HUNTING FOR COCONUTS

DAY 25: Rarotonga

After breakfast I decided to do something I'd wanted to do since we arrived - crack open a coconut.

I knew this wasn't going to be easy as they can be tough cookies, but it was ok as I'd seen Ray Mears do it before, so it was going to be easy. And I had my trusty Victorinox Cross Swiss army knife to hand, so I was practically a pro. I'm sure breaking open coconuts is what they were made for as Switzerland as loads of them!

The first task was to crack open and tear off the outer casing which protects the nut. For this, you need a stick firmly stuck in the ground to use not only for piercing the skin but to use as a lever to help pull it apart.

Theory = A*. Practice = F. City Slicker or what. First go at breaking the skin and I only succeeded in breaking my own skin. Coconut 1, Nath nil. Note to self; 'ensure stick is 'firmly' stuck in the ground'.

After numerous attempts at levering the casing off, and a right old sweat now rolling down my face, I decided to take the coconut to a purpose-made stick in the ground up by the hostel pool. Better tools to hand, but more risk of pride damage, as there were people here.

After about 15 minutes I finally pulled apart the outer skin which is bound by really strong fibres to reveal the nut. At last! Time for the Swiss army knife. Out of the three 'eyes' at the top of the coconut, one is always weak, and the first one I stabbed with the knife spurted out with coconut milk. Success!!! After a few sips as reward (yuk!), I set about whacking the hell out of the middle of the nut to break it in half, which worked but lost me half the milk in the process.

We enjoyed the coconut for lunch with a real sense of satisfaction in drinking and eating something that had fallen from a tree, probably because of the blood, sweat and tears involved in getting it. It was good fun, but next time I want a coconut, I'll go to the dried fruit aisle in the supermarket.

After a morning's hard work, we decided to venture at least 10 metres to the beach as the sun had made a cameo appearance which was followed by a well-earned nap at about 4ish. How the hell am I ever going to get back to working again?

Jen got her chef's hat on for dinner and cooked the marlin we'd bought yesterday, served up with cous cous (and finely cut coconut of course), fresh salad and a ranch sauce. It was superb.

The evening saw Jen whip me at cards, then we watched Inglorious Basterds on the iPhone.