Thursday 22nd Jan - 28th Jan

Thursday 22nd January

Apparently our container might be delivered tomorrow.  It’s full of things we haven’t seen since the 8^th December.  We are quite beside ourselves with excitement.

Friday 23^rd January

Schools

Both children start school on Monday.  Something they are viewing with a little trepidation.  They are both really keen to meet other children their own age.  When they start school it will feel less like we are on a prolonged holiday, reality will kick in.  It’s a really difficult time, both children were very happy in their schools and were thriving.  Taking them away from that has been a tough choice and one that we hope will be positive for both of them.

We visited both schools today.  The primary school is similar in size to the one Anna attended in the UK.  The general vibe we got was lovely and the staff we met were very welcoming.   The senior school is bright and modern.  We were shown around by the music teacher who was full of really useful information.  The total number of students at the senior school is around the same as a single year intake at Maya’s previous school.  We are really hoping that the smaller class sizes will mean more focussed teaching rather than an easier gig for the teachers.

Container

It’s here!!!!  We got back from the school visits to see a big blue box being lifted onto our front lawn.  Oh, the excitement.   We dropped everything and ran to see it.  The man in charge of delivery lives opposite, his name’s Mark, what a lovely way to meet the neighbours. 

There was much nervous anticipation about opening the doors.  Would our possessions have been smashed to sticks on the high seas?  To Matt’s eternal delight, we opened the doors to find that nothing had moved!  Absolutely nothing.  Memories of Paul and Matt scratching their chins while finding the best thing to fit in each spot flooded back. 

Saturday 24th Jan

Pottery Class

I went to a pottery class during the afternoon.  A visiting potter was putting on a free workshop on pinch pots and hand building pots.  The chat before the class began was brilliant.  We were in the Geography room at the senior school and one of the school displays asked which headstone to choose.  It started a very funny discussion about memorials and what would last best (granite apparently.  Don’t choose limestone, it weathers too quickly). 

Most of the attendees were Falklanders and had tales to tell.  The best one which led on from the talk about gravestones was about an unburied corpse in West Falkland.  Forgive me for any inaccuracies in this story.  Many years ago a sick man rode out to see the Doctor in Fox bay but never arrived, several days later his horse arrived back home without him.  It was years before he was discovered.  His skeleton remains unburied on the hillside where he fell.  He is often visited by passing walkers, sat next to and talked to while walkers rest and have a cuppa. 

The pottery class was fun but it was another of those ‘How difficult can it be?’ situations.  Answer: very difficult.  My creations looked like they had been made by a dysfunctional toddler.  Apparently they will be fired and glazed.  Once this is done we will be able to bring them home (or smuggle them in through the front door, out through the back and into the darkest recesses of the garage).

Sunday 25^th Jan

Today I have been mostly putting together Ikea furniture. 

No missing bits, everything went together well and we are starting to turn the house into a home.  The house is very messy with packing paper and bubble wrap everywhere.  Nothing broken so far.  I have decided that I am officially awesome at packing.  It’s such a shame that I hate packing so much.

There have been waves of differing emotions as things have been moved into the house.  Some things brought back memories of our home in the UK and all we have left behind.  There is still a keen sense of loss lurking about in my head which surfaces from time to time, often without warning, catching me broadside. 

Mainly though, as we fill the house with our things, the prevailing emotion is joy.  It’s lovely to have our things at last.  I have clothes!!!  We have a cheese grater!  We have decent sized pans and a toaster.  Weird things to be joyous about I know but there we are.  The main thing for the children was that the container meant Christmas. 

Santa had made a cursory visit at Christmas but he’d put most of the presents into the container, as had Granny and Grandad.  Anna’s birthday presents had also been packed.   We had a great afternoon tearing off birthday and Christmas wrapping.  We skyped both sets of grandparents to share how we were feeling.  It was a lovely day.

Monday 26^th January

School part 2

Last night it hit the children that they were going to a school where they didn’t know many people. For Anna, to go to a new school after being at a school where she’d been so happy and known (some of the staff had been with her class since reception, she’d been at playgroup with most of her class) was really daunting.  However, she had been assigned as a guide, a girl we had met and that Anna had really liked. 

Maya saw it was a chance to get to meet other girls her own age but was nervous about her reception as a new girl.  She’s found it hard as there are so few girls here her age, and she really misses her lovely friends in the UK.

School Run

I’m not used to doing a school run.  In the UK we had school buses which stopped on the drive.  All I had to do was make sure I was there to see them onto the bus and be around when the bus dropped them back at the end of the day.  The school run here is a shocker.

We have one car.  Matt starts work at 8am, Maya starts school at 8.25, Anna at 9ish.  Lots of 

loitering.  Both school and work finish at 12pm.  Matt goes back at 1pm, the girls at 1.25pm.  Anna finishes at 3.30pm and Maya at 4pm so, more loitering.  That’s a lot of to-ing and fro-ing.  Matt finishes at about 5pm.  We need a system or I will go insane quite quickly.  It’s all walking or cycling distance when it’s not pelting with rain or blowing a spectacular gale.

Both girls had a good first day.  I hope it continues.

Tuesday 27^th

Waterfront Café

I met a friend for coffee for the first time since we arrived.  What a breath of fresh air, what a lovely break from moving furniture!  We had a really good talk and at one point one of the staff came over to see if we were ok.  We were enjoying our conversation so much we hadn’t realised how loud and animated we had become.  A funny start to what I hope will be a great friendship.

The Waterfront is a lovely café/wine bar/restaurant with views over the harbour.  I can imagine going there quite regularly.

Wednesday 28^th Jan

We had heard rumours of a king penguin on one of the local beaches so after school we bundled into the car to Yorke Bay.  We had a quick walk about but there were only Megellanic ones to be seen.

Sunday 18^th

A lazy day due to the weather (wind and lots of rain).  We keep being reassured that the weather is unseasonably bad and that it isn’t normally like this.  Apparently there is fine weather to come with temperature reaching 22c! 

HMS Dragon had left by the time we woke up, having set sail during the night so there was an empty space where we hadn’t expected it.  We decided to brave the weather to go to the sand dunes again.  It was still wild and windy there which cut short our trip. 

Driving

Apparently most of the children in Camp can drive reasonably well by the time they are 10.  The girls met some children at the Thatcher reception who were talking about their driving skills.  Maya has been pestering us since then. 

We caved in on Sunday at the dunes and gave Maya her first go behind the wheel.  She enjoyed it a lot.  Her aim is to be able to drive properly before we go back to the UK.  We may have to explain that driving a land rover off road isn’t the same as driving a small car on the road in the UK.

Monday 19^th

Government House

Our first reception at Government House hosted by the Governor.  I squeezed into my one good dress again, and made myself presentable.  It was a reception to encourage scientific collaboration between organisations here and in South America.  There were some fascinating people there.  It was good to be able to say hello to some familiar ones too. 

The House itself is beautiful.  Inside there are many, many photos and portraits of the Royal Family.  My favourite part is the glasshouse which runs along the front of the house.  It’s like a very miniature version of the Palm House at Kew and probably it’s contemporary looking at the design of it (although it’s technically a lean to).  It was just marvellous to walk into a humid, earthy smelling green environment. 

Tuesday 20^th

We went swimming and spent 2 hours there.  I asked if I could leave the girls in the pool while I got out.  Apparently as they are both over 10, they can take themselves there whenever they want.  So I left them there!

I walked home alone and left the girls to follow whenever they felt like it.  The freedom children have here is wonderful.  Later on in the evening, they decided to go for a run along the shore.  Matt and I went to the supermarket while they went out for an hour.  The girls are loving the freedom they have and regularly take themselves off.  Can’t wait until the container arrives and they have their bikes.

We met the Governor at the supermarket doing a quick shop.  We had a chat and then carried on shopping.  His dog was sat in his car waiting for him.  It’s the most beautiful Welsh Springer Spaniel I have ever seen.  We are missing Pippin terribly.

Wednesday 21^st Jan

Summer

Summer has arrived.  Shorts have been donned.  Longs will be donned before going to the beach though as the wind still whips the sand about.  We went to Surf Bay and there were people playing in the sea!  It was positively hot in the shelter of the dunes.  So this is what people have been talking about.  Summer does happen here.

It’s like that awful American song ‘Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda’ The rain has stopped and suddenly all the children are out playing on the street.  We went around for coffee at a neighbour’s this morning (someone we met at the reception on Monday Eve) and our kids seem to have hit it off.  They were called for this afternoon and I’ve only seen them to dispense glasses of squash.

Anniversary of British Possession

Wednesday 21 January 2015 - marks the 250th anniversary of the British possession of the Falkland Islands. Although there were earlier sightings and landings by British and other explorers, it was on 21 January 1765 that Commodore Byron landed on Saunders Island, off West Falkland, and claimed the archipelago for the British crown. – Quoted from the F.I. Association.

There are flags EVERYWHERE.  There is a house in the middle of Stanley with a Union flag painted on the roof.  It covers the whole roof.  There is a curious tug between Britishness and being a Falkland Islander.  Stanley is surprisingly multicultural with a mix of St Helenian, Chilean, Brits and native Falkland Islanders.  For the most part, the majority of the long term population are proud to be British but prouder to Falkland Islanders.  There is a little resentment that bubbles away about contract workers who come over for a couple of years.  I haven’t encountered it but I know it exists.

There will be celebrations happening all over the place during the week, I’m sure we’ll be celebrating at at least one of them.

Thatcher

Mark Thatcher was on our flight having flown down the Falklands to unveil a memorial bust of his mother on Thatcher Drive.  There were lots of events lined up, many of which were hampered by the weather, but there was an event for the community with free bar and food.  We went along, seeing it as a way to meet new people. 

There were raised eyebrows about Mark Thatcher’s chequered history (and muttered comments about how he became a Knight of the Realm despite £12 million arms deals, attempted coups in Guinea etc).   Among many native and long term residents, Maggie is seen with gratitude and reverence, so people were able to overlook the reputation of her son. 

As we left, the party was really getting going as a result of the liquid refreshment on offer.

Sunday

Sand dunes

Close to Gypsy Cove there is an area of sand dunes.  They are huge, precipitous and amazing fun to charge about in!  To drive to them you have to go off road.  This combination is absolutely irresistible to both children and adults.  We went there on Sunday morning and spent a good while playing hide and seek and lurkey 123.  The trick is to disguise your tracks by going through vegetation or by walking in existing footprints.  It was amazing fun with stealth tactics, flying leaps and tackles to prevent others reaching the base first.  

The drive across to the dunes was great fun too, seeing what exactly we could get the car to do.  Hope I’m not becoming a petrol head.  There are minefields there which mean that access to the beach is again impossible.  It's a bit annoying as there are lovely Gentoo penguins on the beach.

The signs are very explicit in their warning.

Gentoos

In the afternoon we popped over to a neighbours house for tea and cake.  The children disappeared off with Nerf guns and we had a good talk about life here and soaked up lots of tips from our lovely hosts. 

Monday

We went swimming in the spotlessly clean very warm pool.  There were 6 of us in the pool and a fantastic assortment of pool toys for the children to use.  We had a lovely hour playing, swimming and floating about before going home to try to configure our internet hub.

When we bought the box I was offered the opportunity to have the box configured for me for £30.  I thought how difficult can it be to configure a wireless hub?   Can’t be that hard. 

It turned out that it was quite difficult indeed.  Matt had a try when he got back from work.  He agreed that it was quite difficult too.

Tuesday

Back to the telecom place to get them configure the box.  Sometimes paying someone to do something is the best approach.  It only took them 10 minutes.  

We were too early for our swimming session so we went to the library.  The library is amazing, has current and interesting books, a great Y.A. section and the best selection of DVDs I've seen for ages.  As with everywhere here, the views from the windows are great.  I took out a book I've been wanting to read for ages.  H for Hawk.  It is located mainly around Cambridge, the descriptions of the landscape make me feel nostalgic for home.  It’s a beautifully written book.

Swimming was again lovely.  Lots busier and good fun but we had to leave early for Anna to have a haircut.  By this time I was getting twitchy, I was keen to get back home to see if the internet worked.  Sad isn't it?  But after a week without it and with so much happening, we felt a little adrift without it.  Thankfully it was.  I've spent much of my time since writing this blog and trying to get it up to date.

Food

We had sushi for dinner.  We made hand rolls with toothfish cheeks and they were absolutely delicious.  Toothfish is caught off the Falklands and is cheap in comparison with other things (small punnet of tomatoes £4.99 etc…).  We’ve realised that in order to get in our 5 a day, frozen fruit and veg is the answer.  There will be no bananas available until the end of January when there will be space on the LAN flight.  The tourist season means that space on flights is taken by people rather than fresh fruit and veg.  A lot of fresh produce is grown by market gardeners at Stanley Growers but they can’t grow everything.  Many gardens have poly tunnels so a lot of people grow their own.

Calm

During the day the wind had dropped and by evening it was flat calm with not a breath of wind.  We walked down to the sea and along the shoreline.  The sea was like a mirror, the steamer ducks and oyster catchers on the shore were the only things moving.  It was mind-blowingly beautiful.  I took so many photos.  It doesn’t get this calm very often so it was a real treat to experience it and to record it in pictures.

Our house is just behind the yellow roof and the local pub is the white building with the green roof.

Wednesday

We went swimming again…2 hours this time.  We seem to time our attempts to visit the museum here badly and still haven’t managed to go.  Instead, we went for a walk along the sea poking about in the shallows for interesting shells and bits of sea glass and generally mooching about.

Thursday

Reindeer.

As part of the restoration of South Georgia Island, there have been eradication projects undertaken to rid the island of both rats and reindeer.  Both of whom have a negative impact on diversity of the flora and fauna.  The rats got there by jumping ship, the reindeer were taken there by whalers as food.  Both species proliferated with the rats decimating the ground nesting bird population and the reindeer ravaging the tussock grasses and lichens.

As a result of the reindeer removal some have come here to be farmed and some are culled, frozen and shipped as meat.  The Chief Executive of South Georgia popped in last night to deliver a leg of reindeer which we had bought from him.  We had a fascinating conversation about South Georgia and about making the most of living here (over a beer of course).  He had to go home to saw the reindeer leg in half as it was too big to fit into our freezer.   

We need 4 things now.  

1: A chest freezer should more of this bounty come our way 

2: Decent recipes 

3: Our barbeque 

4: A barbeque with lots of hungry people in attendance.

Friday

It was very stormy today.  Too stormy for the cruise ship passengers to get into Stanley on launches.  Too windy at points to stand still.  Apparently the weather is unseasonably bad for the time of year, and it’s meant that we haven’t been out and about as much as we would have liked.  Hailstones really hurt when they hit you at over 30mph.

We did time it right today for the museum.  It’s amazing.  We watched a film about the invasion in 1982 made from the Islanders point of view.  It must have been absolutely terrifying.  The hardship, trauma and damage caused by the conflict hadn’t really registered with me until then.  We left the museum with huge respect for those who had lived through it.

We spent most of our time in the area dealing with the conflict, but it’s only a small part of the museum.  They have Shackleton’s actual hut there!  It’s a good thing that we’ve now got annual museum membership as it will take about a year to see everything.

Saturday

After having a little too much fun at a very lovely cocktail party in Friday evening, we had a slow start.  At around lunchtime we went with the children to go and look around HMS Dragon (a naval destroyer which has dropped anchor in the sound).  The launch trip out to it was bracing, a little kill or cure, as the sea was far from flat calm.  Matt and were due back on board later that evening to a VIP reception.

One of the launches ferrying visitors too and fro

Stanley from the launch

It was great fun on the launch, spray everywhere and lots of bouncing about.  The ship tour was really fascinating; we learnt about all the guns and bombs and we sat in the driving seat of the helicopter!  There was a seal sunning itself on the Jetty as we left and it was still there when we returned

The reception on board later that evening was great.  Jugs of gin and tonic greeted us together with lots of beautifully turned out naval officers.  All of whom had been to charm school.  Beards everywhere.  Our second tour of the ship was really interesting but not as comfortable in our posh clothes.  It was a bit bracing.  The seal was still on the jetty when we came back.  It has an amazing capacity for lazing about.

I just wish our container was here as I only have one posh frock and with all the socialising, it’s getting a little too snug and a little over worn.  Apparently it will be here in a fortnight.

Falkland Islands

First impression – bleak and wild.   After a complete scrum to retrieve our mass of luggage we fought our way out and were met by Keith (the government Chief Executive) who had really kindly taken time out of his day to drive the 45 mins to Mount Pleasant from Stanley to pick us up. 

I think Mount Pleasant has been named with a hint of sarcasm as it isn’t on a mount and it isn’t…

Mount Pleasant to Stanley

The journey to Stanley was along partly paved and gravel roads.  The types of roads out of Stanley in ‘Camp’ (from the Spanish ‘campo’ meaning countryside) mean that having a 4x4 is absolutely essential.  If you want to get to really isolated spots then a Defender is the only sensible option.  This is a place where seeing a normal family hatchback is a novelty. 

The landscape was mountainous on one side with sheep dotted about here and there and peaty streams tumbling over rocks, and on the other side tidal lagoons where the peaty streams slip into the sea.  It’s a really beautiful landscape still scarred and weathered by the ice age.

New Home

Our new house isn’t very pretty from the outside although we do have a row of wind sculpted trees along the left boundary and a low hedge of stunted hebes on the other.  Much garden potential if we had years to develop topsoil and lots of money to spend on it.  The soil is a thin layer of peat over gritstone. In other words, a challenge.

The house is warm, spacious (until our furniture arrives) and very light.  The windows are large and the views simply stunning.  We look over the Narrows across to stony peaks of hills beyond.  It’s wild and I’ve been told, very similar to the landscape on the Shetland Isles.  It has the potential to be a very comfortable family home.

We had a foretaste of the kindness of people here.  There was salad, milk, bread and butter in the fridge and pizza in the freezer; biscuits, tea and coffee in the cupboard.  One of Matt’s colleagues had popped in to make sure we settled in well and had not only left us the normal welcome pack but a complete meal too.

After dropping our bags and the children spending half an hour charging around the house exploring we headed out to Surf Bay.  It’s our nearest sandy beach, about 5 a minute drive away in the car Matt had bought when he was here back in November. A Land Rover – what else???

Surf Bay

If this beach was anywhere warm it would be packed with tourists.  The bay is a perfect sweep of white sand backed by a row of sand dunes.  The sea is crystal clear.   It’s also quite windy.

When we were there the sea was thundering onto the beach and the sand was constantly moving.  Petrels wheeled overhead and little birds picked about on the beach.  It was bitterly cold so we hurried back to the car and on around the headland to Gypsy Cove.

Gypsy Cove

Another perfect sweep of white sand but this time inaccessible.  The beach is fenced off.  Minefields surround the beach, laid by Argentine troops during the 1982 conflict as they expected the British to land there.  Many minefields have been cleared over the years but this one hasn’t.  It may be strategic as the beach is important to Megellanic Penguins who nest and raise their young there.  It keeps the beach tourist free for the penguins.  The tourists get a good view though and there is a lovely walk around the rocky headland.  We took the path and were really amazed to find penguins on either side of the path near their burrows eyeing us with curiosity.

It’s the time of year that the penguin chicks fledge so we had the delight of seeing chicks peering out of the tunnels at us.  They aren’t particularly wary of people so we were able to get quite close.  A cold squally shower forced us back to the car and to our new house to warm up.

Our Neighbourhood

We are on a hillside which drops down to the sea.  We have neighbours.  It is a novelty to us, and many of Matt’s colleagues live nearby.  We are about 2 minutes walk away from a shop, The Narrows bar and the sea.  When driving it is considered polite to wave or acknowledge other drivers.  It’s a lovely custom and one we’d encountered before when staying in Connemara in Ireland and also on Ascension.  It does get a bit tiresome when the roads are busy at the start and end of the day and during the lunchtime exodus when most people go home for lunch.

Friday

Our first proper day here and Matt’s first day back at work.  The weather was beautiful, windy but warm and sunny. We spent most of the morning unpacking and getting organised.  It was such a relief to finally unpack and stop moving.  We were overwhelmed by the kindness of our friends and family who put us up and let us borrow their houses, but to finally know that the journey was over was tremendous.  We spent the afternoon mooching around gift shops and drinking the most wonderful hot chocolate at the Bittersweet Café.  It was lots of fun.

We met Matt at a hotel bar for drinks with his colleagues before going home for dinner.  It’s mid -summer here so it doesn’t get dark until about 10pm.  We decided to go back to Gypsy cove and to do a circular walk around a headland.   

Penguins were out in force as were Rock Shags and Blackish Oystercatchers.  We were keeping a close lookout for seals who are often seen basking on the rocks.  Unfortunately there weren’t any seals about but we did see dolphins!  Just off the shore poking about in the kelp were two Commersons’s Dolphins.  We watched them as they seemed to swim alongside us for a bit before returning to deeper water.  It was magical.

Saturday

Awoke at 6am and sat in the lounge while everyone else slept.  I sat in our lounge watching a cruise ship gliding past into Stanley.  Apparently the population of Stanley doubles during cruise visits with up to 2500 tourists coming ashore.  Another one came too but had to moor outside the Narrows as it was huge, much larger than the first one, more of a floating block of flats.  It needed much deeper berth in which to anchor.  We watched as little orange craft ferried passengers to and from the ship all day.

It began to rain, and oh my how it rained.   We felt so sorry for those who came ashore.  Wind, rain and little visibility, the impression of those visitors on their one day at the Falkland Islands must have been tainted by the miserable weather.

Green Mountain 

This is the highest part of Ascension and has the largest man created cloud forest in the world.  Apparently Darwin helped to introduce new species of plants to the summit of this barren island in the hope that plants would help to create a way to attract water, clouds and precipitation.  It worked, the summit of this lovely mountain is a jungly mass of plants.  It was amazing to wander among banana plants, giant bamboo and wild ginger and to look down across a barren moonscape (NASA used the surface of Ascension to test out lunar landing craft in 1971 as it’s so similar to the moon) to the sea.

On each walk there is a letterbox hidden away containing its own unique stamp.  The idea is that you stamp your notebook with one on each walk.  There are over 20 to collect.  We only managed 4.   It was quite lucky that the day we did the Elliot Pass walk that is was enveloped in cloud as some of the drops are apparently huge.  Ignorance sometimes is bliss.  

There are still so many more walks and things to see though.  We felt as if we were walking in the Garden of Eden.

MPS

On Wednesday there was much bustle as the MPS (mailship) docked.  It brought supplies from South Africa and passengers from St Helena (I had lemon in my G and T that evening!).  Our new friends from the hotel were all leaving on the boat that evening for their 3 day voyage to St Helena.  There is an airport being built on St Helena at the moment so this will be one of the very last voyages the MPS makes.  It’s the end of an era which some welcome and some are sad about.  It was with good reason that the British imprisoned Napoleon there.

We went to the pierhead to wave off our friends as they were ferried to the ship and then went to the beach to wave off the ship.

Turtles

During the day, strange tracks and deep depressions could be seen in the sand.  If you looked out to sea, little heads could be seen popping up for breath.  All evidence that it was turtle nesting season.  We had timed our trip perfectly.  The female turtle lays her eggs on the same beach through her life, travelling from the coast of Brazil where the feeding grounds are and returning to breeding grounds off Ascension to mate and lay her eggs.

We were staying a 5 minute walk away from the most important nesting beach.  On our last evening, after dinner we walked down to the beach and sat on the storm ridge waiting for female turtles to emerge from the surf.  As we waited, the moon rose and we were able to clearly see the beach.  After doing this for a long while, we decided to walk along the beach to find tracks to follow. 

When looking for nesting turtles it is really important not to disturb them as they get spooked and head back to sea jettisoning their eggs and wasting loads of energy.  

We crept along, talking in very low whispers making sure we were down wind and weren’t casting shadows on nesting turtles. We did eventually spot one nesting and laying her eggs.  With stealth and care we managed to crawl to within a metre of her.  

It was amazing to be so close to such a large creature, she was about 1.5 metres long and so peaceful.  We watched spellbound for about an hour as she dug the sand and distributed her eggs before we headed back to the hotel.  Matt waited with her as she covered up her nest.  He got some lovely photos of her on the way back to the sea.  It was an amazing experience.   It was completely unforgettable and a real privilege.

Ascension to Falkland Islands

Back to the airport at 6.15am for the flight at 10am.  3 hours in the cage in 30 degree heat, onto a cool plane and off at Mount pleasant 8 hours later into 4 degrees and horizontal rain!  The flight was again full and the staff were again brilliant so we felt reasonably fresh as we got off the plane.  Only to feel even fresher as the gale force winds buffeted us on the way to the terminal.  The staff at both Ascension airport and at Mount Pleasant were again lovely, with the laid back but efficient attitude we love and have become used to.

Falkland Islands 8th January

First impression – where’s all the green gone?  After a complete scrum to retrieve our mass of luggage we fought our way out and were met by Keith (the government Chief Executive) who had really kindly taken time out of his day to drive the 45 mins to Mount Pleasant from Stanley to pick us up.  

Brize Norton to Ascension Island

Brize Norton to Ascension

We left Cambridge with a minibus full of luggage and heads swirling with emotion.  Not knowing what to expect even at the airport.  The past few weeks had been so physically and emotionally exhausting. Arrival at the base meant saying goodbye to Rez, our lovely taxi driver who had driven us there and waiting in the cold and mist for an RAF minivan to transport us to the terminal.  I think ‘basic but reasonably efficient’ best sums up our experience at the terminal.  One shop come café a, tired seating area and a 3 hour wait between check in and take off.

The flight.

 The flight was full, apparently, this is highly unusual.  It was smooth and the crew were much more efficient and friendly than commercial flights.  Brand new plane too, which was nice.  Everything was very blue and grey.  But there it is, it’s the ‘air bridge’ run on behalf of the MoD and the main way to get civilians and military to both Ascension and the Falkland Islands.  No frills but with a charm all of its own.

Ascension Island

After a 10 hour flight we arrived on what seemed at first sight to be a barren volcanic island thousands of miles from the nearest land.  It was surreal to step out onto the runway into a hot bath of tropical air.  Instead of spending 2 hours in what is affectionately known as ‘The Cage’ before departing on the 2^nd leg of the flight, another 8.5 hours to Mount Pleasant F.I., we had decided to have a 3 day holiday on Ascension Island.  Somewhat dazed and completely shattered we were transported along with our collective 12 items of luggage to the Obsidian Hotel in Georgetown.

The Obsidian Hotel

The hotel room was basic (youth hostel/Butlins basic) but clean and sporadically air conditioned.  What made our stay at the hotel were the people.  At lunch we met other equally dazed people fresh from the UK.  Most were waiting for the MPS (mail ship) to take them on the final leg of their journey to St Helena; a 3 day boat journey away.  We met 2 other families moving abroad for 2 year stints and for the first time, we were able to share our myriad of feelings with others in the same situation.  It was so good to laugh and compare notes.  It was especially great for the children to find other children doing exactly the same thing, it normalised what they’d been through.

Over meals at the hotel, we got to know many fascinating people, all with tales to tell.  With the island being so small, we bumped into them when we were out and about too, adding to the sense of community on the Island.

Food at the hotel was unexpectedly lovely, and the staff so laid back and kind.  Relaxation was made very, very easy.  We slowed down to Island pace where no-one rushes, everyone chats, no doors are locked and keys are left in car ignitions.  24 hours into our stay we asked if there was a key to our room as we’d just been leaving the door unlocked but were curious to know.

Ascension Island

It’s a 1 million year old tip of a volcano strewn with the debris of 1000 year old further explosive eruptions.  Pyroclasts and fumaroles all over the place.  It’s mainly barren and rocky until you start to look properly.  We had rented a car, so we did look properly and found that 3 days wasn’t enough time! 

Highlights : Beaches, Green Mountain, Turtles. 

Things we need to go back to do: Green Mountain again and again, beaches again and again, turtles as we want to see the babies, more ‘Letterbox walks’, visit to Boatswain Island to see boobies (!) and frigate birds, more relaxation and tropical heat.

Beaches

It’s quite dangerous to swim off most of the island due to strong currents and undertow.  There are two beaches deemed safe, English Bay and Comfortless Cove.  

In stark contrast to the black and rust coloured landscape by the coast, the beaches are amazing.  Azure sea lapping at white sand, the sea teeming with tropical fish.  We spent much of our time snorkelling and gazing at the fish.  It was magical.  To get into water deep enough to snorkel we had to wander through shoals of baby swordfish and beautiful but quite large black and blue fish.  Once out in deeper water and nearer the rocks, there were loads of other types of fish all going about their business and completely oblivious to us. 

Lazing on the beach was good too.     To be continued...