1:22 p.m. - 2003-04-10
Sunrise on homebrew
2003-04-10
Wednesday I went into town to buy my some black pearls. They are farmed on a nearby island and take about two years to form. I bought one for myself an assortment. I sent an unusual brown stripey one to Jami as I said I'd send him something from Rarotonga. Apparently they symbolise love, prosperity and good fortune. Which I think everybody needs a little help with!
In the evening everyone got blotto on this homebrew bought from an islander down the road. Me and my new 19-year-old friends started drinking at 5pm and played cards. Martin and Fynn were a couple of Leeds lads and I had a real giggle with them. I don't know what was in the homebrew but it had a strange effect on me and I didn't feel drunk; it kept me up until dawn. When we finally got chucked off the beach deck, most of the people from Vara's hostel went down to the beach to carry on partying and built a fire.
I don't know who's idea it was to wade out to the motu over the lagoon, to watch the sunrise, but me Fynn, Martin and my roommates; Claire and Rob were all up for it. Claire got chatting to some fella later and disappeared. So it was just the four of us. We were running low on fags so Martin, the cheeky sod, nicked Cockhead Ollie's (incredibly sloany, camp and condescending thespian) ciggies. We wrapped them in plastic bags and set off at 5am. I got to use my Maglite for the first time wading over the lagoon, trying to avoid stepping on the sea cucumbers. It took roughly 15 minutes to reach land. We cut through the middle and emerged onto the other side on a perfect stretch of beach with a fallen tree to sit on. We built a fire and drank the rest of the homebrew. I didn't feel drunk but very awake. As the sun came up the light was amazing, really silvery blue. It was such a great experience, especially as I was with three really chilled people.
Last night I ended up going out on the town with the same three and we went on a bar crawl. Claire was lazy and couldn't be arsed to hitch into town and stayed at the hostel. Part of me could have been lazy also, but I just knew that if we made an effort we would be rewarded. So after catching a ride with an Englishwoman, of all people, who lived on the island, we went on a bar crawl. There was nowhere decent to go, and the last place we went to was dead. Luckily, the DJ was playing a good mix of ska and reggae and we were the only bodies on the dancefloor. When the DJ played Sublime, Fynn went up to him to tell him what good tunes he was playing, the DJ asked "Do you smoke?" and gave Fynn some weed! Unbelievable, we'd been desperate for a smoke all week. So we caught the last bus back to Vara's, had a smoke on the beach and passed out listening to Bob Marley. I woke up at about 4am with the music blaring out of the speakers towards the stars and tucked the boys in under my tropical quilt and went to bed.
2003-04-11 - 1:22 p.m.
I spent my last day here chatting to Owen who works in the Internet cafe. He works about 70 hours a week in that little green hut. He can't even see the sea, let alone swim in it. I had nothing else to do and he looked bored stiff. He is from Auckland but is over looking after his sister and her kids or something. He read my palm and told me I'm going to have three kids, health problems and a big stress in the future. I reckon I know what the big stress will be - the three children. It's all bullshit anyway... I hope!
When I got back to Vara's I saw Richard who'd jumped off the deck the night before. There'd been another homebrew session and he was drunk and jumped off, landing badly on the beach below and biting through his bottom lip.
