A Drop of Essence

Thinking we'd quite like a nice cup of coffee we set off to shore to the little Kodjeue Resort with Sans Souci. Alas, appetite denied: it was Monday and discovered the restaurant was closed. Drat! Not to waste the journey, we were inspired to book a hire car for half a day on Tuesday. We could get some supplies; baguettes, jambon, cheese, perhaps even some fruit and veggies and definitely some ULP. Hugh from Sans Souci had mentioned that he was going to 'be careful' with consumption and while we were far from running out, the 'take it while it's going' principle said "Do it, do it".

View of the Kodjeue Resort, Baie Ouamao from the boat.

Zofia had been settled on anchor for a few days and barely stretching the chain, so leaving her for a few hours wouldn't be a worry seeing as the forecast was for continuing extremely light conditions.

Limp anchor chain in 5m of clear, clear water.

We had a little stroll up to the main road. We wouldn't have far to go the next day. We could collect the car at 8am and as part of our errands, drop off our rubbish. Cruising Kitty and Squander had already left the anchorage and headed for Gadji so were contacted by VHF for shopping lists that we could 'home deliver' the following day. Predictably baguettes were at the top of everyone's list.


The Boulangerie was the closest shop to us and we reached it by 08:10 swooping on the last 2 baguettes. Some tomatoes, zucchinis and pears were trophies plus a couple of dozen eggs, jambon and a capsicum. Heaven! We moved on to the main Kuto general store and rotisserie. It always has bread first thing but doesn't open until 09:00 am. We were ready and waiting for it to open. 2 baguettes wasn't going to satisfy 4 boats.


Having 'nailed' the grocery shopping we headed to Kuto, dodging the tourists spilling ashore from the recently arrived Carnival cruise liner. Once the passengers have completed their Judo, yoga etc on the beach they spread out like an army of ants.


Rubbish was jettisoned into the dumpsters on the beach-front. Then for our delayed gratification, it was coffee time at the Oure Terra Beach Resort. We'd enjoyed lunch there only a week earlier with Geoffers and SpAnna and were confident it was just far enough away not to be inundated by the tourist invasion.

Jazzing up the entry statement at Oure Terra Beach Resort

Coffee time bliss

Next stop was the garage for some 'essence sans plomb' - ULP.  At 136.8XPF per litre or nearly 1.71$AUD it doesn't seem nearly as bad knowing your are buying 'essence'! This needed to be done before 11:30 since the garage would then close until late afternoon. This is standard for all businesses across the Island. Since the car was due back by 14:00, this task could not be delayed.

As instructed by the resort when we hired the car, we topped up the tank, as well as our jerries of course!  Then with another 3 hours left of our car hire we decided there would be ample time to visit the general store in Vao, about 1km beyond the rest of the township en route to the Le  Meridien Resort at Ugo Ou Oro (Bay d'Oro). Everything was pointing to a most successful expedition.

Le Meridien Resort entry statements 

The narrow roads were very seldom straight or flat. This made navigation very hairy. The Bloke was the designated driver and in some instances, when cresting a hill or negotiating a bend, needed the power lines as a reference point. A bend at the crest of a steep hill left us momentarily thinking we were airborne. There is a ready explanation for the number of vehicles on Ile Des Pins that show the effects of being side-swiped! Hugh was assigned the role of general lookout and official hand-waive-exchanger with oncoming vehicles, while Julianna and I looked for road signs that would indicate a turn-off rather than a driveway.  On a couple of occasions we girls commented that we could smell petrol but in the absence of anywhere at all to pull over, that was not on a blind bend or on a hill crest, it wasn't until we'd arrived at Le Meridien that we discovered our jerry on a 45 degree list and leaking 'essence'. Worse still, the weight of the jerry had crushed a coke can in  Hughe's slab of coke. The mat in one corner of the boot was sodden with a cocacola and essence cocktail.  QUELLE HORREUR!!


Creatively, half a pack of Julianna's newly purchased paper serviettes were employed in the mop up. The boys made a sprint for paper hand towels from the nearby toilets at the resort. The paper towels were of such excellent quality that we think the mop-up was a success. Barely needing an excuse, we ambled through the sensational resort grounds and settled down to enjoy the aspect of this spectacular location, ordering some good settling cocktails for all but the 'designated driver' - The Bloke alone was required to cry over our spilled essence.


We are now stocked up for another week and what will flush us out will be empty gas bottles which are estimated to be empty in just 10 days!

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