Oua Koué

I'd like to say we slept well, but no...no reason, just a bit fitful. However, sleep we did, cos at 7am the resort wake up ass clocked on. Yes, it is not every holiday resort offers this service, but here is a picture of hours. He (let's call him Jack) was about 20 metres from our room, not that we saw him last night, but we sure heard him, bang on 7am...

So, now we were awake, we decided it was time for a dip. We first jumped in the resort pool, but it was quite col so we walked the extra 5 metres to the beach. It is coarse grey sand, volcanic looking with pumice, coral and stones. The water was warmer and very nice. The beach is really steep, and drops off suddenly. I did see something long swimming underneath me, so I decided to hop out and get ready to move on!

We drove a little north, into the town of Hienghené itself...being Sunday, there was not a thing open, but we did see lots of locals in colourful dresses heading off to church. The is something very abundant in this country - churches and schools. Hienghené has outcrops arising from the water like volcanic plugs. Reminiscent of those at Phi Phi Island in Thailand.

From there, we headed back across the mountain range, the spine of the country.... Around 1pm, we found a petrol station that was finally open, and we were hungry. It was an awesome stop, as they had freshly baked crunchy husband-beater baguettes, and ham and cheese. Just what we wanted, so we found a picnic table, at the Province Nord Hotel de Ville - the local seat of government. Glorious! Armed with fresh juice, we were energized.

The weather came in though, as you could see, and the temperature dropped markedly. We headed slowly to our resort, stopping here and there. Stopped at the Baie de Tortes - Turtle Bay. It also had a strong surf, and deep rock pools at the waters edge that folks were swimming at. There were two local women on watch, again in their colorful dresses, who were on watch - life guards. The beach did have big warning signs - understandably , but ignored.

We then went to a point that overlooked the beach. Very pretty. Tired, cold and a little weary, we headed for our digs for the night - the Sheraton Resort Deva, at Poé. Huge, and we have an amazing room, with a bigger than king size bed. Haha.

Waiting for our golf buggy to come collect us for dinner now. It’s cocktail time!Read more