Juliett has soared above New Zealand, Australia, the Maldives, Wallis & Futuna, Ireland, Bali, and the Falkland Islands, among many other places. She’s been my trusty drone on every continent except Africa (although I didn’t fly her in Antarctica, she accompanied me there). Now she'd have the opportunity to fly above Pitcairn. The day was beautiful with very little wind so it was a perfect opportunity to get all of Pitcairn Island into a photo. For breakfast I made French toast and coffee and then packed some water, sunscreen, my camera, and Juliett and made a B-line for Highest Point. At 347 metres and Juliett flying to 500 metres meant I could be an astounding 847 metres above the sea. Majestically I soared her into the sky. Juliett is more than 3 km away south here...
Some people have asked "where are all the houses?" but Adamstown, the only settlement, is on the north coast and can't be seen from this vantage point. The church service began at 9:30 AM so I wanted to experience that. From Highest Point I walked back to town but not without first paying Mrs. T a visit to give her a banana or few. With the majority of Pitcairn Islanders being Seventh-Day Adventists, the Sabbath falls on a Saturday.
Pitcairn’s only church has enough seating to fit more than double the island’s population, and more than 20 people were in attendance today. Although I'm no longer religious, a Pitcairn church service is interesting especially with Char's children singing. Whilst on Pitcairn I want to experience as much as possible. Pitcairn’s current administrator, Nick, is from London and his wife is from Cyprus. In front of the church are two bells. When I rung one of them, Nick stated that locals may think there's something going on and are being summoned to the square, therefore this isn't the place to be Quasimodo.
John, the pastor, and his wife, Ruby invited me to their home for lunch. Whilst Ruby was preparing the food, John took me Down Isaacs (another testament to very simple place names here). It's a very short walk but it sure is beautiful here.
John and Ruby are responsible for maintaining the trail here. Locals, both descendants and foreign, are expected to take part in unpaid community work whilst living on Pitcairn. These duties include maintaining roads and trails, fixing signs, helping unload the ship, etc. John and Ruby are vegetarians so we had borsch, toast, and cabbage salad topped with peanuts. John and Ruby are originally from Washington state but are here on a work contract. After a delicious lunch I charged up Juliett's batteries and flew her again. Elated I am to be snapping these photos especially since I'm likely one of the first people to fly a drone on Pitcairn.
Juliett doesn't only snap overhead photos but also helps me photograph out-of-reach places. This cool rock formation is high on a cliff and would have been impossible to snap with my camera or phone.
With Juliett I had a very productive day. Meralda and her mum, Mavis, would join us for tea at Char's home this evening. Slow-cooked beef, potato wedges, and salad were on the menu. With the exception of chicken and goat, all meat on Pitcairn is imported frozen. We've had some brilliant meals so far, and I had much to talk about over dinner. Wayne grows his own coffee, so he made some for me tonight. How many people in the world get to have Pitcairn coffee?!
When it comes to drones, giant tortoises, church services, great people, and good feeds, I reckon there's never a dull moment on this far-flung Pacific outpost.
