I used to think that it was the big things, catastrophes, disasters and hair-brained adventures which were the stuff of excitement. They happen rarely though and I’m starting to appreciate this may be a good thing, even if it leads to dull news. So I suppose I should take the time to enjoy the small events and sights that I witness here.
I moved to a large two bedroom house on the north-western side of Rarotonga. It gives me plenty of room to host guests when feeling sociable, spread my books about and still feel uncluttered. It is about an eight kilometre ride to Avarua and takes about 15 to 20 minutes riding at a comfortable speed on the bike. I intend to increase my speed, however, in order to get another few minutes of sleep in the morning!
I have been warned that riding is a dangerous occupation. The speed limit on this island ranges from 40 to 50 km per hour, so the threat doesn’t come from vehicles – it’s the dogs.
The cloudscape is one of the attractions of the tropics
Apparently the dogs have a habit of going after anything that moves. The other day our printer (the person not the machinery) was taken out of action by one such dog. I have yet to hear the full details but he ended up in hospital with (more or less) minor injuries. I’m not sure what happened to the dog.
I watched with amusement one evening as a four-wheel drive approached doing about 30 km with a dog on either side of the road chasing after it as if their lives depended on being able to catch some rubber. As a former dog walker I couldn’t help but admire what an efficient way it was for exercising the animals.
A day or so after our printer had been taken out, I was out for some fresh air on the bike and spied a potential tyre-biter. It sitting on its haunches at the road edge, looking wistfully in the other direction. Most transport on the island is either by car or scooter, both of which make a substantial noise. The animal had no idea what was coming. I whizzed past within half a foot of his ear. The poor hound jumped about a foot in the air. By the time it had recovered I was out of chasing range.
Having relocated today I went for a short walk around the territory. The next door neighbours have three dogs. They saw me on the border. On of them sat down and looked at me expectantly as if to say “I really am a very good dog”. Another started chasing its tail, while the third ran along the fence perimeter with its head slunk low and tail swishing as if it wanted to wag it but felt embarrassed by such an overt display of enthusiasm. As she approached I dropped to my knees so I was at dog height and immediately the other two dogs rushed towards me with tails wagging from their shoulders.
They barged and snapped at each other so eager were they for my attention. Each time I patted one, another would push itself into the way of my hand. Two of them started fighting until they realised the third one was getting the benefit of my attention due to their scrapping, at which point they set upon the third dog.
I then tried to extract myself from the situation, wondering if the island really is free of rabies. The creatures then followed me back to my door.
I turned to face my sycophantic followers.
“Back, go home,” I said.
They turned tail and ran across the yard before one of them tripped on another’s leg and another mock fight broke out. Thus cavorting they left the territory.
The weather has deteriorated this week. We have had several strong rains during the day. The most irritating of all was this weekend. Saturday started out exceedingly hot and muggy. Even doing nothing I was covered in sweat. By about 3pm the downpour started and was constant for the next 20 hours. All afternoon the rain beat heavily on the roof and waves crashed on the reef. Once or twice a flash of lightning was followed by a heavy roll of thunder.
Because of the weather, tides and working late, I have had little opportunity this week to go swimming. The days are spent pleasantly enough. I particularly enjoy going out to interview people. I take a scooter and spend 10-20 minutes riding wherever I have to go, enjoying the sunshine or fresh air (weather dependent). In the evening I sit outside overlooking the reef and watching as day turns into night.
The clouds we get here are fantastic. Watching the cumulus build up you get a perspective of depth in the clouds and you end up with strange cloud formations with cirrus clouds appearing to congregate around the budding cumulus like an amphitheatre overlooking a stage.
One evening the moon was blocked out by rain clouds but in the distance the cloud cover was clearly broken for on the water I could see a stream of light spreading out like an inverse funnel. If there were UFOs I could imagine the lights from one of their ships looking similar, the water shimmering in faded, silver light.
Having relocated to suitable lodgings I am now considering my options for how to spend my free time. I am inclined to continue my French, I ended up in speaking French the other week (or rather saying some French words to a French speaker which is quite different to actually speaking French, and amused my conversationalist no end by referring to the paper as “la gazette”, she seemed to think I was doing it an injustice.
In other multi-cultural news I have met with a Russian. There are apparently three Russians on the island as well as a Romanian and Bulgarian. It’s amazing at how they get around. I’m looking forward to being able to use my Russian again.
Copyright © Peter Campbell 2013, www.intrepid-adventure.com
Clouds are the one changing feature of the island – it’s one of the few constants
