Saturday, March 10 (Australia time)

It has been nice here in Port Macquarie, hacking around with Trish. Today we will go to a festival of some kind in a neighbouring town, then out to Kim's to the farm. I will be staying overnight out there. So - I will post some photos later.

Thursday, March 8 (Australia time)

Here are a few photos I have taken since I have been here in Australia.


The kangaroos are all around Trish's house and the neighbours, as in they are right up to the house. 

Pam with twins Luke and Kai (age 31/2)

If you enlarge this photo, you will see the 

joey's legs hanging out of the pouch

After dinner tonight there were a few of them

in the front of the house. This teenage joey
has his head inside the pouch, having a drink
of mother's milk

Not a good photo, but I took it through glass.
After they were finished in the front yard they
ran right past me (the wall of the carport,
about 4 feet high, was in between us),
into the back yard

Wednesday, March 7 (Australia time)

I will post photos below. These photos only make sense if you have read the last post.


Trish (sister-in-law) and Kim - niece) and I went out and about a bit today and I got an Internet USB modem so I now have the Internet - yeah!


So here are the photos, but the write-up is below this.

A corner of the marina on Denereau Island

A few of the crew greeting us at the boat

Serenading us for awhile on the way out
Dan, on the far left was my personal snorkel guide

When they anchored the boat, they threw
pieces of bread into the water and the
fish came out of nowhere

Most of the people jumped off the back of
the boat and snorkeled around


The water was a beautiful green colour, but
it does not show up in the photos unfortunately

Approaching the island

Thatched roof huts were built
along the beach to provide shade

The main hut

We were serenaded again as we ate our lunch

Our host, Paul, did a demo on the uses of
the coconut tree, including the leaves and
the fruit. Here here is taking off the leaves
and he made a basket in short order
as we sat and watched. I was amazed at how
strong it was.

Some went kayaking

This was our boat, the MV Oolala


The next photos are of something that fascinated me.
They brought the supplies out to the Oolala as it was
taking us back in. The tender goes faster than main boat,
so they would catch up to us, pull right in behind then someone
would throw two ropes to someone else in the main boat, who
would then cross the ropes and tied them onto the stern
of the main boat. There was about a 5 or 6 foot space between boats.
They got from one to the other by stepping on the cross, then moving
to the other boat. Great as long as you keep your footing. Then they would
pass things from the tender to the Oolala. It fascinated me enough, 
but when they passed a gas generator, I could not believe it.
These boats were scooting right along.

The marina from the water

Monday, March 5 (Australia Time)

Wednesday, March 7

I wrote the post below when I was in Sydney at Pam and Paul's. Yesterday I took a train from Sydney to the area where Jenny grew up and was met there by friends Del and Sandra. They took me to the car rental agency, which Del had arranged. It was brilliant that she chose that particular one, because I did not have to do city driving. It was just straight out and I was on the highway to Port Macquarie, three hours north. That's important when you get into a car with the steering wheel on the right, and you are expected to drive on the left side of the road. It's a bit of a brain scramble.

I am here at sister-in-law Trish Leary's, and her daughter Kim lives near by. In fact, I am on Kim's computer right now.

The photos of the boat trip are on my computer so I need to either get them onto a stick or get my computer onto the Internet. In any case, I will put them up later.

So the post below is the account of the boat trip, and arriving in Sydney.

Monday, March 5 (Australia time)

I keep waking up and finding myself in different countries! LOL. I got into Australia around noon yesterday, and Pam and Paul were there waiting for me. I was a bit nervous about seeing them - and it turns out that Pam felt the same way, because here I am showing up without Jenny. Somehow that heightens the reality. Neither of us knew exactly how that would be. Anyway, we all did fine and it is certainly nice to see them.

All of their family came for dinner last night. They have three children and five grandchildren. What a lovely family they are. I have met them all before, on the other two trips.

The boat trip I took to the island on Saturday was fabulous. There were 26 of us plus crew on the MV Oolala. A shuttle picked me up and I was the only passenger for the first 25 minutes or so, until we got to Denareu Island (not the island we were gong to  - this one is just a short bridge distance off shore). Then we went around to the Westin, Hilton and other 4 and 5 start resorts to pick up the others.

The trip out on the boat was bout an hour. Off shore maybe about 1/4 to 1/2 km from the island, they anchored and those who wanted to jumped off the back of the boat to snorkel. I gave this a pass, but would loved to have done it. My leg is just not good enough right now to do any strong swimming. So - the remainder of us were taken to the island in the tender.

The host of the trip, Paul , told me that he was sending one of the crew out to snorkel with me. So Dan, a very tall fellow and I set out to snorkel off the beach. There were not many fish in that area, but it was wonderful to be in snorkeling again. It has been over four years since I have snorkeled. I'm just glad that I got to do it. Now my appetite has been whetted again for it.

I am on Pam and Paul's computer right now, so I do not have access to my photos. When I get my own computer fired up,  will put them on.

As I sat under the thatched roof of the main hut, I soaked in the environemnt. It is like I had seen this scene so many times in travel promotional materal. It was one of those things - you just had to be there.

They did a BBQ lunch with chicken, sausage, potato salad etc. They also had beach volleyball set up, so some of the younger ones played with some crew members. There were small but set up with thatched rooves so youcould get a bit of shade on the beach.

This is a very small island among the hundreds of Fijian islands. I think it would be a cay.

It was interesting how they would tow the tender, then disengage it while still moving, put it back on etc. but the most interesting part to me was when we were on our way back in. They attach it with two ropes, crossed. The tender is about five or six feet behind the boat. They were passing the supplies from the tender to the main boat while we went along at cruising speed. To accomplish this, the one in the tender would put one foot on the crossed rope and pass to the other ones on the back of the boat. The ones on the back of the boat were only standing on the flat platform, with no railing to keep them on. All of this was fascinating enough to me, but when they passed a GAS GENERATOR from the tender to the boat, this was amazing. I cannot imagine what the scene would be if they fell between the boats as they travelled around.

Five of the fellows on the boat play the guitar (2 of the 5) and sing for part of the trip out, during lunch, and part of the way back. Then comes the interactive part where you tell what country you are from and then they get you to sing something about your country. These guys are really good. They can accompany to any song it seems. I did the chorus of 'This land is your land'' . I was fun - everyone really enjoyed all of it.

The same bus driver picked us up, and the 5 star people were dropped at their places pretty quickly. Now it was just he and I.  I think he must have been in a hurry because it was the end of his day because he was driving like a bat out of hell! he leaves the door of the bus open to get more breeze in. I am sitting directly opposite this open door and I was praying I would  not be catapulted out when we took some of the corners.

We got to where he had to slow down because we were on streets in town. Then he turns onto some street and to the end of a dead end street . He said something about parking the bus, but offered no explanation as to what we were doing there, in spite of my questions. He suggested I get out of the bus so I did, then he parked it in some vacant lot. he gets into some old van and brings it to where I am standing. I actually took a couple of pictures of the dash of this rattletrap - well, actually I quietly took the pictures so he would not see me. I don't think the photos did the inside justice but I wanted to remember it. Not only are these cars and taxis rattletraps, they are also dirty. It was just unreal. This time, though this whole switching vehicles thig remains a bit of a mystery, I did not think I was going to be murdered.

Though there are a lots of homes typical of poverty in a third world country, I noticed that the yards are tidy. I noted no old cars decorate the properties - but then I realized that all the old cars are on the road!

We will hang out today, then go out to dinner tonight with some friends of Pam and Paul. I am leaving here tomorrow morning, and will take a train to the area where Jenny grew up. Her friends Del and Sandra will pick me up and take me to the car rental agaency from where I will drive to Port Macqauarie.

Saturday, March 4 (FIJI time)

I Found It!

BULA!

 Yes, I have found paradise on earth. I was there today, on Savala Island, a small cay. I thought about Jenny so much , because she would have absolutely loved it, as did I.

 I have photos and will write about it, but I only have minutes left on ,my last Internet card. Actually, it is hard to keep the Internet going here. So after I get to Australia I will do the posting about today. 

I cannot believe how fast the time has gone since I left home. It has all been wonderful. Tomorrow I will be in Australia. I will get in at 12:25 PM, and Pam and Paul Berriman will pick me up. Pam and Jenny were great friends from high school on. 

Friday, March 2 (FIJI time)

Well, those No Jet Lag pills seem to have worked once again! I was able to stay asleep for the night last night (with just the usual wakeups), and stay in bed until 7 AM. Today I am a bit tired but not too bad, and I just feel like I am in their time zone here. I will be wanting to go to bed by the time I actually do, for sure. But it is an amazing product. Jenny and I discovered them in 2004. As a seasoned traveller to Australia, she could never get over the difference. They are homeopathic, so not interfere with anything else, and are easy to take - you chew them. 

Today I took a jaunt into Nadi. I am just on the outskirts. I boarded the bus near the hotel, prepared with my  70 cents fare. I scrambled in my wallet for it as the bus approached, and handed it to the driver. Just after I handed it to him, I said, "Oh I'm sorry, that is just 60 cents. I'll get you another 10 cents". He said, "that's OK". I thought it is pretty neat that they do not get up tight about these things and throw you off the bus for not paying full fare. Much later in the afternoon, I had a flashback to that scene. At the time I was thinking the 50 cent pieces were 25 cent pieces, so I only gave him 60 cents. So when I remembered they were actually 50 cent pieces, I realized I had given him $1.10. HA! The laugh was on me. No wonder it was "OK"! I had to have a chuckle over that one.

The bus ride was only about 10 minutes and I was in downtown Nadi. It reminded me a little of Costa Rica, but much smaller than San Jose. It was the condition of the streets (you really have to watch your step) and the poverty that gave it that flavour (though I was in a few very nice shops as well). 

 It was very interesting. Everyone you pass is saying "bula" (sp?) to you  - 'hello'. Some of them want to engage you in conversation to get you into their shop, others just want to talk to you. I had two men in separate occasions start talking to me about the Indians and if I shop at this particular store instead of that one across the street, I would be supporting the Fiji people and not the Indians, and if I shopped at the Indian store the money is taken offshore. There have been two uprisings here in the past 10 or 12 years. You may remember them. I got the feeling today that there is still an undercurrent.

I visited a huge produce market while downtown. It was huge - I think the biggest I have ever seen. My  pictures did not turn out great, because I was trying to not be too intrusive, but I will put a couple of them below. In most of the market, the people sat on the floor on tarps with their fruits and vegetables spread around them. If I was in a cooking unit I would have been buying things. The papayas reminded me of Maui. They looked delicious. 

This was taken from across the street from where I entered

It is sort of unusual to take a photo of grass. But then this is unusual grass. I have not seen anything like it before, and I am not sure the picture will do it justice. I had stopped in a park across the street to sit on a bench for a few minutes.

I went trudging back from whence I came, as I had seen some taxis congregated in one spot. I had no idea where the bus stop would be for the return trip, so a taxi would be a more reasonable choice, given that my leg was causing me grief by now.

I could see that I did not have too far left to go, when a taxi pulled up alongside the curb and asked if I needed a ride. Did I EVER need a ride! So I got into the taxi. It was typical of the others I have been in - dirty, dusty, broken down, rattly, ready for taxi heaven. I guess it is a reflection of the economic conditions here, and the fact that they have potholes the size of the Grand Canyon. 

I told him I was staying at the Hexagon. OK he said, and asked me which way I want to take. How do I know? So I told him the shortest way. OK he said, he'd take the back road. 

I may not know the area but I have a very good sense of direction, and I knew that we were going in the opposite direction. I chirped u pand said that it is behind us. No no he insisted he is gong the right way. Now I am getting nervous. We are having this running dialogue where I told him I knew we were going in the wrong direction, and he told me he knew where he was going. he said it is near the airport. I said it is TOWARD the airport from where we started out. 

Now we are going past sugar cane and whatnot and getting further away. And I am getting more nervous. The dialogue continued. he said we were circling back and would soon be at the roundabout. What roundabout? 

As this thing continued, I started to plan to defend myself, and noted that he is an older guy, and fairly small. I am in the back and he is in the front. I was trying to see something I could hit him on the head with, but only had my camera. Good thing I have seen lots of Soprano type TV shows, because then I figured maybe I could choke him with my camera strap from the back seat. 

The bantering went on until we got to the roundabout just by the airport. I said we had gone too far, that it is not at the airport, but we needed to be on the road TO the airport. Then the penny dropped for him. 

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh I made a mistake. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh I made a mistake. By the time we got to the hotel, the meter was up to $14.50. It had cost me 70 cents (well - $1.10) on the bus!

He said to just pay him $6, but I said we would split the difference and I gave him $10. Now that I know I have not been murdered in amongst the sugar canes in rural Fiji, I consider it an experience I can remember.

Tomorrow I am being picked up at 8:30 AM to take me to a dock somewhere, where I will board a boat at 10 AM for an island, and a day of snorkeling, BBQ lunch and lounging around. The boat is one of Fiji's newest, and is called the OOLALA. I will be sure to take lots of pictures. 

Below are a few photos I have taken around here.

The pool and bar. The restaurant is
in behind the bar

My room is the door on the right, ground level

The restaurant, and hall leading to the
front entrance and front desk.
It is all open air

Thursday (FIJI time), March 1

Holy smokes - here I am in Fiji!

Donna and Lynn took me to the Phoenix airport on Tuesday just after noon. From there I went back to Los Angeles. I was a little concerned about how I was going to get from one terminal to another in LA with my significant baggage, sciatica and a knee that is waiting for a partial replacement. I have had wheelchair assistance in the airports because I would never manage them , they are so huge. Anyway, at LA they had it down to a science. They took me and my whole cart of luggage in a van with a lift, and when we got to the international terminal, he put the lift down and off came the whole cart.

 Sharon, Lynn, Donna at the airport in Phoenix

The plane was to leave at 10:30 PM, and the counters at Air Pacific were to open at 5:35. I figured I would be the only one to get there 5 hours ahead of time, and if I went back down to the counter at 5:15 I would be first in line. NOT. I was at the end of four snake lines back. Eventually I made it through, went and got dinner then got the wheelchair folks to do their magic.

The Bradley International Terminal is new, and part of it is still under construction. Beyond security there are no stores or restaurants, just a few bags of junk food hanging off a rack and some bottles of pop and water. Here's the part that took all of us in my little corner of the waiting room by surprise. When you go out the door at the gate, it is ground level. Departures on major routes with large planes always have a ramp leading down to the plane, right? Wrong. Here they load you onto a bus. Can you imagine how many buses and runs back and forth it takes to load a 747? They had us crammed in there like a Toronto streetcar - or a New York subway. This Fijian guy sitting next to me was cracking jokes and said, "We should put photos on Facebook of the bus we took to Fiji". Everyone around broke out laughing. We took off at about 11:15 PM.

I had an aisle seat, and as the people filed past me I prayed as usual for some small little woman who didn't need armrests. Every time I saw a large person  - of either gender  -coming along I silently said "noooooooooooooo". Well, it appeared to have worked because nobody sat down in either of the seats! I rejoiced when the door closed and I was seat-mate-less. After a while a fellow came along who wanted my window seat. That was fine with me, and it was great for both of us to have the seat in between empty. Ten hours and forty minutes is a long time to have your right arm across your chest, holding onto your left thigh!

Even with the wonderful seat situation I was in agony a lot of the time with my knee and sciatic pain. So when we rolled into Nadi it was a big relief.

When you land here and make your way to immigration, there is a four man band playing for you. I did not get a photo, but today Judy Muir sent me a photo she took of them just about a month ago when she and Alan stopped here on the way home from New Zealand. Here it is below.

All went well at customs and the fellow helping me grabbed, at my direction, my red and black bags and handed me over to the shuttle driver from the hotel. I got here at about 6:40 AM local time. They said housekeeping starts at 8 and they would have my room done up right away. At 7 the restaurant opened, so I got some breakfast and hung around until sometime just after 9 when my room was ready.

I opened my red bag and wondered why it looked different than it did when I packed it yesterday. Seems someone else has a red bag like it! So they call me a cab and off I go back to the airport. I told the folks there what had happened, and someone went off to look for my bag. They told me to take a seat. About 30 seconds later a man and his son came in dragging my bag. What are the chances we would get to the exact same spot at the same time?! He thought it was pretty funny and said that he wondered why it felt so much lighter than it had (that's right, someone DOES have a heavier bag that I). And I said to myself when I first picked up his, "what in the world did I PUT in here?" So we had a good laugh and happily went off pulling our own red bags.

This is a two story hotel, more like a motel but it does not feel like a motel. I have a poolside room, and it is literally 4 or 5 steps out my door. I went in this afternoon, after having had two naps. The water was beautiful and so refreshing.

I am trying to decide what to do over the next two days. I have had the shuttle driver, two taxi drivers and the tour signer-uper here at the hotel courting me, all wanting my business. I told them all I was in no shape to even think about it today, I was so tired.

At this very moment I am feeling OK, having had a couple of naps. During my second one I heard a huge noise outside. I sat up and saw that it was teaming - and I mean teaming - rain.  When I got up it was dry. Unbelievable.

It  is low season here, and there are not many people here at the hotel. Just past the pool, toward the front are an open air bar and restaurant. At lunch I was the only one in there eating. The nice lady took my order, then went about drying silverware. Later, she was mopping the floor in the restaurant (it seems there is always someone mopping a floor). When I would ask her for something, she would go and get it then come back and continue to mop. Yep, it is quite laid back here. What a nice environment. 

That's it for today. I'll be back.