It’s my birthday and so it rains!

We’ve been having some pretty turbulent weather here the last couple of weeks which has led to angry ocean side views and A LOT of rain! But it’s still very, very warm and on the days after the rain it’s actually hotter!

 

You can see from the photo that my previous comments about the rubbish situation in Tuvalu being ‘disappointing’ are justified! That is a car and its engine... that were dumped on the beach and are now getting battered by scary big rage waves!

I also said I’d take more real photos so here is one of the largest borrow pits I’ve previously mentioned.  The corrugated iron roofed structures you can see in this shot are just a few of this country’s pig pens!

 

As most of you lovely people will know, another one of my birthdays has come and gone and I have seen in the last year of my twenties! This year instead of drunken camping or weekends away by the seaside I had a picnic on a desert island, two cakes, three coconuts (in all stages of edible-ness), a few beers (had to be done), some weird karaoke, a lot of rain, and some star gazing!! 

About 12 of us headed over to Tepuka which is an island on the far side of the lagoon that I visited on my first weekend here.  We had an amazing picnic with a freshly caught fish and some dubious sausages, and fresh papaya.  Sandra scaled a coconut/palm tree and got us some fresh coconuts as well! It was a good feast! There was also lots of playing in the water and the sand with Rex and Maggie, who are children of an Aussie couple living here and working for the Red Cross, especially when it started to rain (always rains on my birthday wherever I am!) when we all found it warmer lying in the shallow water rather than standing in the rain!  After the picnic I was presented with a stunning chocolate cake the handy work of Caitlyn and Sandra with chocolate jelly babies to spell out the 29! (That’s my best Magnum pose by the way – Joe can do better mine needs some work!!)

 

And a stonking sunset to end the day! All in all a birthday that I won’t forget anytime soon!!

 

Although the next big one is 30... oh and yeah I'll be married by then...