Here are the last photos of our day at Nahlap. More blog updates to come.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
More Nahlap Photos
Thanks for the messages. Glad you are enjoying the photos. As you can see the kids are having a ball.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Nahlap Island Resort
It is amazing how quickly time passes here in Pohnpei and how busy you can be! I honestly don’t know where the days go. For one reason or another I haven’t been able to update our blog for a while but I promise to try harder and post more regularly.
A couple of weeks ago the kids had Monday off school. In typical island fashion there was no note sent home…the news just went around via the “coconut express”. So a couple of other families and I decided to take the kids to Nahlap Island Resort for the day. Getting to Nahlap is an adventure in itself. You drive for an hour by car on a windy, narrow road and the last bit is a dirt track that descends sharply. My car isn’t a four-wheel drive and I was pretty nervous. Zara was really scared and cried the whole way down.
Then you all pile into one of the “banana” boats and take a 20 minute trip across to the island. The island is long and narrow and in some parts it is only a couple of metres across. There are “nahs” scattered all over the island which you hire for the day. The boat drivers are great and carry all of your gear into the nahs for you. This is very handy as the pontoon and jetty are certainly a challenge to traverse.
Our nahs had a ladder up to a second floor and the kids loved to play upstairs but the floor boards had gaps between them so you had to watch out otherwise you would end up with a shower of sand in your lunch! Most of the island is coral but there are a couple of lovely sandy parts for the kids to play. You can also hire canoes and there are waterslides (though not as we know them!) and rope swings. Even though it rained for some of the day we all had a great time. The snorkeling is pretty good and we saw some of the bluest starfish I have ever seen. We didn’t go out to the drop-off (about 500 metres from the shore there is a drop-off of several kilometers). It is a great place to go diving – but it also a bit nerve racking – so we will do that next time when Paul comes.
Kaselehlie!
Louise
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Middle Eastern Cooking in Pohnpei!
On Saturday afternoon we were fortunate enough to be invited up (and it certainly is up a very, very steep driveway!) to the Australian Embassy compound. The compound is lovely. It has three houses, a swimming pool, a tennis court and the most incredible views of the island, the harbour and the ocean.
The Australian Ambassador has lived in the
The afternoon (and evening) was so much fun. The kids swam, played tennis and ran around the compound and the ladies cooked and chatted. Some of the ladies bought ingredients to demonstrate other dishes too, including some fantastic desserts.
My culinary contribution was cocktail frankfurts (smally boys) and tomato sauce (ketchup!) for the kids – not the most gourmet thing in the world by any stretch of the imagination - but they went down a treat! Even the adults enjoyed them! They are not something you can buy here on the island – we bought a supply with us from
(I did also make a fantastic Chinese special fried rice for the kids which they all loved – I can cook you know!)
By the time we sat down to dinner I was full from “testing” all of the dishes but of course I managed to squeeze a bit more of the lovely food in. Dinner was fantastic. It is amazing what people are able to produce with limited supplies and lots of creativity and imagination. Food was one of our biggest concerns before moving here but we have been very well fed so far!
Kaselehlie!
Louise
New Friends
Navy life can be a crazy life and moving to a new place every couple of years is not for everyone. But one of the things I love about moving is the opportunity to meet new people and to make new friends. Don’t get me wrong, it can be challenging and daunting, but it can also be incredibly rewarding.
In our brief time here on Pohnpei, everyone has been very kind and welcoming and we have all been made to feel right at home. It has been fantastic to start to get to know these people and to learn the many and varied reasons why they have decided to make this little island their home.
For a sleepy little place, our first week here has been very busy!
Kaselehlie!
Louise
Thursday, February 12, 2009
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