Day 5 on Pitcairn (Sunday 25 August)

Day 5 of surviving Pitcairn!  After yesterdays massive hike back from Teds side we were beginning to feel the effects of 3 days of walking.  We have nearly covered most of the island just 2 walks that involve climbing so we are waiting until Brenda is free and also for a suitable day when the rocks are not wet.  We also have to walk to the highest point and then I think we have walked nearly all roads around the island ... eventually we will walk all the small roads around the township itself when we go a visiting to everyones house either looking for curios to buy or to buy some fruit and vege or to just go in and introduce ourselves!

Basically we know what they all are going to say to us in their Pitcairn language ... "when yous gonna move 'ere"!

So today is when a freight ship is arriving, it is just passing from South America enroute to Auckland and then to Australia.  So there was a move to get bananas, paw paw and veges yesterday and previously fishing was done so they can take out one of the long boats to trade with the ship.  The ship had previously let them know they were coming.  We didn't go out in the long boat, I would have like to, but the problem is that once you get to the frieght ship you have to time it with the swell and cling and catch the ladder rope and climb up from the long boat up the ship ... if you chicken out when you get there well too bad you have to stay in the long boat which is for at least 6 hours!  so being a novice we declined to go.  Which was ideal to catch up on everything.  The shop did open this morning for an hour so there was a mad rush to get supplies ... Neil decides he will go and have a nosey and comes back with this ...

a bottle of Seagers gin ... $7 NZ ... yes you are reading right.  There is no tax here on anything so when they purchase from NZ they don't pay all the excessive taxes that are involved with alcohol and smokes so they are very cheap!

Meanwhile I am baking in the kitchen.  Kerry gave us some very ripe bananas so I decide to make some cakes and puddings ...

about mid morning we see the ship come in approaching from the east ...

on board this ship are brand new luxury pleasure boats - 25 on top and 25 in the hold.  Who says we are having a GFC!

 After lunch we to for a wonder around the island as Brenda has gone out to the ship so we just decide to take a lay about day. 
Neil and I went down to the landing where the long boats are stored, only one went out today so the other one should be there ...

 

Turi and his nieces and nephew are there fishing for 'nah way' which is the islands favourite fish to eat, I must admit they aren't bad ... developing a liking for fresh fish .. had red snapper the other night and it was devine ... Lea Ann and Dad have gone fishing this morning so hoping they catch some fish

Just on from the landing is a little track that we decide to explore ... it takes you just below ships landing point

and also to the area where the remains of the bounty wreck is ...



While scrambling along the track something that is always happening to us ... actually more to Neil than me occurs ...

I should have realised that there is no where in this world we can go without Neil finding 'road kill'

he has taken it back to the chalet so see if he can inflate it and then use it as a decoration at the chalet!

so we spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing.

I thought since we didn't do much today that I would tell you about the shower system in each house ... as you probably guessed all water is rain/tank water so the shower is heated by what they call a 'copper' system whereby the water is heated by a fire.  Each house has a water pump that pumps water from (usually) a concrete water tank up to at small water tank on a high frame. 

a pipe then runs down to a small shed that contains a concrete fire box ...

they copper pot must be in the inside and the fire is lit below ...

 I lit this fire and I am getting use to incorporating this into our daily lives ... we don't have it going all day, we just light it about 1 hour before we want our shower.  You can have a larger fire so that the water can last through the night so you can have hot water for brekky in the morning.
I forgot to mention that you have probably noticed that Neil has shaved his beard ... why?  because when he first got to the island everyone thought he was my dad Phil ... he was a little offended that they thought he was old enough to be Phil who is 70!