OKEANOS BLOG - Rotuma: Short on chocolate, big on hospitality 1745 Sunday 18.08.13 Just got out of the bath (sea) after the departure of the last of our many visitors, those who either payed no attention to our public announcement of “...visitations Monday” notice or know full well half the island will turn up tomorrow... but of course we don’t mind the company and sharing our slightly fabricated stories with whoever will believe us. Plus they’re so friendly, humble, and respectful it’s not funny. I swear if we didn’t invite them on they’d stand patiently on the beach gazing wide eyed at our canoe until sundown and then no doubt light a fire and camp out. The locals don’t seem to want for anything, although we did happen upon the knowledge that the island has run out of coke AND chocolate – nothing short of a catastrophe in the western world, worthy of front page news back home. They treat us like royalty here, or perhaps royal aliens. Thankfully we’re well versed in keeping each other’s feet from drifting skyward – it’s not uncommon to hear “you can call him Rai” when Kaip hears someone slip me the C word... Today we we’re honoured by the Noatau village at their mass service, we sat (on chairs) beside the alter with the high chief and proceeded to be showered with praise, after which I had the rare honour of addressing the congregation. The manaakitanga here is amazing, we’ve had more invitations than salt water showers. As I write this the others are enjoying kava on the other side of the island. I committed self appointed anchor watch, as you never know how safe a beached waka with a buried anchor 15 meters on shore can be. It must be Steven’s third night out and Iva’s second, both taking the time to catch up with resident whanau. Although I can’t be 100% sure they are Mr Tawake’s relations as he seems to be related to everyone. Rotuma certainly lives up to it’s reputation. A 45 minute bush walk to ‘Pride Rock’ (aptly named after the movie Lion King) confirmed its breathtaking beauty, and our fruitfull spearfishing excursions pay testament to the tales of the island’s bountiful waters. But instead of boasting of such richness and resting on laurels, the Rotuman’s are forward thinking and proactive, with their own bio-fuel mill, a sequential solar energy plan, and a vision to optimise the prevailing winds, they hope to be fossil fuel free in the near future. Daily discussions pave the path to potential plans of possible post pilot preparations for the permanent positioning and practice of cargo shipping - using sailing vessels between the volcanic Rotuma and archipelago of atolls which make up Tuvalu. The later badly in need of root crops the former is more than equipped to produce. A possible MOU could see copra from Tuvalu processed in Rotuma and returned as bio-fuel with a healthy load of dalo (taro), yams, & cassava. However I’m sure there are many other factors yet to be considered before landing the island with what could be termed an unidentifiable floating object. I’m sure sailing is as foreign to the locals as it was to us just over three years ago... Kati e hika ma, in fear of writing my first novel I must conclude. Tomorrow: early morning ura (koura) dive between moon set and sunrise, breakfast at the islands only fresh water swimming hole, followed by public tours of the waka, finished off with dinner and karaoke (Rotuman styles) at the high school, which by the way has four rugby teams who must play themselves for competition (last Thursday after delivering 2 presentations at the school we watched as the teams battled for secondary supremacy. We got heat exhaustion just from watching...) Hai kona i roto i nga whakaaro rerehua mo koutou kai te haukainga! Raihania
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 02:31:40 +0000
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