Wednesday 2.04.2008.
All up early – Stewy and Annie go ashore for
the shopping and take the car. Stewy has just mentioned that it’s the
first time he’s ever driven on the wrong side , when we promptly go over
a large boulder on the side of the road! We agree, given the terrain here,
we’ll let Dick Dastardly continue driving on the island tours! We find a
great little fruit and veg stall , the young girl speaks good English and lets
us take her photo. Karen goes to the local travel agent and gets flights
booked, Ronnie does dinghy ferrying and we leave Ian to tackle his favourite
job – a heads repair! Yes, his work’s cut out for him this morning
as his beloved electric thunderbox is smoking! It’s been groaning under
the strain recently and this morning it has ceased to operate , probably in
protest at it’s heavy workload and poor working conditions. Fortunately
Ronnie (always prepared!) has brought us out a loo service kit and Ian gets the
job done so it’s soon ready for another hammering. Karen and Ian then
sort out the freezer for the supplies sent back by Stewy and Annie, and
we’re all done and dusted and ready to go off on our next tour by 11am. We
climb out of the town and head back to lastnight’s village then continue
on through the valley to the north of the island. We stop at a high view point
in spectacular surroundings and sit out on the rocks to enjoy the view,
flowers, scent and the chatter of nature all around – we’re quite
quiet for once! Large blue and green parrots fly past. There are several large
standing stones along the roadside and we eventually arrive at another ancient
archaeological site. It’s spread over a large area on both sides of the
road among banyan trees,one of which is huge and apparently 600 years old.
Figures and animals are etched into huge rocks and there are several deep
pits(!!!!) possibly for storing “long pigs” (ie us!) before
cooking. We wander over the site in different directions trying to take it all
in , eventually we realise we’re being eaten by a much smaller little cannibal
(the mosies!) so decide it’s time to move on. All along the roadside we
pass wild horses, pigs, chickens ,cats and goats. There are more towering
pinnacles in view as we drive down from a great height to the village of Hatiheu. This may be the most idyllic
little village yet – the pinnacles tower above, there’s a long
black sand beach, crashing waves, a jetty at the far side and little houses and
a church along the seafront. There’s locals idling along, many on
horseback and a group of school children apparently having a lesson on the
grass. There are many carved stones along the seafront – some may be
ancient but several are imitations of some we have seen in the guide-books .We
go to Chez Yvonne for lunch and enjoy our best meal yet - goat curry in coconut
milk and seafood platters. Afterwards, we go as far along the road as we can,
then turn back and head for another village, Hooumi,on the south coast. On the
road we pass more Pae Pae – ancient meeting places or platforms for
houses, many of which are now used to build on.The village is situated further
down river from Taipivai and ends at the mouth of the river which runs into a
very beautiful bay which, unusual for here, has golden sand ,a very narrow
entrance and steep hillsides covered in lush foliage. We’re definitely
coming to anchor here next time round!
On the way back, we overtake a car for the first time
(not just on this Island – in the
Marquesas!!). It’s been a fun day and we’ve been so happy with our
wagon this time that we’ve been singing songs and little ditties (Stewy’s
ditties!) the whole way round and when we’ve ran out , we’ve made
up some new ones! We collect some coconuts – eat one in the car and take
the rest back to the boat. Back in the village we collect our laundry and gas
from the excellent yacht-services on the quayside, it’s only 3000PFs
– a pleasant surprise as, so far , this is the most expensive place any
of us has ever been! We’re very glad we did such a big vitaling in Panama and
Equador as we’re still ok for essentials such as tinned goods and booze!.
A bottle of washing-up liquid is £4!
Annie plucks up the courage to ask the young man who
works there for a photo as he as he is intricately tatoo’ed. He’s
most obliging (posted!). Many of the women and men here are tatoo’ed with
the designs of their ancestors – they look so much better than the ones
you see in Glasgow!
W visit Tramontana for sundowners we had planned to
leave for the Tuamotos at midnight, but decide to leave first thing in the
morning instead.Early to bed!