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Not much been happening over the last few days. The weather has turned and it's been windy and a bit rainy. The other night on the beach was miserable. We got there ok but walking back along the beach it started to pour down and we had to walk about 7 km in the pissing rain. The mud here is like cement so we were carrying extra kilos on our feet. AND, we didn't even see any turtles. Not funny.
I've decided to leave Vanuatu early. I can't stand being this dirty and not having any running water to wash with. Enough is enough! The project finishes on 18th so I am planning to fly back to Auckland on 19th to get back into civilisation (anyone care to join me?). Not sure of my plans yet but as I didn't make it up to the Bay of Islands, I may head up there for a few days. I fly out to Santiago on 24th. A million thanks to Viv for helping me sort this out. I only get access to the town (and therefore internet) every Friday and last week it was down - so frustrating. Viv has been getting desperate texts from me pleading for help so THANK YOU!!!
Bits and Bobs
We've had a few incidents with insects over the last few days. I had just got into bed the other night and was reading by headtorch; turned to face the wall to be eye to eye with a huge spider. Luckily it was on the other side of my mozzie net but was still only around 5 inches away. I almost crashed through my net onto my roommate's bed. I'm so glad there are Australians here. It was even too big for my roommate so we had to get one of the girls to come and remove it. Ugh, why do I put myself through these things? Yeah, I know. Character-building.
Our bungalow in Tanna had a handwritten note on the back of the door saying "Beware....rats". Luckily we didn't see any although there was a bit of fresh rat poo lying around but Brae had left some crisps on her bed and when she got back the packet was ripped open and there were crisps and poo all over the place!
Also in Tanna there was a funny bug on the inside of my net which had pincers on its bum. Tegan came to remove it and managed to gather it up into a towel. In the meantime, the bungalow owner was gently tapping on the door with his face pressed against it (so we found out from Brae later on who was in the next door hut). Tegan yelled to open the door and went charging out nearly knocking the poor guy over! She was dancing around outside waving the towel around and eventually threw the towel on the ground (wish I'd had a video camera at this point). The tiny bug then crawled out of the towel. The guy must have thought we were complete nutters!
That same day we were in the restaurant and had just sat down when Tegan yelled "Linda....cockroach.....huge....by your foot!!" I have never moved so quickly and was almost on the other side of the island! About 5 minutes later we all saw something drop from the ceiling out of the corners of our eyes and then there was a loud 'slap' sound and a gecko had landed on Tegan's forehead. So funny. She grabbed it and flung it across the room and it stuck to a table cloth while she danced around the room screaming! God knows what the other people in the restaurant must have thought.
The funniest thing to happen was the other night on the turtle beach. Us girls had been told to sit down while the boys went to measure the turtle (we know our place....not!). It was pitch dark as there was no moon and we are not allowed lights near the turtles. We were chatting and day dreaming about nice food when suddenly Hayley grabbed Brae's arm and whispered "Is that a turtle?" There was a huge turtle about a metre in front of us. With our talking and the waves crashing, we hadn't heard her come up and also hadn't noticed the huge moving rock-shaped mass lumbering towards us. Amazing.
Thursday 9th December
Wonderful experience this morning. We had decided to go to turtle beach during the day as there were some nests about to hatch. We did our trek (that we have now deduced is around 16km) in the scorching heat but it was well worth it. When we got to the end of the beach, we stopped for a rest. Suddenly Hayley cried out that there was a dead baby turtle next to her bag. We hunted for a nest and then the guys started to dig it up. We found a few dead turtles and then saw movement All of a sudden all of these tiny baby turtles started to rise to the top of the sand and struggle to escape the nest. There were ants everywhere so we started to help them and we were carrying them further down the beach and helping them when they flipped over, got stranded on pebbles or went the wrong way. They were so cute! And very strong. Their flippers were going like the clappers and you could feel the power of them trying to escape. But the stench. My God, it was like rotten fish - and worse! Amazing though. We counted 55 that we helped into the sea and the nest had around 184 eggs in total (some hatched but died on the way and some were rotten eggs). They were fascinating to watch and it still amazes me that from a normal nest, only 1 or 2 will survive - hopefully we've upped the odds from that nest. We then headed further along the beach and found another nest that was due to hatch. The guys dug into it and there were a few dead turtles but then again, we saw movement! These ones were much smaller and the guys thought the nest wasn't ready. We rescued a couple that were itching to escape but then covered the nest up again. We've been told to keep checking that nest when we next go back.
Anyhooo, after that mammoth entry (well, it is 2 weeks worth), I'll sign off. I'm hoping to upload my photos onto the blog site and onto www.picasaweb.google.com/lindylou73 but no promises as the connections are VERY dodgy here!
Next week I'll be on the verge of civilisation before entering into more of the unknown over Xmas!
Hope all is well in your parts of the world. Have to admit I'm missing Honkers and everyone there but also having a whale of a time doing nowt!
Linda xx
- comments
Mum Look after the turtles and you will feel proud that you put up with unknown creatures and it will all be worth it. xx
Rose Where do I begin?! Rats, giant cockroaches, kamikazee ghekos, pincer-bottom bugs and huge spiders. I would be in therapy by now; hoarse from screaming and about 5 stone lighter. Character building indeed. Great to hear about the baby turtles though and you will LOVE Santiago. Safe travels. XX