Sunsets - Eruption influence

 

The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano on 15 January 2022 was the largest recorded since the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.  We heard the sonic boom in Rotorua about 2 hours later.  It shook the house.

A bi-product of the eruption is the dust in the sky, which has made spectacular sunsets.  This is expected to continue for the rest of the year.

Boats, sea, and swimming

Spent the afternoon in Mele Bay enjoying the sun and the tropical weather.

 Tighe powered the boat over.  The urchins enjoy driving the boat between the jetties.

Quinn went skim boarding, and Tighe swam in the warm water.

 

 It was great to see the boys enjoying each others' company, laughing and playing together.

 I explored along the black sand beach, discovering textures and patterns.

 The bark of a washed up tree intrigued me, I could see a face in sand and bark texture.

Reminded me of an oil painting

  The conditons were perfect for reflections in the wet sand.

 Quinn controlled the boat on the way back to Hideway / Mele Island.

Erik went off for a bike ride on Efate.  The setting sun reminded me that there was an acrobat show over at the Beach Bar, in Mele Bay, so I rounded up the urchins, and we took the boat across for the evening entertainment.

An evening in Paradise

The urchins enjoyed more pizza and chips for dinner.  The lime juice is devine, and the urchins tried different milkshakes / mocktails.

 Erik had the coconut curry again, I just had a chicken salad.

 During the day, Tighe and Josh (Bar staff) went and found a coconut to drink.  Tighe has developed a taste for fresh coconut juice.

  We were all quite tired, and the giant amongst us was asleep before 8pm (NZ) time.

  I went for a walk in the evening, after the urchins were in bed.  Found huge moths on the outside of the building walls.

Taupo in the evening

 Fastastic sunset to complete the last few days.

Beauty in the man-made

Walking back from the Quilt Exhibition "Growing the Passion", the sun was setting, and created vivid colours on the Kmart fence, and the windows of the FMG building.

I took these series of photos while walking up 6 flights of stairs at the hotel.

First Floor

2nd Floor

3rd floor

4th floor

5th floor

Colour, and Texture, for the next few Days

 

Shari Cole and I  arrived in Palmerston North for 5 days of Fibre Arts.  If the sunset tonight is a promise, there is going to be amazing colour during our visit.

Farewell Sunset

Last night on Treasure Island, and what a fantastic sunset.

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.