Pool at the Lake

 The urchins decided to take the pool to the lake. They deflated the pool, and once at Lake Okereka, pumped it up again.

 Tighe's friend, Christain came along too, as well as Damiana.

 I was surprised that the pool would float, and they had a great time in the water.

 The boogie board was great for towing the pool, and the urchins tried to drown the pool many times.

 There was a little body of water in a large body of water.

 Quinn thought it a good idea to put the pool at the edge of the lake, fill it with some water.  He hoped the Sun would warm the water.

 It was a little tricky to manoeuvre the heavy pool onto the sand.

 Oscar and Erik arrived, they had biked out through the forest, and were looking forward to a swim in the Lake.

 The urchins turned the pool upside down, and would "star fish" with their legs inside the air pocket.

Damiana Day took the photos.

Continuing the McMonagle Tradition

My grandfather Carl McMonagle, grew up with billiards.  His Dad, Luther Wiley, son of Hamilton James Wiley, had the Billiard Hall in Kawhai, and his mother Eliza Hughes, owned the General Store.

Tighe trying out the new pool table

I remember most of my school holidays, playing billiards with Grandad.  Now my children can continue the tradition.

Swimming and Lova

Spring is here, and the Frangipani are budding.  I picked a few, and now the bure smells divine.

There are 6 sharks in the shallow brown area

Breakfast was interesting, we could see 2 white tip reef sharks out on the reef, hunting their breakfast.  Later that morning, while we were at the pool, we noticed another grey shape in the water.  

 While we were watching this fin, Tighe saw another large shark extremely close to shore, it buzzed the shoreline.  15 sharks were spotted, some in as little as 30 cm of water.

The crabs scramble out of the water when the sharks are around

In the afternoon, I tried to convince the boys to swim on the reef with me, but they preferred the safety of the shore.  I saw more fish I hadn’t seen before, but no more sharks. 

Just after 3pm we watched the hangi (lova in Fijian) being uncovered.  Soil, tarps, sheets, sacks, coconut leaves, then the food. It was our dinner tonight.  Lamb, chicken, sweet potato.

Bill, starting the uncovering of the Lova

Soil and tarps

Tarps and cotton sheets

Sacks and steam

Coconut leaves

Bill, steam, and coconut leaves

Sweet potato, chicken, lamb

Bottom of the lova

The boys spent the rest of the day testing who could make the biggest splash into the pool. I think Tighe achieved that goal.

Quinn

Tighe

Quinn

Tighe trying for a bigger splash

2 boys means a bigger splash

Let's go bigger!

A visit to the wood carvers hut, and Tighe found a shark out of Kerosene Wood, and Quinn got a machete out of Ironwood.  Decided to watch the sun set from the pool.

Once the sun went down, the clouds turned a glorious pink

 Dinner was traditional Fijian food.  I tried raw fish in coconut, fern fronds, seaweed and coconut (tasted like salty vegemite cold quiche), baked fish, the food from the hangi, cooked fish in coconut milk, coconut rice, and roast pork.  The lova food was much less smokier than the Maori hangi, and I liked it.  My favourite was dessert, Vudi Vakasoso, (banana pudding), with bananas, custard, and raisins. Fijian comfort food.