Highlights from 2023
The year I moved overseas, got engaged, got married, fell pregnant, made some art...
Yes, welcome to another end of year recap post! I couldn’t resist, it’s been a big year and I’ve done lots of fun things.
What a year! I know next year is going to possibly be just as crazy, so I’m always a big fan of taking a moment to reflect on a year that’s been.
January
We started the year off strong with a 2 week trip to the Gambier islands. These are the furthest east and most remote of the islands in French Polynesia and takes 4 hours to fly there.
We stayed in a pension on Mangareva and spent our days hiking, swimming, playing tag with the local kids, and exploring the beautiful cathedrals and crumbling ruins.
Martin proposed while we were splashing around in the water off a teeny tiny motu (island). No ring, no plan, just ‘hey, you wanna marry me?’
I said yes!
February
I got a commission to paint some watercolours. The gift recipient was an avid bird lover, and her friends wanted three birds of French Polynesia.
We chose the white-tailed tropicbird, a white coastal bird with a long, string-like tail:
The bul-bul, a red and black bird found in many Mo’orea backyards:
And Kuhl’s lorikeet, a parrot found only on Rimatara (a tiny island in the Australs) that’s endangered.
March
We’d decided to do one mountainous island and one atoll this year. Ahe was an off-the-beaten-track option; we’d been recommended to go by my mother-in-law who’d visited there as a midwife.
Atolls are weird. A tiny spit of coral in the middle of the ocean. Harsh sun, no soil to plant your vegetables, raging ocean on the reef on one side and calm lagoon on the other.
Ahe is in the Tuamotus, where the fish are big, the sharks are even bigger, and the stingrays are pretty friendly. We had a four day weekend full of fishing, reading, stargazing and sunrise watching.
April
I wrote a comic for Going Down Swinging about corals, atomic testing, and the Gambier Islands which you can read here.
We also managed to hatch two tiny chicks, despite the fact that we messed up the process an embarrassing number of times.
May
We got married! At the tiny town hall in Teavaro, wearing our crowns of tiare flowers, Martin and I tied the knot.
It was a really small and simple wedding just with his siblings and a few friends. Afterwards, we went to the airport restaurant for lunch, and then had dinner at the pizzeria.
Much champagne consumed, a nice time had by all.
June
Welp, I didn’t realise it on my wedding day, but turns out I was already pregnant. June was a blur of nausea and fatigue.
We had our friend Wez to stay, and went out for happy hour drinks, out on the boat to snorkel amongst the corals, and for a hike. I celebrated 33 years on the rooftop of Kon Tiki drinking mocktails instead of cocktails.
July
We got a puppy!
The teeny, tiny black pup with white socks and blue eyes arrived in a tote bag on a scooter. She was a bit dirty and covered in fleas, but I didn’t care. She didn’t leave my arms for the next few days and even came on a boat trip with us.
We named her Naïa. She is now a leggy adolescent who likes to chew all of the things in the house, including shoes, snorkels, and pillows.
August
Mum visited, which involved a big electric bike tour around the island, a dance show and buffet at the Manava Hotel, visits to the beach and lots of dinners.
I also embarked on an acrylic painting of a hibiscus that I’d previously done on iPad. It’s fun getting back into acrylics, but I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.
September
We headed back to Australia to sort out my visa. The weather was all ups and downs, but it was nice to spend time with family and friends, hear the call of Australian birds, see all of the spring flowers blooming.
October
I took a little Daylesford trip with the girls, featuring cosy wood fires, a trip to a lavender farm, and plenty of snacks.
November
My visa came through and it was back to Mo’orea! This was the month I decided to launch my newsletter, which I’d started writing back in Australia, while we settled back into our everyday rhythm.
I also FINALLY finished my hibiscus acrylic painting. I’m already planning the next one!
December
December has been rain, rain, rain. Well, it is the rainy season, so I suppose that’s no surprise. We’ve been heading to Tahiti nearly every week to do classes at the birthing centre and preparing for Christmas.
We finished the year with an excellent honey harvest (13.5kg) and are flush with fruits from the garden.
I’m looking forward to finishing the year with an even bigger belly from all the Christmas food.
Watching, reading, thinking about…
I wear enough garish patterns that I regularly get from friends and family, ‘that’s nice, is it a Gorman?’
But I have to admit, this article is bang on in terms of fit. I haven’t managed to buy anything Gorman in years due to the unflattering cuts, which this article absolutely nails in the most scathing way possible.
Gorman sells tapered cropped, tapered, pleated jeans: for the woman who wants to look shorter, bow-legged and accentuate her cankles.
Want to listen to the worst novelty Christmas album of all time?
Of course you don’t! Here it is anyway.
The history of pigments
This account has some cool videos on the history of different pigments that I always appreciate popping up on my feed!
Je suis fan de cette rétrospective ☀️