September's here

Almost a month has flown by between blogging, and it's been a busy one, full of guests and whales and goings on! First of all we had the much-anticipated arrival of the Gauguin cruise ship, which turned into a fiasco as the guests were unable to get off the boat due to the rough seas and narrow pass in Avera......this was a huge disappointment to us all, particularly the tourist committee (of which I am the tresurer) as we'd spent months preparing a spectacular welcome, training guides, programming an activity-packed day and negotiating at great length with the cruise company. Fortunately, the day was saved to some extent, as some of the welcome committee were allowed to get on the boat (after much to-ing and fro-ing with the cruise staff), so thankfully we managed to get paid for the 325 flower leis that had been prepared by our craftswomen.......I was very grateful to have been absent, it happened to coincide with another tourism salon, and I don't regret it an instant, as we managed to fill the guesthouse for the next three months. The school term continues and Heimana is getting into the school rhythmn. Matotea is making leaps and bounds in the literacy race, she tells me she wants a desk and computer for her birthday, she'll be writing novels by next year!!! For my part the garden's coming on, though it's been a bit too dry lately so some of my seedlings suffered from my absence at the salon, but I'm stocked for fresh herbs, we've been eating my home-grown plum tomatoes, the odd cape gooseberry and are slowly gathering strawberries in the freezer, in the hopes of making some jam or a sauce for yogurt, before the end of the year......I also have been growing, there's a third and final bump, due in feburary......

Vive la rentrée!

Yes, the girls are officially back to school now, both of them. Heimana skipped off to school, getting on the truck all on her own, on her very first day of school. OK, she was with big sis (who officially started primary school yesterday) and two cousins on the truck, but still, she's growing up all too quickly. I followed the truck all the way to her school, to make sure that she was OK, but she was clearly as happy as a duck in water, so I left her quickly with her new friends and giant lego, a sly little tear welling up in my eyes. I'm ever so proud of my not so little girls........

A walk in the hills

A while a go, the girls and I went for another hike, following the success of our Matotea trip. We tried to hike the trail to the Manureva ridgeline, the highest point on Rurutu, at a dizzying 389m.

It was a great day for it, not too hot but sunny nonetheless.  However, the trail was rather overgrown, and my poor girls were up to their eyes in weeds most of the time. I ended up carrying Heimana for most of the trip, and had a grumpy Matotea in tow, which was all more than I had bargained for, but still the views were worth it!

Heimana's eyeview! 

August blooms!

We're still enjoying some fairly 'wintry' weather at the moment, as are the whales who are here in force, and seem to be enjoying themselves in this particularly cold season.

However, the first signs of spring are already here. the limeblossom's out, as well as the 'grapefruit' blossom, which smells just incredibly fragrant, like neroli only stronger and zestier. It's actually an Indonesian pomelo, super sweet and juicy, with little in common with what I call a grapefruit, though we still call it pamplemousse here. There are times when there are more or less of them, but we do tend to have a sufficient supply for our needs, all year round, in fact our general citrus glut is one good reason to celebrate, whatever the season or weather!