Fiji and Australia!

Well, Shannon and I flew from Calgary to Vancouver, Vancouver to LA, and enjoyed a visit with the Boulton's and appreciated their hospitality! We caught our flight to Fiji, although they almost didn't let us on because I hadn't received the paper tickets (Air Pacific is the ONLY airline who still needs a paper ticket!!!)...Dennis had gotten them in the mail that day...a lot of good that did me! So after a little bit of waiting and other stuff, they wrote us out new tickets and charged me extra for that...but we got on the plane. The good thing about Air Pacific is that the upper deck is not business class, so we got to sit up there and had much more room than downstairs. So, Shannon slept very, very well (that's a long story, but very amusing!) and me, not so much. I didn't mind, I was just happy to be ON the plane. So we arrived in Fiji and met up with Chel and had to kill some time in Nadi before catching another plane over to Taveuni.

We took the minibus downtown, but got let off early because our driver was avoiding a police check as he apparently wasn't licensed or registered...so we walked part of the way, which was great because Shannon was very 'snap-happy' with her camera...so that gave her an opportunity to snap away. We went to the market. It has some very cool things...like the pineapples, which tasted GREAT! The puffer fish and other slimey fish things were not so great. After a dip in the pool at the hotel across from the airport, we visited a lady in her village close to downtown. She is a friend of Rick and Chel's and I met her last time we were there. She made us some bags and fans out of palm fronds. As we were walking to her house, we came across a feast...when someone dies in Fiji they have a feast of beef...and slaughter the cow and gut it etc. in prep for the party...yes, it's very gross, so skip that pic if you're squeemish. Then, back to the airport for our flight to Taveuni (which we almost missed...again, a funny story...).

Once we arrived, we were picked up in a taxi by Dickie (he works at the farm and keeps it safe while Rick and Chel are in Australia) and headed to the boat. The boat ride is about 45 minutes and of course, starts out nice, but ends in rain...but again, I didn't mind!

Once we arrived at the farm, we continued our adventure with our friends. We ate coconut, drank coconut juice, ate coconut and watched Inoke climb a coconut tree to fetch us some more coconuts! We hiked thru bush and mangroves. We went to a beautiful place behind the village of Dakuniba where lies multiple pools of fresh water collected in smoth rock basins. It was a sight to see! Above the pools are ancient writings on rocks, which no one to date has been able to decipher.

This one is so funny. I was sitting there with my feet cooling in the water and Masi (my newest best friend...the chief's son) came over and said, "Kelly, do you know what pool you have your feet in?", of course I didn't know, so he said "watch this" and this is what he did...you guessed it, it's the 'coffin pool'. I thought it was a great shot. If you look closely you can see he's smiling under there...he thought it was very funny.


This is a picture of baby Joyce. Her mother abandoned her and now her grandmother is raising her.

We were the guests of honour at a party in the village where they raised money to put new flooring down in the church and paint it as well. It was amazing...except the grog...aka dirty sock water.

Our adventures also included deep sea fishing (in a little, homemade Fijian fishing boat) and all they do is wrap a thick line twice around the hand and troll along...well, I was lucky and caught a beauty....a 4 kg, 36" Baracuda. It was so exciting! It made me question what possessed me to jump into that same water that I pulled a baracuda out of...crazy! These are also shark waters...












Yes, I scaled it, gutted it and filetted it! It was dinner, and it tasted great! Dickie went spear fishing for us and caught those giant lobster and we ate that as well the same night. It was a seafood feast! My Uncle Mike will be proud of me for sure!





On to Australia we had a great time at the Ginger factory, the Macadamia nut factory, the Big Pineapple and the hide store that sells authentic Ughs...yes I got me a pair!

We walked along the beaches, went to Noosa and looked for Koala's, but this time, they were all hiding. We did however see a little pod of dolphins. This is where we saw the dolphins and this tree is very cool, growing right out of the rock on the side of the cliff.

Chel and Shannon completely hoodwinked me by taking me to an Italian restaurant for my b-day dinner...followed by a delish cheesecake and then the movies. It was girls night out just like old times. Loved it.

Of course, I can't forget the shopping! And one of the best treats was Chel and I getting a pedicure as soon as we arrived from Fiji...our feet were tired and dirty and a good pedi is exactly what the dr. ordered! To top that off, the chairs we sat in were those big ole massage chairs and we fell in LOVE with. We felt renewed from head to toe...literally!

Well, that's it in a nutshell...really, a small nutshell as I don't think I could ever do justice to the experiences first hand with my buddies. The best b-day present ever!