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.