| Our little ship reminds them that if they are to make | | | | backs as they head further eastward toward the point |
| Point Venus today, then they need to set off now. | | | | where they expect to see the treasures of the Transit |
| Extricating the anchor from the mud, the hose and | | | | observation. A couple of cold beers washing around in |
| scrubber come into use, removing with some vigorous | | | | their system seems to infect the male crew members' |
| pokes and vigorous strokes, the thick grey goo from | | | | legs with a jelly like effect, reducing their ability to place |
| the flukes. Snubbed home with the anchor washed | | | | one foot steadily in front of the other without |
| down, she turns into the gentle breeze and sails out of | | | | meandering. Sibling crew, striding ahead, sniffs that they |
| harbour on a reciprocal course from her entry just a | | | | would have been better sticking to carbonated water |
| few days before. A short sail eastward along the | | | | as she had done! The cackling response from behind |
| breakwater brings her into Matavai Bay proper where | | | | only serves to increase sibling crews' tempo, leaving |
| she drops anchor in about eight metres of water, into | | | | them even further adrift. The small clump of battered |
| black sand. This is the same black sand that the | | | | and paint flaked stores huddled at the juncture in the |
| anchors of Cooks' 'Endeavour' would have embedded | | | | road pass slowly by to the right as they make their |
| themselves in in 1769. | | | | way out to the end of the promontory - windswept |
| Following in the anchor prints of our most famous | | | | and barren. A few straggly bushes, struggling in their |
| explorer did not go unnoticed by her crew. They | | | | attempt to retain a foothold, dot the bleached white |
| chatter on about what it must have been like back | | | | coral. Surprisingly, the rather impressive Point Venus |
| then and if there may be any charming south sea | | | | lighthouse constructed in eighteen sixty eight at the |
| maidens, bedecked with leis to welcome them as they | | | | knolly point is surrounded by a bunch of palms and |
| step ashore. Whether it is because they have not | | | | casuarinas. It is here that our fearless crew become |
| arrived in a three master and given the traditional full | | | | conscious, belatedly, that they must have passed the |
| navy gun salute, or they are not dressed in their grand | | | | 'Museum of Discovery' on the way in. |
| uniforms, their arrival on the strand is marked only by | | | | Looking around, that apart from the lighthouse, there |
| the attention of a small band of screeching gulls, | | | | are no other buildings in the area looking anything like a |
| whirling over their heads. Other than this mild irritation, | | | | museum. For such a monumental event our crew |
| the beach is pretty much empty, a black curving band | | | | were expecting, if not an edifice likened to the Palace |
| stretching away equally either side of them. For | | | | de Versaille, some respectable construction |
| maximum effect they have landed dead centre, so | | | | recognizing the stature of what took place on this spot |
| are a little surprised at the absence of gleaming brown | | | | two hundred and fifty years earlier. On inquiring from a |
| bodies dashing down the beach, ecstatic at their arrival! | | | | local it is established that the museum was a very little |
| Several disdainful hurrumphs and grunts are | | | | more than a humble stone hut. It was demolished |
| exchanged as they labour the dinghy up the sandy | | | | recently with the contents removed to Paris, where |
| incline, but these dissipate rapidly on the realisation that | | | | they are now on display, location unknown. They now |
| directly in front of them, edging the shoreline, is a small | | | | understood how the characters in the Da Vinci Code |
| seaside café serving cool drinks and beer. | | | | felt when coming up against a blank wall when |
| 'Huh, Cook didn't have one of these waiting for him | | | | unraveling a mystery. However, in the case of our |
| when he landed!' offers Anglo crew - dignity is | | | | crew they neither had the resources nor the inclination |
| preserved. | | | | to board the next flight to Paris to continue their |
| Swinging gently on her chain, our little ship chuckles | | | | search. Admiring the stone and intricate brick work of |
| affectionately at the false vanities of these folks called | | | | the lighthouse once again, our crew turn away, ambling |
| humans. | | | | into the advancing dusk. |
| Lazy late afternoon sun slides clammily down their | | | | |