Cargo Ship

Yesterday I dropped off and waved good bye to friends that are moving

to Raiatea which is another island about 2h with the boat (3 if you go

with the cargo ship) from Bora Bora.

They took the cargo ship Taporo VII as they needed to ship over their

car as well. The boat takes only about 12 passengers, and there are no

luxury, such as chairs, on board but it's a cheap alternative to the

ferry boat. The car was packed from floor to ceiling, and only left

space for the driver to squeeze in!

We arrived in the middle of unloading the ship with random goods for

the people of Bora Bora. The interesting thing is that if there are no

ship, there will be no goods in Bora Bora. Let's just say, 1 week of

bad weather where the ships can't get here, and the grocery stores,

hotels, restaurants etc will not receive anything! I can tell you,

the grocery store gets empty fast!

Anyway, I was watching them unload and load the ship and I have to say

the guys were very fast and efficient! A few things amazed me though

while I was watching.

If you as a private person or a company are expecting anything to be

delivered, you better be there when the boat arrives! I'm not sure

about the organization, but I'm sure they got one. But there seem not

to be any kind of security. I mean, I could probably pick up anything

and walk off, as people are allowed to be where the goods are dropped

off! You would assumed that you have some kind of proof that you are

expecting something and that someone would check it off before you get

to take it! I didn't see anything of that! There must be a lot of

things "disappearing"!

Another thing that amazed me was when they were loading a small

truck on the boat. One like this!

They drove it up on a rectangular "base", and secured the truck with logs of wood 

behind and in front of the tires(!) and then they put 4 chains 

(one in each corner of the base) and lifted it up on the deck!

Wow!! Seriously!?! Pieces of wood, that's it?! But hey, it seemed to work!

Now I'm planning a trip to Raiatea, with Coco of course! 

They say they have painted lines on the road over there! 

How exiting! LOL!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

 

Swedes

I forgot, but yes, finally I met some fellow swedes on this island!

Of course I was overly excited, not sure why, but I guess it hasn't
gone this long before, without Swedish contact!

Me and some friends decided to head over to one of the hotels on the
main island for some cocktails, and we ended up at Maitai Resort, just
past Matira beach. We walked in to the beach restaurant and as I
passed a big table, I thought I heard Swedish from one of the guys. I
just stopped, turned and dove in to the table and asked with my
southern Swedish accent if they were from Sweden. And they were... And
8 of them!

Had a great chat with them and it turned out they were from
Gothenburg, where I have family!

Really nice people, and their advice was to put on a "Sweden" shirt to
attract more swedes, because they had already met another one! Still a
tourist though, so I still believe I'm the only swede living on the
island. So I guess I will have to put on my "Heja Sverige" (and that
means "Go Sweden!) tank top and head down to Vaitape, park myself
somewhere and just wait!

I really hope they had a good vacation here on the island!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Great idea!

Another weekend has passed and this one went by a little faster than
normal, as Daniel had to go back to work on Saturday morning to hand a
"warning" letter to one of his staff. Nothing too unusal! Then in the
afternoon/evening we watched two movies. Couples Retreat with Vince
Vaughn was funny, and best of all, it was filmed here in Bora Bora at
the St. Regis resort. Didn't show that much of the island, but you get
a good sence of how the resorts looks like! After that we watched
Sherlock Holmes. Great movie!

This Sunday afternoon I had a great idea. After a day of wind and rain
it finally cleared up and I thought a walk on the beach, while the sun
set, would be a perfect ending on a weekend with my two boys! So we
all got in the car and off we went, parked and started walking along
the beach.

We didn't get far until I realized it was a bad idea to bring Coco.
This island is not suitable for domistcated dogs! After maybe 10
meters the first dog showed up. Small one, not a big threath. Another
few meters, a mean looking pitbull, tied up, went off barking telling
Coco he would eat him for supper as soon as he got loose. By now, Coco
is flying down the beach, pulling like crazy on the leash, terriefied,
yet brave!

We pass more dogs, packs of dogs, huge dogs and cute dogs. After about
400 meters we decided to walk back to the car, on the road! About half
the walk we had to carry Coco as the other dogs looked at him as an
intruder.

What a great idea I had! Will never do that one again, that's for sure!

Now I'm smelling good food from the kitchen, and another movie in the
DVD player is loading! Not a bad ending on this weekend, after all!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

What grows in my Backyard?

As I have mentioned before, I live in a house on a big property with 5 (soon 6) houses. 

It's more or less a cleared area in the middle of the jungle with a dirt road leading up here!

The view is just extraordinary and from the house I can see Motu Toopua and Motu Tapu (motu = small island) and the Orient-Express property Bora Bora Lagoon Resort and Spa (BBLR). Unfortunately, they are still closed down since hurricane/cyclone Oli passed back in February.

Anyway, on the property random things (for me) are growing. And I get so excited! I know, I get excited easily, but growing up in Sweden, I barely knew what a papaya was, and now I can pick them from my own tree! We also have lime tree, pomelo and bananas! 

And it's so much better when it's super fresh!

  

My house on the property with Motu Toopua (the big one) and Motu Tapu (small one) across the lagoon

The coconut!

Coconut trees are everywhere. Here is one that is just starting to grow. 

Also, one of Coco's favorite toys!

Traditional Polynesian dish is raw fish marinated in coconut milk, by the way!

Pomelo tree. Can it be more fresh? I love this fruit 

Papaya! Plenty of it around here.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers?! 

Never see this one before, so I was extra excited when I found it!  

 

And bananas of course! 

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

The Golden Rule!?

We have a neighbor, and he's a doctor. He lives after "our" property,
on our way down the hill.

He's the doctor who will ask you when you make a visit to his offic,
no matter what's wrong with you, how many sick days you want your
paper to say!
And of course, he's a popular doctor, with an exception of the
employers!

Last night as I was driving down to Vaitape, I met him on the road.
The road only has space for one car, so if you meet someone, who ever
has the first opportunity to pull over will do so. At least, so I
thought!

When I saw the car I thought he would pull over by the house, and I
could pass, but he didn't pull over, and he didn't even try to get out
of the way. So I didn't either! He hangs out his car window and say
something, in an irritating voice. Then he yells at me that I can
pass! What?? No I can not pass! So he gets out if his car, all
frustrated, and shows me a path where my car would fit. So I had to
reverse and pull in so I was out of the way, literally.

Since he had an attitude problem from the get go, and he was not a
guest in a hotel where I work (usually I'm very professional, and have
plenty of experience of irrate guests) I had an attitude back and told
him I didn't see the path, which I sincerely didn't see. As he walks
back to the car, he screams some more.

And this is the part when I realized I had missed a huge golden rule
in life?! Or not! He screamed at me, that going up the hill you had
priority on the road!

I said (in a sarcastc way) "Thank you SIR, I was not aware if that
rule, but next time I know and I'll get out of your way!" Ass hole!

Seriously, did anyone know this? I feel like I missed out on something
huge!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Blue Pictures

I'm continuing posting pictures and

today's photo theme is blue! 

And there is plenty of blue around here!

The different blue colors of the water with the green mountain popping up is just amazing. 

You can really understand why they call this place Paradise! 

Below is a picture of the over water bungalows at Pearl Beach Resort

It was a cloudy day!

Here I am at Pearl Beach with the main island of Bora Bora behind me 

Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa

More bungalows

Here is the Presidential suite at the Hilton

Bora Bora Main island (Vaitape side)

Palm-tree lounging at the beach

At Matira Beach on the main island                                 

Pearl Beach

Small Motu's

Island Living

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Eclipse Pictures

So, I already told you about the solar eclipse we had in Polynesia! 

We got up really early on a Sunday (July 11-10) and headed over to the Hilton to have a great view.

We put on our glasses, and this is how cool we looked!

Plenty of people had gathered to watch (as you can see in the background) 

We almost got a full eclipse (94%)!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

What's cooking?

More photos!

Today I thought I would post some food pictures! 

We finally got the grill working (the home made one!). I just love grilling!

And it's great living with your own private chef!

I do lend a hand sometimes (with clear and strict directions!)   

Ah, home made spicy marinade on a steak, with veggie kebab and baked potatoes!

The table is set on the terrace!

Looks like dinner for 4, but as you can see, there are only two plates! 

Why share something delicious?! 

My lagoon fish that "grandma" caught on the beach!

It was great watching her. Wish I had pictures when she was in 

the water, fully dressed putting out the net!  

Cooked and ready to be eaten!

And, my Swedish Chocolate Balls!

I'm the pastry chef in this household!

Bon Appetite my friends!

Camilla

Pictures from the Heiva

Thought it was time to post a few pics..

This is from the Heiva Dance Competition that I wrote about a few 

weeks back. It wad Faanui (the group I saw) who took home the winning price 

this year again. And I can't stress enough how incredible these shows 

are. A must see if you ever get the chance!  

Not easy taking pics when they dance!

  

The Faanui group!

The guys are posing!

Me doing the tourist!

Cheers my Friends!

Camilla

The Cinema

We, obviously, don't have a cinema in Bora Bora, but we do have a
video shop where we probably are the biggest customers! Usually on
Saturdays we rent at least 4 movies to last the weekend! And as a
result, the selection is getting very slim! For example, I have
watched movies like "Death Race"!

However, last night our friends Olivier and Isabelle invited us over
for a "movie night". They have a projector and we got seated on their
terrace infront if the big screen with Foie Gras (yea, I ate my toast
with Nutella as I can't stand the texture of foie gras. I felt so
"grown up", not!) and wine (here I felt more "grown up"). The movie
which was playing was "Star Treak".

I can't say I'm a Star Treak fan, but I'm very open to watch new
movies (after all, I did watch Death Race!).

The movie was weird.. We all tried to follow what was happening as it
kept going back and forth in time and after 1 hour of playing it
started to replay some scenes.

When the movie was over we all stared at each other with big question
marks. What the hell was that?! Then Isabelle wanted to see something
at the beginning of the movie again, and suddenly there was a new
movie playing! We realized very quickly that the computer must have
been set on "shuffle" mode (like you shuffle your music on your
iPod!), picking random scenes! No wonder we were confused, because
when we rewatched the first hour of the movie, not only was it in
right order, but there were several scenes we didn't see the first
time that was kind of vital to understand the whole thing. Suddenly
the movie was logic!

At the end Star Treak was not bad, but I do reccomend to watch it in
"normal" mode! It's just easier to follow!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla