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!