Independance Day

Yet another Public Holiday in the Seychelles today, which is a piece of luck after staying out last night til 3am watching Spain beat Germany in the final of the Euros. What a great night, but suffering for it today...when will I ever learn. I decided the best way to lose the hangover was to have a swim and a Baobab Pizza....Here's some lads playing football in front of the new monument to commemerate 15 years of Secyhelles indepedance....it's a big flag....on a big flag pole...
Happy Birthday Karen. The big 4-0!!!

Temples & Buses

The new temple in town is finally finished. It has been built by migrant Indian building workers on their days off. Hopefully they are praying for Spain to win tonight!
Seychelles Buses. I got on a bus today, expecting to pay the normal 3 Rupees (about 12p). But the driver charged me 6 Rupees! Apparently this was a new air-conditioned bus, if I wanted to get a 3 Rupee bus I could wait for the next one. We are all heading down to the Level 3 Bar tonight to watch the final of European Championships. Hopefully Spain will see of those pesky Germans.

Round the Island

I had a drive round Mahe today. I stopped at Takamaka Beach for a swim and a spot of snorkelling...
Most of the drivers in the Seychelles are pretty slow. This guy was the exception. He just managed to over-take me before crushing his banana car into the oncoming traffic. Nice spoiler Schumacher!
Home again. This is our car parking space looking over the top of our house towards the ocean..

Market

I popped into town today and got a few bits and peices at the Market.
The market was originally built as a tourist attraction, but it has been adopted by the locals to sell their fish and veggies.

Ours Shops

Every shopping trip in the Seychelles involves visiting at least two or three shops. On the way home today I stopped at the big SMB supermarket in town for some milk..
I had to visit the shops in Beau Vallon for the other essentials. At the local corner shop I found some Diet Coke...Mike's Store had the ice-cream...

School

Just over two weeks left at school now. Here's a view from the hall across the playground. The building in the distance with the red roof is where Lisa's classroom and Karen's library were.

Market Street

I sneaked off down to the News Cafe for lunch today and then headed for Market Street to do a bit of shopping.
The lads chillin' in Market Street...cool shades!
Some folk are a little more chilled out than others...

Golf Praslin

Me, Brendan and Alec flew over to Praslin today for a round of golf on the beautiful Lemuria Hotel Golf Course. Here comes our plane..Me and Brendan in our Formula 1 Golf Buggy...
Some of the holes are very tough. The green is the spec of grass in the distance marked by the arrow. Unless you are Tiger Woods you have to pick your way round the edge of the lake. Here's Brendan teeing off...
Alec putting out.
After lunch in the very posh hotel bar we headed out for the second nine holes which proved even more of a challenge. Tee No.15 was on top of a cliff. We were very glad of those golf buggies..

Brendan teeing off on another tee-with-a-view...
The last hole was 520 yards with the tee on top of another cliff. Here's the view from the tee, with the islands of Cousin and Cousine in the distance. The green is on the right beyond the lake..
Despite some very dodgy golf shots it has been a brilliant day.

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P.S. Hope all the CANDIs had a top 20 Year Reunion in Plymouth. Sorry I couldn't be there...

Centipede

The only dangerous land based creature in the Seychelles is the Giant Centipede. They can grow up to 6" long and their bite can put you in hospital or even prove fatal! I saw my first one today in the living room of our house. It was about 5" long and luckily it was dead. The ants were carrying it off! I chucked it out of the house. Hope there aren't any more lurking about :-~

Father's Day

I had a great Fathers Day card from Lisa today. Karen and Lisa are sunning themselves on a beach in Lyme Regis, although apparently Lisa complains that the sea is cold!

Football Football

Me and Alex went to see Seychelles play Burkina Faso in a World Cup Qualifier today.
Burkina Faso have recently beaten Tunisia so they are obviously pretty good. The crowd went wild when Seychelles scored two goals to go 2v1 up, but Burkina came back and won 3v2. Great game though.
After that we went down to the Fairyland Hotel to see watch Spain beat Sweden in the Euros with a 92nd minute goal from David Villa. The Red Trees, a local band made up from various people at our school, including the Headmaster, were playing so we stayed and watched that and had a few drinks until the wee hours.

Sunsets & Croatia

Nearly the end of my first week here without Karen and Lisa. After the sun went down......... I went down to the Hotel Coco D’Or to watch Croatia beat Germany 2v1 in Euro 2008. I watched the game with a group of disgruntled German tourists, five drunk Irish telephone engineers and a couple of bemused locals. It was brilliant.

Maybe Niko will score in the next game!

World Cup Fever

While the rest of the world is getting excited about the start of Euro 2008, in the Seychelles it is World Cup qualification time. It is the first time ever that the Seychelles have made it to the group stages of World Cup qualification. Today they play Tunisia, one of the best teams in Africa. Me and Alec went along to cheer on the Pirates. In the first half the Seychelles seemed in awe of the mighty Tunisians and the north Africans took a two goal lead.
However, in the second half the Seychelles Pirates played much better and were unlucky not to convert any of their chances. The game finished 2 v 0 to Tunisia.
Leaving the stadium was the usual Seychelles chaos, great sky though....
For the record if you want to watch one of the biggest games in Seychelles football history, you can roll up 10 mins before kick-off, pay your 35 rupees (£1.25) and take your seat next to the president.

Girls to England

Karen and Lisa flew back to England today. Karen is 27 weeks pregnant, so if we left it any longer she would be going home by boat! Here they are arriving at the airport with their enormus bags.
I am staying for another five weeks until the end of term. One last hug from Lisa..
See you in five weeks...

Anse Intendance

We went for a drive down to the south of Mahe today to a great little bay called Anse Intendance. We stopped at the Mission Viewpoint for lunch...

On the way to the beach we walked past the Banyan Tree Hotel. We decided to treat ourselves to a sweet...not a suite! rooms here start at 1165 Euros per night, that's about 800 quid.

Here's Karen tucking into her baby banana and coconut ice cream.
And then it was down to the beach...
Here's me and Lisa messing about on the big rock in front of the Banyan Tree Hotel...
Karen and Lisa looking for a good spot on the beach...
Training Lisa up to be an international volleyball player.....

On the way home we stopped at the Berjaya Hotel for dinner. Probably our last meal out as a family in the Seychelles.

Seychelles FC

This afternoon we saw the Seychelles national football team training on Beau Vallon Beach in preparation for their World Cup Qualifier against Tunisia on saturday. Me and Alex plan to go along to the game.
Lisa going for an evening dip..

Karen's Last Day

It was Karen and Lisa's last day at school today. The teachers put on a little leaving do for Karen and gave her a couple of pressies...
Here's Lisa saying goodbye to her teacher, Miss Janice.
And Lisa having a last play with her friends Angelica and Jade..

The Deep South

It was a beautiful day today so we decided to head south for a 'Seychelles Sunday Adventure'. Everything is shut on a sunday and nobody works so everyone heads to the beach for a BBQ, a couple of beers and a swim. Typical sunday family transport...
We went for a walk up a hill near Baie Lazare through a forest sculpture park. Me and Lisa mucking about (as usual says Karen)..
From the top we had a nice view down over the bay...
There were lots of wierd and wonderful sculptures along the way...
Lisa and a giant cockerel!...
Also lots of lush vegetation and great coconut trees..

After our walk we stopped at the Rock Cafe. It is called the Rock Cafe because you cook your own meat and fish on a hot rock on the table. Here's Karen doing the cooking (for a change!)...
Lisa and me with very predictable ice-creams...
After lunch we went for a walk along the beach at Baie Lazare. This was the first beach we went on in the Seychelles, when we stayed at the Plantation Club when we first arrived way back in August. It is still a great beach. Lisa found a sea urchin shell...
After a swim and a play in the sand we headed home with all the other sunday adventurers. Another great day....not many left now!