Native Rotuman Monkey (Sauleiphyllus Humanous)
I have had a query about the lack of surf stories. Well the bad news is that I am actually, you guessed it, too busy. I never thought that those few words would ever cross my sun kissed lips, but alas it is true. I went and had a look at the point break that is closest to our village, and just happened to turn up at the right time to see it firing. OUCH! The only reason I went to have a look at it was because it just happened to be near a stand of trees that I am going to fell next week.
Talking about trees, I have now cut down a shite load of trees, none of which are for the house, but for people who have asked as a favour. Its not all one way they also happen to own the land that the trees that I want are on. People have such a different attitude to trees than what we do. Everyone that I have approached that owns land with trees on it that I want, have all said go for your life, in regards to cutting them down. People are very kind and have not asked for any payment or anything at all in return for their assets. Even the guy who owns the Mahogany tree didn’t want anything, I had to convince him that it was a good idea that I pay him. By the way this tree is huge! I am now waiting for the moon to be in its dark cycle, which should be at the end of next week and then I will cut down a heap of trees for the building. A Fijian guy who cuts trees down for a living told me to cut the tropical trees down at this time as the insects that go for the trees are dormant at this time of the moon cycle. I will cut down about a dozen trees, one of which is about 1.5 metre in diameter. This one is a hefau tree {Callophylum inophyllum}, which apparently is worth a fortune overseas, especially in Hawaii.
The work has been going very well. We are very close to finishing the retaining wall, but unfortunately have to go back to the bush to get more rocks {very hard work}. I have finished the workshop and next week will start slabbing my first tree, which conveniently is right next door, literally and so therefore all my tools are close at hand if I need to make any adjustments to the chainsaw mill. My 2 other cousins arrived on the boat about 2 weeks ago. This now fills out our work crew to myself, Rigamoto {73 yr old work horse, hard as nails], Gagaj Veu[same school, similar age], Romana[his son, who is my age], Jione [big and strong], Mangel[even bigger and stronger], and finally Fernando[young, smart arse but works hard with a bit of physical cajoling]. There will be photos. Every Sunday we have a little meeting and plan out what will be done in the following week. We have 5 months to finish the lot and I am feeling quite confident that it will all be achieved on time.
The workshop
Building site, only retaining wall in view by the water, the rusty sheds to the right are going
Retaining wall in progress
Retaining wall close to being finished
The fishing has been going great. It now serves 2 purposes for me. The first is to provide food for all of us, and usually several of the surrounding families, and also its become my replacement for surfing. I usually go twice a week. Saturdays I go with my cousin Rupeni and Joe and we usually go net fishing. We are gone for most of the day and usually come back with around 150 fish. In the middle of the week I go spearfishing off the edge of the reef. This is my favourite as it is a little bit more challenging and I also am floating out in the middle of the sea, beautiful. Last time I went I was followed by 2 small reef sharks, saw a huge Manta ray and 2 massive parrot fish about the size of a motorbike. Last time I was here, Shane and I went spearfishing at night with other guys and caught 3 of them. I could only just pick one of them up.
I will take more photos, I promise. Photos of some of the trees before I cut them down, the finished workshop, and the retaining wall. Robbie arrives next week , should be a massive shock to his system. Gay man from the Eastern suburbs arrives in the 3rd world. Good luck!! I will try to be a bit more proactive with my blog entries from here on in. Take it easy and I hope people are surfing for me in this time of drought.
Carlos...
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