Arrival in Mauritius (Pt 2 - Random Observations and Thoughts)

Here are some of my impressions, thoughts and random observations from the first day in Mauritius.

• Mauritius is beautiful. It's so green here, and there's the ocean, and stunning mountains.
• There's so much variety in the vegetation here, both in the shapes of leaves and plants, and in the colours of green (and yellow). I recognize a bunch of the plants 'cause they're in Australia too.
• Oh, and it smells good. All warm and jungle-y and green.
• It's warm. We're sticky and sweaty. And the Australian part in me loves it.
• We got to dip our feet in the Indian Ocean. First time for me, and Aurelie. The beach smells really good.
• Mauritius is surrounded by reefs. So there are no waves breaking on the shore, they break way further out to sea, on the reefs.
• The water here is literally turquoise coloured. I've never seen ocean water that colour.
• They drive on the left. This is messing with my team's heads. I was slightly surprised to find that it feels completely natural to me. (Shouldn't be. When I'm tired I revert back to thinking of driving Australian-style.)
• I'm still not sure if the road out the front of our house is a street or a driveway.
• There are roundabouts everywhere on the highways. (Mom, you'd love it!)
• We took a detour from the main highway, because of roadworks. It was super cool to drive through towns where ordinary people live. (As opposed to places that are obviously touristy.)
• I wish Dara was here. She would love all the birds. There was a little red bird, and there's another brown bird with a black head, black tuft on its head and white eyes. There are also a bunch of weaver bird nests in the casurina across the road.
• I love houses in warm climates, where the distinction between outside and inside is blurred. The windows here are wide open, and we have barn-style doors to the outside, so you can leave the top wide open. Our bedroom 'door' is a curtain. There's a balcony off the girls' and guys' room. And the dining table is on the back verandah.
• I'm grateful for Wifi. It's really weird, though, being on the other side of the world, and still being able to do all my usual internet things.
• Baby pineapples are super cute.
• We ate breakfast on the plane at 4:30am Mauritius time. Then we had Second Breakfast at about 10:30am. We're becoming Hobbits.
• Not packing flip-flops was a BAD idea.

Now, to go find ways to stay awake until after supper. . . .