New Years Celebrations

Ia ora na i te matahiti api 2012! Here's wishing us all a happy and healthy 2012.

OK, so it's nearly the Chinese New Year, but it's never too late to blog! It's true I have been away from the blog for a bit, busy with family and guests, but now it's my holiday time...... Matotea is back to school, Tuati and the rest of the family are gradually dispersing after their annual holidays. The new year here in Rurutu has got off to an unpromising start, with almost continuous rain since Boxing Day. 

An unpromising start to the day of Avera's Tere, jan 6th

 Our annual 'TERE' festivities, the island tour en masse was rather spoilt by the rain, though there was still a decent showing and this year the tourist committee decided to offer a prize for the most beautiful car, and I was one of the judges for Avera. Every year people decorate there cars as part of the tour, with flowers and foliage and fruits - it can get to be quite impressive. Here are a few of the best from our Tere.

Today the sky is blue, but I'm not entirely convinced the deluge has finished......I'd best hurry and hang some washing out to dry, at last!

New Caledonian family

 

Arrivals, the famil at Rurutu airport

The past couple of weeks the guesthouse has been taken over by the descending hordes of family from Nouméa (New Caledonia)! Viriamu and I had visited New Caledonia back in 2004 (way back when before the guesthouse and kids!!!), and now it was their turn to come and discover their roots.

 Viriamu's uncle came with his wife and seven children, with their significant others and grandkids, most of whom had never seen Rurutu.

  

 It was a total of 16 people squeezed into the pension, which was, how can I put it, intense. Of course Matotea and Heimana enjoyed the opportunity to spend lots of time at the beach, and while it wasn't always easy to share (particularly the swing-set) they enjoyed having friends to play with on hand 24/7.

The family were here during our annual 'Tere' festivities, the communal round-the-island tour complete with stone-lifting, decorated cars and dinner-dance......

 

 

the Tere

Today we took part in the second island tour of the 'Tere' our special Rurutu New Years celebrations, it was Matotea's first 'Tere'. This one was arranged by our principle village Moerai.

It was stinking hot and we spent a lot of the day in the car in self-imposed traffic jams (it's a novelty here!!!) processing around the island with a good part (I'm guessing near half) of the island's population......

with stops at important historical sites to recite the history of the island and a stop at each major village for our traditional stone-lifting sessions and refreshments......

Tonight there's a big shindig in Moerai, complete with dance-show and lots of Hinano (Tahitian beer).......we're opting for a quiet night in, instead!