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.