Day 9, We Take a Drive

As I mentioned in the blog, we've been working non-stop for a week and we decided to quit for the day. We had installed both sails and it was very hot. There was a shared decision to drop the work and leave the boat for the day.

We splash on Tuesday, assuming that we get everything accomplished, so we made a reprovisioning run, then, instead of driving back to the room or the boat, we drove south along the belt road. Yes, we saw some sights that we've seen before, that was as pleasant as seeing new sights.

A photo of our night-before evening repast. It's a wonderful ending to any day. Thanks, Conni.

Each day at lunch, the yard crew holes up in the shade under a derelict sailboat on our stern. They talk and laugh for an hour, then return to work.

This is looking down the throat of a stanchion mount with the corroded base still inside. As of Friday afternoon, the base was still there despite the best efforts of everyone I coerce into trying to remove it. I'll probably have to take it home.

Lovely Conni at work in the cockpit.

As we've been mentioning, our host at Pension Tiare Nui is Raihau, and he's been a prince to us for years. He's getting married on Sunday and invited us! This area normally is full of cars to rent, but it's been cleared and the preparation for the wedding party commences.

Raw material for the decorations begin to appear. I snapped this as we departed the compound for the grocery store.

The world is an odd place. I do think that this might the Dalai Lama.

Our favorite bubbly is Veuve Cliquot, and it's only US$125/bottle here. Gasp!

Lovely Conni selects lunch meat for us.

We've never seen this: "box rum". It's equivalent to 5 bottles, we read, and it's only $US55.

"Trois en un" or "3 in 1" oil was a surprise.

As we departed town for regions south, this obvious volcanic plug caught our attention.

Surely these have been planted, but they make the drive exceptionally lovely.

We stopped at an overlook and soaked in the beauty of the South Pacific.

Just more South Pacific island beauty.

We've seen this monolith on previous drives, but it still takes my breath away. I'm sure that it's never had a boot on it.

From further along the road we can see the tower through a grove of coconut palms. To prevent climbing pests such as coconut crabs and rats from eating the coconuts, the owners place these strips of metal around the trees.

Yeah, another scenic view, but not to be missed.

After our return from the road trip, the preparations were considerably more advanced.

Even the serving area for the mountains of food planned for 200 people began to take shape.