We leave Reunion, overnight in Mauritius, and home

  Sydney, Australia
Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Sunday 9 th July Reunion - l'Hermitage-le-Bains- Mauritius
Up at 6.30, put the last of the soup in the microwave then forget it Pack for the plane (which we are catching to Mauritius later in the day) with excess food, which we can't take on the plane, separate. Not even the dogs about when we leave.
We're heading for Le Maido (2205 metres), on the rim of the Cirque de Mafate, which is supposed to have one of the most impressive viewpoints in Reunion, which clouds over quite early in the morning.
Out on the highway, stop at a Shell servo which is just opening. Have to wait while all the equipment and display is put out, but we haven't much petrol, so hang in while others get impatient and push on. Only get E10's worth, not enough, as it turns out, but at least it will get us up the hill. Have to make some high speed decisions on the expressway, as the signs are not all that flash, but get onto the road to Le Guillame, and things sort of fall into place from there, with a few missed turns and twice round the roundabouts. Get a large bread and a couple of good snails at a patisserie off the main road, then up through generally evenly sloping hillside, but still with plenty of switchbacks. Pass horse riding, quad bike courses, a luge course, and a geranium distillery. This is the real tourist trap, close to St Dennis and St Gilles-les-Bains.
At the top of the hill, park and walk 100 metres to the edge of the chasm.

This is mountain viewing at its best. There are a few clouds on the high peaks, but generally the valley is clear, and we can see the landmarks from our week in the mountains.

Can see to the sea near St Andre, clear across the island, Grand Benare, Piton des Neiges, La Roche Ecrite, Gros Morne, all the usual offenders, plus the settlements down in the Cirque de Mafate,

the Col de Fourches we crossed, and the three landmark rocks which appear in photos from everywhere.


Walk as far north as we can to look down the valley, but the best spot is out of bounds. Can see out over the port and coast, but it is pretty ordinary. To get a better look at the upper part of the cirque, walk the first km of the track along the edge, but when we get to the viewpoint, the cloud has closed in, and we can only just see the face of the cliff.
Drive back down to the coast after going north along the slopes to Savannah, then down to pick up the expressway, where we do a couple more full circuits of the roundabouts before getting onto the main road to pass Le Port and pick up the road up into the mountains again to Dos d'Ane. This is another zig-zag climb, this time through a lot of residential area, with some pretty depressed areas down on the flat. Carry on through Dos d'Ane to the lookout and carpark at Cap Noir, where we look at the views, take photos, and decide it is nice enough for a final picnic with the last of our perishable food. There are good views up the cirque to the familiar places, and over to the cliff face which has a walking track cut right across it. Take the last of the shots on the big camera, clean out the car and head down to St Denis. On the expressway, we stop to top up the car to the 2-bar level, as received, but E5 just won't do it, but we only find out once we have left. We are running early, so try 2 service stations in town, both closed, doing a little wrong-way driving in the process. Decide that we should cut our losses, and wait outside the car hire office. Fortunately, the shutter is open (may have been closed the first time we drove past) so are able to complete our business. Move MP into the back (Dianne's grazed knee prefers the front seat) and drive to the airport, via the servo, where Mr asks for 5 litres, which puts the fuel gauge well over the two bar level, so our best laid plans come to nought.
Dropped off early at the airport. Big group of mullahs ahead of us, but they go through, and we wait for our Austral flight. We notice that the 18.10 Air Maurutius has been cancelled. Hope this is not an omen.
The plane eventuates. MP takes a couple of photos out the front door to compare with 16 years ago, then off. Our side looks out to sea, so can't see much of the island. Plane only climbs for 15 minutes, then banks sharply to starboard and levels off. MP thinks there must be problems, and we are going back, but it was just that it was a short flight. O he of little faith. Just because the wing and engine was covered in pigeon droppings didn't mean it wasn't well maintained.
Good views of the coast, canefields and mountains on the way in, but a bit hard to take these mountains seriously after Reunion.
Get E50 worth of rupees after checking the cab fare was 400 each way, managed to get an offer of 350, so straight to the Orient. Said they were expecting us from before, but we couldn't recall the price offered, so settle for an A/C balcony room for R600.
After settling in, head up the street to a restaurant recommended by the hotel, as the preferred Chez Nous restaurant was 600 metrs away, off our map, and the streets looked pretty dark and depressed. The selected restaurant was closed, but found a classy restaurant, with mains around R200-500. As a last night special, had beers and rum punch. Wanted two grilled fish meals, but they were out of fish fillets, but could offer the much more expensive Poisson Entier, either as a whole fish, or as fillets. After our Nosy Be experience, figured we couldn't handle two poisson entiere, so settled for one and a salad. When the meal turned up, MP couldn't help bursting out laughing. The plate was quite big, with a tiny red snapper looking lost among the salad and chips. Puts a whole new meaning on our Nosy Be experience. Having spent the best part of R500, possibly less than it should have been, walked across the road for a cornetto and a big coca cola for R48. Quite a contrast.
Back at the hotel, too tired to sit up and watch the World Cup, so read then lights out. Woke up after 11pm, when game should have still been on, and tried to get some sense out of the TV coverage, but gave up and went back to sleep. Loud noises, possibly a string of crackers in the middle of the night, but no jubilation, so figured France had lost.
Monday 10th July Leaving Mauritius for Sydney
Lazy morning, pack and about to head out for a look at the town, when we see at the breakfast table the Australian couple we saw at the restaurant last night. He is an ex-East Africa planter and trader, now ex Perth she a nurse out of Theodore, on the Queensland coalfields. Have an interesting convesation about travel in general, Madagascar, and the troubles of the world. At 10, bring our bags down to storage, then head down to the seafront, and along to the markets. The town is a lot more pleasant than we have given it credit for, as we have only passed through on the main roads. There are the remains of a trade fair, and a large covered market, mainly clothes, with a few French speaking tourists, but there is little of interest. Look at the recently improved seafront, walk into town, along the shopping streets, then find the Internet to sort out homecoming, then get our booked taxi to the airport. Manage to get rid of our last two coins to pay the taxi, trade back 300 rupees for $A13 in coins, and wait for the airport computers to sort themselves out. End up in the slowest line as usual, but this time change horses, and get on ok, with a window seat. It seems the flight will be pretty full, so are pleased to get through and settle down to wait for our 1.30pm flight.
Tuesday 11th July - in flight from Mauritius - Sydney
Our 10 hour flight goes fairly slowly, not helped by the fact that Air Mauritius seem to have a terrible selection of movies - Indian, French and English movies. They are supposed to be in English as well as their original language, but the English is not working on two of them. As well, two of the English movies were shown once, never to be seen again on the supposedly continuous programming.
After basically no sleep, despite both taking a sleeping tablet, we arrive in Sydney at 6am. Home for a couple of hours sleep, before we're out to our rental place at Roseville to farewell our departing tenants. Before we know it, we'[re ripping up carpet and removing wallpaper etc etc, tasks which will no doubt occupy us for the next few weeks.