It pays to be persistent - and not to worry

My Marquesas Island skipper had warned me Tahiti shuts down for Sundays (and I arrive in Tahiti late Sat night and I leave almost before sunup on Monday. I checked with my Tahiti hotel whether I could get an around day trip tour on Sunday (I want to see the Point of Venus and stand in the shoes of Captain Cook and Charles Darwin, and I want to at least pass through the two towns where the French artist Paul Gauguin lived. The hotel said no and confirmed nothing was available on Sunday. So I sent off many emails to all the tour providers and I am now booked on a round trip for Sunday which will take me where I want to go (well that is what I am led to believe) and much more.I now suspect some of the other 'nos' from the hotel may in fact turn out to be yeses- well that's to he hoped for. Especially since one is the necessary data sim card so I can write and send you my blogs! But what will be will be. ...I refuse to tell you I am counting the sleeps to go before I am in Gauguin territory.

Walking in Charles Darwin's footsteps

Today I walked to and through the Waverley Flora Park at the top of the hill. As I walked along the Dr Winifred Curtis Walk, I noticed a new sign showing a photograph of Charles Darwin accompanied by diagrammatic footsteps. Of course that path could not have existed when he visited Hobart in February 1836, nevertheless I had a frisson of excitement as I wandered on and off tracks this morning wondering if he had taken in 'my' views - or was I taking in 'his' views through the trees. Were casuarinas blowing in the breeze when he was here as they did today? Did parrots and crows and magpies rush through the trees while he meandered through what was probably an all treed area compared to the partly open and partly treed variations these days. But what do I care about Charles Darwin? Why am I taking a more personal interest? Well it so happens that I had already discovered that he visited Tahiti in November 1835 (only 3 months before coming to Hobart), and since I am going to Tahiti to follow in the footsteps of Gauguin, it now seems like an interesting idea to follow in the footsteps of Darwin as well, when I get there later this year. Rather thrilling that all of this holiday planning encourages me to research various histories that I was probably taught at primary school, but have forgotten. I am including a few links to internet resources that expand on this story.