Supply Ship day

Last Tuesday was supply ship day. Pitcairn receives supplies twice a year every six months via the Government chartered ship the ‘Claymore II’.

The Claymore loads up will all of the supplies for the island, such as provisions for the store, mail, building supplies, petrol, diesel, new fridges, washing machines etc at NZ. It departs NZ on a two week trip to Pitcairn. Once it gets here, it spends a day unloading, then heads off to Mangareva (an island in the outskirts of French Polynesia, in the Gambier Islands – closest airport to Pitcairn) At Mangareva, the Claymore picks up a load of passengers, and takes them back to Pitcairn – this is a two day trip. After passenger drop off, a load of people leaving Pitcairn are picked up and ferried to Mangareva. Then back to Pitcairn, and then back to New Zealand. Six months later, it does this all over again.

This ship is the only regular, reliable way to get to Pitcairn and its how I will be leaving in a weeks time (yikes!) It’s very expensive and (as you can see) is no cruise ship…

However, back to supply ship day. The ‘able bodied’ Pitcairners are divided into four main groups, a group to man the longboats, one group at the landing to unload the boats, one group at the warehouse for building supplies and the last group at the store.

Unloading the boat

There is a lot of stuff to unload and everyone helps out where possible, this is also considered ‘public work’ and is therefore mandatory for the islanders of working age.
Container delivery to the store

I spent the bulk of the day helping out at the store – any excuse to be around any sort of shopping, even if it is mostly just food stuffs! Most people place large orders privately via the store – when you can only get supplies once every six months, you tend to bulk buy. A large portion of my day was spent lugging around 20kg bags of potatoes, onions, flour, sugar etc sorting out who got what. Working some fancy maths when orders had fallen short, exhausting work on a very hot day.
The Store

Everything was unloaded by around 3.30pm, so off to the post office to collect Dad dads six months worth of mail. Next it was time to head down to the landing to see Darralyn off (one of the islanders heading over to NZ for some nursing training.) and it wasn’t long before the harbour was filled with bodies escaping the heat. A fitting finish to a busy day!

To Do Item 3 – My Daily Swim

I have managed to go swimming everyday except for two days.
My first excuse was because Daddad had me out foraging for bananas to trade with for a passing ship.
My second excuse was due to unsavoury weather…

However, every other day apart from those two, you’ll find me seeking relief from the heat in the crystal clear water down at the landing.


My swimming buddies

Overhead view of the harbour, or in this case, my swimming hole

Christians Cave and the Eco Trail

On my first Saturday morning, the day was sparkling and beckoning for me to get out there and explore! So I decided to head up to Christians Cave (known as Big Cave to locals – Pitcairners are real imaginative when it comes to naming places…)

Christians Cave is not really a cave as such, but more of a large opening in the cliff face. History says that’s where Fletcher Christian used to hide out from the rest of the population when all of the fighting started.

Before you start the climb, you get to walk along the Eco Trail. I found it very educational and quite interesting. Here are photos of the signs along the way, if you click on them, you should be able to read them if you are interested…









Next stop, Christians Cave. Its one heck of a climb, but the view up there is magnificent.

As you can see, I am a firm believer in appropriate footwear when climbing sheer rock face. I don’t think that this photo does justice to how steep it really was!

Once you are in the cave, you can get a fantastic view of Adamstown (Pitcairns capital and only town)

Can see my house from here!

The easiest (tho not necessarily safest) way back down is via a shortcut called ‘The Tunnel’. The tunnel is a vertical drop and the only way down (especially for someone of my meagre height) is to but your back against one rock face, jam your legs against the other and walk your way down.

From the bottom looking up at the tunnel. That really doesn’t look so bad, why are my knees still shaking??


This is a photo taken from the boat looking at Christians Cave from afar.

MS Amadea

On Thursday the German cruise ship Amadea stopped by for a visit. The radio started chattering around 7.30am with communications between the ship and the island organising ETA, good anchoring locations and that sort of thing.

Not long later, the bell started ringing five peals in a row to indicate that is was time for people to head down to Bounty Bay (or the landing) to get the longboat ready to head out to the ship.

Just a quick explanation on the bell:
There are a couple of large ships bells that are located in the middle of town. Back in the day when all locals lived in the centre of Adamstown, literally everyone could hear the bell if it was rung. So the bell was a means of communication ie, 5 rings meant ‘get down to the landing for a ship’ 3 rings meant ‘everyone gather for public work’ (Pitcairn is one of the worlds few tax havens, because of this, the community has something called ‘public work’ to keep the main roads clear and that sort of thing), the bell used to be rung to signal the start of church, also, if someone had passed away, once for every year of the deceased age. There are more situations in which the bell was used, but thats all I can think of at the moment. Ringing the bell as a means of communication is more of a formality now-a-days as public announcements are made using radio, but still,the old ships bell is a nice touch of yesteryear.

Back to the Amadea…
Down the landing, the boat was efficiently launched from the boatshed,

then quickly loaded with everyones wares to sell.

Soon it was time to jump into Tub and head around to the other side of the island where the ship was waiting. A cruise ship is a magnificent looking vessel, especially when you are approaching in a tiny boat, and the Amadea is no exception.


Same story as the Saga Ruby, everyone quickly boarded, baskets and gear loaded onto the ship, and setup for the passenger’s perusal and shopping pleasure.

Check out some of the wares…



After a couple of hours of selling, we were invited to the onboard restaurant area for lunch. After a tasty lunch, it was back down to the selling area where the place had turned into a photo shoot.
This is a photo of the ships captain along with the vast majority of the islands population (yes Pitcairn only has a population of 51 people!)


The longboat was quickly loaded and everyone bundled in, time to go home.

Crazy for the avocados!

Yes that’s me. I’m nuts about ‘em! In fact, given half a chance I would eat them everyday. For a period there, I actually did. You can only imagine my joy and wonder when I was given this beauty. It kept Dad dad and I going for a whole week – avocado sandwich - every day.

Introducing…

My Dad dad.

Known as ‘Len’ to the general population, ‘Dad’ to his kids, ‘Dad dad’ to his grandkids, and ‘Grumpy old bugger’ to a few. Dad dad is a master carver, carpenter and fisherman extraordinaire, among other things

He’s the man that the ‘youngsters’ take fishing because he knows all the good spots (and can always be relied on to catch enough for dinner). He’s the man you turn to when you need those odd jobs done around the house, ie showers installed, things fixed. He’s the man who has gotten making wooden carvings down to a fine art to the point where he can take hunk of wood and turn it into a magnificent carving within hours! Here's one thats not quite finished yet.


Our house down in Bobs Walley (Pitcairners pronounce most “V’s” as “W’s”) is a large four bedroom family home that used to house many. Over the years, as the kids grew up, moved away, Nana passed away, it got to the point were there was only Dad dad left. Now (for this month at least) it’s the two of us down here in the old house. Layers of dust years deep coat most surfaces and I’m sure the last person to wash the walls was me when I was last here years ago. Needless to say I’ve found myself wondering down memory lane on many an occasion being back in my childhood house. Check out the huge banyon tree I used to spend hours climbing in. You could get lost in the middle of it!

At 83 years of age, Dad dad is one my main reasons for going to such lengths and expense for this visit. For those who may not know, I was bought up on Pitcairn by Dad dad and my late Nana. I’ve always had a special spot for the old man and have heard via the grapevine that he’s been very excited having me here. Its taken a few days to find our rhythm living together. He’s not used to having someone else in the house, and I’m still learning his routine (which involves constant carving, frequent fishing trips and no real downtime – yes, all this at 83!)

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this introduction, at least now you’ll know who I’m talking about!

To Do List while on Pitcairn

1. Eat. As much Pitcairn weckle (Pitcairn word for food) as humanly possible – and believe me, that’s a lot! Please stay tuned, I will be posting updates as I consume and remember to document these delicious ‘projects’

2. Fish. Rock fishing here is a lot of fun. The tropical rock fish here come in many colours, sizes and flavours. One of these days, if I’m feeling brave, I may even head out in one of the boats for a fish or two. The second part of the fun is in the consuming (please see to do item 1…)

3. Swim. Something I plan on doing everyday where possible.

4. Tourist stuff. Looking around, taking photos, soaking in the greenery. Pitcairn Island is one of the most beautiful places around. Yes I am biased, but others do agree.

5. Craft work. As previously mentioned, people here make the bulk of their income by making wooden curios (in many shapes and forms), weaving baskets and other such activities. I am going to help out where I can, get in the way where I can’t and just try stuff in general.

6. Blog. To keep all of you fine readers up to date with my adventures!

7. Relax. I am on holidays after all…

Finally made it!

Two days of wondering around the Saga Ruby like a lost soul, waiting for meal times, watching the daily movie, listening to the daily lecture. I’m ready to get off this ship! Cruise ship life as a passenger is lovely, but a bit too slow for me.

Saturday morning finally arrived. The excitement in the air was tangible as we all gathered at the bow to catch our first glimpse of land.
Land Ahoy!

View from the Bridge

Time really felt like it was slowing down as the ship circled the island until a good anchoring spot was found.

It wasn’t long until we spotted the longboat full of waiting islanders. It was fun watching them go from being just a dot out in the distance to a boat full of people that we were trying to identify.

Observe 'dot' in the middle of the photo


Here is a closeup shot of O'Leary Auckland or 'Tub' as nicknamed by the Pitcairners. Tub is one of the two main longboats on the island. Run by a diesel motor, these are Pitcairns lifeblood as they are the only real way to access passing ships.

The longboat pulled up alongside the ship and it wasn’t long until everyone had boarded.

As are most passing Cruise Ships, the Saga Ruby is a valuable source of income to the Pitcairners. The first course of action was to start bringing their basket loads of souvenirs and carvings to sell to the Saga’s passengers.

After a brief but very happy hello to my family, it was time to set up shop. So just like that I went from being one of the passengers to being one of the islanders selling wares!

The Pitcairners got to enjoy a cruise ship style lunch before we all crowded into the longboat to head ashore. Needless to say by this stage I was bouncing with excitement.



I had the camera busy as we made our way around to Bounty Bay where the longboats and jetty is. Here are some happy snaps of Pitcairn and some of its coastline as we motored back around the island.



This area is known as 'Down Rope'. Back in the day, the only way down there was using rope. Great fishing down here.

Goodbye Saga Ruby, thanks for bringing me home!