Another type of airshow

This weekend we were treated to a magnificent flying display. Not of man made machinery but one created by nature that presumably inspired many an aircraft inventor and designer. Skomer Island is a bird sanctuary off the west coast of Wales at the end of St Bride's Bay and close to the most Western coast of Wales. It is home to the Puffin, which have the island as their home for a couple of months a year during the breeding season. Unlike other birds they nest in hollows (like rabbits) but I could understand why when I saw the exposed cliffs close by. They are so cute and looked at us inquisitively as they strutted across the footpath a metre in front of us and came out of their holes to pose for photos before returning to check on their young. The Puffin has a very short wingspan so when they fly they flap their wings madly and look as though they will never make it to the sea to catch fish or back to the cliff to feed their young. We wandered around Skomer Island for a few hours, looking at the the gulls (they seemed far more attractive and at home here than when they were trying to steal our fish and chips in Beer), Razorbills, Curlews and some other birds we didn't recognise, saw a seal swimming in the sea, and a little rabbit and hunted for gannets and albatrosses and porpoises with no luck. As we sat on a rock eating our lunch and watching the birds fly over we discussed the flying display and imagined that the designers got their inspiration for the U2 from the Seagull, for the F16 from the Curlew and the Starfighter from the Puffins. It could be quite a challenge to take an aircraft book and a bird book and see how many you could match up. The island was covered in little white daisies, in June it would have been blue bells, and in August the pretty pink scottish heather. So, what ever month you go to see the puffins you can see them amongst blue, white or pink.






The island is rather exposed having no land to the south-west to protect it from the Atlantic gales. It has magnificent currents around it that whip up the sea and create rather a large swell (I imagine it could get like Cook Strait quite easily). They say that the weather is quite mild, with little more than 30 inches of rain a year, though the weather is changeable with frequent strong winds and an average of about 31 gales a year - that's more than one a fortnight - how could the weather be mild?? So, why am I talking so much about the weather. Well, the weekend was our first camping weekend with our new tent. We headed off early on Friday evening and drove the 3 hours to Hasguard to a tent site that we discovered was perched on top of a hill with no protection from the wind or rain. On the way over we decided the rain would hold off at least until we were tucked up inside but no such luck. We pitched it in pouring rain and howling wind to the amusement of other campers. We did get an offer of help but by that time we had managed to stop the tent from blowing away with the help of the car strategically placed to offer some protection. (The campsite owner had wanted us to put the car on the other side so it would set us apart from other tents - but we disagreed since there were only 2 other sets of happy campers wisely staying indoors a long way away from us - she was none too impressed - but we didn't care!). We ate our salad in our tent longing for a hot dinner cooked by someone else and then went to bed. Our kiwi sleeping bags were warm - that's the good news. All night the wind howled through the pine trees, hit the tent with a force that left us wondering if it could survive another onslaught, and then the rain pelted down - then a breather for a couple of minutes giving us hope but we soon realised the weather was teasing us and the cycle started all over again. Amazingly in the morning after only a couple of hours sleep we woke to sunshine - wet air mattresses (where the tent had hit them all night), lots of mud and sludge and wind. We climbed, out and hit the road to find a shelter to cook our breakfast sausages, but ended up eating the left over cold dinner before the rain came down again for most of the day. We drove around, down narrow country roads but each time we got out of the car the rain began again (and it wasn't a drizzle). We wandered down a little path to see Ramsay Island from a distance and the life boat house but ended up in a cafe in Milford Haven (Welsh name is Aberdaugleddau - try saying that a few times). We saw a Gun Tower and thought 'it's dry lets go inside'. The Gun Tower sits proudly on the foreshore of Milford Haven. It was built in 1851 and in the Victorian times, soldiers lived there and manned the cannon on the top of the tower. Over 250 ships were built at the Pembroke dockyard near by, and many Australians and New Zealanders operated ships and flying boats from the nearby port. It was quite interesting but we didn't stay long - long enough for me to warm myself by the heater and for the sun to come out - and so we decided to stay another night - no not in the tent (it took 5 minutes to take down and throw in the boot - incidentally it rained again as we arrived to take it down) but a little hotel built in 1878 - one of the oldest buildings in Milford Haven (where the landlord told us that he was very busy with contractors for the liquid gas industry, but had room at the inn for us for the night and where we learnt the pub regularly got flooded with about 4 feet of water in the downstairs bar room (due to inadequate drainage and the high tide coming up through the drains - sounds a bit like Venice). Anyway, we welcomed a 'dry' bed and hoped it didn't mean we would have to catch a canoe out the next morning.





It was actually touch and go if we could go to Skomer - they delayed the decision for a couple of hours waiting for swell to go down. While, we waited we walked around the headland watching the sea, its currents whip up a great display, and looking down at the white water hitting the rocks. Quite a magnificent view and though we would have been a bit disappointed at not seeing the Puffins, the view was worth the walk.
I know we do get up to some mad things occasionally but I doubt we will ever do what a 78-year-old did during the week. He ran out of money after a night out in Denmark, stole a dinghy and tried to row home to Sweden! The man was found sound asleep drifting in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. It was back to Swansea on Monday for work and guess what - it rained!!
Mike moved to Sydney on Tuesday morning and Bex will follow not long after. He has a great job opportunity and has set up his own recruitment company with some friends. If you know of any graduates wanting a job in either Aussie or New Zealand they might like to have a look at his new website - there is a link on our blog home page - Mike's gradconnection.