Bula!!

Helen: Oh my eyes. Think I must've been at this typing lark for nigh on 3 hours. Which makes me very sad. I know. But I think I needed some down time to recover from my yummy, but v filling, curry at lunch. Superb. It's been awful the last few days smelling the scrumptious Indian smells wafting out to the boat but not being allowed any as we caught too many fish on the way here (3 in an hour and a half) and our fridge was full - skipper said (quite rightly) we had to eat it before we could go out for grub.

We did have brekkie out the other day though - there are hot springs just up the road that the locals use for cooking - they are literally boiling - so we took eggs up there and had boiled eggs and soliders. Yum.

In between these gastronomic feats, C has been exerting his manliness and has been fixing the rudder. Which I secretly think he loves as it gives him an excuse not to go sightseeing or shopping. I insisted he went shopping today though as he needed a new pair of shorts. To be fair he's needed a new pair of shorts for about 2 months, but I've been patching them and turning a blind eye to the stains. Now the patches have holes though, so there was no escaping a trip to the shops.

Not much more to report - still loving it here - going to visit the anti meridan next week - 180 degrees - about as far from home as it's possible to be. We have a picture of C and me standing one leg either side of the meridian in Greenwich so it'll be fun to get a photo of the same on the other side of the world!

okey dokey, toodle pip

Hxx

Fiji

Helen: thought you'd like to know that we got here ok. Getting off the 300ft tow rope onto a mooring was 'interesting' but we managed it and the boys are now trying to get the rudder off the boat for mending (lots of welding, axle grinding and epoxying apparently - they have a 'hooker' to use to do the underwater stuff - basically like diving without tanks - you use a pipe instead, connected to a compressor - there are 3 pipes so there can be two guys doing the work and one person with his hands on his hips shaking his head. Very important role in maintenance tasks, that is)

First impressions of Fiji are great. People are friendly, town has a great vibe - lots of music and good smells in the streets - there is a vibrant Indian culture here - they are descendants of indentured labourers brought here to work the plantations 150 years ago. So there are lots of places to get cheap curry and tailoring and beautiful saris. Apparently it's not all happy families all of the time though and there is some ethnic tension. For example, on the immigration cards, Indian Fijians have to call themselves 'Indian' rather than 'Fijian' even if they've been born and bred here for several generations...

Right - have to go - just bought fresh bread for lunch and the smell is driving me mad!

Lots of love
Hxx

PS meant to add a little story to my rant about churches last time - at the end of the service we went to there was a collection - but not like the anonymous ones I've seen in the UK. Oh no. People were called to the front by name, their donations were written down in a book and then read out at the end. Unbelievable!
PPS My mother's asked for the answers to the pub quiz questions - can't remember what they were now, but the sugarbowl question is Cuba, and the largest stadium is Prague.

The Jinx Twins are back in action and on their way to Fiji

24 September 2008
Approaching Savu Savu/Lau Group

Helen: Hurrah! Back on a boat. Both feel much more settled and at home now we´re back on Yamana. Spent a few days messing about in Tonga, and, while it´s still not our number 1 holiday destination, we both warmed to the place a lot. We saw whales (proper David Attenborough style, mother and calf jumping (technical term is apparently ´breeching´) out of the water and twisting in mid air to show us their silvery tummies, for about an hour. Amazing :) ), hung out on our own deserted beaches (whilst trying to avoid the advances of an agressive and over protective billy goat), and went to church in the most remote feeling village I´ve ever visited (even C, can you believe it! To be fair, he only went because I asked him to, and he left half way through, but still, he put his shirt on and came along - apparently it´s one of the ´must do´things in Tonga. The singing certainly was pretty good but it´s weird - this village is so out of the way that their main street is mud, they share one telephone between 350 people at the village hall, and they rely on solar panels, kerosene and candles - and yet they have 5 churches!! One school (run by a Peace Corps volunteer), a clinic with no nurses and 5 churches. Bonkers. Every one dresses up in their Sunday best, complete with hats, and then has to go into church bare foot as they have clods of mud on their sandals!

Actually, the whole thing reminded me and Mr P of Monty Python - ´Who are you? The PFJ?´, ´God no, we hate the PLJ, fucking splitters, we´re the JPF´. We went to the Free Church of Tonga, and just across the road, having a (quarter full) service at the exact same time was the Tonga Free Church or something similar. Crazy, crazy.

Anyway, we´ve now left Tonga behind us and are sailing on our way to Fiji. We´re just coming into the Lau group as I type and should be in Savu Savu by tomorrow evening...as long as we don´t break our tow ropes. Yes, that´s right folks, the jinx twins strike again. At 0730 yesterday morning on my watch (just as I was feeling pleased with myself for having an uneventful watch that was nearly over) the skipper came up into the cockpit...just as the autopilot failed...but then it turned out to be more serious than that. It wasn´t that Bob (the autopilot, of course - living with two kids, everything has a name, Rosie the radar, Zippy the dinghy, Herman the pet beetle I found in my bed and was kept in a jam jar until he was killed with kindness - squashed by his lunch - a chickpea) was having an off day - no, the rudder stock had come away from the rudder, and, when Pete valiantly jumped in the water to check, it was just flapping around aimlessly. Bugger. So anyway, 4 of our friends who were also crossing with us came to the rescue and we´re now being towed to Fiji - apparently some of the most difficult to navigate waters in the world!

Right, that´s enough rambling, will write again soon
H&Cxx

We are the (pub quiz) champions

Helen: Awww you guys are great. So you do read the blog after all. I now have a big smile on my face. Did I tell you we won the pub quiz the other day? First pub quiz I have ever won in my life. Ever. Embarassed to say that most of the reason we won is that I had a blinding round of pop trivia. No, I didn't know 'Which country is the sugarbowl of the world?' or 'Where the biggest stadium in the world is' or even 'What did Chinese people eat a pound of to commit suicide'. But, I DID know who wrote the music to the Lion King and who sang Living the Vida Loca. So there.

Didn't go out last night though as Mr P needed an early night. And then he couldn't get to sleep from about 2am onwards. Thinks he can't sleep on land now cause it doesn't move about like a boat!!

Went yacht racing yesterday too - came last though as our genoa broke - if it hadn't, obviously, we would've had them all.

Not much else to tell you about I'm afraid - lots of reading, sewing and drinking. Looking forward to heading out to Fiji...

Lots of love
H&Cxxxxxxx

People are strange

Helen: I wanted to write this before I forget - actually, I've been meaning to for ages but have been struggling with the words to express what I mean... It's so frustrating traveling. It really is. The concept of 'customer service' just doesn't seem to exist outside of, for want of better words 'Western culture' (an Australian described themselves as 'European' the other day to make the distinction from being polynesian - wierd). The only places we've been since we left home where we've had really good service have been owned by expats. And that makes a huge huge difference to how we feel - if people are friendly and helpful and provide good, clean, efficient services it makes you feel good - and the converse is true - the times we've been miserable on this trip, it's guaranteed that we've been in dingy accommodation with poor food trying to deal with grumpy people. But it's not like the locals aren't capable of good customer service - it just seems that it's not part of their culture. Someone suggested that that's because of the climate here - in more temperate climates people have to work hard all summer to feed themselves all year - here food just grows without much effort and it's warm all year so shelter isn't so much of a problem either. This means people literally don't have to work that hard...so they don't! Which is surely the state that most people in The West want to achieve? A life of leisure. And yet, when I see people doing it, it drives me mad and I want to shout at them 'why don't you DO something and work harder'. Crazy! And it's a particular problem in Tonga - every man gets 8 acres from the King automatically, and foreigners can't buy land, only lease it. So all the locals lease part of their land, and live off the money with no need to work for money.

Right, sociology lecture over. Only one other thing to say - saw this great saying in the loo of our favourite bar here: People who say something can't be done should stay out of the way of the people doing it!

OK, off for tea with our friends, and then to use a dremel tool to make buttons out of an oyster shell for the shirt I'm making C. Pictures to follow soon - the collar went ok, but I'm not looking forward to the button holes...

H&Cxxxxxxxx

PS ought to mention, briefly, our scooter expedition - I fell off...twice. Grazed my knee and elbow (and ego) but otherwise ok. Dented the scooter...and our plan of riding home on two motorbikes. Time for plan B....

Racing, getting lost, unkingly behaviour, pigs and stolen kisses

Helen: (don't know why I bother to write that - Mr P never writes the blog! Actually, I'm beginning to think no-one even reads it - no comments for weeks and weeks and weeks :( is there anyone out there?)

Still in Tonga - but things have taken a turn for the better. We were disheartened by staying in a not-very-nice hostel (soft bed = back ache, lots of clutter, greasy breakfast & overbearing host) and having not very much to do (there's only so much reading/sewing/watching bad movies that a person can stand) - basically it sucked being somewhere where the main attraction is sailing to remote anchorages when you don't have a boat. But...we met a friendly American chap over coffee a few days ago and he took us sailing to a small island with him for a few days. Great fun (apart from getting hopelessly lost - all the small, green islands begin to look the same after a while and the electronic chart is no use - it usually has us sailing over the land...)

Actually, both C and I breathed a sigh of relief when we stepped back on a boat - it felt so much more homely than the hostel - maybe we have turned into salty sea dogs after all! We even went racing with Wayne on Friday - he has a racing boat and is rather competitive (we had been warned by other cruisers about this...) so we were a little nervous - he is, after all, a single hander, so not used to having 15 people on his boat - but, all worries were unnecessary - we had a wonderful sail and a photo finish - we were pipped to the post at the final whistle (but would have won on handicap...) Turns out yacht racing is pretty much the same deal as dinghy racing - lots of shouting at other boats, constant except there are a lot more people involved, including several who are 'rail meat' (in other words, balast)

And the other good thing that's happened in the last couple of days is that we're going to Fiji after all. Didn't think we were going to make it, but our skipper changed his mind - turns out he's had enough of Tonga too. This place is actually pretty depressing. Can't remember if I told you or not, but they crowned a new king a couple of months ago (can still see all the bunting and signs on the streets) - they nearly bankrupted the county with the celebrations...but he lives in London and doesn't really like coming back here. Apparently, when he turned up at the more northern (remote and poor) island group, the islanders put on a huge show for him...and he sent a representative instead because he couldn't be bothered to go. And when he did show up he was in a tracksuit instead of his ceremonial robes. Hmmmm.

We do like the pigs though - they are everywhere and very very cute, especially the really small ones. There aren't too many feral cats and dogs though, not like other places we've been - one of the other yachties we met this week is a vet and she's travelled through the Pacific treating people's animals - mostly neutering/spaying cats and dogs and treating for toxicity and worms. Very necessary job and it means she gets to meet the locals.

Right, time to go - have hired scooters - I've already fallen off once and stubbed my toe and we only drove round the corner (that was the problem in fact - straight lines are ok - corners are more tricky!)

Looking forward to getting to Fiji
H&Cxx

PS Forgot to tell you about the crazy social rules here - Tonga is v religious (surprise surprise - the Missionaries have a lot to answer for!) so people wear long shorts/skirts and tops that cover their shoulders (I only have 3 of those!) and you're not even supposed to hold hands in the street. C and I steal a quick kiss when we think no-ones looking!!

RAIN

Helen: Well, I'm glad we didn't come here from NZ for some winter sun, like some poor people we met yesterday. Cos it's RAINING. Proper tropical doesn't stop raining for hours and you get soaked to the skin if you so much as stick a toe outside rain. So we're hiding out in an internet cafe writing to you lot, drinking espresso (so good they apparently export it to Italy) and eating banana muffins. Certainly not going for a scooter trip around the island today.

Forgot to tell you that on our way to Tonga, even though we're not yet at 180 degrees, we did in fact, pass over the international date line. Little bump, and there we were, smack bang in the middle of Sunday when minutes before we'd been enjoying Saturday. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun! Well, we've spent the last 5 months or so gaining an extra day hour by hour, so it was going to have to disappear at some point. We're now 13 hours ahead of GMT rather than 11 hours behind - which means we're actually quite contactable for a change - and we have a local sim card as we'll be in Tonga for a while. So, if you want to talk to us, email us for the number and get dialing :)

Right, C needs the computer now - round 3 in the saga of Charlie vs First Direct. Honestly - no matter how many times we tell them that we're travelling round the world and to expect transactions in far flung corners of the globe, they are always blocking our cards and asking us to phone them. PHONE them. As if that was a reasonable thing to ask someone to do. Hmmmm.

Hope all is well at home in Blighty - from messages we've been getting though it's as wet with you as it is here :(

H&Cxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tonga

Helen: So we made it to Tonga. Or, more properly, the Kingdom of Tonga. There are pictures of the King in the streets, so I think they take it quite seriously. They just had a coronation in July - King George V.

Oh, it's such a relief to be in Tonga. We're nearly there! Have to say, first impressions of Tonga aren't amazing - looks pretty much like most other tropical islands we've been to so far, except there aren't any mountains :( Apparently most of what there is to see is uninhabited islands and whales. Both of which you need a boat for. And now we're land bound for 6 weeks til we hook up with Yamana again for the trip to NZ. Bugger! Oh well - we met some yachties this morning at the internet cafe (where else? Internet cafes, laundries and happy hours are, indeed, the spiritual homes of most boat people) and one offered to take us whale watching on Thursday - apparently there are hundreds of Humpback whales here - they come every year from the Arctic to have their babies. Should be amazing to see them...but also a bit scary - we'll be on a 47 foot boat and the whales are often 80 foot long!

We're staying in a funny little lodge - bit like staying in someone's front room - the lady's a little eccentric, but very friendly. She wears normal clothes...but there are lots of people here who wear traditional 'lava lavas' (sarongs) with a kind of woven mat over the top - hard to describe - I'll try to get a photo so you understand!

That's all for now
Lots of love
H&Cxx