Last Day

Currently waiting at airport - there is a 2 hour delay in departure. Again there is no USB port available and cannot upload photos.

Our last day was again full and surprising. Got cleverly conned into taking a taxi ride to buy a time share on the Gold Coast. Realised what was happening on the way there and got a taxi straight out again to where we wanted to go - the gardens at a temple.

Extraordinary plants and a beautiful place right in the suberbs, but too expensive to take part in the tea experience there. The grass in the gardens was being cut by miserable looking people in coolie hats with scissors!

Then into the tube or Mass Transit Railway to another temple. This one was being used by lots of locals - there were three religeons in that temple - taoism, budhism and confucism - I think thats how they were spelt. Notice boards advised what was happening. The system was to first buy some incense sticks and ignite them. Carry them to the door of the temple and think of a subject that you want advice on or a problem to be solved. There were lots of people doing this and the smoke was thick. Give the incense sticks to an attendent to be put out and enter the temple. There didn't seem to be a real focal point in the temple - just a picture of budha? on the back wall, although it was decorated with many ornate chinese lanterns.

Get an open box of sticks and kneel down start praying and shake the box. It was necessary to take care with the shaking because eventually just one stick must fall out. Remember the number written on the stick. Go outside to a line of fortune telling booths, select one and pay. Then get told the advice which hopefully contains the solution to the problem.

Very nice gardens behind this temple with lakes and many terrapins. Back to the MTR and to the next station. Long walk to the next garden through modernised suberbs. This garden was in the site of the Kowloon Walled City. A beautiful place with walks and cycle tracks and sports facilities for th masses - and they were being well used. Discovered its history. Until 1992 it was a renowned slum area - now demolished and gone and made into the these beautiful gardens. A small section was preserved - horrible.

Then to the area to the south which the guide book said was good for eating. But we were in the extremely dense suberbs again with many food shops all with questionable cleanliness. The cooked food didn't really look that attractive either. Decided to get the bus downtown to eat.

Had a good meal but not nearly as good as the previous night.

Opened the curtains in our 27th storey room to see a sea eagle glide by the window - I wonder where they nest. Packed for the last time this morning. Route to airport was through miles and miles of dockland they were absolutely enormous, huge cranes and containers stacked like tower blocks.

Feeling sad its all over, but looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Sausages in syrup for breakfast - must be in Hong Kong

Our first day watching a demo during an interschool kung foo competition.

Impressions of Hong Kong

Mile after mile of skyscraper accomodation for the masses. Some new and smart some really tatty.

Cheap public transport, 30p for tube ride, 20p for ferry ride and 90p for bus ride of 10 miles.

Its Sunday and the place for women to be is down town sitting on cardboard in the street chatting.

In down town area lots of moderm extremely posh upmarket shopping malls. Some Chinese must be wealthy. Nearly bought a Rolex for 51000 GBP! Otherwise lots of small shops catering for the masses. Its like Balham High Street to the power of 10. Carved ivory shops.

But downtown area very clean and no litter - better than Wellington. Sea eagles around the harbour. Harbour very busy with loads of local junks ferries and cruise ships. Lots of markets - have to haggle.

Tap water tastes like water out the harbour, and the harbour water is used to flush the loos, its a kind of yellow grey colour.

Totally disgusting food or perhaps medicine in some shops, eg dried lizzards, goose necks and heads and dried squid and lots of other indescribable stuff.

Bamboo scaffolding, tied together with polypropylene tape, up to 10 storeys high.

Bus drivers trained by Lewis Hamilton.

Here is Delia in the space museum in the moon walking simulation facility, gravity 1/6th that on Earth!

We are mery impressed with this city. No problems so far and again people are very friendly and willing to help.

I was going to say we have not eaten well - the Take Away in Liss has better food than here, but cant say that after last night. Fantastic place - eat as much as you like buffet style. Raw tuna amd salmon, shrimps and scallops, sweet and sour pork and I finished with roast beef (no yorkshire pudding). Then when full after the dessert, they brought us two lobsters just because we were senior citizens!

Well this has been a fantastic adventure - the best since BC. But the pills are running out so it must be time to come home. Back to the UK tomorrow.

Any mistakes in this I am putting down to the Chinese QWERTY keyboard - every key carries four characters, only one English and its dark in here!

The Reef

Now waiting at Sydney airport so thought we would say more about the day at the reef.   Still no chance to upload photos.

Got to the reef in a large catamaran, it took one hour at about 30 knots.   First  sign of getting there was the sea went flat.   Then our destination platform loomed into sight.   Finally the cat picted its was through the gaps between the reef outcrops, which were brightly coloured under the surface.

On the way we were given instruction on how to snorkel!.   I signed up for the snorkelling tour of the reef.   Could not do the diving tour because over 50.  Made the mistake of telling them about diabetes.   Got the Spanish inquisition and advised not to go snorkelling.   I asked for a weight belt but they refused.   Eventually tyhey agreed to let me go but tied some pink ribbon to my snorkel so the l;ifeguards could identify me easily.!   They didn't take any notice of me saying I had been snorkelling for days in the Cook Islands.  Found a stinger suit my size, but it was light green and looked disgusting even without me in it.   Delia and I went for little excursion before the formal tour.   Very easy to get going off a submerged platform.   

Could not see the reef underwater, but lots of brightly coloured fish.   Swam towards the reef and it suddenly loomed out of the blue.   There was a verticle wall to the top which was covered in about 1m of water at the low tide that we had.   Loads of all types of brightly coloured fish and coral.   Delia managed well for the first time really with a snorkel.   It was magic just gliding along the edge of the reef looking at all the small fish on the top and the big fish in the deeper water by the wall.

The snorkel tour was a bit difficult because could not easily hear the marine biologist talking.   Six of us were being guided by her each holding onto a life belt.   She picked up a mushroom coral - about 20cm diameter and the shape of the top of a mushroom.   It was hard and a bit spikey made of limestone.   She demonstrated it was actually alive by holding it it out of the water.  After a minute it started extruding mucus - some sort of defence mechanism.   

She identified the fantastic fish and we saw a large Rass fish sitting with its mouth wide open being cleaned by small fish going right inside its mouth.  
Big reef trout also being cleaned same way.  Lots of brightly coloured clams from 5cm to 1.5m across.   They are harmless unless you put your foot in them and they close on it.   You then have to wait for them to open again!   

Swam to the observation deck of the platform and Delia took my picture under water!   We  had been in the water for about 2 hours and were getting cramps so gave up.   It was a fantastic experience that we shall not forget.   Then after lunch took the submarine for another tour.   Actually it frightened the fish away and we didn't see much.

We had to leave our beautiful yacht next morning and spent it in the pool of one of the resorts on Hamilton Island.   Got out the pool, took a golf buggy (standard transport here) to collect the bags and get to the airport.   We were sitting in the plane less than 60minutes from being in the pool!

Flight5 has been called - got to go.  Will try to get photos uploaded again next time.

Making friends with a dolphin

We had picked up a deep (30m) mooring in a sheltered cove. After dark we shone a torch into the water behind the boat. After a couple of minutes lots of little fish were swimming about in the beam. Then we heard a dolphin approaching - their exhailing makes a loud noise. It came right up to the back of the boat and ate the fish. Then it backed off and slowly circled the boat about 15m away. When more fish were in the beam, it came back in and ate them. This process when on for around 40 minutes. At one point a big fish came also and took the little fish - it may have been a white tipped reef shark - it certainly had a white tip on its dorsal fin. The dolphin didn't come in while that fish was there. The dolphin was thrashing about in its efforts to catch the fish and once crashed into the rudder of the boat making the whole boat shudder. It was a totally fascinating period.

We had gone to the Whitsundays from Sydney and found too many yachts not being used in the Sunsail base. We hired a Jeaneau 36 - same as a Beneteau 36 but with go faster rig and keel.
Day sailed for first 2 days while there was a strong wind warning out. On third day wind forecast to 25knots max so set off for the northern islands. Great sail there on a broad reach.

Area prone to Bullets - blast of F8+ thermal wind off the land that last 20-30 seconds. Got 10knots out of the yacht in one of those.

We loved these few days of complete freedom to go where we wanted and do what we wanted. There is nothing in this world more relaxing than sailing into a sheltered cove, dropping the anchor and spending the evening and night there.

Unfortunately there are nasty jellyfish. The first time we were not in the marina I donned my stinger suit and jumped in. There were jelly fish every cubic foot of water. Little transparent ones. Whether they were Irikanji or Box I don't know but it wasn't pleasant. The need to always wear a stinger suit is a great deterrent.

Last day we took the tour to the Reef. Totally amazing. Saw a massive Groper - 3m long, must have weighed a ton. Got attacked and bitten by little ugly grey fish. Tried to bite it back, couldn't. But it backed off when I took its photo - it didn't like that. The coral here was much more colourful than anywhere else we have seen.

Finally had to say bye to Sunsail and the beautiful marina on Hamilton Island with its sea eagles and cockatoos everywhere.

Back to Sydney. Took the walking tour of the Manly area of Sydney harbour. Its beautiful here and amazingly close to the heart of Sydney.

Next stop Hong Kong. Last destination.

Sorry for the absence of posts while in Whitsundays - believe it or not no internet cafe there. And can't access camera to upload photos from this PC.

Bye for now.

Where did Saturday go?

We left our beautiful beach at Aitutaki on Friday 20th at 16.00 and 8 hours flying time later (+10 hours waiting for planes) arrived in Sydney on Sunday 22nd at 10.00!

We spent Friday evening in the bar - Trader Jacks in Rarotonga. For the first time on this trip there was a live group and they played one rocknroll track which we jived to and no-one else did. But it was a pleasant evening watching the beautiful people. No locals actually and I was a bit worried about the blokes with flowers in their hair, but it didn't seem that out of place on this island.

I don't think I did justice to Aitutaki in the last post. We really liked the place. The feeling of heat and just being able to go and sit in the sea if it got too hot. Everyone being so relaxed and pleasant was really good. I don't think we will stay in a tree house again. We shared it with geckos, and have been well bitten by mossies and don't know what on our legs and feet and even in places we didn't know we had. But worst was lack of water. Washing really meant going for a swim. But we have not had stomach problems and Adi and Michelle, the big hat and T shirt has meant I have not been sun burnt! The hat cost $5 in Wellington and will probably not come back. I've always used your rash vest Adrian for swimming- really good.

The best thing about Sydney is we feel clean again! Having a good time here. Explored the maritime museum, learnt about how Oz was first claimed by Portugese, then Spanish then us and then we shipped convicts here, then thought it was a good place to be so settled here. Went to Bondi beach but was unimpressed. Big waves but short runs - not much fun. And two people were seriously injured by a great white here just last week.

Big day today. Three hour walking tour - very interesting. Climbed one of the towers of the bridge and discovered how it was built. Then toured the opera house and discovered how that was built. Did anyone else think the shape was to limit echos and allow clean sound? Apparently not. There is one theatre in each sail and two underneath making 8 theatres in all. They are seperate buildings inside the sails.

Running out of time. Back soon.

We love Aitutaki

But we have left it. Back in Rarotonga surviving the 9 hour wait from 6pm to 3am for the flight to NZ and Sydney. Have walked into town from the airport having left our bags with the fire service at the airport - as you do.

Apparently the reason the flights arrive and depart here at night is so we can't see how short the runway is.

Firstly, sorry to everyone who has posted comments to which we have not replied - we have only just found them!

Adi - theres no swimming with dolphins now because the person running it ran his boat onto the reef, with tourists on board, twice, and was stopped from doing it again. I did go to the hospital, twice, for the ear infection but never found a doctor. All the locals were complaining madly about the doctor. Apparently he was from Fiji and was no good! The two really nice elective doctors from London could not pass judgement. I was washing the ear in liquid Savlon once every hour or whenever possible and after 6 days the infection has all but disappeared. The ear is now coated in dried up Savlon. I would have started the emergeny Augmentin if it had got really bad.

Yes, the yacht club at Muri was very good. That is where we hired the windsurfer. Actually that was probably the riskyist thing we have done. The depth of water over the reef was sometimes less than 2ft and if we had fallen off on the reef it could have been serious.

Yes John - thanks very much for the advice to get going with the blog. We have written diaries as well and will make into a good story when we get back.

Maggie - congratulations for being a grandmother again! Delighted that all is well.

We love Aitutaki. The outstanding thing is the friendlyness of the people. If we stopped our moped to look at the map - everyone passing also stopped to help us. In the shops people we friendly quite often advising us not to buy something because it was overripe or something. And it was not just to us - I noticed they were like that between themselves.

Last Sunday we were standing outside the Christian Church of the Cook Islands - and someone came out and invited us in. I couldn't really understand much of what the preacher said - he was not talking plain English and was talking Polynesian half the time. But the hymns sung in Polynesian sounded much better than in English - more uplifting and rythmic somehow. We were walking away afterwards and someone else directed us to the attached schoolroom for refreshments - local produce and concocksions. Everyone seemed to be really happy. There was no collection.

Then the lagoon is just amazing. Even Delia has been snorkelling for long periods. There are giant clams all over the place and the colours of the fish are incredible. I found a 1.5m moray eel hiding down a hole in the coral. We visited some of the desert islands in the lagoon. They were iconic. Perhaps 200m diameter containing coconut palms in all stages of development in the middle surrounded by white sand beach and turquoise sea. BUT with the air temperature at 35C in the shade and 46C otherwise, the sun's heat reflecting of the white sand made the temperature on the beach >50C - it was like a sauna. You could not stay there long. Even the water temperature in the shallows was about 35C like the jacussi at home.

The the sand was sometimes not sand but ground up coral. Coral breaks in a brittle fashion leaving razor sharp edges - impossible to walk on without shoes.

The islands were inhabited by red billed turns. A spectacular white bird about the size of a rook. They would fly out beyond the reef to fish and get attacked by frigate birds on the way back and made to drop their fish which the frigate birds would often catch before the fish reached the water. Frigate birds are very big but with a pefect swing wing design giving them superior manouvreability.

Our host Fred twice went fishing and caught Tuna and Wahoo - a big thing with teeth like a Barracuda. Fred is also a very good cook so twice we have dinned in style.

It was just as well. When we arrived the 'supermarket' had very little food in it, and the petrol station had run out of petrol but the the cargo boat had just arrived. It took several days to unload and unpack the containers. There is something quaint about everything depending on the arrival of a cargo boat. Then signs were appearing evrywhere like "Just in Stock - nails, envelopes, matches ladders, wheely bins".

Lots more to say but time running out.

Air Rarotonga

In all the flying around Europe I did while working for Alcatel and Dornier and all the other holiday flights etc, in all those years, the very first time a flight has left on time was with Air Rarotonga! I think it should take over BA. The plane was a Saab 340 fitted with carbon fibre propellers with Ti leading edges made by Dowty in Gloucester!

Aitutaki is the real thing. A tropical island at Lat 18 S. The temperature is 35C in the shade dropping to 30 at night and the sea is a constant 28C. The reef goes all round but is assymetrical thus creating an enormous lagoon at the south side. Fantastic snorkelling. A giant clam is only 200m from our beach and we watched it trap a fish. The tracks are covered in land crabs and the sea of them kind of parts as we drive along on our moped.

Our tree hut is really a shack. The wash basin is half a giant clam shell. The water supply is intermitant. The bed is hard - 2" foam on a solid base. At least there is an effective mossy net. There is not much food here. The shop is almost empty but it has lots of Immodium. However a cargo boat arrived today and us along with half the population watched it unload, so tomorrow we may be able to eat.

I have an ear infection and will try the hospital tomorrow for antibiotics.

This may be the last blog update from here as the connection is painfully slow and expensive.

But when all said and done this is a beautiful place with very friendly people who all seem to be at complete peace with everything. It is a lovely place to be.

Bye for now.