The Baynhams

Today our bus ride into town took a detour down some side roads and we passed a local Primary School called St Joseph's. The kids all go to St Joseph's Kilaben bay in Australia so it was a novelty to see a school in the Cook Islands with the same name.

We went for a walk later on and stopped outside the school for a photo. As we stood in the foyer and looked at the notice board a nun walked out of the office and greeted us all with a hug. We explained who we were and why we had wanted to see her school.

She took Sian and myself off to the Year 6 classroom and brought us in. Sian was brought up the front and got to say hello and tell the kids about her year 6 in Australia. The class were learning about Australia that day so it was a real coincidence we had turned up. The kids were lovely, all very smiley and welcoming.

When we said goodbye and went back to find Byron he was having a very animated chat with another male teacher. It turns out that as they had talked this teacher asked Byron more specifically where we came from and within minutes they had worked out that the staff of this tiny school had travelled to World Youth Day in Sydney last year and had stayed in OUR St Josephs school! What an amazing coincidence.

We took their email address and said we will send them on the photos that we took at their school and also some photos from our St Joseph's when we get home. WE came out of the school with a real grin on our faces and a spring in our step. It feels so good to be seeing a little more than just the tourist face of the Island.