The Adventures of McDuck – Lisa's Story Part 1

Part I

I was absolutely delighted when Lisa and Steven picked me from the shelf in Southampton. Lisa was about to embark on a journey that would take her half way around the world and Steven was unfortunately unable to accompany her. With the firm promise that I would do my very best to keep her safe from harm, I accepted the role of her companion and friend.

Lisa, although no stranger to travel in foreign parts, had never travelled totally alone until this point, I had not travelled at all but between us we checked in our luggage, which consisted mainly of things for Lisa's mother, and settled down to await the first of three flights that would eventually see us soar over the rough seas of the Atlantic, cross the snowy mountains of Canada, touch down in New York, cruise the huge plains of central America and spend a frantic hour in L.A. Trying to claim our luggage during the sparse 1 hour transfer (many thanks to the guy who grabbed us and ushered us to the front of the queue so that we could catch our last flight!). We tried to rest as our final flight took us across the vast Pacific Sea but we were too exhausted and far beyond the realms of sleep, so we listened to music on the super ultra modern noise reduction head-phones that had also been a present from Steven.


We reached Tahiti Airport at 5.45am, the sun was up, the day was warm and yet our journey was not over. Lisa's Mommy was living on the Island of Moorea, 12 miles away and we settled down to wait as she caught the first ferry of the day over to the mainland to find us.

Lisa was exhausted so I told her to put her head on her case and to try to sleep while I kept a look out for Kerriann. Within moments she was asleep, her bags firmly clasped in her arms and it was with great difficulty that we managed to wake her half an hour later as her Mommy and Grandfather Ron arrived.


They greeted each other warmly. Lisa's Mommy had made flowered necklaces to welcome her.


She had picked so many flowers that she had made two necklaces plus a crown for Lisa to wear.


There had even been enough flowers left for her to make herself a crown and so decked out with sweet smelling flowers we headed for the bus that would take us to town and to the ferry boat to Moorea.


Once we were settled on the bus I was introduced formally to Kerriann, I handed over some white chocolate buttons, her favourites and she thanked me for my care of her daughter. It had been a long journey I told her but now that we were here we were so looking forward to seeing everything she had been up to.


We stopped at one of the cafe beside the Ferry Terminal so that Lisa could have something to eat. The food on the flights had not been good and although Lisa had booked Vegetarian food, the instructions had somehow been lost and she had had very little to eat for the whole journey.


Lisa was still very tired but she was also so happy to see her Mommy and they chatted and smiled as I sat quietly with my flower.


Lisa's Grandfather Ron has lived on Moorea for the past 19 years, Kerriann had arrived six months ago to spend a year with him, Lisa was just here for the month to say hello to her Mommy as she missed her so much. There was a lot of catching up to be done!

Once she had eaten we entered the ferry and found some seats. The the sun was quite high now and the view was amazing as Ron pointed out Moorea in the distance. There was no wind and the crossing was calm, not like the day when Kerriann had arrived bringing the rains and gales with her!

Moorea, being volcanic, is incredibly mountainous, yet the road that runs around it's coast is very level except at two places. Kerriann has named one of the hills Are's Hill (as it is by Are's -pronounced 'arry' as in Harry but without the 'H' -Supermarket!), the other hill is by the Sofitel Hotel.


A magnificent view point lies at top of the hill with a monument erected to remember those who dies in a terrible plane crash a few years ago. We parked the car and got out to get our first real look at Moorea.


Kerriann pointed out Tahiti to me now far across the blue blue waters as Lisa took photos of the morning sun shimmering on the sea.


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It was still only 8am and the sun was hot in the sky as I sat quietly on the wall and waited for everyone to finish taking photos.



Lisa noticed that the ferry that had brought us was leaving again and so with a final look around and a few more clicks of the camera, we climbed back into the car to continue the journey.



Our first stop was to Ron's friend Jan, as it was her car we were using due to the fact that it had 4 seats and Ron's van only has two.



Jan greeted us enthusiastically and gave Lisa even more flowers to wear.



Lisa by now was looking very hot and tired but she kept smiling and enjoyed the refreshing drink that Jan offered.

Chickens run wild in Moorea, turning up in peoples gardens, wandering the roads and scratching up the forests. With movement on Jan's balcony, the local tribe hurried over to see if there were any scraps on offer. Jan threw them a handful of rice and they tucked into their breakfast feast happily.

Although there are no real predators to the chicken, the mortality rate for the young chicks is high and it was with relief that Jan counted the usual amount of chicks within her flock.

We said good bye to Jan and transferred the bags from the car to the van to completed the final leg of the journey to the house where Kerriann is living. We paused briefly at Are's Store to pick up a few essentials, (Nuttella I have discovered is classified as an essential!).



Ron pointed out his house as they passed and Kerriann said they would call later that day once Lisa had rested.



Both Lisa and I were amazed at the splendour of her mothers house as although she had described it to Lisa, and I had seen the photos in the Blog, nothing could have prepared us for the beauty of the place.



The sea really was only 20 foot from the house,



the garden really did stretch as far as the eye could see,



the mountains across the bay and behind the house really were truly majestic.


Rascals and Pepsi came bounding up to meet us as Lisa stood and just gazed around her for a good 5 minutes. Moorea is indeed a paradise Island and we were both awed by everything we could see, until hunger once again assaulted Lisa and we went inside to eat.


I helped Lisa to put her bag into the twin room while Kerriann dished up large plates of Spaghetti Bolognase that she had made the night before. Together they sat on the decking to enjoy their 'breakfast', the sun was beating down, it was nine in the morning, the travelling was over, the holiday stretched ahead and we had arrived!

The rest of the day blurred into a mixture of rest, introductions, exploration, more food and a swim. All the wonderful goodies that Lisa had brought over for Kerriann were unpacked, conditioners, deodorants, toothpaste from home. Things that Kerriann had found either hard to find or too expensive on the Island were put into the cupboards. The wing mirror for Ron's van that Kerriann had smashed off after misjudging a corner had already been handed over to Ron and now Lisa's bag lay virtually empty in the corner.



Pepsi, Rascals and I discussed the long journey and I said I was looking forward to staying with them for the next few weeks.




Both dogs informed me that they had loads of thngs lined up for us to do!



Backgammon was played for hours on the decking as the sun shone down and Lisa was amazed as Kerriann beat her game after game! Until now Lisa had always been the stronger player and their games took on an earnestness never before experienced between them.



At one point their game was interrupted as the tiniest of Praying Mantas working its way across the board.



Lisa rescued the tiny creature and put him in the relative safety of the bushes next to the decking.


That evening, as the sun set, Lisa began the first of her many chores, starting on a regime of dog psychology training for both Rascals and Kerriann. A dog, she explained, needed proper guidance.


Dogs lived in the moment of 'now' and Kerriann needed to assume the role of 'Pack Leader' to give the guidance needed. When Kerriann fed Rascals that evening, she was instructed to 'claim' the food for herself and not to allow Rascals to take it until she had given her permission.


Kerriann 'claimed' the food so well that even when Rascals was told she could have it, she continued to sit there and just looked at the bowl and then looked at Kerriann. Eventually she understood and proceeded to eat her supper.


As the half moon worked its way into the heavens Kerriann introduced Lisa to the evenings entertainment. Tupa Hunting!


Land Crabs inhabit all the low areas of Moorea digging huge 'warrens' of caverns about 3 to 5 foot below the surface. At their entrance holes they throw up huge piles of dirt changing the landscape, over a period of time, into something resembling the barren lunar landscape, devoid of living materials and unsafe underfoot (these caverns can sometimes collapse if you jump on them too hard!)

Since Kerriann's arrival in the house she had been on a mission to reclaim the land back from the Tupa's. Every evening she patrolled the grounds with a little wind up torch and the two dogs (Pepsi normally lived next door but came to visit on a regular basis) catching and relocating the clawed creatures to places other than the garden.


Lisa unpacked her big powerful torch from her bag and together, armed with the big bucket and leaf rake, they set out on patrol. Lisa's first encounter with a Tupa was brilliant. A medium sized creature who waved its claws around in the most ferocious fashion.


Lisa was determined to hold a Tupa saying they were nothing but big crabs, but decided to start with a slightly smaller specimen first. That evening we caught a dozen Tupas, relocating them to the bottom of the garden while the dogs ran around looking for more.

Our beds were found early that night, the sea could be heard lapping on the shore, the thunderous crashed of the reef echoed in the distance but we were too tired to worry and were soon asleep.

Moorean Project Mark I

How to build a Jetty


First one needs to find a jetty. Preferably one that for years has been the victim of tropical monsoons and squall driven tides.


Ensure that over the years the waves have deposited their many gifts, that the trees have sprinkled the area liberally with old leaves, that at least half a dozen coconuts lie abandoned on its shores and that the place is riddled with creepy crawly wild life as well as big scary crabs.

Next find a day when the usual chores of the day have been completed early and you have nothing else planned for at least the next 8 hours.

Peruse the area for new projects and spy said abandoned Jetty.

Decide that today is the day for a rebuild!


When the dogs and I made the decision to clean up the old jetty at the house we did not realise how much work was going to be involved or how much fun we would have doing it. Armed with my big leaf collecting bucket we began to fill it with the years of accumulated wood, leaves and other assorted sea deposited debris. The dogs found this to be truly stimulating, bring back to me wonderfully decomposing bits of flotsam that I was relocating to the bonfire pile.

Once cleared, we set about moving the collapsed stones to rebuild the supporting walls either side of the walk way. Ants by the millions had moved into the abandoned area building their huge warren of tunnels between the spreading roots and stones. Tiny ants that swarmed around, climbing up our legs and over our feet until soon the dogs and I were beaten back to the shore to await their departure!.

With the ants calmed and miraculously gone, our next mission was to fill all the spaces between the relocated large stones with smaller stones. I looked around for a supply of suitable smaller stones and was pleasantly rewarded from an unexpected source!


Tupars have destroyed the area around the bonfire, digging their craters as they build their homes and set up what looks like Tupar City at the far end of the garden. They have also thrown up mulitple piles of wonderful small stones and old dirty coral during their excavations and so it was to here that we turned in our hunt for a more solid base base.


We raked and gathered bucket after bucket of this dirty coral, filling in the Tupar holes as we went. I have not attempted to remove the Tupars from this area of the garden yet, mainly because it is so far away from the house and even Tupars need some where to live. Today however, during our mission to relocate their piles of house cleared garbage, I kept falling into their enormous holes and so battle commenced to level the area.

As stated in previous blogs, Tupars have the amazing strength to dig their way out so I have stopped feeling guilty every time I fill in a home!


With Tupar City area raked clear and our jetty runway looking more solid we began phase two.

Clean coral covering.


The beach outside the house has a shore line of fine coral and soft sand. Each day the sea washes a few more pieces of this richly coloured and diversely shaped phenomenon up onto my shore and each week I rake it all to the end of the beach to hide the excess under the low branches of the tree. I have been unsure of what to do with the growing pile but today it was exactly what we needed to provide our second layer of stability onto the walkway of the jetty.



Buckets were emptied into the wheel barrow, wheel barrows full of clean fine coral were trundled down the garden to the awaiting jetty where it was put back into buckets and carried down into position.



Wheel barrow access to the jetty would involve the removal of a huge tree with a root system that includes two foot walls and this is not a job one wishes to undertake at this time!


The sun was hot, the breeze was cool and as the dogs checked out my efforts we realised we were making headway!


Clean coral was laid over dirty coral and sand was laid over the clean coral as bit by bit we patched the old jetty back to its former glory.


Sand was relocated from the adjoining beach into our wonderful versatile bucket and again hand carried to position.


Crabs were evicted from their beach homes as the sand was dug and packed into the bucket, both of my fearsome companions ensuring their non return to the area as they chased them from one end of the beach to the other.



Twenty buckets of sand were laid over the four wheelbarrows of clean coral that lay on, I lost count of how many, buckets of Tupar dirty coral.


The whole thing was raked and stomped as we constructed our masterpiece.


The dogs checked it out leaving foot prints in what had been my wonderfully smooth surface. We stomped some more, we raked a final time and left the whole thing to settle while we all entered the sea for a well deserved rest and soak.


Tomorrow I will return to survey our handy work. The sea will have levelled the beach back to its smooth undulating shape, the sand taken will be replaced by the wonders of nature. The rains will wash and level the walkway and over time nature will remove all that I achieved today. But for now it looks wonderful.


For now the dogs and I can walk to the end in bare feet with soft loving sand beneath out toes. I am sure by morning there will be leaves scattered upon and Tupar holes in my wonderfully created masterpiece but for now as the sun sets in Moorea, I have a perfect Jetty.



Today was a good day and tomorrow will be even better!!