Thursday, October 2, 2008

Fiji Trip










30SEP08 (Waiting for a modem and an internet connection at home)
The House
It’s Friday today, we have been in our house for two nights, the dogs in the area can really go on a barking spree at times and then the roosters chime in anytime after 4.00am. There is also a large diesel generator that has a low rumble 24/7. Reminds me of my Uncle Claude’s farm situated out on the Darling Downs. We will get used to it and it will be just part of the background noise. Our street is a dead end further up the hill so the traffic is minimal. We have a view of the next bay east of the harbour and are on a good rise with the University grounds over the back fence, so the ocean breeze is refreshing. The place has the equivalent of 24 sets of ceiling to floor louvers so the breeze can flow through, although it is a bit of a cleaning task. We are just camping at present with minimal kitchen and bedding stuff, waiting for our boxes to arrive. I cooked spagbol last night which went down OK with a cuppa and lamington for desert. Our first cooked meal in the house. Gotta join that gym !!!!
All of the maintenance issues have been fixed on our house and our tank is filled with town water (we now have a private pipeline, although it is only a trickle into the tank) and a 20 liter bottle in our dispenser for drinking.
On the social side I joined the Ladies Morning Tea at Paddles Café overlooking the harbour on Tuesday, as the token male. It was just good to find things out and swap information on where to shop and what was happening in Apia.
Monday night was a rainy Hash and there was a last minute change of venue and just a road run until Godfather decided we needed to add an extra long block, a coconut never looked so refreshing. At least it wasn’t in the swollen creeks and scrub that was originally planned.
I also got to play lifeguard for a two year old at Paloa Deep as we counted coral and rocks and dropped them back into the water.

Next week we will be in Fiji so I hope to see some of the sights as we drive from Nandi to Suva and back, hope I can adjust to driving a right hand vehicle again.

Well we are back from Fiji, 3 nights Nadi, 3 in Suva and an evening in Nadi waiting for the midnight flight to Samoa. Night flights suk !!! On our way to Fiji it was up at 2am, taxi booked for 2.45am, flight at 5.35am, I am not a morning person. Unfortunately I booked late and Business Class was the only seat available, so while I was in food and service heaven, F was back down the isle and because of turbulence didn’t get anything to eat or drink. We crashed at our hotel to emerge late Sunday for a drive to Nadi and Port Denerau ( a copy of a Gold Coast canal and marina development, about 1500 rooms in Hotels, shuttle buses etc.)
I went on a day package to Mala Mala Island, which was good value, although the coral was not a patch on Samoa. This was probably because of siltation from the mainland as Mala Mala is one of the closest islands with about a one hour run from Denerau. Overall I enjoyed myself and met some interesting people. One interesting person we ran into was Colleen Hewitt (Hair – the musical) as she signed a guitar and talked to a singer in a shop. In Suva I visited the Fiji Museum and read about the waves of settlement of the Pacific in the last 5000 years. The war clubs, cannibalism and the utensils for eating humans were a bit ghoulish (see the background behind Colleen), I didn’t buy any wooden forks for eating eyes and brains.
On Saturday evening the hotel had a dance and fire troup, some pics attached.
We flew back from Nadi and returned to our house at dawn to be awoken by amplified reverb music from a sports carnival on the uni oval, so much for sleep, it was time for breakfast anyway and shopping and checking out the volleyball comp. After a late sleep-in on Sunday we went to Sinalei for lunch and a snorkel, a lazy day before work starts again for F and I prep and paint the kitchen.
The Kitchen looks good in Sky Blue(it was on special), next is to do the white trim. I painted it with a brush, so I’m waiting a while for the next step. Also my left shoulder is missing some bark from a stumble on slippery rocks on Monday evening’s Hash run or should I say a marathon through jungle and cow paddocks. The teaming rain on the run back was just a relief, they did warn us to bring a change of clothes.
R&F

1 comment:

Sandra Lawrence said...

Glad that you have not forgotten about lamingtons and the interior decoration principle of what's on special is teh best colour on any wall.

Have fun and take care
sandra