Weddings, Engagements, Anything

Since we've been in Mauritius we've learnt a new Creole word for a "user" (i.e. people who use others or take advantage of them) it's a "Bateur Bus" - And Tessa and Dylan felt like real Bateurs Bus on the eve of the Wedding! We were surprised with an engagement cake and toast with the whole family - who were gathered for the Wedding eve get together.








On Wednesday the 13th, it was the wedding of Joelle and Wesley. Tessa and Dylan were part of the Bridal party (each of us one of 9 bridesmaids or groomsmen!)




It was a great wedding and the reception was heaps of fun. One of the best parts was having Stephan Buckland drive the wedding car, and having Nancy Derougere sing at the reception.



On the day after we had a "lendemain mariage" get together - everyone was pretty tired.


On the Friday of last week our friends Mary Jane and Yannick, with their niece Serena took us out for the day, we went to Souillac, Rochester Falls, through the south to Le Morne, Chamarel and the Black River Gorges.




On Saturday we (40 or so) of us went for a picnic to Blue Bay - it was a really good day, it was sunny and hot and we swam nearly all day.
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On Sunday we were invited to the christening of the son of family friends of Tessa's family.



On Monday night we were spoilt by the D'Avrincourt family! Magali came and picked us and drove us to their house in Mountain Long and we got to have dinner with Liseby, Magali and Sylvain. (Only Patrice and Richard were missing - Well Richard was probably sleeping at the time in Australia!)






Getting ready for Christmas. It really doesn't feel like Christmas at all - not to say that there isn't chrsitmas Decorations around etc - but without the familiarity of Christmas in Australia - it doesn't quite feel like Christmas.

Tessa's Birthday - 9th December 2006

It's funny how being away from routine and familiarity things can happen, but don't really feel like they do at home.

Today was Tessa's birthday but it didn't feel as much like her birthday as it might have had at home - well that was in the morning anyway and then the day got started!

Well the day actually started the night before - Mary, Rene, and Vince came over to where we are staying at the Collard's house in Eau-Coulée (with Marie-Claude, Jacques, Jerome and Arielle)and we had a dinner (carri poule, du riz blanc and vegetables). We were still up at midnight so we all had a glass of wine and sang happy birthday to tessa.

Saturday we set out early for Trou D'Eau Douce, and from there our boat was waiting to take us (15 of us) around for the day.





We sailed out across the sea and had a drink - yes early in the morning! We sailed to Grande Riviere Sud-Est.


When we got there we transfered into a small boat and it took us up the river to the waterfalls, the boat went right up and under the falls.



Then we went back to our pirate ship as we called it and head back out to the sea and we anchored off the coast to go diving/snorkelling. It was great.


Then we had a grillade for lunch - BBQ chicken, fish and salad.


The the boat took us to Ile aux Cerfs where we spent the afternoon swimming until the boat took us back to Trou D'Eau Douce.


In the evening all the cousins went to Johan and Fiona's new house in Trou aux Cerfs and we had drinks and food. It was a long day on the boat and so most of us flaked out by around midnight!



Postscript:
When we arrived home on Friday after a full day of looking for silver shoes for Tessa to wear as bridesmaid in the wedding - for those that know Mauritius we went to Rose Hill, Quatre Bornes and Port Louis from 9.30 to 4pm and only at 4.15 at a new shop in Port Louis did we find a pair of silver high heels that were Tessa's size (10) needless to say we learnt 2 things: 1. Mauritians must all have small feet and 2. Vince and I are NEVER going shoe shopping again. Anyway - when we arrived home that evening there was an incredible bunch of flowers to say Congratulations that were sent to us by Bonnie, Wayne, Kate, Lauren and Daniel and we were very happy!

Finally some news from us!

Hello everyone,

1000 apologies for the delay in updating our blog - but we have been to busy experiencing Mauritius and Rodrigues to be on a computer!

It has been an unusual month for us.

Obviously as most of you know we had a big farewell party and we loved seeing you all and saying goodbye.

Not soon after,Monday 13th November, Dylan's Grandma - Theresa Rose Fonseca - passed away peacefully. It was an incredibly emotional last 10 days before we left and we miss her a lot. None the less, we spent a lot of time with Dylan's family and got to really say goodbye before leaving.

On Tuesday 21st November we flew out of Melbourne at about 12.15pm - for those of you who know Air Mauritius you will know that 1hour and 10 mins late is not too bad!!

We only just made it through as we were 33 kgs overweight in total - but it all got checked through and we paid NOTHING in excess baggage!!
Thanks to Rachel, Ingrid, Egbert, Mozma, Sasha, Minh and Ben for farewelling us at the airport!

At the Airport...


We arrived in Mauritius on the same day and spent the first couple of days settling in, eating and drinking! and getting over the jetlag.

The first Saturday we were here was Tessa's Aunty Jacqueline's 60th birthday and it was huge party with all the family.



"Tessa, Dylan and Jacqueline"

"Les Cousines"


"Les Cousins"






The next day was Tessa's cousin's daughter's first Birthday.

"Tessa and Najma"




In the second week we went here and there and visited people, we went to the beach at Flic en Flac and also at Perybere.

On Friday the 1st Dec, we went to Rodrigues for 4 days, and stayed at Le Tamaris in Port Mathurin.

We visited Ile Aux Cocos and also the Cavernes Patates. On the last day we went to St Francois, Cotton Bay and Anse Ally.

"Dylan and Tessa at Ile Aux Cocos"

And we had the chance to get caught up in all the demonstrations for the elections - which they have so much more fun with then we do in Australia!!!



"Part of the demonstration"






We also got to meet Corinne's cousin as he drove us to Ile Aux Cocos!!

On Wednesday we went to stay the night at the Hilton Hotel at Flic en Flac - which is incredible!












And it was there that we got engaged!









We are now getting ready for Tessa's cousin Joelle's wedding next week which we are both in the bridal party for, then Christmas, New Years etc etc!

Stay in touch all.

Dylan and Tessa