Holidaying in Mauritius!

This is your 6am wake up call - a 4 year old busting out a French song on the balcony, right outside your room. :D After brekky, Ali the taxi driver was ready to take me to the big smoke. - Curepipe (pronounced Cupid) Ali and I had a deal - free ride, plus lunch included.  The catch was I had to stay in these different stores for 5 - 10 mins so he earned some rupees. Thankfully we were both people of our word. It was all fun until the 10th store, argh! Along the way I added 2 new pieces to my magnet collection and finally got a black pashmina. I nearly got into a battle with a shop keeper about why I didn't need to spend $1000 on a cashmere scarf and jumper - I really wanted them but unfortunately not a need - boy was she fuming with me! Perhaps next time I shouldn't look like I'm having so much fun when trying them on. Upon arrival at the final store my enthusiasm was dipping, but the shop keeper was super friendly and had some fine jewelry to tempt me with... Out came the credit card.5 hours later it was time to head back home, with a quick detour at the once active volcano. Now the crater is covered with green foliage and lovely flowers.

The crater

Ali kindly agreed to rendezvous tomorrow to take me to the airport to pick up big brother and take us 50km+ up north. :) Dinner included a continuation of my seafood diet, crispy prawns and squid curry.

Big Brother Arrives!!!

A lazy morning and time filled by reading and surfing the net. By 11am I was on a bus coastal to Blue Bay. Thankfully the beach was deserted and I had time and space to burn myself into a crisp with the view of beautiful blue waters and white, soft sand. Little did I know 3 hours later and 10 chapters into my book I would look like a half crispy turkey ;) By 3:30 it was time to head home to stock up on supplies before big bro arrived. Spiderman bus 46, with its booming reggae music took me to the local market for my pineapple.

 I had to purchase pizza shapes, just like mum would at home on Christmas. After a freshen up I was at the airport compliments of Ali to pick up big bro by 5pm.  Within 10 mins of arriving he was at the gate.... Boy I was happy to see him after a year!!!!! Ali kindly took us an hour north to Pereybere, and persisted with our attempts to find our villa. Eventually we found it and settled in quick fast. The remainder of the night was spent catching up, laughing and consuming a few of the Mauritius delicacies. :)


Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!! One way to spend the morning is lazing around in bed, until Aaron came back with the basics for a delicious tomato and cheese roll. After chilling on the sofa watching news updates on BBC - poor Prince Phillip. We headed to town for Christmas lunch. Just what we planned, deep fried prawns, black bean beef, Ginger fish and fried rice. ;). From there we got a scooter and stopped at the local shops to make our Chrissy dinner purchase - 1.5kg chicken and 2kg of potatoes. Whilst waiting for the chook to defrost we went exploring on scooter about 10km north of Pereybere. We found a delightful beach, where we met the resident rat. The remainder of the evening was spent cooking dinner, consuming our fair share of roast potatoes and playing umpteen games of scrabble. I'm sure the stats are in my favour. :D

Boxing Day Scooter Exploration 

Fire alarm off at 5:30am - quick pick of the left over roast potatoes and back to bed. By 8am Aaron had consumed the remainder 1/2 kilo of roast potatoes and was ready to go exploring. First scooter stop Pereybere public beach - minus the Christmas crowds which made for a super relaxing start to the day.  From there south to Grand Bay and many more smaller towns on the 30km ride to the capital, Port Louis. Unfortunately the weather wasn't too accommodating further south and we made a detour up to mount la pourte. Lots of rain and no sign of a break based on the wall of dark grey clouds filling the majority of they sky led to us venturing back north towards the small patches blue skies in the distance. We exploring the centre making all attempts to avoid the mayhem of the big smoke. On the way back we found a secluded beach, near the town of Balaclava, which made a nice spot for a midday nanna nap. Lunch involved a good find in Grand Baie, where I was able to get my roti fix - lunch special $2 each, bargain!!! Another stop and a gorgeous beach, then it was home to chillout in the villa over a few games on the iPad.

 

Captivating Catamaran

Alarm clock set and off to Grand Bay to catch our catamaran to Ile Gabriel. We enjoyed a 2 hour ride out to a lovely secluded island. The swell was quite high and had some entertaining incidents with half of us already drenched without even going for a swim. Upon arrival we were greeted with crystal clear blue water, so clear we could admire what was left of the reef and the many colourful fish. Most of us jumped overboard and made and swam to the island. Th majority of the day was spent, swimming, reading, soaking up rays, eating, more reading, snorkeling and come 2:30pm time to head back to the big smoke.  By the time we got back we were all different shades of pink or red in some peoples case. :) That evening Aaron and I made a spontaneous decision to jump on the bus to Grand Baie, since nothing was happening in Pereybere once the sun vanished. All was quiet until we headed closer to the Banana club. Our evening involve a short encounter with some Very young, entertaining American sailors. One who particularly wanted to tell us everything about Toronto - to the zoo I must go! We met locals, Norwegians, Finlandish or should I say Finnish folk. The remainder of the evening was spent ripping up the dance floor with my new Mauritian chicks.  In the wee hours of the morning we tried to barter for a taxi but they drive a hard bargain, luckily a few Mauritians we meet kindly agreed to drop us home. Seriously super friendly island! :D

Views from Gabriel's Island