Next and final stop was Tokoriki Resort, one of two resorts on Tokoriki Island in the northern Mamanucas. It was adults only. We hadnt been to one of those before so we werent quite sure what to expect. You had to be at least fourteen before theyd let you stay there. Troy was exactly that, so we only just scraped in. We got off the ferry and walked through the pool area to reception. It was so quiet. We were too scared to open our mouths. Most of the other guests seemed to be floating silently on sunbeds in the pool. Splashing was clearly banned, and we began to wonder whether swimming might be a as well. The guests that werent in the pool were all lying noislessly on sunbeds, the silence broken only by the occasional rustle of paper as a page was turned. I didnt think we could go for more than a few minutes without at least two of us yelling at each other, so it was surely just a matter of time before we got evicted. Our best hope was that everyone was just hungover from the night before, and the place would liven up a
Our offspring were in a bure on the beach, and we were in a slightly larger one, a bit further back in the garden. Slightly larger is probably underselling it just a tad. It had a large bedroom, an even larger living area, and its own plunge pool set in an enormous deck overlooking the beach. It was really a bit over the top luxurious for humble old us, but we were here now, so we thought wed better make sure we enjoyed it.
We walked silently to dinner, and were shown to the only table in the restaurant that wasnt set for two. We managed to whisper our way through entree. The silence was then broken by the apparent tradition of one of the staff members introducing the new arrivals. We listened to four variants of please and from , followed by polite applause. Now it was our turn. ...and the Sheehan Family from Australia, with what sounded to me like strong emphasis on the word family. Were those groans of horror and disbelief
I heard that a family had been allowed into their midst, or was I not for the first time perhaps letting my imagination get the better of me. I ordered another beer. The resort band started playing. They asked us if we had any requests. We told them that Troy was a musician, and they invited him up to play with them. This was better. The bass instrument was effectively a thick piece of string attached to a box, and Troy seemed to get the hang of it fairly quickly. Their signature tune was Hotel Tokoriki sung to the tune of The Eagles Hotel California. This was much better; I love The Eagles. Maybe it might be possible to relax here after all. I hoped Id still feel this way in the morning after the beer had worn off.
The manager and his wife were an Australian couple who told us theyd been there for several years. She signed us in, and suggested we take a short hike up the hill to a lookout overlooking the resort. She then quickly added that shed never been there. Huh? This was clearly not a hike for the fainthearted, either that or
.... well I couldnt up with an or. She didnt seem to have an obvious disability. We put on our hiking boots and set off, hoping that we might make it up there unscathed in time to see the sunset. We wondered what was going to confront us - dangerous wild animals, near vertical cliffs, impenetrable jungle? A few relaxed minutes later we were standing on the peak. I guess maybe some people just arent into lookouts. The views over the reef and surrounding islands were stunning.
Mosquitoes can sometimes be a bit of a problem in paradise. No surprise there. I think I remember reading somewhere that the mosquito is responsible for more fatalities than any creature on the planet - malaria, dengue fever, and now the Zika virus. Our offspring had discovered the mosquito coils in their bure. You light them before you go to bed and the smell is supposed to keep the mosquitoes away.
