MY RETURN TO THE AFRICAN CONTINENT

WEATHER: Overcast in the Seychelles, 26C in Nairobi and a cool 14C in Addis Ababa

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Not having to get up at the crack of dawn for a flight

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Getting in at night time to a destination

BUYS OF THE DAY: My can of Pepsi in Seychelles to try and rid of my rupees

WORD OF THE DAY: Goodbye to Paradise – even if it rained each day

My last 10 days of sun (most of the time) and beaches has come to an end and I have to say I am ready to join a group of people again and to socialize.  I knew it would be nice to have some time to myself, but too much time and your brain starts to work overtime and sometimes I am not sure that it is that productive in the end.  The good thing is that with my blog and photos all loaded and up to date, to some this may seem trivial, but if I don’t keep up with both it snowballs and I feel bad that I am behind in my duties.  But enough of that.  Today I leave paradise.

As it has been for the last 10 days, it rained this morning with glimpses of sun poking through the low clouds.  I won’t be complaining about the rain heading to my new destination as I am sure they would love to see some of that rain in their country, Ethiopia as they are in the throes of a drought.  The good thing with my pickup at 11am, was I was able to pack my bag this morning, rather than the night before and to also get a good breakfast in, as I am on the move all day.  So after paying my measly bill again of 40AUD for 3 days of food.  I’m killing this budget thing!  The transfer to the airport was only 25 minutes so I was checking in nearly 3 hours before the flight, but after loading up the free trolley, I am glad I had the extra time as the queue was already 13 deep and they all had 3-5 boxes plus bags each!  This is going to take a while.  It was funny to watch as the people put all the boxes and bags on the scales some of them were 55kg to 65kg of baggage.  Permitted allowance 30kg!  So this also took longer as they were told how much the excess would be as they shuffled boxes around with each other to try and get their limits down.  So an hour later, it was my turn and I plopped my 22.3kg bag on the scales, where my bag was checked all the way through to Addis Ababa but I could only get a boarding pass to Nairobi, where I would need to see a transfer desk for my next one to Ethiopia.  Didn’t sound too hard, as long as my bag went all the way through, I had 90 minutes to transfer, and so this shouldn’t have been a problem.  Before heading into the departures I exchanged my left over rupees (148USD worth) and was also able to get my Seychelles stamp in my Globetrotters book at the same time.  I did have a backup plan of a lick lick stamp if I didn’t manage to get an ink stamp.

Seychelles airport is pretty basic.  There was just the one customs agent and 2 people on the security scanner but based on the duty free shops closing as we were lining up to board, I think we were the only flight for the day.  What a life.  What do these people do if they aren’t working at the airport all day I wonder?  No free Wi-Fi, so I headed to the very basic bar, bought a Pepsi and sat against the window as I saw our Kenya Airlines flight arrive and watched it get prepared for the turn around with me on it back to Nairobi.  I did have to buy another pair of headphones with the last pair I bought in Swakopmund giving up the chase in one ear.  It is quite frustrating trying to listen to music in just one ear!  I have been buying cheaper ones, not really sure why.  Mostly just by the lack of choice I have had in Africa the 2 times I have had to replace them.  But this time, well it was lack of choice again, they were the only pair, but I have lashed out on a new Sony pair that have set me back 115AUD.  I figured it is a good investment as there is not a day that I don’t use them, so I will get my monies worth firstly and secondly I hope that quality will prevail and they will last longer than its predecessors.   Most expensive thing I have bought since my fancy optional excursions in Swakopmund in Namibia.

Looking around at the lineup at the gate, there is 70% men and 30% women for the passenger ratio.  The females that were travelling were mostly tourists travelling with their partners.  It was a short walk to the plane and they embarked us by the front and rear doors.  I actually like this, as I think it speeds the boarding and splits the problems into 2 ends rather than one problem blocking the whole boarding process.  The flight wasn’t full and I was lucky to have an empty seat next to me.  The plane was a 737-800, which is a 3x3 configuration and the seats on the Kenyan Airlines flight were quite roomy, with high arm rests and plenty of room in the seatbelt department.  Another stat to note was all the cabin crew in economy was male, unusual.  There was one female crew member, but she must have been in business, as we only heard her voice making the announcements.  

As we came into land, I was looking out the window and thought some-one was waving to us, looking closer there were 4 giraffes at a watering hole, so maybe they were waving to us, an ongoing joke Manu and I have, so I waved right on back, as I wouldn’t want to insult their welcome.  So after a 2 hour and 49 minute flight and with a meal and a movie (Arthur) we landed ten minutes late into Nairobi at 3.50pm.  I was still thinking this is okay, still plenty of time for my connection.  Well we stopped just off the runway and this is where we sat for 30 minutes waiting for a gate to open up for us.  Okay starting to get a little panicky now as I still had to get my boarding pass.  In the end I would say they gave up and we parked near a gate and were disembarked onto the tarmac and then climbed some stairs to a gate and got into the terminal that way.  So now it is 4.30pm.  I asked at a transfer counter at gate 12 to where I would locate Ethiopian Airlines and was told to head straight to gate 8 and they could do it all there.  So I did this, waited in line as people for my flight were heading through security into the departure lounge, to which I was told that I had to go to the next transfer counter at gate 6.  Well the line up here was 20 people deep, but as the queue moved, some of them were groups, so I made the counter at 4.40pm, keeping in mind my flight is at 5.30pm and I was told I had to go downstairs to get my boarding pass which entailed a transfer visa and time I didn’t have.  So explained I didn’t need to check in, my bag has been tagged, I just need a boarding pass, she reconfirmed my departure time, and with a nod of the head, she disappeared with my passport and baggage tag to go and do it for me.  Meanwhile the clock is ticking, but she was only gone 15 minutes, with a boarding pass in hand which was also a window seat!  Thank-you so much as I hightailed it back to my gate to be processed and securitized!  Phewww what a close call and a dreadful system but I got through, a little flustered but in one piece all the same.

We boarded the Ethiopian Airlines plane via the tarmac again with front and back opened for boarding.  With me sitting in row 16, I was sure a would enter via the front doors, but the checker said no no your via the back doors.  Hmmmm okay – knowing full well I would be fighting to get past people to get to my seat.  Well I was right, I am not sure it if it is Ethiopians, but there were 4 people sitting in wrong seats around rows 25, and they couldn’t see a problem with this as those people went to sit in them, so I managed to slide past these people to row 17 to have some-one sitting in my seat AND our row was one row in front of the exit row, so out overhead locker was full with the damn lifeboats.  Where the hell am I supposed to put my bag?  At this time people in rows past 16 were coming on through the front stairs, where I wasn’t allowed to use 10 minutes earlier, so now I was like a fish swimming up the wrong way of a stream, especially after the Hostees found me somewhere to put my bag in row 13!  It was the worst way I have seen a plane loaded since my travel in the Sates a few years ago, now Americans do not know how to board a plane without fuss.  So I finally got my bag stored, my seat freed and I sat down to listen to 5 other people have people sitting in their seats.  Read you boarding passes people – it isn’t that hard is it?  For crying out loud!

So even with all the kerfuffle out flight left on time for the 1 hour and 25 minute journey to Addis Ababa.   The sun set quite quickly so we travelled most of the way in the dark.  This was my first night flight for a long time.  I was sitting next to a Muslim lady in her Berka and she had this brown stuff on her nails that looked like it hadn’t quite set, it looked like henna, but on her nails.  So I helped her to open her biscuits and her cutlery packets as she was struggling with her nails.  After dinner, she then pulled out what looked like a Koran and read that for the whole flight.

We arrived into Addis Ababa early and we had buses ready to take us to the terminal.  As I was one of the last on the bus, I was first off, gotta love how that works, and so I was first to get to customs and immigration.  It was a bit confusing, there were people lined up on one side of the stairs I came down, the ‘visa’ office looked like it was pass a check point and then the immigration lines that had hardly anyone in them.  This is the thing being first off you don’t have anyone to follow, so I took a punt and went to make a break straight for the visa office.  I got pulled up and was asked for my yellow fever. CRAP with a capital C.  I got my yellow fever vaccination 4 years ago and had lost the certificate, so when I got all my jabs for my trip back in January I got another certificate.  I knew I needed it for some African countries and I will also need it for South America.  Well in my haste to post a bunch of stuff I wasn’t using on my trip, I accidently posted home my yellow fever certificate.  I didn’t realize I had done this till 2 days prior to me leaving London for Africa after reading my checklist.  So I emailed my travel doctor and they emailed me a new certificate, so technically I don’t have the actual certificate, it is like a photocopy version.  So I slipped through the system when they checked them in Zanzibar, they accepted my photocopy when going through the Mozambique border, they normally check them at the South African border, but they didn’t when we went through and I was hoping and praying they would accept it this time.  So I told a little white lie and told him I lost the original and I only had a photocopy, as it wasn’t in a yellow book, he said no not good enough!  CRAP, so I told him again it was stolen and showed him where it had yellow fever and the date on the copy and he said ahhhh and waved me through.  Thank you travel god!

So I proceeded through to a small office that was lined with tables on one side of the room that had visa people in blue uniforms all ready to process your visa for you.  It was 20USD and the process only took around 10 minutes and then you were on your way to immigration.  I am really glad I got a new passport, even though my old one hadn’t expired and I also paid extra to get 60 pages rather than the standard 30 pages.    Since departing late March there have been 23 pages used so far and 10 of those are full page visa stickers.  There were only 2 people in front of me, so I was processed through there quite quick and straight to the baggage carousel. 

The bags hadn’t come out yet and they had a money changer right near the baggage, so I went over and exchanged some money while I waited.  So the local currency here is called Birr (said burr) and there are 17 of them to the dollar.  So no god at my 17 times tables so I’m going to round to the 20.  That seems easy enough.  Out came the bags and mine was one of the first off so with a free trolley, I wheeled out and looked for my name on a board.  Well there were a lot of male faces staring back at me and no sign.  Crap.  I pulled out my IPod and checked who was looking after my transfer and there was no name and phone number on the voucher, but it did say 8pm and it was only 7.50pm.  There was an airport assistant that came over to me to see if she could help.  She said I could catch an airport taxi it would cost me 15USD, but I was happy to wait 30 minutes to see if my dud showed up.  Well I only had to wait 10 minutes and I saw the sign from behind and tapped my guy on the shoulder.  Thank you again travel god for looking after me.

The drive to the center of town only took 15 minutes and in the dark there were a lot of neon signs all flashing their wares.  The signs were in English and also in Ethiopian and it was busy.  A lot of couples holding hands, lots of men and café’s all open.  It was pretty cool to see it at night time, but I had no sense of direction at all.  We arrived to the Ras Hotel and it was on a busy street and has 2 bars, an internet café also attached to the property.  The check in dude was an ass and was so rude and there was no offer on someone to take my bag and I am sure he gave me a room like 3km away just to spite me, the bugger.  So the hotel is old.  That’s okay.  I’m on the 2^nd floor, which is also called the Nelson Mandela floor and my room is 222.  There is limited hot water and there were 2 cockroaches in the shower when I went to jump in.  But hey TIA, ahhhh I have missed saying that and this is welcome back. 

So I have 2 nights here before tour and then we head off into the great unknown of Ethiopia.

Welcome to Addis Ababa – pretty cool name right!  Addis Ababa…….Addis Ababa…….

ETHIOPIA-WHERE THE SUN SHINES 13 MONTHS OF THE YEAR

Well I have been in this beautiful country for 2 weeks and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised and I have had an amazing time here, with amazing experiences, amazing tribes and amazing people.  There was a WOW factor each day and if you have ever thought of coming to Ethiopia I would highly recommend it.

I have been busily blogging each day - I am a few days behind, but there has been zilch Wi-Fi connection for the whole trip, so I promise when I get to London this afternoon there will be some posts to follow tonight.

I say farewell to Africa for now, after 4 months on this beautiful continent, I KNOW I will be back, and I WILL be making a difference.  I have some exciting plans in the works but don't want to jinx anything till I have some more information.

I have left a piece of my heart here, but will return to a place that has made me think there is more to the world than just our little backyard.

Good-bye Africa - you have changed the way I look at the world and for that I thank-you.

EXPLORING THE PARADISE OF PRASLIN AND LA DIGUE

WEATHER: Rainy, sun, overcast, cloudy, sun

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: A visit to Anse Source D’Argent aka MOST BEAUTIFUL BEACH IN THE WORLD!!

BUMMER OF THE DAY: It rained on and off

BUYS OF THE DAY: A Coco der Mer bracelet

WORD OF THE DAY: Just stunning

Today is the day I get out and about and see some of the other islands that the Seychelles has to offer.  It is also the day that I am changing hotels, so with all my bags packed last night, they are going to be delivered to my room at the new hotel sometime during the day, so I have left 3 bags – hopefully all three make it okay.  Based on that fact, I have taken my ‘spare’ money kitty with me (approx. 1800USD cash) as well as my passport in case something does go astray.

I was up at 5am and it was still dark, I was showered and dressed and up at reception to pay my bill at 5.45am and to get a light breakfast before my pickup at 6.10am. The sun had just risen behind me just before 6am, so I was able to snap some last photos of this pretty cool resort just before my transfer arrived. 

We had a few pick-ups along the way to the port.  I got a look at the Hilton, which looks like any tropical Hilton, with thatched roof reception, looks exactly like the one in Fiji and Tahiti.  That’s the thing staying with big chains sometimes, you could be anywhere in the world when you stay in one, but on the upside you know what you are going to get as they are all formatted – so it depends on which way you look at things.  So we collected a German and French couple here.  The other 2 properties were small B&B’s and there seems to be a lot of them around.  They were 2 groups of French ladies, so all up we had a full 22 seater bus and then off for the 20 minute drive to port to catch our ferry to our first island Praslin (said Pralin).

There are 2 main companies in the Seychelles.  Creole Travel Services and my company Masons.  As we pulled into port there were at least another 6 Mason vans, cars and buses mixed in with Creole’s own vehicles.  As it is a local ferry, there were also people getting dropped off with boxes of stuff, including a TV, a vacuum cleaner, an air-conditioning unit and all sorts of other stuff.  I bet they hate sharing this ferry with the tourists.   So it was busy.  The ferry wasn’t letting people on yet, so we were all milling around till 7am when they pulled up the step bridge and they let us on.  We had been given a duplicate ticket, so as we boarded they took the top copy and the bottom copy we had to show again to get upstairs and to find a seat.  There was no seat allocation.  I decided to sit right up the back, in the last seat, on the left hand side hugging the wharf.  I was in a row of 4 seats and an Asian man came and sat on the last seat.  As we were waiting, it started to drizzle slightly, and besides me getting a little damp a beautiful rainbow materialized over the mountains.  I’m telling this has to be some form of good travel omen right!  So at 7.30am, the engines roared to life, we had around 200 people minimum on board and we motored out of Mahe port.  It was still overcast and the water from the last shower decided to come off the ferry’s roof and got me wet and the Asian man decided with the drizzle blowing in and now getting wet from a stream of water off the roof, was too much and he moved seats, which was good, so I could move to the middle seat and get the whole row to myself and be out of the way of the water as it drained.  It is only water after all.  I had bought my IPod and not knowing what the weather was going to be like I bought an Elmo snap lock bag to put it in if the weather turned to crap and I had a plastic bag for my camera.  One needs to protect the gadgets.  As we cleared the harbor, Adele was right and the waves turned and they were vicious.  The ferry ride was an hour and 15 minutes and they had 2 toilets on the upper deck and trust me they got a workout.  People we walking around the deck, I think most of them were just trying for fresh air to combat the seasickness, but they were getting rolled around like rag dolls, walking around like they were drunk.  It was comical to see them holding on for dear life, knees bent, waiting for the wave to subside and trying to get in a few more steps before the next roll came.  I do feel sorry for people who get seasick, I’ve only have had it once, and it is a horrible feeling. 

8.45am got us pulling into Praslin, and there were a lot of green faces all looking a little bewildered.  Spew bags were getting deposited in bins as people disembarked.  Poor bastards, what a terrible way to start the day.  The wharf itself is tiny and there was an organized chaos as all 200 people got off to try and find their tour groups for the day.  Masons were all over it though and had us all standing in groups, getting double checked off lists and then introduced to our guide for the day, Marie Lisa.  I was with a group of 2 Asian parties, the German couple, a Spanish couple and 2 French couples.  As we pulled off the busy little wharf it turned out this was going to be a tri-lingual tour with French, Spanish and English as the languages.  I guess that has to be expected with such diverse tourists visiting an island in the middle of nowhere.  Marie Lisa was doing a great job; it can’t be easy doing a trilingual tour.

Our first stop was the Valle De Mai National Park.  This is the home to the world’s largest nut the Coco de Mer, which is in the shape of a woman’s pelvis.  It is quite an erotic looking nut, and all the promotion of the nut is based on that fact.  A very sensual nut I have to say!  As all groups were also visiting the Valley it was a little bit of a shit fight when we got there, but we weren’t the first group to arrive and we weren’t the last, so we just needed some time for the groups to spread out a little and then we were able to make our way into the Valley.  It had just started to rain as we got in, but most of the palms were keeping us mostly dry as we continued in.  It was officially declared a nature reserve on 18 April 1966. It consists of a well-preserved palm forest made up of the Coco de Mer, as well as five other palms. The Coco de Mer has the largest seeds of any plant in the world; the leaves growing up to 6 m wide and 14 m long.  The tree grows to 25–34 m tall and the leaves are fan-shaped, 7–10 m long and 4.5 m wide.  There are 2 separate trees with male and female plants. The male flowers are up to 1 m long. The mature fruit is 40–50 cm in diameter and weighs 15–30 kg, and contains the largest seed in the plant kingdom and the fruit requires 6–7 years to mature and a further two years to germinate.  The Coco de Mer holds three botanical records; the largest fruit so far recorded weighed in at 42 kg; the mature seeds weighing up to 17.6 kg are the worlds heaviest; and the female flowers are the largest of any palm.  Pretty interesting stuff considering it is a palm tree after all.  It is hard to tell you the size of the fronds, I rekon if one fell off it could well possible kill a small child – they are massive. 

As we walked through the palm forest the rain was getting heavier, so after seeing really what we came to see, the Coco de Mer nuts on the trees, male and female varieties, we decided to cut the tour a little short and head back for some shelter.  It was getting quite heavy and the Asian contingent and I had umbrella’s the rest had nothing to protect them, the poor buggers.  So we killed some time at the visitor center as we waited for our bus to return.  This is where I bought a small bracelet of a Coco De Mer with a few beads either side.  I didn’t want to go too crazy with the nut, as I think I would feel subconscious of wearing something that had more than one nut on it, as it really does look like a woman’s pelvis and people who don’t know what it is might think I was some sexual freak – it really does, wait till you see it.  I thought I went a little crazy at the shop, well the Asian groups, both of them, bought an actual Coco de Mer nut to take home for the grand cost of 245AUD.  As they are a protected plant, you need to get a special certificate for the nut to say you bought it and didn’t just help yourself and I guess it is one of those ‘one of a kind’ purchases you just won’t get anywhere else I suppose.  When you get home where the hell do you put it?  It really does look like a woman’s pelvis, so I am sure the options would have limits.  Anyway, the money goes back into the national park, so each to their own purchases.

As we all piled into the bus for a 20 minute ride to Anse Lazio Beach, which has been voted as one of the top ten beaches in the world, the sun decided to make an appearance for us.  So we just hoped it held out for the next hour while we got some decent beach time in.  Praslin is also very lush and mountainous and after travelling pretty much half way around the island, it got us to the tip and the beach.  We only got 45 minutes here, our main beach stop was going to be on La Digue, but it was long enough for people to have a swim and get some photos.  It was a beautiful spot, the colour of the water is so blue, and there are different hues it is just stunning.  The sand is a fine, fine white sand and it was just amazing.  The sun was also out most of the time, which helps accentuate the colours of the water and I got some great photos.  This was also the beach that a shark had killed someone a month ago, so they have now installed a shark net around the main section of the beach, so people can swim with re-assurances that there will be no shark sneaking up on them.  Are they 100% safe those nets?  I was happy to just dunk my feet in as I walked the length of the beach and back again.

All back in the bus again at 11am for the journey back to the port to catch the 11.45am ferry to La Digue.  This ferry journey was only 15 minutes, so shorter compared to the last one, but just as rough as soon as we left Praslin Harbour.  It was now overcast with patches of sun and showers which I can handle; it is the heavy rain of this morning that could ruin a day trip like this when it is based on 2 beaches.  Arriving into La Digue was like an era gone past.  The wharf was tiny, and there were fishing boats and small cargo boats loading and unloading what the island needs to survive.  Supplies for hotels, shops and locals alike.  There is not an airport on La Digue, only a helicopter pad, so everything comes in on boats and ferries.  We walked off the wharf to have our ox and cart waiting for us.  The cart was one of those carts that you see pulled behind tractors at fairs, 2 rows of bench seats facing each other but it was hooked up to an ox instead.  I was first on and the smell of that creature was pretty retch-able if you didn’t have a strong stomach.  The German lady sat across from me and her face told me she was touch and go with the smell – it was quite funny.  So with 12 of us on one and the other 12 on another cart behind us we set off for the restaurant for lunch.  The ox looked like he was in awesome condition and as we were travelling along you could no longer smell him, so maybe it was just where he was standing that the smell emitted from?  But this guy is carrying 12 people in a cart, all on the weight of his neck.  The cart has 2 long arms each side and are then connected across his neck.  How the hell can he do that.  Let’s say we are all 80kg (I wish) as a median, so that makes at least 960kg without the weight of the cart.  Amazing.  The handler was walking next to the ox the whole way and when the ox slowed down, he would pick a branch and then wave that like a bag of carrots to the ox and he would speed up on the eternal hope to get the leaves in his mouth, which the guy let him have twice, so it wasn’t all mean.  It got a little hairy a few times, the handler went back to help the other cart that was lagging behind with the rest of the group and ox boy was walking on his own.  This wouldn’t normally be a problem if you were in a field, but we were on a skinny road that had HUGE open drains to handle all the rain they get.  The ox would veer pretty close to the edge and the German lady and I would look at each other and look around with a crazed ‘where the hell is the handler’ look, as he yelled something out behind us and the ox veered back into the middle of the road.  This happened a few times and it was a little scary to say the least.  The other scary bit was after the ox struggles up hill (his breathing was labored the poor thing) you guess it we had to come back down.  How the hell were we supposed to do that with no brakes?  It was a steady decline angle and basically the ox just runs, with us attached I point out, and somehow manages to control the weight behind him to get us to the bottom safely.  There is a lot of potential for something to go wrong there, like the ox slipping, I wonder if my travel insurance covers oxidental damage ha ha ha ha…..

Lunch was a creole buffet at a local hotel and it was delicious.  Not to say we were ravenous after such an early start and only having fruit and a tea for breakfast.  We got an hour here to gorge and use the facilities before heading back out onto the tiny paved street to thankfully have motorized transport waiting for us to take us to the beach section of the trip and the part I have been looking forward to the most.  It only took us 15 minutes to drive there passing a lot of self-contained little houses along the way up for rental or occupied with people reading or just sitting in the small balconies watching the world literally slip past and also dotted were a few hotels.  It is very very laid back here.  You would not come here if you had big expectations of luxury and pampering.  It is a village island, the main transport is getting around by bicycles, no shopping centres and the main reason would be to relax and do not much.  If that sounds like you then La Digue is the place you should be.

As we got off the motorized cart, same set up as the ox cart, 2 long benches on each side, just attached to a truck this time, there was a mound, no make that the BIGGEST mountain of coconuts I have ever seen.  Coconut palms have been called the 'tree of life' because of the huge variety of uses. They are cultivated throughout the tropics for fibre and fuel, but are best known as a food. They are also the seventh most important vegetable oil crop in the world.  There was a lady there with a stake securely in the ground; she was then dehusking the coconuts by striking and twisting them onto the steel spike.  It looked like hard work.  She would throw the dried outer husk on this massive pile; the flesh in its whole was thrown onto another pile.  She would then reach for another coconut on the third pile to her left and start the process all again.  The fiber is used for stuffing, fire and for plants.  For desiccated coconut, coconut cream, oils and other processed forms, shells of coconuts are split with a hatchet of knife and the white meat is removed. Oil is made from copra which is the dried meat of the coconut and can be milled to produce cake or oil used in cosmetic, industrial and medicinal products.  The shells are used for all manner of utensils, vessels, carvings and even charcoal hence the name of tree of life comes from.  Nothing of this plant goes to waste.  Makes you appreciate coconut products a bit more when you know what work is involved to get the final product.

We then started the 10 minute walk through coconut forests, past a vanilla plantation and a quick stop at some land tortoises they have enclosed close to the beach.  They were massive, and considering how many of them there were they didn’t smell at all.  There were I would have to say 30 of them of all ages from 30-90 years old, in the open air enclosure.  They came right up to the stone fence that was waist high and you could feed them leaves off branches and their necks reminded me a little bit of snakes as their long heads stretched to get to the leaves.  I guess I will be seeing something similar in the Galapagos but with no fence-that scares me a little after seeing these guys.  They were quite nimble as well moving around which also surprised me.

And finally THE BEACH!  We got given 1 hour and a half hour’s here at the Anse Source D’Argent Beach.  MY GOD – this was an AMAZING beach and I have to say the BEST beach I have ever seen EVER!  Man how can I explain it, it followed the coast on the west of the island, so there were a lot of mini beaches broken up by the large granite rocks that also ran around the coastline.  The first section was a skinny beach that faced back towards the main island of Mahe, so it made for some great photo shots with the amazing color of the water and there were some black clouds on the horizon rolling in to give the photos some depth and more black colours.  As long as the rain held off we would all be happy.  So I then kicked off my shoes and waded around the rocky crops and explored all the little beaches that finally got me around the point and to the main beach where a lot more people could sit and admire the view.  There was no island view from here, but the reef had breaking waves and you could see the storm clouds better here and made for some great panoramic shots.  I just cannot stress just how magic it was here.  AMAZINGLY BREATHTAKING.   The colours were so vivid and with countless different hues of blue were just spectacular.  So I pulled up some granite, pulled out my book and just soaked up the whole experience without even opening a page to read it. I just couldn’t tear my eyes away from the view.  It was worth going to the whole effort of the day to get 90 minutes of this view.  So eventually time ticked (too quickly) and it was time to make my way back to the meeting point.  So I walked back the same way, wading around the rocks and of course getting some more photos, this is definitely a time when you cannot have too many pictures and back to the truck for the 20 minute transfer back to port.  We had 20 minutes to kill before our 4.30pm ferry back to Praslin, so I was able to squeeze in some souvenir shopping, getting some postcards, stamps, presents for the girls, magnets and a new bangle.  It has been awhile since my last purchase you know!  I also decided to get a bottle of coke to take back with me, so I walked into this small local corner store, got the coke out of the fridge and was looking at the rows of biscuits they had behind the counter and you will never guess what I saw.  Boxes and boxes of Arnotts BBQ shapes, Bacon and Cheese and whatever the other flavors were, they were the only 2 I was interested in.  Can you believe I am on an island off an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean and there are boxes of ARNOTTS!!!!!  Well I couldn’t pass up the chance no matter how much they were, but can you believe that they were only 2.30AUD a BOX!!!  So I have snapped up 3 boxes and hopefully that will carry me through till London where I can replenish stocks for 6AUD a box.  Unbelievable right!!!!  All that done in the 15 minutes.  Then back on the ferry for the 15 minute journey back to Praslin.  The waves / weather had not improved and this time I sat on the wrong side of the ferry and there were times when we hit some waves and the spray got me sitting where I was.  It was only for 15 minutes, all gadgets were in plastic bags and it was quite refreshing having the salt water on my face, so the lady and I just grinned and bared it, and there were no other seats to move to anyway, it was a full house.

We arrived back onto Praslin at 4.50pm and then had to wait till 5.30 for the ferry connection back to Mahe.  It sort of wasn’t enough time to walk into town, so they let us board the ferry early and I just sat and read my book for 30 minutes till we left and I am sad to report ate half a box of my BBQ shapes already.  But boy they were good!!!!!

Now I should have learnt my lesson on the smaller ferry coming back to Praslin, the water was rough; I was getting wet so I should have sat on the opposite side of the ferry heading back to Mahe.  So we departed at 5.30pm and as soon as we had left the safe haven on the bay, the waves hit us with full force and every 5-10 minutes we would hit a massive wave and with the wind blowing the spray would hit us, and sometimes the force of the spray was like needles.  So needless to say after the first 20 minutes everyone cleared out of the back section of seats except 5 brave souls and I was one of them.  There was an Asian couple 3 rows in front of me who pulled out their towels, and every time they thought some spray was coming they would raise their arms above their heads with the towel as protection.  It was funny to watch because they misread more waves than they got, so they still got pretty wet anyway.  The guy got it together by the end, but they thought it was hilarious and it gave me something to watch for the hour 15 minutes.  The other 2 people were locals.  As we steamed out and the first spray hit, the chick 2 rows in front pulled out her flannel to wipe herself off each spray.  Okay so she has done this before, but by the end of the journey, the flannel was just useless, we were so wet.  The guy who was in front of me, just put on another t-shirt and then when we arrived into Mahe he took it off.  I tell you there were some cracker sprays and I ended up putting on my jacket and putting on my hoodie to try and keep myself dry, which was useless after over an hour of getting drenched.  Why didn’t you move I hear to ask?  Well firstly I am not sure what seats were left as there was a mass exodus after the first spray and secondly, I think I would have seriously fallen over had I tried to walk in that weather, people couldn’t even open the toilet doors the wind and rolling was that severe.  And with that comes sick people and I think there were more on the way back than going over.  Lots of people holding sick bags and making runs to the toilet.  Ughhhhhhh disgusting.  I am thinking this is a ‘normal’ journey though as Adele had warned me days before about not eating too much for breakfast and with people flying back rather than take the ferry.  Yeah well I can see why!!!  It was dark when we arrived back into Mahe at 6.45pm.  All the same people loaded back onto the bus for our return back to our hotels.  We did have a different driver and the first hotel he stopped at none of us were staying there!  Weird, so then we drove straight back out again and headed to the first French drop.  He was then looking at the manifest for like 5 minutes and then he worked out where he had to go next.  Second French stop done.  He then looked again at the manifest for like 10 minutes, so I piped up and said you just have the Hilton and Bliss to go.  So we set off and after we did the Hilton drop it was just me and the driver to which he then proceeded to tell me that he wasn’t supposed to be working tonight and his boss phoned him up asking him to step in, so he put his 4^th glass of bourbon down and came down to the wharf.  Ummmmm I don’t really think you should be telling me this buddy.  It explains why he was all over the place with the hotels – just get me to my hotel safe..please…please…please which he did no worries after stopping to talk to some-one on the side of the road – um hello, client in the back!

But I made it safe and was more than happy to get out of that bus. 

I felt a little out of place at the new hotel as I haven’t even been here before, but I found reception okay and was checked in pretty fast.  They have Wi-Fi here in the reception only, so it will be good to get on tomorrow and touch base with some people.  After I had finished my cold ice tea, I was asked if I had any baggage.  Um I was hoping it was here, it was coming from Sunset Beach, oh yes was the reply, I was just checking!  Yeah right! As long it is here I don’t really care.  By this time it close to 8pm.  It made for a very long day getting up at 5am till getting to my room at 8pm – 15 hours and I was wet and tired.  The hotel is split over a road, so I am staying on the non-beach side which I am okay with.  The room is pretty big and decked out in beach stuff.  Literally stuff picked up from the beach, driftwood, sea sponges, shells, driftwood lamps and decorations on the walls.  It is certainly more funky than Sunset Beach, but very different as well.  There is a small reception this side; breakfast is also served this side so unless you wanted to see more beaches this is a pretty cool spot.  I even have my own terrace with deck chair and all.  I would hope that I could use it tomorrow if the sun comes out, but I have a feeling that will be a pipe dream I think.

No dinner, too tired and couldn’t be bothered.  I read for a little, uploaded my pictures to my external hard drive to get them ready for tomorrow to upload o Facebook and then I slept like a baby with the rain bouncing off the roof again, just for a change!  I think today I stepped onto the most beautiful beaches in the world, no word of a lie and to think I am in the middle of the Indian Ocean with nothing around these islands for hundreds of kilometers; it really makes for a special place.  Untouched by the hustle and bustle of the 21^st century.

I explored the paradise of Praslin and La Digue and I loved it.     

EVEN PARADISE NEEDS RAIN

WEATHER: Wet, wet, wet

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Relaxing ocean side

BUMMER OF THE DAY: It’s raining

BUYS OF THE DAY: Haven’t bought a thing except lunch all day

WORD OF THE DAY: It’s raining

I woke before my alarm this morning.  I wasn’t going to miss the breakfasts here, that would just be plain lazy!  The sound that woke me was of the ocean crashing against the beach.  Is there a better sound to wake up to? The sun was out, so it looked like it was going to be a promising sunny day.

Breakfast was loaded with a lot of fresh fruit, fresh juices, an omelet man and some hot foods including sausage and potatoes.  The restaurant is an open air affair, so if you didn’t watch your plates, cheeky birds would come in and try and have a nibble at your left overs.  The view is still amazing from here if you get the right seats, so it was great to kick back, sipping my tea and really appreciating where the hell I was.

Well in one hour it is amazing how the weather changes.  Big black rain clouds rolled in and they dropped what everyone hoped were some showers to then move on.  Well the good news is that the rain stopped, but the big black clouds hung around all day.  It was Sunday, so no shops were open, so it was an excellent day to sit on my verandah, with an IPod in one ear, the sound of the crazy surf in the other and a book in my hand.  I stayed like that for over 3 hours before getting a cramp in my hand from holding my book, so I booted up my computer and decided that I needed to rattle through all my photos and update my Bernstar jumps and the Photo of the Day which I am embarrassed to say is stuck on the 15^th April.  Yes I have to pick a photo each day for the last 5 or so months.  What a job right!  But luckily I am organized and they have been saved in trips and then days, so it is just a time factor of looking through them all to select one for that day.  It is actually a good exercise for me, as it gives me an opportunity to go through my trip from the start, the people I have met, the friends that I have made, family I have made and destinations that have been visited.  I have been very lucky and it made me feel great on all that has been achieved and also with time on my hands to give a moment on the reflect on how I could be here in the first place.  My mum wasn’t a beach bunny by any means but she would have enjoyed the relaxation time and the peace and quiet to read books.  She loved reading and was one of those funny people that if she liked the book and was halfway through, she would read the ending and then continue to finish the book.  Crazy and this is the same woman that wouldn’t go to the movies to see Titanic because she knew the ending – go figure!!!!  I still miss you every day mum and hope that you would be proud of all that I have done.

A late lunch at 3pm got me a chicken basket and a table right near the glass fence they have running around the bar.  There were schools of fish all swimming right near the rocks, even with the water thrashing around; I guess when you in there, for them it makes no difference.  There were some people brave enough to go in for a swim and the force of the tide going in and out was close to what I would call fierce.  It would sweep them out about 10m and then the incoming wave would rip them back into shore.  It was too rough for me, I rekon I would have got swept out to sea if I got in there.

The rain then came again and set in for the rest of the afternoon.  So it was spent watching some movies, a walk on the beach (between showers) and more photo logging.  What else can one do when it is raining in paradise?  Time clicked on, the movies kept rolling, and the next time I looked at my watch it was 7.30pm.  So I decided to do what I did last night and I changed into my jimjams and tucked myself into bed and skip dinner for the second night in a row.  That is late lunches for you.

So with the rain now pelting down, thunder clapping above the bungalow and lightning flashes outside my glass windows I fell asleep to those sounds and of that crazy, angry ocean – it was all quite calming and I can’t remember the last time I fell asleep to the sound of rain on the roof.  It has been months and it made a nice change.  It reminded me of the wet season storms that we used to get in Darwin.

Even Paradise Needs Rain ……….

PARADISE ON EARTH THEY CALL THE SEYCHELLES

WEATHER: Reunion Is 19C and Seychelles 24C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing the stunning Seychelles from the plane as we came in to land

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Feeling bad I didn’t see as much of Reunion as I wanted

BUYS OF THE DAY: Prices are exy here a cocktail of the day 90 shillings (8.50AUD)

WORD OF THE DAY: Beautiful and stunning

I prefer morning flights than afternoon flights generally, if you aren’t flying too far, you still get in during daylight and it doesn’t seem like a total waste of a day.  In saying that morning flights require early starts.  So I was up at 5am for a 6.30am pickup.  I don’t even know what time breakfast started, I may have been able to pop in and got something on the run but frankly I just couldn’t be bothered.  I checked out of my room and I have to say I may have been one of their worst spending guests on record for a 5 night stay.  My total food and beverage bill came to 45.35EUR!  Not too bad if I say so myself!  The reception chicky didn’t make a comment either way about the miniscule amount but it bought a smile to my dial anyway!

So I had a private transfer again in the 18 seater Merc back to the airport back along the stunning cliffs.  Along the way I saw a rainbow as well and it was beautiful, is there any good luck omen’s seeing rainbows on the day you fly?  When we arrived the airport it was pretty bust for 7.15am, but there was an Air Austral plane from Paris that had landed and an Air France flight to Paris checking in, oh plus our piddly flight to the Seychelles and one to Maurice.  My check-in counter wasn’t open yet, so I pulled up a pew down in the arrivals area watching all the excited faces of people standing there waiting for loved ones and friends to come out of immigration and customs.  I can’t remember the last time I had someone meet me at the arrivals hall and never really thought too much of it, it was always a pick and run type of collection which is fine.  But it made me a little sad.  I finished a book that I had been reading since Madagascar, so instead of me taking it with me I wrote inside the front cover that Bernie from Australia had read this book and hope that some-else will enjoy it as much as I did and I put todays date in it and left it on the chair.  I wonder if some-one picked it up or it just got tossed in the bin.

When I got to the check-in counter the young gentleman took a look at my passport and told me to wait one minute and used the phone to make a phone call.  Uh Oh – trouble?  He then hung up click clicked in French to the agent next to him, she looked at my passport, said something to him and he picked up the phone again.  I am assuming that he was checking if I needed a visa, which I knew I didn’t, but I haven’t checked since I left home, what if it had changed since then?  I then started to panic a little as he put the phone down and asked for my onward ticket, which was issued on a separate ticket, so I dug that out and satisfied, continued with my check-in.  I did say in my nicest voice, any problems? to which he replied no.  Thank god!  So with my window seat boarding pass and my 19.9kg bag checked in I was able to head through security and into departures.

It is a small airport for the amount of traffic that goes through, there with only 4 gates, so all the shops were super busy and there was only one eatery place thing opened with a queue a mile long, so I decided I would just wait till I got on the flight to get fed.

As both large planes were home today using the air bridges, we got the dreaded bus transfer to the plane.  It is quite comical as the bus was parked I would say not even 400m away from where we actually gotten on, I wonder why they just didn’t get us to walk?  We walked further when we landed in Madagascar but there weren’t 2 airbus’s in at the same time either.  This also reiterates my hate for the bus as we waited 25 minutes before the bus doors closed and we drove the 400m.  Insane I tell you.

The plane was a 737-800, so bigger than what I have travelled on the last few times with a seating configuration of 3x3 and they even had 6 rows of premium economy.  I was seated directly behind the premium economy cabin, so we had the business class chairs in front.  So even though I wasn’t in business, book and belongings was stored in the back of a business class chair – does that count as a partial upgrade?  We also had more leg room in these seats, as they can extend their premium economy cabin if require, so it was like sitting in a bulk head seat but with the pockets in front.  The only downside is if you’re sitting in the middle you don’t get a pocket as there are only the 2 seats in front – but if you’re travelling with some-one you could just use theirs.   The flight was 2 hours and 40 minutes with a good meal, but I love airline food so it would have to be pretty bad to not keep me happy.

I love window seats.  I always ask for one or try and pre-book them before I leave.  I am not a toilet goer, I either don’t need to go or I can hold till I get to my destination and that also includes the big flights of up to 12-14 hours.  I watch what I drink and I just think I may have the best bladder in the world.  In the whole 60 days in Africa, not once did I need to do a roadside stop and very rarely used the toilets en-route unless they were good ones.  If they were disgusting ones then I could again hold till we got to camp.  What can I say, I am a machine and it comes in very handy on drinking nights let me tell you.  I love window seats, especially during day flights, as you can see out the window and get some great photos of arriving into and departing from countries.  In saying that coming into the Seychelles was a WOW moment.  I was lucky enough to be on the right side of the plane and we came in and followed the coast of the main island Mahe.  The weather was a little overcast and there was low cloud hanging on the tops of the beautiful mountains that make up Mahe.  The colour of the water was AMAZING.  I have been to Bora Bora and also Zanzibar now and the Seychelles has to give the colour of their water a run for its money.  Even around the port as we flew over, which can be the dodgy’ area for water was a beautiful turquoise colour.  There were like 5 different shades and as we flew over some of the resorts the colour of the white sand contrasting with it all was just amazing.  Have I told you it was amazing?  This is why I love window seats so I can have my camera handy and snap all this as we fly over, it’s like a scenic flight but included in the cost of my airline ticket!!

The landing was a good one, there was just one little air pocket we hit, you know when you lose you’re your stomach for a second, and people gasped (what is wrong with them) and when we had landed and started to taxi to the terminal the plane broke out into massive clapping frenzy!!!  Is there something here I don’t know about?  The only other flight that I had clapping on was a few years ago from Bangkok to Delhi.  Anyway well done pilots for doing your jobs, maybe it is a Seychelles thing??

Seychelles major airport reminds me of Hawaii’s International but way smaller.  It was a walk job between the plane and the building and as I was in the first row of economy I was one of the first people off the flight, which meant I was one of the first people to immigration and what do you know we needed to fill in a form!  This wasn’t given to anyone on the flight, so they did a quick run around and gave a wad out as we arrived in the building.  Well I have filled in a few of these forms in the last 6 months, so I was quick off the mark and was processed before the other animals had done there’s and then I was though to the baggage carousel.  This is the thing when you get through quick; the bags aren’t there, so you have to wait anyway!!  As the bags start to come out you always get that small panic feeling that what about if your bag doesn’t arrive!  It is an awful feeling and I am lucky enough (touchwood) that is has not happened to me and I always sigh a small relief when I see my bag on that belt.  My bag is starting to see better days.  It has 2 small holes in the bottom, which I think will be okay and the carry handle is starting to fray a little, after the zip breaking on the small backpack that zips on, that has been the only issue I have to date with it, so fingers crossed she lasts the journey. 

So with a free trolley wheeling my bag, I am nearly out of the ‘nothing to declare’ aisle with the exit doors in sight when I got pulled over by a customs official.  First time I have been pulled up so I can’t complain.  He asked for my passport, flicked through every single page, asked what I did for a job, was I travelling with anyone to my reply was a no, and I guess that maybe a little unusual when you are coming to a romantic destination, everyone is a couple.  Had I just come from Australia to my reply was no I am on a 12 month holiday (he doesn’t need to know the truth-I think that would look even more dodgy) and I had been in Africa for 3 months.  He needed to clarify that I had said 12 months to which I replied yes that’s right.  He asked about my bag, the usual had I packed it, yes, no one else packed you bag, no, are you sure ummm yes.  You’re not carrying anything for anyone, no.  You don’t have alcohol, cigarettes, perfume in your bag, no.  Are you sure, ummmm yes.  What was this the Spanish inquisition?  After one more flick through my passport he said thanks just a routine check and he let me go without asking me to open my bags.  No worries and even though I have nothing to hide, you still feel nervous.

Mason’s travel were the guys that all my arrangements had been booked through and they look like they run a pretty smooth operation and look like one of the major tourism players in the Seychelles.  There was sign with my name as I exited customs, then taken to a small counter where I was introduced to my driver Michele and given an arrival pack with my vouchers, another itinerary and a map of the islands.  It was all smooth and efficient and I was taken to the car to unload my bags.  We did have to wait for another couple, so I decided to make the use of the ATM, so I asked Michele what was the rate of the Seychelles money to the dollar hoping I wasn’t going to look like a goose and he say it’s the Euro.  But they do have their own currency called the rupee and you get 12 rupiah’s for 1USD.  So I am back to my 10 times tables just to make it easier for the next 5 days.  So I walking to the ATM trying to calculate how much local money I needed to take out, I hot the first button I saw and it was 5000RP, as after getting in the car I worked out I had just withdrawn 416AUD.  Yep way too much money you boofhead, oh well I will just exchange what I don’t use on my way out next week.  The other people must either be really slow or got stuck waiting as we had to wait 20 minutes before they arrived.  With one stop to drop them at the port, they must be doing a cruise the lucky bastards, we then continued the 30 minutes to my hotel that was located on the other side of the island.   

We drove though Victoria which is the capital of the Seychelles and according to Michele it is the smallest capital in the world (will need to check that) but the main street was pretty small.  Very Pacific feeling and then driving over the range to the other side it really did have a tropical feel, all very lush vegetation, banana trees and just the one road that winds itself around the island, no room for overtaking, one windy road that traverses the mountains.  It is a public holiday today as parliament has had its local elections and tomorrow being Sunday nothing is open, which for me is good, I’ll have a relaxing day tomorrow and then head into the city on Monday for a look and then I will book my day tour for Tuesday.  When I made my bookings for the hotels, we couldn’t decide on which property to choose, so I have decided to split my time between 2.  I am doing 3 nights at Sunset Beach and then my last 2 nights will be at Bliss Hotel.  So my change over day is Tuesday, so I decided to do my day tour then as the check-in-checkout times don’t gel and it is a nothing day when you do change overs so it was a perfect day for me to do this.

I do need to mention, welcome back English speaking people!  They also speak French and Creole but they understand English and it is ‘proper’ English.  I can say something and they understand me no worries.  It has been over 3 weeks since this has happened and it makes a nice change to have conversations with people again.  The hotel check-in was seamless.  As I lighted the car there was a frangipani lei popped over my head and I was lead to an awesome lounge area giving me a fresh fruit drink while I handed over my passport and the check-in formalities were done.  I asked about Wi-Fi when they came back for me to walk me to my room and she told me that it was 150RP for an hour or 650RP for 24 hours.  Well not even thinking too much I purchased the 24 hour access.  It wasn’t until I was dropped at my room and she had left that I worked out I had just paid 50AUD for Wi-Fi!!!!  OMG Now I could have taken it back and asked for a refund, I hadn’t cracked the packet, but I was waiting on some very important messages via email and FB, so I decided it was something I would have to suck up and once that ran out that I could do without internet for a few days.  50AUD – that is INSANE.  As I logged onto make sure it worked from my room, the 24 hours is a clocked thing, so I have 2 days from activation to use 24 hour’s worth of internet.  So now that bought it down to 25AUD a day – well that is still a crap load but doesn’t look as bad as 50AUD!!!!  I don’t mind paying for access but that is ABSURD.  I am also taking into account I haven’t paid for Wi-Fi for the last 4 weeks, so this is one I can wear and not feel like I have just been robbed!!!

My room is….tropical.  It doesn’t have first class furniture, it is all wood, pineapple base lamps etc. but I have massive windows and glass doors that open directly out to the beach and the beautiful water.  The waves are so loud I am wondering if I will have trouble sleeping with that tonight – yeah right!  The sound of crashing waves just outside my door – heaven.  So I went out and took a few photos of my home for the next 3 nights and then headed up to the bar to read (on my Playbook), have a late lunch and wait till 5pm when I was going to meet my representative while I am here and book any tours with her and any questions I have she will answer.  Thanks Adele, see you at 5pm.  The bar is pretty amazing and stands over a small cliff face that looks back towards my room and the beach.  It is an amazing view and they also have a pool that also juts over the cliff, but I am just not sure how much use this gets with the magnificent beach right next door.  The bar tender was quite sweet and I got a cocktail, the cheapest one was 90RP (7.50AUD) to the most expensive, like the slings and cosmos at 15AUD.  The lunch menu was massive and it is served till 6pm, so I ordered a hamburger with bacon and egg and it came 40 minutes later and looked like I could have done a better job myself and it was missing the bacon, but it hit the spot and was delicious so it lasted all of 10 minutes on my plate.  I was hungry.

So 5pm arrives and I meet Adele.  She is sweet and walks me through, don’t drink the water, I’ll reconfirm your flights, the buses to town, opening hours etc…… and also runs through the day tour that I have picked.  It looks awesome.  I get collected at 6.10am, we catch a catamaran to Prasiln that takes 1 hour and 45 minutes which is home to the rare Seychelles black parrot and the Coco-de-mer which is the world’s heaviest seed which was found in the once to be believed the original site of the Garden of Eden!  We get a creole buffet lunch and time to visit the beach on this island and then we get a ferry to the island of La Digue where the only form of transport is ox cart and an opportunity to see examples of creole architecture and a visit to one of the world’s most famous beaches renowned for its spectacular rock formations.  You mean it gets better than my beach at the hotel.  No way!  It is not a cheap tour at 2700RP which is around $225, which looking at it now doesn’t seem that bad actually.  I can’t wait till Tuesday and just hope we get good weather.  Adele said to take a copy of my passport with me as some people prefer to fly back rather than go back the same way we go over.  I wonder if she’s hinting that the weather gets rough.  She also did mention to not have too much for breakfast!  Hmmmmmm I can count on one hand the amount of times I get sea sick and the last time was when I was in Central America crossing from the mainland of Honduras to the island of Roatan for 3 nights, that was one rough crossing and I think I was sick actually on that crossing.

So with our meeting done, I asked at reception if they have any books that I could borrow while I was here.  As I had finished my last book at the airport in Reunion I didn’t want to be taking my Playbook onto the beach and as luck would have they have a library stocked with all sorts of books and in all sorts of languages, but there were enough English books for me to choose one from.  Thank goodness, I am a big reader and I felt a little nude that I didn’t have a book at all.  I did check the newsagent at Reunion but all their books were in French, no good to me!!!  But I have one now, so I headed back to my room, sat outside my room with my oversized chair and leg rest and watched the sunset over my first day in paradise. 

So with the sun gone and my belly still full from my late lunch, I decided to click on the TV, skip dinner and see what television they offered here.  Well the first channel that comes up was a movie channel in ENGLISH!  Jackpot.  So I watched 3, ad free movies on TV before turning off the box and listening to the waves outside my door rock me to sleep.  It is magic here and just what I need for the next few days.  No feeling bad of doing nothing here as there aren’t lot of day tours that interest me (hiking and fishing etc.) and I am doing the one tour that covers it all anyway and the beach is what it is all about.

The weather comes and goes this time of year.  Rain will blow in, gives a small shower and then moves off again into the Indian ocean, so it does get sunny, then cloudy and then sunny, but if that is the only thing I have to worry about, then what can I say.

Welcome to Paradise on Earth and it’s called the Seychelles.

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!