Under the sun

I’ve been away.  Not only that, I’ve time travelled!  With the garden mostly under control it was the perfect time to have a bit of a holiday.   For the keen gardener mid-winter really is the best time to take a break as there isn’t really a lot going on and besides – it is cold and miserable so who wouldn’t want to go somewhere tropical?  So, we jumped in a plane and after 5 hours found ourselves 22 hours behind, in the day before we even left, in the delightful Tahiti. 

To be honest for me it was perfect, I didn’t realise how much I actually needed a holiday from it all and so there was no gardening, although I did read a fascinating book about the head gardener from the Gardens of Versailles. >Find out more about it here<  I didn’t even intentionally look at gardens.  There were options to visit gardens and agricultural places, but the soft warm waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean called to me and I swam in waters that drifted all worries and cares away.  I was truly refreshed.

There were stingrays so close you could reach down and touch them – which I did. They feel soft and velvety and rather weird.

There is nothing like getting away to sparkling waters to restore your winter weary body.

The menu is displayed in a unique way in the Bloody Mary restaurant in Bora Bora

The beautiful fish were abundant and the water so clear, that snorkels were hardly necessary as you could see them perfectly fine when floating above.

Sunset over Moorea

Why yes it is … when on holiday you can never have too much champagne.

I was also truly spoilt and had some amazing food and drink.  There is nothing like celebrating the setting of the sun with a cocktail in hand in the company of lovely new friends.  The French influence interlaced with the Polynesian culture made things feel truly exotic and the food was incredible.  Although I have to say as much as the French enjoy eating snails, they can keep them.  I thought it would be the ultimate gardener’s revenge, but I couldn’t face it, not matter how much garlic there was on them.  I guess ignorance is bliss as I watched non-gardeners gobble them down.  I just kept picturing the slimy buggers in my garden!

But now I’m back and with just a week left of mid-winter I need to get my act together.  Spring starts is about 6 weeks and the first seeds of the season get started in a week and a half!  So with one hand on the unpacking and the laundry as I wash the salt and sunscreen residue from my clothes – but not my memories, I will throw myself back into the garden with all that needs to be done, should have been done and will need to be done sooner rather than later.  I’m relaxed, refreshed and ready for business.  A new season is coming.

Come again soon – there is much to be done.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)