Today was intended as a R&R day….a do nothing day. We breakfasted earlier today with the hope that the food would be better….there was more variety available but the same as the day before items like bacon were cold and cooked to a crisp…tough and tasteless….but never mind there was plenty of other items on offer…the pancakes are delicious especially with raw pure honey dripping from the cone…I sussed out the toasting machine, put the bread in twice and if it gets stuck turn it off and carefully use the bread knife to punch it over and get it to drop,…yeah cracked it !!!
After breakfast we went to reception and asked for transport up to the animal farm and Equestrian Centre. This transport is by way of a Golf buggy.
It’s here the giant tortoises have some large enclosures to roam in….
You could go in with them and feed them leaves.
There was just one dog in the stray dog sanctuary.
We asked about horse riding. The horses were very nicely kept. However they were ex-racehorses, thoroughbreds and light-framed so not used to weight bearing…Unfortunatly I am 9kg over the very low weight limit they set for riding !!! He did say we could give it a go and see how the horse felt but as a horse lover that was not something I wanted to do….my dream of riding along a beach will have to wait until I have lost some more weight.
There was also a cow and rabbits in the “animal farm”….but that seemed about it. It was all set in nice surroundings with several mango trees …
And a little Madagascar Giant Day Gecko which is considered an invasive species in Mauritius.
We wandered down to the Ruins of Balaclava. These are protected as a national monument…all very interesting.
Then we wandered around the cascades…although I think I would have referred to it as a babbling brook, or its proper name of the Citron river, rather than cascades!!
Then on we walked past the chateau Mon Desir – the fine dining restaurant.
In the beautiful chateau’s gardens, were fabulously well manicured, vibrantly coloured bougainvillea…a picture not to be missed.
We wandered down to the Old Mill and passed by the events field.
Continuing to ramble along by the River edge watching kayaking we passed by the obligatory- because all good hotels have one – giant chess set… and The Anno 1743 Restaurant and Nest Rooftop and distillery bar.
On we wandered up to the boat house where we sat for a while. We watched a lady of slightly lesser proportions to me struggle to sit on a kayak…doable but difficult…her fit daughter hopped on the front and off they went…or did they…no they just couldn’t synchronise….ummm yes enough to put John and me off…too much like hard work.
We were thinking of asking about a glass bottom boat when we saw an sign saying none today as it was too rough…an anti-cyclone is approaching…
The “Looky-Looky man fed some birds with a bag of bread…loads of sparrows, pigeons, Myna Birds, Red Fody, Red whiskered bulbul’s, and yellow orals came flying in.
We rewarded the “Looky-Looky” man by buying two shell ankle bracelets from him…John enjoyed watching me haggle the price which at £8.00 was still a bit to much…but the sob story came out… “he hadn’t had a sale all day” and the deal was done.
Passing a local fisherman…….
We walked back to our room, donned our swimming gear and took up residency on a lounger around the pool. We had a swim even though the water was a tad chilly.
Before going for a siesta we went to reception and read the speciality restaurant menus. Deciding on the Seafood restaurant we made a reservation and then we went for a snooze.
All, too soon it was time to get ready for our 7pm reservation, fortunately the heavy rain shower had passed . We wandered along the seafront path until we got to La Maree.
A lovely thatched restaurant with tables on decking in bomas on the sea shore.
We both selected prawn cocktail with pinapple to start with
….and Seafood, butternut Risotto as our main course….
John had a lovely coconut, mango and papaya cake and I had a sponge soaked in lemongrass and ginger with fresh fruit as dessert.
It was all truly scrumptious. We both had a soda…when the bill came they had subtracted our MUR5000 meal allowance from the total and we had less than £10 to pay….great deal…lovely meal.
We had once again dodged a heavy shower… the bomas we were in were about 99% waterproof….the 1% that wasn’t dripped down the back of Johns neck! A dog came and took refuge from the rain, sitting with pleading eyes at a couples table who were eating meat …!!!!
We ambled back to our room before turning in for an early night .
