10.1.13

Packed up, Di to the hospital for her ear wash out and then off for lunch at the Whale research center. We had an interesting time looking at the exhibitions and seeing the live crabs and fish. Saw a stone fish in the tank, possibly the ugliest fish ever, and it hurts if you stand on one also. They say that it will not kill you but you will wish that it did. Out to the airport to drop off the car (same arrangements as the pick up, unlocked and key under the mat) and then checked in for the Aitutaki flight. Saw David Bond and family at the airport as they are back to NZ. The flight was good and relatively smooth which was a relief as the last time I flew to Aitutaki it was the roughest flight I have ever experienced (this from a man that flys to Wellington every week!). Arrived to a welcome from Richard Story who had floral Ei’e to go around everyones necks and loaded us into a van to go to our Villa in Ootu. This must be paradise. The newish Villa is bright and breezie and the living area opens onto a deck that looks out onto the soft white sand of the Aitutaki lagoon that is about 20m across some grass. The kids wasted no time getting into the cool water which is a stay in all day temp of about 29 degrees I would guess. We got a briefing from Richard who is also a local Marine biologist who is working at restocking the lagoon with clams, the clams are threatened due to overfishing, and his partner Rima. After a good cool down we walked around the corner to the Boat Shed restaurant and bar, that coincedentally was set up by the same people that set up the boat shed in Nelson apparently. This is an interesting place with an impressive array of memorabilia from the Bounty that stopped here just prior to the mutiny, and the US airfield days. One of the locals, Ian, proudly showed us the pet Coconut Crab which is kept in a glass cage in the bar, describing it as a beautiful creature, some Kiwi Asians in the next table kept asking what they taste like and where can you get them, and did not seem to pick up on the fact that this was a Pet to Ian and not on the menu. They are endangered apparently and you should not eat them. They are tough and have an almighty pinch if you are silly enough to let them grab you. They eat coconuts and any animal that can husk a coconut with its bare pinchers is likely to have a powerful bite.

We met Larry Richards, an expat US school teacher and IT consultant that has lived here for the last 16 years. Larry was very friendly and was telling me all about the best places to buy food for the family and then said that it would really be best if he just shows us tomorrow. We organized for Larry to pick us up at 9am for the island tour. By the time we had finished dinner, it had started to pour with rain. As we were leaving Ian the guy who had been showing us the coconut crab offered to drop us home in his van. First impressions are that they are a great bunch of people here.