Saturday and Sunshine

As you will see from the photo, the weather today was just as beautiful as yesterday. Later this morning, as far out as the eye could see over the water, there were white spots everywhere, followed by little white trails - all boats out for the day/weekend. It looked stunning.

I had a restful morning as planned - just walking and reading on the beach. The men got home about 1.30pm after a very successful fishing trip.  It was stunning out on the water also and add to that copious amounts of fish caught, well, that's Bill's idea of paradise!  They were throwing them back at the end because they had taken enough on board. Veronique's husband has taken the catch home and will bring some of it tonight as sushimi and poisson cru (tahitian salad), and will give us a bag of fillets for our dinner tomorrow evening. Yum!  Tonight we are going to dinner at the home of one of the English teachers coming to NZ in October. There will be a gathering of many friends we have made over the last twelve years that I have been coming over here.  Some don't come out with the Jean Mariotti kids any more but it is always great having our annual TIS / Jean Mariotti dinner!

  The petanque courts down at Anse Vata beach.  These are full of players every evening - only ever men here playing. I'm not sure why that is but it's definitely a popular early evening pastime.

 Many people walk, cycle and swim for fitness, especially at the weekend. The paths are always busy and packs of cyclists on the roads are common.

                                             Looking across the road to Anse Vata beach.

Many people also take advantage of the fitness stations that the paths along the waterfront here and at Magenta have on them.

The following photos I took on my walk this morning and are typical of the footpaths away from the main tourist areas - Anse Vata and Baie des Citrons.  You would never see anything like it in NZ because of the hazard they create for pedestrians!  Parking isn't a problem either - you just park wherever you find a space to fit your car, whether it's up on the footpath and nearly inside a shop or on a corner half up the curb and blocking vision for other cars! It's insane!

                                  Looking over at the Hilton from the beachfront at Anse Vata

 I saw this woman this afternoon literally pounding along in the water with her arms pumping at Baie des Citrons - her version of aqua jogging I guess.  She looked about my age, was very brown so obviously a local, but skinny as a rake with no added kgs acquired with age!  Typically french women here are very slim. We have had many a conversation as to what their secret is!  Bread eaten with every single meal, chocolate and pastries commonly eaten - how do they do it???   We have concluded that they must have a very, very different metabolism from us!

I hear that you have had a spring kind of day today in Taupo. Yay! Hopefully it continues!

Until tomorrow, au revoir from the TIS crew in Noumea