The trouble with coconut trees

The trouble with coconut trees is that coconuts keep dropping off them. It must be because they don't meet EU health and safety laws that we don't have them in Europe. The EU must have banned them.

Here is of fantastic villa right on the beach and at a cost much less than the hotel - there are so few visitors here accomodation has dropped dramatically in price.

We found it using the car and have now hired a scooter to get around. Got caught in heavy rain and stopped and ran under the decking of what we thought was a derelict shack. While waiting there suddenly a voice said Hi. In the gloom a fantastic blonde ~19rs was standing - and she offered us a cup of tea - totally amazing. Turns out Hannah is a student staying in the shack with boyfriend Nick until this weekend when they return to Auckland so he can start his new PhD course in Surf Tourism. A PhD course? In Surf Tourism????? I was tempted to ask what his hypothesis is going to be, but resisted, they had been very kind to us.

Went to a cultural evening last night. Saw ancient encampments. Fantastic meal of local produce and cooking. Then song and dance show.

We learnt:

For centuries this island was occupied by three tribes, who warred against each other. They ate there opponents when captured. They also developed dances for the purpose of mating. Strange that as none of the dances were contact ones. Anyway the objective was to create new people to replace those ate by the other tribe. Then in the 1800s christian missionaries arrived. Then all three tribes ate them. Eventually sufficient missionaries arrived and they persuaded the three tribes to become christians. In 1900 Rarotonga became a NZ protectorate and in 1974 the Queen opened th airport - so started tourism.

The dance music was all with drums made from hollowed out mahogany logs, slit longtitudenally to make them resonate. Eight drummers all in time - very good. The dances were fast and fun. I really don't know why they want to adopt pop songs.

Last night we had major storms and high wind - temp dropped to 26 - it was freezing.

The day after tomorrow we fly the 400miles to Aitutaki in a small turboprop plane. This island is said by everyone here to be the most beautifull island in the South Pacific.

Bye for now.