry your chips in it so we stuck to the red. Turns out that’s more for sprinkling on your chips! Not sure I’ve ever been on a Ellison/Moxon holiday where a bottle of wine has remained unfinished, but there is a first time for everything.
17/9 Claire - Octopus
So one day I wake up with the mother of all hangovers, a dip in the pool helps temporarily (I think that’s a distraction technique, you can’t feel sick if you jump in really cold water) but it takes a while to really come around.
It’s a little overcast so we drive up to Sami about an hour away from Skala, it’s a beautiful drive and Sami has a great harbour. The beach is quite ropey but lots of nice restaurants over looking the sailing boats in the harbour make it a pretty little town.
By 6pm I’m starving, in an outdoor restaurant I’ve decided I would like to try the octopus cooked in vinegar. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had octopus before in a stew and it was nice… I like food with a hint of vinegar…. Jackie’s squid the other day had what looked like baby octopus in and they were delicious.
Imagine my surprise when my main course was delivered looking like this. Just this. No accompaniment. Just this. On a hangover day.
So once you get over the MASSIVE suckery bits on the tentacles on the fist piece (and believe me I didn’t really get over it, but I put on a brave face) the second piece was it’s head and the third piece, apologies to anyone this might offend but no other words can describe the horror, looked remarkably like a boiled penis.
One bite triggered my gag reflex so badly that I had to slap my hands around my mouth whilst my eyes popped out on storks in Jackie’s direction.
Throughout the meal the conversation seemed to be between Mog and Jackie and only a few glances in my direction, in fact I am sure that Mog was answering Jackie when I’d asked a question. He explains “If I even look at you I’ll hurl” (nice) which much later was backed up with “to be fair you have to take that comment in context”. When offered a little to try, as we had been sharing meals since the beginning of the holiday, Mog’s response was “I’m all good for c***, thank you…”
Jackie’s right, I mean “who the **** eats purple food?!!”
It’s a little overcast so we drive up to Sami about an hour away from Skala, it’s a beautiful drive and Sami has a great harbour. The beach is quite ropey but lots of nice restaurants over looking the sailing boats in the harbour make it a pretty little town.
By 6pm I’m starving, in an outdoor restaurant I’ve decided I would like to try the octopus cooked in vinegar. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had octopus before in a stew and it was nice… I like food with a hint of vinegar…. Jackie’s squid the other day had what looked like baby octopus in and they were delicious.
Imagine my surprise when my main course was delivered looking like this. Just this. No accompaniment. Just this. On a hangover day.
So once you get over the MASSIVE suckery bits on the tentacles on the fist piece (and believe me I didn’t really get over it, but I put on a brave face) the second piece was it’s head and the third piece, apologies to anyone this might offend but no other words can describe the horror, looked remarkably like a boiled penis.
One bite triggered my gag reflex so badly that I had to slap my hands around my mouth whilst my eyes popped out on storks in Jackie’s direction.
Throughout the meal the conversation seemed to be between Mog and Jackie and only a few glances in my direction, in fact I am sure that Mog was answering Jackie when I’d asked a question. He explains “If I even look at you I’ll hurl” (nice) which much later was backed up with “to be fair you have to take that comment in context”. When offered a little to try, as we had been sharing meals since the beginning of the holiday, Mog’s response was “I’m all good for c***, thank you…”
Jackie’s right, I mean “who the **** eats purple food?!!”
Thursday, 17 September 2009
16/9 Claire - Poros
We took a trip to Poros this afternoon to try and find a good seafood restaurant. I imagined that harbour = fishing boats = good seafood.
On the drive around the coast line of the south east side of the island we came across beaches and sea that was very attractive compared to Skala’s beach. It’s a 10minute drive to a really beautiful pebble beach where you can pull over at the side of the road and take a dip. Nice!
On the drive around the coast line of the south east side of the island we came across beaches and sea that was very attractive compared to Skala’s beach. It’s a 10minute drive to a really beautiful pebble beach where you can pull over at the side of the road and take a dip. Nice!
15/9 Claire - Running
Running on a morning, 8am heat: fine
9am heat following a night of wine and brandy: not fine
9am heat following a night of wine and brandy: not fine
14/9 Claire – Villa
Wow, it’s nice. My new home for the next three weeks is a modern large new villa with a large private infinity pool overlooking the sea. There are olive groves dotted around and ruins from the old town of Skala which was flattened in an earthquake in 1953. Would be even nicer if the sun came out…
Since it is overcast today we have been to the new town of Skala about 4km away for the supermarket, a drink and lunch. The sun came out during this time and it’s really warm but by the time we got back to the villa it had clouded over. Still managed a short time in the non heated pool! Brrr
Why is it I can’t hold in my brain any Greek words? I am being reminded over and over and now feel like a proper English tourist where I am not attempting any Greek in shops or restaurants. Fortunately the locals command of English is very good so I don’t have to start speaking loudly and slowly ;o).
Sunny day… decided today was a day at the villa by the pool, there’s worse places to be!
Since it is overcast today we have been to the new town of Skala about 4km away for the supermarket, a drink and lunch. The sun came out during this time and it’s really warm but by the time we got back to the villa it had clouded over. Still managed a short time in the non heated pool! Brrr
Why is it I can’t hold in my brain any Greek words? I am being reminded over and over and now feel like a proper English tourist where I am not attempting any Greek in shops or restaurants. Fortunately the locals command of English is very good so I don’t have to start speaking loudly and slowly ;o).
Sunny day… decided today was a day at the villa by the pool, there’s worse places to be!
13/9 Claire – Travelling to Kefalonia
After a tearful farewell I have had to leave Ian at the airport. Spending 8 weeks with someone night and day will do two things to a couple, it will either drive you insane or closer together and for us it was later. To suddenly say goodvye for 3 weeks, which is two weeks longer than we have been apart before, was a little more than my jet lagged, sleep deprived, hormonal mind could handle today.
Mog and Jackie are here looking after me so first stop was the new champagne bar in Newcastle airport for a glass to celebrate the next weeks holiday. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to help them with the bottle of champagne on the plane, these guys have style, as I have a car at the other end. I will somehow make up for this by buying fizz in the supermarket at stocking the villa fridge.
When I picked up the hire car it was already dark in Kefalonia and 2hours in front of the UK. The car hire company have advised me to travel at 20kph as it has been raining and the roads of very slippery. I didn’t really appreciate why his conservatism was important until I saw that he was really talking about the roads in the close vicinity to the airport and that these roads are about 45 degrees. The little car I have is a front wheel drive Hyundai and with the adults and the pieces of luggage this was going to be tricky. Most of the 38km drive was windy 30km roads, this was the first country of my whole holiday that is drives on the right, and it was raining again. To say this was a challenging drive for me was an understatement. I am looking forward to seeing the island in the daylight as I know this will be a completely different story. The villa details have warned us that the driveway to the villa is very steep and the advice given was to turn off the air con in the car to give the car more power (?) or if the car is laden with passengers and luggage you should kick out the passengers at the bottom, drive the luggage to the top, unload it, drive back down for the passengers (where ARE we staying??) which I have found comedy… until we arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm and found the car couldn’t get up the drive with or without Mog and Jacks in it. In fact after both myself and Mog trying and failing to get the front wheels to grip the steep drive, which was like a river of water also, so we dumped the car outside the gates and walked up with the cases.
So we get into the villa with the car abandoned smelly of burnt clutch, soaked to the skin and too late to really go out for any food… en vacance!!
Mog and Jackie are here looking after me so first stop was the new champagne bar in Newcastle airport for a glass to celebrate the next weeks holiday. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to help them with the bottle of champagne on the plane, these guys have style, as I have a car at the other end. I will somehow make up for this by buying fizz in the supermarket at stocking the villa fridge.
When I picked up the hire car it was already dark in Kefalonia and 2hours in front of the UK. The car hire company have advised me to travel at 20kph as it has been raining and the roads of very slippery. I didn’t really appreciate why his conservatism was important until I saw that he was really talking about the roads in the close vicinity to the airport and that these roads are about 45 degrees. The little car I have is a front wheel drive Hyundai and with the adults and the pieces of luggage this was going to be tricky. Most of the 38km drive was windy 30km roads, this was the first country of my whole holiday that is drives on the right, and it was raining again. To say this was a challenging drive for me was an understatement. I am looking forward to seeing the island in the daylight as I know this will be a completely different story. The villa details have warned us that the driveway to the villa is very steep and the advice given was to turn off the air con in the car to give the car more power (?) or if the car is laden with passengers and luggage you should kick out the passengers at the bottom, drive the luggage to the top, unload it, drive back down for the passengers (where ARE we staying??) which I have found comedy… until we arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm and found the car couldn’t get up the drive with or without Mog and Jacks in it. In fact after both myself and Mog trying and failing to get the front wheels to grip the steep drive, which was like a river of water also, so we dumped the car outside the gates and walked up with the cases.
So we get into the villa with the car abandoned smelly of burnt clutch, soaked to the skin and too late to really go out for any food… en vacance!!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
5/9 Claire – Travelling back to the UK
One coach, three flights, two trains, one car and we are back home. At this point I have to leave Ian as he will be going back to work :o(
I will be back in touch from Greece.
I will be back in touch from Greece.
Friday, 11 September 2009
2/9 Claire – Aitutaki Scuba
OK yes, it was a very different story. They are quite laid back about the diving rules you learn in your PADI course. Onu, which means Turtle, owns the Aitutaki dive centre and he came out to introduce himself and chatted for a while about where we were going. Basically to see the turtles, maybe about 20-25metres (erm we are qualified to 18m and he knows this) and he seems VERY vague about some of the other stuff. Now if I wasn’t so new to all this I’d be less worried but I have to come to terms with the fact that he does this all the time, he says we can stop at a depth we are comfortable with, and he has a good reputation.
So after a little panic at the surface, Onu comes over to me… tells to keep calm, pop in my regulator and he takes my hand in his massive shovel of a hand and tells me he’s going to take me to see the turtle… and down we go…
I have NEVER seen, or imagined I would see, a turtle this big. It was happily sitting on the coral, about a metre from head to tail. Onu gets close, balances himself on a bit of coral close to the turtle and starts giving him a pat. The he starts cleaning off his shell of algae and scrub. I also had a go but after a couple of gentle shell pats I had to back off, my balance isn’t as good and it’s one thing turtle tickling but unexpected turtle mounting is not at all OK.
Within a few mins of this Onu signals for me to follow him again. He points down toward something that another couple of divers that were on our trip were photographing, under a coral shelf was a baby reef shark about three quarters of a metre long. Fortunately we didn’t see the bigger one at the back of the same area that was apparently three times that size! Not sure I might not have wasted a little air from my tank if I had seen that.
Next up, there is so much wildlife on show during this dive Ian thinks they are all on a retainer, is a ray. I can see what I think is 3 graceful rays gliding past in the distance, no there were four. By the time I had tried to get Ian’s attention to point them out there were 5. I was expecting that they’d sense us and do a runner (or a swimmer?) quickly but they didn’t. They stayed around that area for the rest of our dive and we were close enough to see them clearly.
At this point I’m trying to remember if these any of these things are at all dangerous but they aren’t. That’s not something that can be said of a Moray Eel, a giant Moray Eel at that. I have seen an Eel in Raratonga with a head about as big as my hand. This one, a head as big as a football. You can go and have a look at a safe distance, they don’t come out of their holes during the day unless you provoke them or get too close. Needless to say I was about 15ft away. Onu however got a little too close for my liking (hey he does this sort of thing every day so he knows what he’s doing). In our next dive there was a larger Moray Eel down in the depths of a dark cavern toward the bed of the sea, he was trying to get us to go down and see it but not on your life, one of them things could have had me arm off.
Finally we saw a bright blue fish, the type you might expect to see illustrated by computer graphics in Finding Nemo, but this fella was about 4ft high by 6ft long.
Then of course there were the hundreds of other small brightly coloured Nemo style fish but it’s a great dive when these suddenly don’t become priority viewing! I wish we’d had an underwater camera for this day but this wasn’t available. You will have to take my word for it.
So after a little panic at the surface, Onu comes over to me… tells to keep calm, pop in my regulator and he takes my hand in his massive shovel of a hand and tells me he’s going to take me to see the turtle… and down we go…
I have NEVER seen, or imagined I would see, a turtle this big. It was happily sitting on the coral, about a metre from head to tail. Onu gets close, balances himself on a bit of coral close to the turtle and starts giving him a pat. The he starts cleaning off his shell of algae and scrub. I also had a go but after a couple of gentle shell pats I had to back off, my balance isn’t as good and it’s one thing turtle tickling but unexpected turtle mounting is not at all OK.
Within a few mins of this Onu signals for me to follow him again. He points down toward something that another couple of divers that were on our trip were photographing, under a coral shelf was a baby reef shark about three quarters of a metre long. Fortunately we didn’t see the bigger one at the back of the same area that was apparently three times that size! Not sure I might not have wasted a little air from my tank if I had seen that.
Next up, there is so much wildlife on show during this dive Ian thinks they are all on a retainer, is a ray. I can see what I think is 3 graceful rays gliding past in the distance, no there were four. By the time I had tried to get Ian’s attention to point them out there were 5. I was expecting that they’d sense us and do a runner (or a swimmer?) quickly but they didn’t. They stayed around that area for the rest of our dive and we were close enough to see them clearly.
At this point I’m trying to remember if these any of these things are at all dangerous but they aren’t. That’s not something that can be said of a Moray Eel, a giant Moray Eel at that. I have seen an Eel in Raratonga with a head about as big as my hand. This one, a head as big as a football. You can go and have a look at a safe distance, they don’t come out of their holes during the day unless you provoke them or get too close. Needless to say I was about 15ft away. Onu however got a little too close for my liking (hey he does this sort of thing every day so he knows what he’s doing). In our next dive there was a larger Moray Eel down in the depths of a dark cavern toward the bed of the sea, he was trying to get us to go down and see it but not on your life, one of them things could have had me arm off.
Finally we saw a bright blue fish, the type you might expect to see illustrated by computer graphics in Finding Nemo, but this fella was about 4ft high by 6ft long.
Then of course there were the hundreds of other small brightly coloured Nemo style fish but it’s a great dive when these suddenly don’t become priority viewing! I wish we’d had an underwater camera for this day but this wasn’t available. You will have to take my word for it.
Saturday, 5 September 2009
1/9 Claire – Relaxing in Aikutaki
So this here is the view from our bungalow,a beautiful thatched building sat on the white sandy beach. Open the double doors onto a veranda with cosy padded furniture and look out onto our own stretch of beach, with palm trees holding up a hammock for lazy days. Me? Smug?
The sea is a wide expanse of green crystal water as the volcanic island is also an atoll, the surrounding lagoon is full of coral and tropical fish. It’s no more than a meter deep and you can pretty much walk all the way out. In the distance you can see the darker sea ahead with waves breaking where the two meet, this is basically the end of the shallow reef where shelf drops off into a deep, dark ocean. We are booked to do more diving in a couple of days so we can explore this part more. Apparently this is the season for turtles in Aitutaki as it’s mating season and they all make their way north. We were lucky to see a turtle a Raratonga at this time of year, here it may be a different story.
The sea is a wide expanse of green crystal water as the volcanic island is also an atoll, the surrounding lagoon is full of coral and tropical fish. It’s no more than a meter deep and you can pretty much walk all the way out. In the distance you can see the darker sea ahead with waves breaking where the two meet, this is basically the end of the shallow reef where shelf drops off into a deep, dark ocean. We are booked to do more diving in a couple of days so we can explore this part more. Apparently this is the season for turtles in Aitutaki as it’s mating season and they all make their way north. We were lucky to see a turtle a Raratonga at this time of year, here it may be a different story.
Friday, 4 September 2009
3/9 Ian – Chopper!
Well, it’s been a while since my highly juvenile Japanese superloo post, and to be honest I wasn’t sure I’d get another opportunity to so blatantly abuse Clazzer’s blogger’s code. But I’ve just discovered this Cook Islands $1 coin in me wallet. The currency is the same as New Zealand, but I believe the Island specific issues are only valid out here on the Islands. Anyway, explanations aside, look at this design and try not to snigger, remembering of course that Queen Liz is on the other side. This is the God of the sea, Tanga-Roa ocean God – he crops up all over the place. Sweet lord. Look at the size of that chopper!
2/9 Ian – The island way….
A few days ago was our first day on Rarotonga, capital of the 15 Cook Islands. As per the previous post, we’d procured hire scooters, passed our local driving tests and obtained fully legit local driving licenses. We’d also sorted out our scuba qualification intentions, which Claz has already talked about. So with our own transport for the couple of days before our scuba course commenced, we decided to head out around the island’s 32km circumference road, seeking one of the four recommended ‘quality’ dining establishments out here, The Flame Tree.
Working to the plan of a quick, early dinner and a cheeky beer (we were both driving, remember…) we rocked up at 5pm, opening time. To find The Flame Tree firmly closed, with no signs of life in the place. No problem though – clearly far too English of us. Chill, relax, take it easy, remember? So we killed time with a stroll down the beach for half and hour and headed back. No problems. It was open now, front of house staff gently setting the room up for the coming evening’s trade. We got a table easily and set about deciding what to order. Just a few changes to the menu to be aware of though, informed the waiter. No fish dishes on at all. About half the menu then. No fish on the island, you see. Fishing conditions too rough, apparently, so no one had been out for weeks. Oh well. Fair doos I guess. Fancied the belly-pork anyway.
Perhaps one of the locally brewed beers then that I’d been looking forward to then, whilst we waited? Unfortunately not possible sir, replied the waiter. No local beer on the island at all. Supply ingredients hadn’t been shipped recently, so no local brewing had taken place for weeks. Oh well. Imported Kiwi brew for me then. Good job I like it, eh?
So maybe a side order of veggies to go with our mains, we thought. So what were these local beans they had on offer, we pondered? Ah, replied the waiter. They’re kind of like a runner bean, local to the island. Oooo, interesting. Let’s have a try of those then, please. Ah, not possible I’m afraid sir. No one has been out to pick any beans recently, so we haven’t got any. We could offer you a bowl of assorted imported veggies though? Splendid, we thought. Just what we were after….
To be honest, you get used to it really quickly, and the more little things you spot, the more you just shake your head and chuckle. I went for my first shower, in a pretty respectable resort apartment that we’d booked, mind. Fully on, it was clap cold. Bloody hell. I let it run for a while, with no improvement. Just as I was about to call reception, I had a flash of ‘island way’ inspiration – of course, it was connected backwards. Turn it round to cold and there was the hot water. Hey, it’s a shower, right – why get all worked up about something as daft as the correct controls…?!
I’m actually writing this from our second apartment, in Aitutaki. The whole place is pretty swanky for sure, but those little ‘island way’ tell-tale signs are there if you look for them. Want the room fan on full? Turn it all the way down to 1 of course. Want it humming gently on low? Crank it up to 3. Need to paint the outside of your house? Hey, grab some paint and crack on. Run out part way through? No problem! Find some more paint and keep going. Not remotely the same colour – what, like that actually matters? Multi-coloured looks great in the island sunshine.
Life’s too short to worry about these pesky little details. The sun’s out. Grab a beer and forget about it. Nice.
1/9 Ian - Can you actually drive that safely…?!
Honestly. You just have to laugh. Yet again. Seems that as we’ve moved from place to place, and tried to absorb a little bit about the different cultures we’ve passed through, it’s often the differences that make the biggest impression. Last time I was pondering this was up in Auckland, as Andy, Chris, Claz and I explored an old military installation over in the Devonport district hillside. Dark unlit tunnels full of trip hazards and evil wetas (go Wiki if you really want to see one – the reason Peter Jackson’s Kiwi special effects company is called Weta Workshop), replica gun installations to be clambered all over, and thin, slippery concrete pathways perilously close to nearby crashing waves. But did the Kiwi Department of Conservation (DOC) seem worried? Did they plaster signs all over the hillside, warning inquisitive visitors of impending serious injury or death, or barricade tunnel entrances closed? Did they buggery. No nanny state or claims culture here. In New Zealand, if you knack yourself, it’s your own stupid fault.
But I digress, for a change. In fact, we’re (sadly) not even in that lovely country any more. We’re in the Cook Islands. And man, are they culturally different. You can read a bit more about this in the next post, but we’re talking ‘the island way’ here, through and through. Which is essentially “Hey, no worries. It’s fine. No problem. Relax. Chill.” And of course, it makes for some great cultural observations.
The weather wasn’t that grand when Claz and I woke up on our first morning here, so we thought we’d spring into planning mode and get stuff sorted. We needed scooters. We needed to enquire about scuba diving courses. We needed pop, creamers and booze. So we headed off into ‘town’ on the clockwise bus (only two on the 32km circumference island. The other, surprise surprise, is the anticlockwise bus) and set to work on the main mission of the day - procuring us some hire scooters.
You know, it still makes me chuckle. And I’m still not sure whether this is just a cunning ruse to bring a steady income to the islands with a bit of tenuous safety consideration on the side, or the other way around. It goes like this. You hire your scooter for about the equivalent of £15 a day. But you can’t ride it yet. You then push it to the local police station next door. You fill a form in, produce your UK driving licence, pay the very stern and matronly police lady $20 (less than £10 each) then head over with your receipt to the test area outside. Here, a tanned, friendly, moustachioed gent of an ageing local bobby - whose main perk of the job, incidentally, is clearly to hold his charming, if short-lived, power over tens of young island-visiting ladies each day whilst they attempt to pass – instructs you to run the gauntlet down his test-centre obstacle course, down the side of the police station grounds.
Down one side for 50m to a give way, round and back up, then the same again, but this time weaving there and back through traffic cones. I’d like to say clear it with joint high-scores in safety and panache and you’ve passed, but that would be generous and factually inaccurate. This is ‘the island way’ we’re talking about here, remember. Clear it without riding into the wall, any of the cones and/or innocent bystanders and that’s close enough for jazz. Put your feet down as you wobble through the cones? Hey, no worries. It’ll be reet. There are only pigs, goats, chickens, other vehicles and island inhabitants out and about on those island roads, nothing dangerous, eh? It helps of course if you’ve struck up a bit of comedy banter with the local bobby first (in the case of the gents) or charmed / flirted with him (for the ladies).
We both passed with flying colours, so it seems. So back to the stern matron for our photos and – get this – Cook Island driving licenses! 45 mins from start to finish to be legal. Sunnies and Jandals (local term for flip-flops) on, no helmets in sight, we zipped off to the local shop for some booze to load under our seats. And I’ll tell you this for free – that is exactly how scooters should be ridden. Forested volcanic hillside to the left, tropical blue lagoon to the right, whizzing along in the sunshine. Hilarious!
We were chatting this crazy situation through with our new buddies, Dive Rarotonga staff, a few days later. The current law states that you can travel at 40kph without a helmet, but the only up to 50kph with a helmet on. Think ‘the island way’ doesn’t have the power to rise in protest, if sparked? Think again. Apparently, a few years ago the government commenced the introduction of compulsory helmets for all riders. Some (foolishly) even bought them in readiness, fearing a rush on limited imported stocks. What actually happened was a national petition stating that all bike owners would refuse to wear helmets if the law was passed, and that the ensuing administration nightmare of all the prosecutions would bring the island's police department to a paperwork-based standstill. It worked. They won. The 40mph helmet-less limit was the outcome.
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