3 Months Raro Time

2023 arrived bringing good news we hope.  Our activities have been hampered a bit over the last two of those months by a tibial plateau break to Barb's leg.  Mobility limited to wheel-chair wheelies on our front porch.  My nursing expertise has gone from bad to very bad. 

Christmas New Year was brightened by the visit of Shanes family.  With Sarah and the two boys they climbed almost every walk on the island.  Walks that start innocently enough with lush tropical forest and easy going but spiral quickly upwards with 75% root-tripping gradients and end with vertical fixed rope climbs.  At least it gave me a break from endless circuits of the island on my bike, to explore one of these hidden treasures with them.

Highlight was sharing our turtles with grandsons Ollie and Charlie.  The Avaavaroa Passage is a natural break in the reef, generating a strong outflow current from the lagoon.  Strong current attracts fishlife and we were lucky enough to swim with a school of spotted eagle rays.  The turtles also use a couple of spots as cleaning stations so some great encounters with turtles.  At the moment the turtle watching operators are unregulated so there is controversy around both safety for the participants and concern over the disturbance to the turtle environment.  There will likely be changes in the future, as we have just lost another swimmer in one of the other reef gaps.

The office has been distributed around the world.  Three in Uruquay , three in Montreal, one in Korea and others in Aitutaki, yesterday four headed to Bali.  The Pacific Nations are banding together to provide a coordinated strategic voice in the international environment forums.  In Uruguay Tohoa from our office gave an impassioned speech about the impact of plastics on the environment from a very personal perspective.  It resonated with the Scandinavian countries in particular, and she appeared on national TV in that part of the world.  Cailean cut through the polite politics with a dig at the Russian delegations distraction from the core agenda and received a standing ovation.  The Cook Islands team were a little nervous when they shared a bus back to the hotel with the Russians.  Small nation vs big bullies.
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Meanwhile life in the office can always be put back in balance with a spell on the back porch overlooking the lagoon and reef.

Celebration of the cast removal

Christmas celebration view

The walks start easy..

Get steeper ...

And steeper

And Steeper

Sharing time at 12 metres with spotted Eagle Rays

Shy turtle