All I can say is WOW! What an amazing and really special place.

Easter Island is the most isolated yet inhabited place on earth. It took over 5 hours to fly there from Chile. The island, right in the middle of the pacific ocean has only 4000 people on it (at one point on 111) and has an abundance of huge stone heads dotted about everywhere. There is great mystery surrounding the heads and the whole island history.

We went on an island tour with a local and saw pretty much the whole place (as it really is tiny). When we were learning about the population, I made some wise crack about having to marry your cousins. It kind of fell on stoney ground as they actually do. Like an exotic Rocester then!

We stayed with a local family which was a fantastic experience. One evening we were all drinking pisco sours (local, very strong drink) on the verrandah and as I had sunburn, the owner, an old lady, mama maria, started chopping aloe vera plants and rubbing me...it really helped and reduced the redness.

There are volcanic craters on the island and Leah persuaded me to walk up to the top of one, with sunburn, in the blistering midday sun. Big mistake. It was here she witnessed her first ´Smith Strop´(family already familiar with this). She had to coax me to the top with cookies, but it was certainly worth it! Stunning views of the island and the crater.

Now, spending time on a remote, tropical island, you can´t expect me not to have had an ´encounter.´ One night, just getting into bed and I spy a lizard on my pillow. I thrust it across the room and refused to sleep on it again (the pillow, not the bed or would have been crawled on by cochroaches, however, Leah has become an expert at killing them, useful person to have around when we get to Oz and Asia!)

Easter Island has some of the clearest waters in the world so we couldn´t leave without splashing(!) out on scuba diving. 28% of the fish are exclusive to the island (not sure if we saw any of them but it sounds good). It was a fantastic experience, great visibility and plenty to see down there including eels and blowfish.

All in all, I feel so lucky to have visited Easter Island. Those heads are quite stunning close up. Especially when you learn about how they were carved and what they may have symbolised. It is such a friendly place and a real pleasure to have visited.