Where there are no roads

Last week we went to the hauts (the heights) for some cooler weather and were able to look down into the Cirque de Cilaos.  The photos below are of one of the villages in the cirque, Grand Bassin, and of the only means by which the villagers get stuff to and from their village (other than carrying it by foot!).  One of the other three cirques on the island, Cirque de Mafate, is entirely only accessible by foot so it's like a lost world in there!

When I suggested to Aurelie that it might be cool to live in a isolated village like that, she looked at me and said in avoive that brooked no argument "for a weekend perhaps, just a weekend", spoilsport.

The village of Grand Bassin

How stuff is delivered to the village (and the rubbish collected)

The sign says "Transport of people strictly forbidden" 

Regulations for the packages that people are allowed to send (max weight and dimensions and no people or animals)

Timetable

Fairy tale views

A little while ago while the kids were at school Aurelie and I went to one of the view points overlooking one of the three extinct calderas.  Looking at the photos it like looking at fairy tale towns in some sort of lost kingdom!

 



Ilet de Cordes

Cilaos

 

The two settlements in the caldera

Garden Beastie!

We've been doing some gardening lately and came across this little fellow.  I'm afraid the pictures aren't great (my old iPhone isn't the best for close ups!)

He (or she) is Liocheles australasiae AKA the Malaysian tiny brown scorpion, not very dangerous but the sting can cause intense local pain for up to an hour!

Odd thing was that he (or she) kept going towards me when ever I tried to take a photo, most beasties usually try to get away as fast as possible.  I guess scorpions are just more badass!

My new best friends.

Since I have been here I have been diving and occasionally snorkeling with my Aqualung Caravelle open heel fins.  However open heel fins require the use of boots and aren't really suited to snorkeling so I deceided it was time for some new fins.  After looking about to see what was available locally and looking up the online reviews I decided on a pair of Mares Volo closed heel fins and picked them up at the local Decathalon (a big sporting goods chain in France).



My new best friends! Mares Volo closed heel fins.

 

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to use them straight away as I developed a head cold which kept me out of the water for a few days but eventually I was able to get to play with them.  Our local town, Saint Pierre, is the second town of the island and the town is built on a beach with a lagoon which is a good safe place for swimming and snorkeling (it's Sam's favorite place to go snorkeling).  Being right on the town means that it's a popular place so much of the coral is damaged or dead but a bit further out from the shore there is some nice coral and fish life.

The lagoon at Saint Pierre

 

I spent about an hour tootleing about getting used to the fins and exploreing for the first time the further parts of the lagoon.  I'm continually amazed how much I love being in the water, being privy to the underwater world, exploreing and the freedom that the water allows us.

 

There was quite a bit of fish life once you got away from the shore, most of which I have seen many times before, not that that lessens how much I love to see them!  This time there was somthing different though, while pottering about I came accross a large spotted brown flying fish, I think Cypselurus sp, I've not been able to find any good images of it online but how wonderful to be just wander from the town into the water and suddenly, unexpectenly be within a meter of such a creature.  I spent a bit of time watching it flex it large fins, and getting ocasional glimses of it's colourful pectoral fins before decideing that I had better let it be and continued on my way.  I did however resolve to buy a good underwater camera (I'm thinking a GoPro) so that I can record the next time!

Random plastic rubbish I put in my pocket during my hour long snorkel

I've mentioned before on this blog that I hate plastic and whenever I am in the water I have gotten into the habit of picking up any pieces of plastic that I notice and putting them in my pocket so that I can bin them later.  Above is a picture of the plastic that I picked during my hours snorkel.  I'm in two minds about it, as far as I'm concerened any plastic in our oceans is too much but then again considering that this was just off a busy beach and the second largest town on the island mabey it's not so bad considering I covered a lot of lagoon, I don't honestly know. 



The sun setting over Saint Pierre lagoon

A break from the sea!

On Sunday a couple of weeks ago after tropical cyclone Felleng passed us by it was hot hot hot, so we decided to head to a nearby river at  Langevin to see how high the water was after the storm as to see if it was safe to swim (usually it takes a while before its safe for swimming in the sea or the rivers after a storm passes by).

Sundays here are really big family days for picnics at the beaches, in the heights and by the rivers (everywhere really!) so there were plenty of people about.  However in the past we were lucky enough to have been shown a large rock pool higher up the river that is usually quieter and we headed there.  Sure enough while there were some people about it was a lot quieter and while the river was high it looked ok for swimming so in we went.  And my was it worth the trip, I love swimming in rivers, its very different swimming in a river than in the sea, for one thing its a lot cooler.  For another the fresh water isn't as harsh (or buoyant) as the salt water and waterfalls even the small ones are lots of fun and surprisingly powerful!

So note to self, more trips to Langevin!  It may take 30 - 40 minutes to get there instead of the 10 - 15 it takes to get to the beach but when its hot hot hot its worth it.

Langevin river

Sam, Ela and I, exploring the shallows.

Enjoying the waterfall.

Felleng passing by!

Tropical cyclone Felleng passed between Reunion and Madagascar over the last few days.  It was closer to Madagascar so it missed the Island by 100's of km but we still had three days or so of heavy rains and high winds (not as bad as Madagascar where four people died).  It was the first cyclone near miss that we were on the island for and its given us an idea of the power of the storms even when they miss the island by 100's of km.

 

For us it was lazy family time together as we weren't able to go out much and the kids are off school on Wednesdays, there was a teachers strike on Thursday (no idea why) and the schools were closed on Friday due to the weather. 

Sam and I in the sea at Grand Anse just before the first of the heavy rains, it's not very obvious in the picture but the waves were very high (and lots of fun) due to the storm.

Take a look at the clip at the link below:

 

http://www.clicanoo.re/356148-500-000-euros-emportes-par-les-pluies-de-felleng.html

 

The link above goes to a local news site which shows the road from Saint Pierre (the main town near us) to Saint Louis being washed away and gives an idea of the power of the floods. That same section of road was washed away during the last near miss about a month ago and cost €500,000 to repair that time!  In the clip you can see a shiny new bridge that is supposed to replace the old road (I guess they were getting of replacing it), it has been under construction since before we arrived on the island and will be completed soon (hopefully!).

 

The fact that the topography of the island is so steep means that all the rain water get funnelled into ravines and you get huge amounts of water flowing down in short periods of time and there can be flash floods as well as regular flooding.  All over the island where roads cross these ravines or other low points in the local terrain you get warning signs and barriers that can be lowered when the roads are flooded as cars have been washed away in the past.

 

Water still flowing over one of the local roads almost two days after peak of the heavy rain.

 

Luckily Reunion being France it has the construction standards and infrastructure that means that casualties and damage here from cyclones is a lot less that on nearby Madagascar (I still feel guilty though because as a storm fan I'm looking forward (if a bit nervously) to seeing the power of one close up when one does hit the island).

Back home again!

We've been back home again for the last week and a half after spending a month in Ireland and France for Christmas and the New Year.  We had a wonderful time with family and friends and the kids really love spending time with their cousins but it's good to be back home with it's warm weather!

Its been busy since we've been back.  The first few days were taken up with getting the house and garden into shape after our month away.  While we got away lightly with the cyclone that hit while we were away everything grows like crazy here in the wet season and between Toffee being shut into the house during the cyclone, beasties invading and having forgotten to empty the fridge before we left (and the power going out during the cyclone) there was enough to keep us going for a few days!

The garden after a month.

The kids had last week off as it was the summer holidays here.   While we had the time Sam took up snorkeling.  Our collection of children's snorkeling equipment has grown as we tried to get the right kit, a mask from one set and a snorkel from another.  So we've been to all our local swimming haunts, during their week off last week and popping down after school this week.  Its hard to convey just how fantastic it is to snorkel with him and to see his excitement discovering the underwater world, the fish, the coral, just being able to explore a new world.  Of course now Ela wants to try too, at least we have the kit for her, so it looks like she'll be trying it out on our next visit to the sea!

As mentioned its the wet season here at the moment (Reunion has two seasons, wet and hot and cooler and dry) and while it doesn't rain every day, more like two or three times a week, the wetter weather has lead to an explosion in the mosquito population.  Mosquitoes are wily little feckers and while we have been getting most of the buggers which get into the house some escape, leading to night time biting and many itchy bites. Today while looking for something else entirely we came across an electrical mosquito swatter, already the kids (and Aurelie) have been patrolling the house zapping the little miscreants.  The war continues....

Our new best friend - an electrical mosquito swatter!

Red Alert on Réunion!

Right now all of Réunion is on Red Alert as Tropical Cyclone Dumile made landfall this morning. So hopefully all our friends at home (and Toffee the cat) will have a safe storm and get through it safe and sound!



Of course this means that we still have not been on Réunion during a Tropical Cyclone, I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.

Happy New Year from Lyon

Having spent Christmas in Ireland with my family we have just spent New Years (or second Christmas as the childern have dubbed it due to their second tranch of presents!) in Lyon with Aurelie's.

We've had a largely wonderful 2012 given the usual ups and downs of life so here's to 2013, may it bring everyone both what they are hoping for and what they need.

Rugby days - Aurelie's post on Sam's first day of Rugby matches

So Samuel now plays rugby. It's his choice, not mine (maybe a little influence from Stephen, but that's it). Of course when I chose his name (I did) I had in mind a little of Samuel Beckett, I mean it's the first name of an intellectual, or an artist, certainly not of a rugby player. On top of that he's way too handsome and rugby men are not (at least after playing for a while).

Anyway he likes it. Actually he loves it. He is playing at under 6 level, which mostly to get an idea of rules, teamwork and training. No scrums, no upper body tackles: I can still watch.
And yesterday after 4 weeks the day finally arrived: playing matches, not just training! There is local tournament where they play against several teams every month, each time in different places on the island.

Samuel was very excited about it, I mean he could finally prove he was the fastest, strongest, of all the other players. Personally I thought rugby was about putting the ball behind the opposing team, while passing it backward, but hey what do I know.

Our first tournament happened to be in St Benoit which is quite the opposite side of the island. This meant meeting at 8.00 at the club in town. This meant leaving the house at 7.30. This meant waking up at 6.20. On Sunday. Because obviously for the first match we were all going.
Thankfully we had no need for the alarm as Samuel woke up even before it went off asking “are we going now?”

We arrived at the meeting point early, trying to get some info as where we were going (there are 2 stadiums in St Benoit). After some confusion we got an answer and even a map, so we left Samuel going on the bus as we headed with little miss car sick on the long journey to St Benoit. The trip was fine, beside the fact that the map given was totally outdated and the stadium mentioned was wrong.  It was ok though, we still arrived before the bus. Who needs organisation anyway?

Getting ready

After so much expectation leading up to the big day drama had to happen and it came about the playing strip of the club as the Under 6s did not get them 'cos there were not enough of them to go around (they got the blue training strips. Huge disappointment, avery sad face and a few tears. It's tough but to be honest, blue is a lot better than black and yellow.

Obviously he ended up playing on the furthest side of the pitch away fromour “camp” so I went first on the pitch to watch him play and take pictures. They play 5 against 5 (or 4) and good thing it's simplified rules 'cos as I saw Samuel running with the ball I was afraid he was going the wrong direction when he was actually scoring his first point. Glad he did not hear me saying “no, the other way!”. I should probably refrain from shouting instruction.

Sam with the ball

Running to support his team mate

Anyway he had a great day. He played 4 matches (I think) though it gets confusing as they take kids from other teams when a team does not have enough players. He was just a bit disappointed that he did not play “real” matches, so we explained that he has to start like this to learn, and that trying to not pass the ball forward would be a good next step.  He was so tired from the matches (and getting up so early) that he slept in the car on the way back home.

Guess it was the first on many other rugby Sundays... as long as I can watch.

Carraig Dúlra

As I've mentioned previously here last year before we left Ireland I was lucky enough to get involved with a couple of week long permaculture courses which were run by Cultivate/Greenworks in Dublin.

The two courses were run by a fantastic teacher by the name of Suzie Cahn.  She and her husband Mike have an organic small-holding in Wicklow where among other things they run courses and they also have an OOOOBY (out of our own back yards) store nearby (www.dulra.org/).

While I've always been a Green, taking part in structured courses really opened my eyes to the world of permaculture, sustainable living and hands on skills.  Besides the great fun and the learning on the courses (and the great people), there was an immensely empowering feeling of realising that it really is possible to build things and grow things on your own or with friends (while I was always aware that it was possible I just didn't really realise that it was possible for me too and I think a lot of people feel that way, one of the perils of modern living is that we forget these things).

The other thing that really struck me on visiting Carraig Dúlra was how incredibly productive relatively small areas of land can be if they are laid out and designed well.  As mentioned in a previous post I'd love to see more of our urban green areas planted with food gardens and orchards rather than ornamental species, I'd love for more people to feel that sense of empowerment.

During the summer of 2011 after I had completed the courses I managed to get back up to Carraig Dúlra a few times with Sam and Ela and some friends I had made on the courses (anyone up in the Louth direction should look up O'Callaghans Edible Garden which is run by some of the folk we went along with).  Getting our hands dirty with the planting and weeding was immensely satisfying and the company couldn't have been better.  At the time we were living in Dublin and while we had plenty of green around where we were living it couldn't compare with the countryside and it was great watching the kids (ours and others) play and explore by themselves.  Below are some photos of one of those visits taken by Marie our au pair at the time (she loved it there too!).

So if anyone is interested in permaculture or just getting in touch with the land and hands on skills look them up and get involved!  February is the begining of the planting season here for a lot of things so we have plans afoot to get planting and grow more of our own food next year.

The orchard with the yurt and sheds beyond

The herb and vegtable garden

Weeding

Snack time for Ela

The gathering area with a outdoor pizza oven under construction! 

Ti Jacques

A picture of the ti jacques fruit as promised!

A bounty of fruit

We live in a cul de sac, about 50 metres from the local main road, today, while walking Ela back from school, I was struck by the variety of fruit trees (and herbaceous plants) that we walked pass in that 50 metres. 

There was a coeur de beouf  or custard apple tree (we have one of these in the garden too, its a strange textured fruit, not bad, just strange Custard Apple) .

Cour de beouf/custard apple tree

Just across from our front gate our neighbours have planted pineapple plants which are just starting to fruit.  I don't know why but I had always sort of assumed that pineapples came from trees!


The view of pineapples from our front gate...

...and a cute little pineapple

And of course there are some coconut trees, they are ubiquitous around here, in every garden and lining the roads.

Coconuts

There were half a dozen or so lychee trees, really really tasty   We have a couple these in our garden too and in the next month or so they should be ripe.  They continue ripening for about six weeks so you get a continuous supply, of course we are heading to Ireland and France for a month in five weeks so we'll miss the most of the season this year!
(Note to potential burglars, we will be taking all of our valuable stuff with us so don't bother, one of the benefits of not having that much stuff).

Lychees

Then there was a mango tree.  Until you see it it's hard to believe the amount of fruit mango trees produce.  In a couple of months the sides of the roads around here will be covered in mangos as  there seems to be too many to harvest.

Mango tree

And of course there are bananas.  There are lots of banana plants on the way to the road (there is a banana plantation at the end of the cul de sac) but only three or four have large bunches of bananas ripening on them right now.

Bananas

And lastly there are a couple of large Ti Jacques trees Ti Jacques (which I forgot to take a photo of, I'll add that in tomorrow!).

The thing that struck me (besides how bountiful the island is) was why this doesn't happen everywhere.  All over the island there are fruit trees, banana plants etc. at the sides of the roads and in gardens and fields but you got to Ireland or most other places in Europe and you don't see that.  Why is that, why aren't there more fruit and nut trees in gardens and on road sides?  I can't imagine planting a garden and not including mostly food producing plants and trees, so why don't we do more of it?

Before leaving for Reunion I was lucky enough to do a few week long permaculture courses with Greenworks and Cultivate (cultivate.ie) in Dublin and it really opened my eyes to a world of growing your own food and sustainability and how empowering that can be, but that is a post for later (and one I will get to!). 

Halloween at our house

Halloween was one of the big four holidays growing up, along with Christmas, Easter and Paddy's day, it always felt a bit naughtier than the other three with bonfires and being out after dark trick or treating!

 

Here in Reunion they are just starting to celebrate Halloween with costumes and themed sweets starting to appear in the shops (its only in recent years that I've really realised that Halloween isn't an international holiday. By all accounts it started in Ireland (and possibly Scotland) and migrated from there to the US. Now, bit by bit, its spreading from the US across the world).  They still don't really have trick or treating (though I saw a few last night, a first for around here apparently), but in our house, wherever we are, Halloween is big, Aurelie being a particular fan.  So over the last couple of weeks costumes were put together and decorations bought and constructed in preperations for a little Halloween party in our house. 

 

Ela Witch

Darth Vader and the Witch

A few of Sam n' Ela's friends and parents came over after dark and there was trick or treating around a couple of the houses here followed by suger fueled mayham in the garden.  It was a really good night and we got to chat, eat pizza and drink a little wine with the other parents (my, do I have to practice my French) to the sound of excited shrieks from the garden.  As a bonus we managed to finish up at just the right time, all the kids were exhausted but before there were any tears!

Here's to many more Halloweens!

 

It's a cat's life!

I've mentioned our newest family member, Toffee, here before.  It turns out that when I'm not here he likes to sleep on my pillow next to Aurelie.  Right here I'd like to point out that when we agreed to get a cat it was on the condition that it would not be allowed in the bedroom, I should have figured I'd lose that battle.  

 

The cat moved in while I was off in Guinea working and I came back to a pillow covered in cat hairs.  Each time I come home from abroad for the first night or two he tries to sleep on my head.  It's at times like that at 2am that I ask myself how did this happen, I distinctly remember saying no cat in the bedroom?

 

I took the photos below of Toffee over one day a while ago. As far as I can tell the cat seems to be a sleeping machine.

 

Sleeping on our bed

Still on the bed, my side of the bed.

He's Aurelies cat, still on MY side of the bed.

 

Yet still on my side of the bed!

 

Later, a change of scenery, sleeping on the couch.

As I write this Toffee is asleep on the couch...

More moths!

Its late here but before I go I wansted to post a couple of photos of some more of the many many moths of Simandou.  Our net connection onsite didn't allow me to upload photos so the posts I had intended to post from site (like this one) will be coming over the next few days.

 

 

 

Back home again!

Right, after five weeks in Guinea and a further week in Ireland I'm back home in Reunion.  I've taken a few days to catch up with the family and settle back into family life.  So from tomorrow I'll be updating the blog again with bits and pieces from my working life in Guinea and our family life here.

If anyone has any questions about pulling up sticks and moving overseas, our life here in the Indian ocean, working abroad or anything else please let me know!

A year and a day!

So a year and a day ago we arrived on Reunion and what a year and a day its been!

People who know me well know that I have been talking about travelling and moving abroad for years, decades even.  So in August 2010 Aurelie and I decided that now that the kids were here that it was time to put up or shut up and that by August 2011 we would be gone. 

That gave us plenty of time to think about what we wanted to do.  Our two main options were move somewhere like Oz or Canada and start new lives there with 9-5 jobs etc (similar to our (very nice) lives in Dublin, just in a different place) or take some time out and go somewhere a bit different.  In the end Aurelie said to me if we were to go we might as well go on an adventure and take a year out somewhere different, 

And that is how after examining a host of countries (including Belize, Costa Rica, Thailand and the Philippines) we ended up selling or giving away most of our stuff and setting off with Sam and Ela from Lyon for Reunion with just our airplane luggage on the 9th September 2011!

In no particular order here are a (very) few of the things that stick out in my mind from our first year of island living:

• Getting off the overnight flight with Aurelie and the kids and Aurelie heading to get the hire car.  Setting off on our adventure to the far side of the island in a fog of exhaustion and dislocation and Ela promptly getting car sick!
• That same day, how genuinely friendly the two local guys in the shop were when I went to get a few essentials with my pidgin French.  This is something that has struck me time and again since that first day, how friendly people in Reunion are.  I think it must be the island mentality!
• Lying on a deserted beach with A and the kids and realising that this was home now.
• Making friends with the guys in the hostel and how well they took care of us.
• Watching the kids blossom with the outdoor, barefoot living.  In Dublin we didn't have the garden space, let alone the weather to just kick the kids outside and let them off.  Here the door is open all of the day and while playing in their room or watching somthing on the computer is always popular so are water fights, or playing in the hammock, or on the swings, or rugby etc.    
• Getting smashed by the giant waves at the beach in Vincendo.
• Ela getting swept from my arms by the same giant waves!
• Dealing with island time, even the French comming from the mainland get driven mad by how long it takes to get things done - you have just got to go with it, its not going to get any quicker!
• The local market.
• Fruit from our garden.
• Getting rid of most of our stuff and really realising how little we really need to be happy.
• Aurelie telling me how happy she was with the move, this was always my dream for the most part.  To have her being so happy with how it worked out makes it so much more worthwhile!

Simandou Moths (and a beetle)!

One of the things that suprised me about Simandou is the huge variety of moths, varying greatly in pattern and in size from itty bitty tiny ones to some bigger than your hand!  Right now there aren't so many about in the rainy season but earlier on in the year they were everywhere.

Drilling here continues through the nights so when we go up to visit the rigs there are huge numbers of them to be seen attracted to the lights of the drilling rigs.

Of course moths aren't the only small beasties about (they are just the easiest to photograph, we had ants stealing bits of pringles that had fallen on the ground outside the bar a few evenings ago) and noise they make, especially in the evenings, is spectacular as is the sound of all the birds that feed on them!

One of the sad things here, for me anyway, is the lack of big wild animals.  They were here in the past there but they have been hunted out (one of the passes over the mountain is called elephant pass and one of the geologists here found an elephant's tooth not so long ago).  Of course compares to many other places there is still a fair bit of wildlife, dik-diks (tiny deer), monkeys of various types and chimps in the protected forest as well as lots of snakes and lizards!  One of the good things about the operations here that I've mentioned before is the amount of effort being put in to protect the environment from both the operations setting up and running the mine as well as from the local population through education  (bush meat is a big problem here.

On the dinner table!  I wonder what it's fuzzy rear is for?

Love the patterns on the big one.

By the door to my room, the corridor to my room is open to the air so we often have large numbers of moths attracted by the lights.

 

This photo was taken by my another geologist at night at one of the rigs.

 

And the promised beetle, for variety!