Adrian and his wife travelled to the Greek Islands in their Easter holidays. [br

M: Felicity. Hi.
W: Oh, hello there, Adrian.
M: How’s Nigel, and the kids, Margie and Fergal?
W: Splendid. Just great. And, er, Olivia and, the kids?
M: Very well thanks.
W: Splendid. That’s just splendid. You know, I really must...
M: So, how were the Easter holidays?
W: Oh, right, yes, an absolute nightmare. Nigel’s parents came to stay and were so boring. Thank goodness for the golf club. And you?
M: Great actually. We went away.
W: Really? You know, I really must go...
M: We had thought about going to the Caribbean, but Olivia said that she’d been there before. Then, we booked a trip to the Greek Islands, but Olivia had forgotten about some important meeting she had, so we had to cancel that. Eventually, we left the kids at home and Olivia and I went to Easter Island.
W: Easter Island? For Easter, how amusing. Oh, right, it’s, erm, a real place, is it?
M: Yes, it’s an island in the South Pacific.
W: Jolly good. Erm, difficult to get to, I imagine?
M: Five and a half hours from Santiago.
W: Santiago?
M: The capital of Chile.
W: Really? I never knew. Sounds fascinating.
M: We went for the heads of course. Or should I say the ""moai".
W: Yes, yes. I suppose you did...heads? What heads?
M: The moai. They’re large heads.
W: Moai? Heads?
M: Haven’t you ever seen the Easter Island statues?
W: Well, yes, of course, although I haven’t quite got round to visiting them myself. They sound terribly interesting.
M: For many years the heads were a mystery.
W: Oh yes? So, what was the food like? Lots of fish, I suppose, it being an island.
M: There are moai all over the island. The statues had been there for centuries before the Europeans arrived. No one really knows why they were built, although the most popular theory is that the statues were religious. The big mystery is how they managed to move the heavy stones around the island. Just before we went, a group of archaeologists had attempted to move some rocks of similar weight as part of an experiment, but they found it extremely difficult...
W: Fascinating. So, did you play any golf?
M: There are 887 statues in total. In fact, the statues are not just heads-they’re whole figures, although only one has legs. They were carved from volcanic rock between 1100 and 1680 AD. The majority are still in the crater of the volcano. Three hundred and ninety four of them, to be precise.
W: Well, well. Good swimming, I suppose. Did you do any scuba diving? Nigel and I had ago last time we were in Sardinia. Great fun.
M: The biggest moai is called Paro and is nearly 10 metres tall and weighs over 70 tonnes.
W: Splendid. Splendid. So, anyway, I really must go because I’ve got the kids at home and I have to get the dinner ready, and then I’ve got to pick up Nigel from the gym, and then, I’m...