Thursday night & Friday

It was time for the naming of our calico signature bear and he is now officially named “Whatawhey” which is Norfolk for ‘How are you?’ Our winner was very pleased with the calico bag she received so that little bit of fun went over well.  Time to get on the coach for our Fish Fry dinner.  As we head off we are told that there will be about 125 people there but that there will be no shortage of food.  As we got closer to Puppies Point where we were to have the dinner (it is a park on the coast) the sky got darker and started a fine mist of rain.  Then as soon as we arrived the rain got heavier and we all huddled under pine trees for about 10 minutes or so until the rain passed and then it was beautiful slue skies again as the sun set.  The rain was still very light so no one was particularly wet, it was just a bit of nuisance value and we had to wipe down our seats and table.  Then it was time for the food and they certainly weren’t exaggerating when they said there would be plenty of food.  There were buckets worth of salads and more than enough fish, that kept getting replenished.  We could go back as many times as we wanted, but most were satisfied with 1 plate and then there was dessert of coconut pie and cream.  I didn’t have dessert but I did have 2 lots of the fish.  We were entertained by one of the locals who sang and played a guitar.  Then we had 4 young girls doing what is probably best described as Hawaiian style dancing.  It was really nice, and the sunset was lovely.  Then back on the coach to our hotel where we had about 15 minutes before we were on another coach to take us to the ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ show.  We were taken to a part of the forest that has been set up as an outdoor theatre where locals acted out the Bounty mutiny.  It was very well done and was about 90 minutes long. Then back on the coach towards our hotel.  It has certainly been a big day and we’ve fitted heaps in.  We were all very quiet on the return drive, so quiet in fact that the driver turned off the main street and as I was up near the front, I asked him which way was he taking us as I knew it wasn’t the way to our hotel.  He laughed as he pulled the coach over to the side of the road and did a u-turn to get us back on track, as he had forgotten we were all still on board and was driving home to his place!!! So back to our hotel about 10pm and so ends our last day in NI.

In the morning it is a 10 a.m. checkout and most have ventured up the street for a last cuppa while we await our 11.30 coach to the airport.  Weather is a little bit steamy this morning but again brilliant blue skies.  All are boarded onto the Air New Zealand flight for our 2 ½ hours flight to Sydney.  I’ve watched a movie, had my beef casserole lunch and even have time to pen these lines.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the Norfolk Island tour.  When I get better internet access I’ll upload some photos.  Just to make you work a bit harder, I’ll put the photos in with the appropriate day’s jottings so you may just have to re-visit the earlier blog entries to see what I was trying to describe on occasion. It has turned out to be a fairly busy 8 days and that’s about long enough for NI I reckon. I would certainly come here again, but not for a while as nothing will have changed quickly.  The shopping isn’t nearly as good as I had been led to believe and food can be expensive as it is all imported.  But the place itself really is a bit of paradise and well worth adding to your itinerary.

Am now at Sydney airport waiting for our Adelaide connection which is currently going to be 45 minutes late departing.  When we touched down onto the runway in Sydney a booming voice immediately behind me (Big W) asks "Is this the airport?" What the heck was she expecting? Sydney bus terminal??? Give me strength.

Then when we all get through Customs and Immigration which was relatively easy, I finally lose little A.  Hers was the first luggage off the carousel so I told her to go through Customs and Immigration and then wait inside the sliding doors.  Well, we all wander through to the Virgin check in  and no little A.  Finally she shows up having gone through the sliding glass doors out into the main terminal; asked directions from some fellow who tells her to walk to the right; when she gets to the end of the terminal she comes back and asks a woman who directs her to the Virgin check in which was immediately left of the sliding glass doors, but inside them.  Forget about giving me strength... just give me alcohol and lots of it!!!  Crisis averted and I think that as we are on the home run, I am okay.  But booming voice Big W announces that she needs to go to the toilet while we are waiting for the coach to take us to the domestic terminal.  The toilets are in the main airport area so I tell her that she can go and find them, but if the coach comes I am not waiting for her and she will have to get the next one and then find her own way through the domestic terminal.  She tells me that she can wait but might actually wee her pants!!!  As she doesn't have a volume switch, all in Virgin check-in are now aware of her urinary needs.  anyway we all get on the coach as she announces in her dulcet tones to the poor fellow sitting near her that she desperately needs to go to the toilet and that I wouldn't let her and that she may end up wetting her pants!!!  The entire bus now knows her predicament. We thankfully get off the coach at the domestic terminal and I tell all to go through the screening entry and head for Gate 40.  Big W starts going through the screening but announces to all and sundry that she just has to go to the toilet and so I send her off towards the nearest loos. We all go through the screening entry and I patiently wait for her (well as patiently as I am capable of at this late stage). She finally waddles through but even that is not without drama as she sets off all sorts of alarms  and insists on trying to come through the body screen with a backpack still on. After a personal body scan she is finally allowed through and we set off towards our Gate but then she decides she is hungry and is going to stop to buy food.  I have now reached my limit and it is soon going to get very ugly so I remind her to aim for Gate 40 and she assures me that she is right on her own and knows where to go.  I then find the ladies, go into a stall and do a silent scream, feeling much better and start to wander to gate 40 just in time to meet up with Big W and a group of our ladies, with Big W telling them that we are to go to Gate 48. Where's that alcohol???

We are now advised that we are actually at Gate 39 and the plane is delayed so I have had time to vent to you and catch you up totally on our tail end of the trip. Should the plane be delayed much longer I will not be responsible for my actions. Gripping stuff isn't it?

Anyhow, If you are already wondering, “Where to next”, then at this stage you need to set your sights on Kangaroo island.  However should I win lotto before March, then all bets are off and Europe here I come!!! You are welcome to come along too, as long as you don’t expect me to carry your bags...

Thursday morning

Awoke to another lovely morning although a fair bit of cloud cover.  They desperately need rain here and as they are so totally dependent on rain as there are no rivers running through the island, I feel for them.  Supposedly there are showers possible on Saturday afternoon.  None of the locals are getting out rain coats just yet...

After breakfast 10 of us headed off on the ‘Behind the Hedges’ tour which visited a number of home-based and cottage industries.  First stop was a hobby farm, which is still the original 50 acres.  On our way the skies ahead were a bit grey and lo and behold a few drops of rain came.  Larry was laughing about whether the windscreen wipers would even work as they had probably gone rusty from no use.  A very fine mist was all that happened though; just enough to use the wipers once so nothing for anyone to get at all excited about.  Now to the farm ‘sutff’. They have a really unusual system here for grazing cattle (no sheep).  As the plots have been subdivided so often there is very little grazing land per farm, so local farmers can purchase grazing rights for a limited number of their cattle, which means that those cattle can roam free, hence the ‘law’ that cows have right of way on the roads. Most ‘farms’ are now about 10 acres, and inevitably they are all self-sufficient with not just cattle but growing all their own seasonal vegetables and fruits.  About the only fruit that doesn’t grow here is the coconut.

Anyhow, I digress.  I was telling you about cows... All the cattle we have seen are very healthy and clearly get plenty of feed from the roadside and unfenced areas.  They are totally unfussed by traffic or people. Nearly all properties have electric fences so they are serious about which cattle should be where. The farm that we were on agists other stock.  There is a lot of ‘trading’ between farmers.  For existence if your cow keeps producing bulls, then you may swap it with a neighbour’s heifer that they are about to get slaughtered. If you need a bull to service your cows then the only cost to you is transport/freight cost.  You are then required to feed and maintain it well, along with any veterinary needs.  If you are the bull owner and only need it a few months of the year to service your own cattle, then this is a very efficient way of keeping your bull well cared for by others – and I’m sure the bull likes it too!

We also saw the woman farmer show us her quarter horse and how she has trained it.  She was very humorous with her story telling too.  As I went to leave she asked me if I had been there before and I said no.  But she was insistent that she had seen me before.  This was really odd as the woman at the Music Valley shed yesterday said the exact same thing to me and I had a hard time convincing her that I hadn’t been to NI before.  What was even odder was when I told today’s woman that the same thing had happened yesterday with the lady showing us Music Valley – and she told me that this was her sister!!!

All that I can think of is that my fame as the Face of the Belfast WPF Games, Face of a Bali resort, and all my other ‘Faces of’ have clearly made it to Norfolk Island and I now feel comfortable in my newest title as the ‘Face of Norfolk Island’. J

So after the farm, we went to a pottery place where the fellow showed us how he made the pots, while his wife decorates them.  He had some really nice items but most of us agreed, that they were quite pricey so none of our group bought anything. Then it was back on the coach to a lovely cliff top stop for a cuppa and coconut cake. Then onto ‘Sweeties’ which is a confectionary shop, to find out how the chocolate is made – and a tasting of the rocky road, yum. I was a bit surprised to see a whole stand of Darrell Lea chocolates on sale there. Then Larry our driver decided to take us to see a magnificent Banyan Tree (native to India).  It’s about 140 years old. It was huge and creates such a fabulous back drop that it is used as a wedding location for the ceremony to be held under the magnificent tree roots cover.  I can imagine how fantastic the wedding photos would be.  I took plenty of snaps and when I get home will endeavour to add some of my photos (in the right spots) to my blog so that you can get a better idea of how lovely this little island is and what it has to offer.

Then back on the coach and we should have been brought back to our hotel, but Larry clearly liked us and there were a few people (not from our group) who hadn’t been up to the top of Mt Pitt, so he drove us all up there for them to see the 360 degree view.  It was a bit hazy but still magnificent to see. I got Larry to drop me off in the main street on our way back as I wanted to do my last bit of shopping before I have to pack, and also to grab a bit of lunch, so that’s what he did.  I ended up buying a really nice shirt for myself.  Bought a roll for my lunch and wandered back to the hotel from a quiet afternoon before we head out to tonight for the Island Fish Fry and then the Mutiny on the Bounty show.

It really has been a lovely holiday.  There have been the 2 ‘problem’ ladies who have gotten on everyone’s nerves so it is probably a good thing that we are heading home tomorrow or tempers might start to fray. They are both nice enough but drive me nuts.  I’m sure we all know people who clearly don’t have their listening ears on when they are being told something, because within 5 minutes they ask a question that they have just been given the answer to.  They are so busy thinking up their next dumb question that they simply don’t listen. Then they get all hurt and defensive when told that we’ve just had that answer given. Someone must have told them once that asking questions shows interest in the subject, but they forgot to add that they need to be intelligent questions!!! Big W is very brusque and demanding and has no concept of her size, volume or slowness. I did have a go at her today when yet again in helping her onto the coach she snapped, “Hold this”, thrusting her handbag at JL to hold for her each time she gets on or off the coach. I was at the coach door too, so raised my voice at her “How about a ‘please’ every now and then?”  Big W then said that she forgets to say that.  I said, “Yes, we’ve noticed”.  So she isn’t talking to me now and wouldn’t get off the coach when we went into the sweet shop.  Wish I’d spoken up on the first day if that’s the result!!! I had to walk away from the coach at one stage earlier this morning when Big W was getting off, as she always gets off backwards, so in trying to help her off you are faced with a huge bottom backing towards you.  Larry was being funny when he said to her, “We probably need a beep, beep reversing noise for you!” I wanted to laugh out loud so much that I simply had to walk well away. If nothing else these little moments are all good grist for the mill that is my travel blog.

Wednesday's wanderings

After a really good night’s sleep, I was off to breakfast in the morning to find that our numbers have somewhat depleted.  A couple had headed off on a walking tour of the cliffs, some were enjoying a sleep in and others were having a later breakfast.  Anyway, the lass from the jewellery store was there with her friend, and they had set up a table displaying all their creams, lotions and bibs and bobs.  Not bad, when the locals actually come to your door (practically) to sell their wares.  The creams were really nice and a few of the ladies bought up on the spot.

We all met in the foyer at 10 (except Big W who was a no-show), along with 2 New Zealand ladies that had been on our Culla & Co horse ride yesterday who I invited along today, to wander up the road to Cyclorama.  I was a bit nervous as to whether they would like it or not, but thankfully it was a great success and all raved about it.  They then had an unexpected treat that I had arranged a free Devonshire tea for them.  I told them that it was provided by SA Police Legacy as a thankyou for coming on the trip with us. I figure I’ll explain it all to Trevor when I get back to the office and I’m sure he will sign off on that account J. So after a viewing through the diorama, a wander through the gift shop and then morning tea it was time to head back to the hotel for a very short rest up before we met again at 1p.m for our Island Cultural Tour.

Weather yet again is perfect, with brilliant blue skies and wispy clouds.  The locals desperately want rain but I’m hopeful it will hold off until late Friday afternoon and then it can rain for days!!!  On our afternoon tour we are taken to one of the older residents’ home – Ruth, where she explains some of the cooking methods of early settlers and we get to sample a couple of her banana recipes cooked in her outdoor kitchen.  We then go to the Wood carving place run by Darren who also operates a charter fishing company.  All of the locals have at least 3 or 4 jobs and they are clearly run along family tie lines.  If you can’t claim to be a descendant of at least one of the mutineers from the Bounty then I’m not sure that you would be able to actually set up and run a successful business here. I’ve tried to ask about how long it takes to be considered a local here, but I haven’t had a convincing answer yet, as I always get the corporate line that you can apply for residency as soon as you get here, buy land, etc, etc.  Not really an answer to my question though, which further supports my theory of, ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know’- or more correctly, who you can claim a kinship to.  We then go to a quirky ‘shed’ where we are told about early settlers’ fishing and milling.  Last stop is back to our hotel where Kath, one of the lasses from this morning’s skin care display, shows us how to weave from banana tree stalks and various grasses.

We then have about an hour and a half to rest up before we head off on our progressive dinner.  We are first taken to a lovely home for sherry and finger food entrees.  Tania, the lass whose home it is, tells us her genealogy and she is 7^th generation back from Fletcher Christian. We then visit another lovely big home and as it is just on sunset we get to go out onto the back verandah to see a beautiful sunset and then it is in doors for a big chicken with mustard sauce and veg main course dinner. We are also served coconut bread that you are supposed to eat with the main meal but it tasted too much like coconut cake to me and I didn’t want to eat what tasted like a dessert, along with my savoury main meal.  The fellow who lives there (can’t remember his name) is married to one of the locals.  He came to NI about 30 years ago.  Unsurprisingly, his wife traces back to Christian.  Then we are off to another lovely home where the husband is the brother of the woman whose house we have just left.  His wife can’t trace back to the mutineers, but in fact traces back further as an original inhabitant of NI, to the 1^st wave of convicts that were sent out in the 1820s.  (Christian’s descendants didn’t get moved from Pitcairn Island to NI until about 1855.) So we have had a lovely meal – and are all stuffed, and had an interesting history lesson thrown in as well.

Each of the homes are modern, spacious and very tastefully decorated.  It is staggering to know that apart from the timber absolutely everything has been brought in by ship or air, right down to the nails and every stick of furniture, taps, pipes, windows, lightfittings, bench tops.  Have a look around at your home and imagine the planning that would need to go into arranging every item to be brought in from overseas – and hope that it all arrives at the right time to get the house completed, or rooms renovated. Most of the homes appear to have slate or tiles on at least some of their floors.  It has all been shipped in.  As there is no deep sea port here, the little pier becomes a hive of activity when a ship does come in, and small inflatable tenders and similar go out to the ship for everything to be lifted onto the them and brought to the pier, to then be lifted onto land. Every vehicle on the island has been brought in that way (including the coaches).  Often 2 tenders have to be placed immediately next to each other to be big enough to carry the vehicle.  No one is saying how much unloading has ended up in the sea!!! The crane uses a big sling placed around the car to offload it from the ship onto the tender and then the process is repeated to get it off the tender and onto the pier.

If you are thinking of buying land here in NI, you will need to think again. The original Pitcairn Islanders who were the descendants of the mutineers, were resettled in NI by Queen Victoria.  She gave them all 50 acres which they all own freehold. The original family owner has tended to subdivide their allotment for their offspring to build on.  For example the first home we went to tonight was built by Tania’s father who gave them the land (from his own allotment).  She lives next door to her sister and her brother lives up the road from them. (Dad gave them their land and built houses for each of them.) You might be lucky to be looking to purchase your own block if one of the locals happens to be subdividing or selling up – but those opportunities are few and far between.  If you want to live here you simply have to be here at the right time to find a house and land up for sale. Duncan – the New Zealand fellow at the 2^nd house tonight bought the land with a small cottage on it.  They have only recently been able to knock it down and build their existing home – I wasn’t cheeky enough to ask him how much that cost. One of our group did ask how much land cost, but there was no clear answer and they wouldn’t even give an approximate.

Anyway, it has been another lovely day – and certainly a very full one today.  Many of the locals have put up lots of Christmas lights on their homes so it was very pretty driving back to the hotel tonight.  It’s our last full day tomorrow and we still have plenty to see and do.

Tuesday's musings

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Cyclorama, which is copied (the idea at least) from the Alice Springs Diarama.  It depicts the history of the Bligh mutiny and settling of Norfolk Island. I was really impressed with it so have teed up with the office lady to bring my gaggle through in the next few days and she will arrange a discount. Had a lovely cuppa in the cafe after and then back to the hotel where I went to the pool for a refreshing swim, then into the spa for a laze, then back to my room for a shower and to get ready for the 5 p.m. Meet and Greet. What a fun time we had at the Meet and Greet in the hotel reception foyer. One of the staff was playing an electric organ and he had a beautiful voice. He was singing lots of older tunes which we all knew, plus a couple of more modern numbers thrown in for good measure. Our golden girls were all up dancing and we even had a conga line at one stage with the local islander receptionist leading the way. I ofcourse, had to show them my John Travolta moves, and had them all in stitches performing a cha cha. (Hurtful!!!)

We were provided with free drinks and nibbles, and as there were only 2 other couples outside our little group there, we did take over a bit.  The staff were clearly having as much fun as we were as it was supposed to finish at 6 p.m. but our singer was still going strong at 6.25 with no sign of stopping.  I left to go up the street to grab a take away for my dinner.  Not sure what time it wrapped up but my gaggle were all back in the foyer ready for our 7.15 pick up to go to ‘Wonderland by Night’

This turned out to be a quite lovely evening where we were taken to a property and then walked along a path through a pine tree forest, stopping at various designated spots along the way where the host/guide would recite a humorous poem about a particular incident, event or happening. There was always a ‘scene’ to view at each site and it would be lit up as we approached and then go back into darkness when we moved on. The path had rope lights along the edges so we followed those lights. The fellow reciting the poems had a good sense of humour and ad-libbed a bit along the way.  Turns out that it was his father’s poems that he was reciting to us. We had poems about mum doing the laundry, using the outback dunny, milking cows, blaming siblings for our misdeeds, visiting grandparents, and so on.  Eventually we got to a spot very much in the middle of the forest where we all had to face one direction and then close our eyes.  When we opened them we found ourselves surrounded in a fairyland of lights throughout the trees.  Different childhood stories were depicted at different sites.  It truly was beautiful.  Don’t think my photos will do it justice. They have only just opened this section up so not many had seen it yet. The local pre-school group were being brought through the next night, so I can only guess at how jaw-dropping it will be for many of the littlies. We then ended our tour in the ‘tin shed’ where we had a cuppa and cake for supper.  Back to our hotel and time for bed.  Another lovely day had by all.

Up bright and early next morning as 8 of us were off on the Culla and Co. Tour where we were conveyed in an old carriage, pulled by 2 beautiful Clydesdale horses.  We were on roads, dirt tracks and in paddocks to end up at Steeles point where we had breathtaking views of the coast and then morning tea of sandwiches, biscuits and a cuppa. Culla was a delightful old fella who had a great sense of humour and treated us to a great morning.  I got him to drop me back at the Cyclorama on the way back to the hotel so that I could book our group in for tomorrow morning.  Have geed up with the cafe next door to put on a Devonshire tea for our group after we’ve gone through the Cyclorama. Wandered back to the hotel and then set off down the street for a toasted sandwich and cuppa at the Olive cafe. I inevitably bump into some from our group while out and about so always have to stop and check what they are up to and make a fuss of them. Each asks about where we are having dinner tonight as they clearly like eating as a group so after tossing around a few ideas, most seem to want to go back to the RSL club. So we’ll give that a go again but won’t get sucked into the raffles though...) I then book for 10 of us and in the interim have a visit from JL wanting to know if it is happy hour yet. Funnily enough it is!!! So we have our drinkies on our balcony and very much enjoy the opportunity to debrief the day.  I find out that Big W has been at the same table as JL during lunch today and when JL’s hot chips in a bowl are delivered to her, Big W, without asking, helps herself to a chip and then dips in the sauce.  Not content in stealing one ship she has a second and dips in the sauce and then lo and behold, double dips the same chip into the dipping sauce.  Everyone at the table has apparently gone silent and their eyes are getting wider. Thankfully I wasn’t there or I would not have been able to stop myself from slapping Big W’s hand and telling her off! JL ate a few chips and then told Big W she could have them, but Big W said she didn’t want any more as she had had enough... Give me strength!!!

Anyway, we are still managing to find plenty to laugh about and at 6.30 made our way back to the hotel foyer to find our gaggle all waiting for us.  Some had elected to go elsewhere for dinner, and that was fine by us, but our 8 ‘regulars’ wandered across the road with us to the RSL club and we had a very pleasant dinner there once again.  More laughs had by all and having criticised little M throughout our trip so far, for how heavy her hand bag is, I made her empty it out to find out how many house bricks she had in it. Lots more laughing with one of the ladies offering to let me go through her handbag but I told her that I hadn’t had my shots yet so didn’t want to put my child bearing future in jeopardy.

Clearly we were having a great time and one of the locals came up to us, introduced himself and wanted to know who we were and what we were up to. We explained that we were from SA Police Legacy, blah, blah, blah.  He chatted for a while, then went back to his drinking group, only to then have a woman come up to us to introduce herself as one of the local NI police. Her first words were, ‘So, you’re all the widows group????”. We re-explained who we were and she then became our new best friend having heard the word ‘police’ in our title and has invited us to visit the police station for a look around in the next couple of days, which was really nice of her. Eventually we decided that it was time to head back to the hotel which we duly did.  Another great day and a bit sad to realize that we are on the downhill run of our holiday.