GOOD-BYE REUNION ISLAND

WEATHER: Lows of 23C and a tops today of 29.5C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: I made breakfast for the first time

BUMMER OF THE DAY: That I didn’t get onto a volcano tour

BUYS OF THE DAY: 2 minute noodle bowl for dinner 1.55EUR

WORD OF THE DAY: White beaches and blue water

I was always going to go to breakfast this morning, and when I woke up I think my stomach after 4 days of not eating properly kicked in I don’t think I would have had a choice in the matter.  I was starving.  So with my book packed, my I-pod and my travel diary I headed to the restaurant for the first and last time.  The set up was pretty amazing and they had an ‘orange juicer gal’ who stood there and made fresh orange juice to order and on the other side a crepe lady also making fresh crepes to order.  I didn’t feel like any of the fluffy stuff this morning so I had some bacon, scrambled egg and tomato washed down with the best damn vanilla tea I have ever had.  It was delicious.  I wonder how long tea lasts for if I was to buy a box tomorrow at the airport and send it home.  I’ll have to have a look and check it out.

As I was over that side of town (resort) I dropped off 6 postcards to be posted and also enquired about the post office.  I would really like to offload that extra damn bag.  Apparently it was only a 10 minute walk, so with directions in my head, I wandered back to my room to collect the post and head there.  Well the cleaning lady was in my room, and I am sure she was dying to get in there as I had the do not disturb sign on the door all day yesterday, so I thought I would let her do her job and headed down to the beach to chillax for a while. 

This was the first real day that the sun was high in the sky and the colour of the water was crystal clear.  I was right at the water’s edge and I could see fish swimming along in the current, there were like 8 of them.  The sand is a lot coarser than what we are used to back home, but it is a beautiful white colour with lots of coral littering the beach.  There is a reef out the front of the hotel, so no shells to speak of; they all get smashed before making it to the beach.  The hotel has plenty of deck chairs, so I sat there and with book in hand and my IPod cranking some tunes I got a few hours of sun to top up my tan that I had been working on so hard in all of Africa. 

Round lunch time I decided to head back to the room to send a few messages on FB and a few emails and then hit the road with my postage in tow.  Well the directions seemed quite simple, but once I had walked the suggested 10 minutes I was in the middle of nowhere with no shops in sight.  I was lucky a man was walking his dog and even though he didn’t speak English he understood post office and I was walking in the right direction.  Thanks French man.  As long as I knew I was going the right way I was happy.  So after 20 minutes the small local shops loomed and the post office in her shining glory.  So I walked in and when I was served saying I wanted to send a package to Australia, I was passed over to a man who could speak broken English.  I was told that they didn’t stock boxes for packages outside of France, so I was recommended to go next door to the small convenience store and ask if they had a spare box.  Well the storekeeper didn’t speak a stitch of English but I was able to point to some stock that had just been delivered to get the point I needed a box, after brining a box out the size of a TV carton, she got the idea and came out with the perfect sized box.  So with my very occa ‘Merci’  I proceeded back to the post office, packed in all my goodies, waited back in the queue again to get to the counter, filled in my form and then he asked if I had tape?  Um no, do you?  You’re a post office after all.  Well no they had no tape, so I had to go back next door again and roamed the little shop unable to find any sello tape.  I was making my way back to the counter thinking how the hell am I going to explain this one when they had a row of sello tape next to the cash register.  Oh thank you lordy!  So after buying this, I proceeded back again to the post office, waited in line again to be able to finalize the postage.  So I got there in the end and for 3kg it only cost me 45EUR.  The package has to go to France first and then gets shipped from there.  Not that I care how long it takes as long as it eventually arrived.  I also got my Globetrotter stamp in my book and it is a beauty, so I left a happy camper and thanked my postie guy for all his help.

After a stop at a small bakery that sold some small quiches I purchased 2 hoping to stay away from what looked like salmon on the sign and ended up with 2 prawn quiches.  I have to say it would not have been my first preference but they were quite tasty and they were eaten for a late lunch.  I stopped at the supermarket on the way back and bought a bowl of 2 minute noodles for dinner.  I haven’t had them for ages and it will be quick and simple to have for dinner.

I am getting collected at 6.30am tomorrow morning for my transfer to the airport.  So I am now all airline packed for my 21^st international flight and finally rid of my ‘postage’ bag.  I didn’t get to see too much of Reunion which is a little disappointing, I really did want to see the volcano, but it is better I have the time here to rest than Seychelles as it is easier enough to get back here from Oz that the Seychelles and now that all my ‘office’ duties are up to date, I will be able to get out and hopefully see some of the Seychelles over the next 5 days.  The problem with these places is there aren’t a lot of tour / tourists that speak English, and since I am on my own it costs a fortune to get a personal tour guide, but we will see how we go in the Seychelles, if the beaches are as beautiful as you read about, I just may not want to move from them anyway!

So good-bye Reunion Island – I didn’t see much of you but I enjoyed my Rest and Isolation and I think I just may have to come back again in the future and maybe have some French lessons before I come.

Bonjour – see I did pick up some French!