Feijoas, Kings and Placenta cakes

I think Feijoas might be a bit like marmite.  I mean, they’re actually nothing like marmite (one’s a green, kiwi sized, fruit from the guava family (originally from Brazil, which is odd, given how much NZ dislikes non-native species), and the other is black, sticky and salty and delicious on toast), but they divide opinion

Mum’s the word

Apparently, I’m mum now, not mummy. Kit announced this last week. I’m a bit sad about it. Feels like the end of an era – he’s not a little boy any more. In fact, he’s off now with a school friend, down the park, with his mobile phone and a time to be back. 8

Roller-coaster ride

[In midwife-notes-speak, this post has mostly been ‘written in retrospect due to activity on the boat’] I’ve got better at taking selfies over the last 2 months. I’ve always struggled, as my arms aren’t long enough, and so I (as the photo taker) am always at a slightly jaunty angle looking a bit anguished from

Not in the tropics any more

Two days south of Fiji and there was a big clunk (well, alright, there wasn’t actually a big clunk, thank goodness, as big clunks on boats are generally Not A Good Thing, but there might as well have been) as we passed over the Tropic of Capricorn line, and all of a sudden we weren’t

Waiting for weather

We are still in Vuda marina! To be fair, we have been other places in the last three weeks, but we have also spent a large chunk of time tied to the dock. If only it were easier to actually get on the dock – you have to park bow or stern to (we always

Halfway around the world

Fiji is even more friendly and welcoming than Samoa.  Which is saying something.  The locals never say ‘Bula!’ (hello) – it’s always ‘Bula! Bula!’ – their enthusiasm is infectious – you can’t help but smile back.  The markets here are big and bustling and full of delicious things and people trying to help you find

Talofa!

Which means Hello! in Samoan (that first ‘a’ is long, as in ‘amen’, not ‘apple’ – I’ve been saying it wrong for years). But we’ve heard Hello far more than Talofa – people do, obviously, speak Samoan here, but, without exception, everyone we’ve met so far speaks English, with a Kiwi or Australian twang and

The day that never happened…

17/08/22, 2234, night watch 600 miles to go. The day that never happened is not the title of a 1950s B movie (well, it might be, but not one I’m aware of), but the result of changing the ship’s clock as we head west to Samoa. I thought it was just back an hour. But

Covid stops play for a while…

On the one hand, not much has happened the last few weeks (covid finally caught up with us so Roo’s birthday was cancelled and we were confined to quarters for a while). But, on the other hand, loads has changed (I got a job in NZ (woo hoo!), we found a place to stay in

Sunshine on Tahiti

We video called a couple of friends this morning, and they both said the same thing – is that backdrop real or one of the fake ones from Microsoft? You can see what they mean – the sky is so perfectly blue, with palm tree silhouettes, that you could be forgiven for thinking it was