Further on Hienghene

It's been an action packed 24 hours. Yesterday we had heard there was a market starting at 0600 so we went in the dinghy up the river to see what we could find. The market was disappointing but we found one small bag of carrots, some lettuce and some tiny tomatoes!! Then had s shocking cup of coffee and something masquerading as a croissant, but it was actually made of bread!! The money machine was still hors de service (out of order) but we were told there was another up at the Post Office so Jim and Mary headed in that direction. However, on arrival it appeared that that machine had run out of money. Absolutely typical of this place - pretty though it is. Very frustrating! Then when you try to pay for purchases in what passes for a shop they say they don't accept cards! Fortunately the amount didn't break our fragile bank and so all was ok.
Mary and David had organised a walk which was up a hill to the south of the anchorage to an altitude of over 350 meters and then down the northern side past some dramatic rock formations. They picked us up in their dinghy and we went ashore across a very shallow coral reef and landed just by a private house. We gave them a small gift (some material and pancakes) and set off on our walk, initially through their property. Then the walk soon turned uphill and at times became quite steep. It became quite taxing in the heat. We passed by a cellphone repeater antenna and continued up. The views of the bay and the boats which looked like dots was spectacular. In particular the limestome rock formations which look just like Whangarei Heads. We stopped for some refreshment on a Col just under the main summit and then started down. Needless to say the walk down was far less strenuous than the climb up and we were soon down at sea level again. We then walked along a beach then the road because we'd heard about a resort at the end but it seemed to be quite elusive. Then perchance we managed to hitch a ride with an employee of the resort and lo and behold it materialised before our famished eyes and 2 beers later we were feeling a bit like people again. Then it was another 4 kms walk back to where we had left the dinghy and back out to the yachts en mouillage. We felt exhausted after walking over 10 kms and most of it up hill and down dale but it was a good exhausted feeling and a real sense of achievement.
Today was a make and mend morning as they say in the Navy! Fortunately our outboard problems seemed to have disappeared but the watermaker remains a problem. We took the control panel apart and the switch which we suspect is a problem seems to be falling apart but because it's a sealed unit there is nothing we can do - except maybe bypass it which is an option for the next few days. In the meantime the watermaker is producing water so we'll just hope that this continues until we reach Noumea again and we can effect a proper repair. We went ashore after this and this time managed to get some money (!) and bought some oranges and a couple of other items. Most expensive oranges ever - maybe they saw us coming but it's typical of everything here.
Then just after lunch Mary and David picked us up in their dinghy and we went about 4 kms up the river upstream from the village. Very pretty and lush but nothing much else. We stopped and went ashore and there were well tended small plantations here and there but no population centre. We found some wild raspberries and picked some then returned down river where we bought some icecream then out to the Tiare en mouillage where we had the raspberries and icecream with sweet vermouth drizzled over the top - absolutely delicious sitting in the cockpit and watching the full moon coming up over les Tours.
A fitting end to our stay here because tomorrow morning we are heading a further 20 miles south to Touho from where hopefully we'll be able to sail out to Ouvea (60 miles) if the wind angle is right. Otherwise the options are to go further south in the lagoon or just to tack over to Ouvea. We'll assess it more closely later in the week.
Lotsaluv from us
www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com

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