A letter from Fiji...

Monsoon Season again...

It is just typical of how slack my blogging got there that I hadn't even blogged about one cyclone before another is on its way! Or maybe that's just typical of this season.... who knows...

So while we sit and await cyclone Tomas who has been threatening the country since early Friday why not blog a quick run down of Mick....  Mick snuck up quickly and quietly in December, on our wedding anniversary actually! We watched it approaching as a tropical storm and monitored it overnight. The Fiji met was quite unconcerned, but GB decided it was a great opportunity to have a full cyclone drill "before cyclone season".... So shutters up, sky dishes down (a lot of grumbling from our house when they came and took ours down), guests briefed to assemble in the restaurant.... 

 

Imagine our surprise when around 1pm a cat 3 cyclone hit us! The kids and I peeped out the back door of our place in confusion, we had already seen a cat 2, and we knew it was stronger than that. We sneaked thru the back of the spa and thru the (leaky) kitchen where they were rinsing dishes under the rainfall to save water, and into the restaurant to join the others who were as gathered there as instructed. Well we had to -we had no food at our place and we were starving! 

After about 4 hours sitting in the damp of the restaurant (cyclone = lots of water + lots of wind so everywhere tends to be wet), the cyclone dropped back in intensity and we were allowed out to have a look around, a little photoshoot, and to go back to our bures before dinner.... and what do you know?! Something had trashed our resort!!!

 

 
 
 

 

Miraculously it completely cleared by the next day and was sunny and calm again! So all that was left was a clean up. A BIG clean up....

 

But first.... that same evening... ah! my sky dish is back up, good service (!); even though we didn't actually have contact with the rest of the world (due to our comms tower blowing over) for another 3-4 days...

So now here we go again, but this cyclone (Tomas) is approaching us in an entirely different manner. It has been hovering with its mate Ului north of us since Friday when they closed the schools at lunchtime thereby also forcing the postponement of Amy's birthday sleepover weekend... Now it's Monday, there are no plane flights, no boats running anywhere, and while Ului has luckily headed off the other way Tomas is just assaulting the north east of us around Cikobia and Udu where we hope they are all ok. 

 

Tomas did approach as a cat 4 which is scary, but it seems it will pass to the East of us here. So our guests are trapped here at the moment (well actually helicopters are still running), and as yet the only sign of the storm is all the storm shutters up around the resort, the info board in the reception tracking Tomas, and the twice daily briefings in the restaurant and bar and the fact we are missing Jane and Chris who were meant to fly in the am, but found their flight out of Auckland cancelled. Currently the resort looks like this:

and I kid you not... if you look closely you can see the maintenance crew pimping the storm shutters on the restaurant with extra 4x2's... There are a few less deck chairs now as any that won't take to being suddenly thrown in the other pool as a storm approach have been put away, but otherwise this is how is currently looks... Hopefully we wake up to find Tomas has headed further east without touching us, and that the north are cleaning up without too much serious damage... Well, we'll see! and our thoughts are with those of Cikobia and Vanua Levu....

Why we didn't buy pressies...

for everyone when we went to NZ recently.... 

Prouds department store in Nadi after the water went down (you can see the watermark up on the escalator in the full size version).

This furniture store lost all of its stock when the flood washed it out the windows. But I like the irony of the sign "sorry we are closed"  (in case you hadn't noticed?!)...

Taking a break from the clean-up...

and back down to it...

Over at the river Bulaccino was already cleaned up and open for business. The kids were still leaping off the bridge which was really not so smart, as various debris including sofas were floating past... So I took two photos and then went in (I didn't want them to start playing for the camera)! It was the 19th of January, and we hadn't left the island since the 29th of December! so it was great to catch up with some friends (including the one waving in this photo)...instead of present shopping for our trip home...

Nadi luckily bounces back incredibly fast, and there's no reason at all not to continue to visit Fiji as normal... and yes, this was no excuse for not taking presents home... some of the best shopping in Fiji is tucked away safe and sound... in the departure lounge of the Nadi International Airport!!

PS: A big hi to Aunty Lee: more photos of the kids soon...

PPS: D200 with the 17-55mm lens for versatility, topaz adjust filter used here too...

What a difference a day makes...

Just as we wondered when we would ever see the sun again it dawns bright sunny and calm like nothing happened. These photos taken today (friday) lunchtime... Today sadly some of the guests out here are trying to stay longer, but due to the disruptions in flights over the last week they can't change their air tickets...

Photos are coming in (from various sources) of the floods and they are just terrible. We still haven't been to town, actually we haven't been since the 29th of December- last year (!) -but of course we have have been lucky enough to be safe and sound and secure out here at the island while the storm wreaked havoc on the mainland. 

The one notable fact when you look at the photos of the floods are the resilience of the Fijians. Through the photos and clips you notice them still smiling and waving, just as they smiled and sang welcome songs out here in the pouring rain. Here's Wendy's very clever cartoon inspired by the description of the staff singing in the rain...

isn't it great? you can see the whole post here at Babasiga...I think her drawing describes the welcome in the storm far more effectively than my lame photo...

You can see that resilience again here in this short film of the floods on youtube, people still giving cheery smiles. In this one they are driving from just out of Denerau to just past the turnoff to Nadi by South Seas Treasures and the mosque. The last part they went through became impassably deep in the next few days after that, right up to the roof in fact of a van parked in the yard there...

As I said we didn't go out to town, and probably just as well... we have a four wheel drive, but not a very big one, and then with boats cancelled every second day we probably would've been stuck in town to boot. But no doubt the biggest problem of all would've been me and my camera as I took off in a single minded mission to try and capture the devastation. Instead I'll be thankful we are untouched out here, and share these ones Robert took last weekend... (apologies for any degradation in quality caused by uploading to web)

resilience...

and these are also Roberts, from Sunday by town. The flood waters have dropped by more than 6' to allow them to come in and take these...

So Fiji is sitting in a fine day and in the midst of a huge clean-up... :( If you have the opportunity to give or help please do! Crops, roads and buildings are ruined. If you want to give and don't know how: the Fiji Times and ANZ flood appeal, all proceeds will be given to the Fiji Red Cross, ANZ Fiji account # 10087832 (your ANZ bank will be able to confirm that that is genuine for NZ and Aussies). But don't forget to visit, as all the pictures show the Fijians' friendly spirit remains! And the sun's out again for the moment...touch wood!

Monsoon Season '09

(Photo by Dot Delatour)

How heavy is the rain? Well.... it's sort of like being inside a carwash, with no car... looking out the window looks like looking into a front loading washing machine in operation. It started last wednesday, with howling winds that led us to cancel what would've been our first trip into town for the year, and just continued with winds and torrential rain. Nadi is wrecked, and a disaster zone, with the river flowing though. The above photo from Dot is of a two story building north of town which has tall palms infront of it. And the rain is not forecast to stop this week either. It's pretty tough...

But out here? The weather has been awful, but we're all good. The buildings are secure, the water comes up to our front steps but hasn't caused problems, the boats have been cancelled or disrupted in the huge seas, but we've still played in the pool. We watch movies in the bar (Quantum of Solace and Seven Pounds, Mamma Mia and Get Smart), dance at night, and celebrate Dom and Maria's 25th wedding anniversary with a renewal of vows including wooden rings carved here on the island. We are very lucky... And when it does clear briefly we get the most spectacular sunsets!! So we'll wait and see what the rest of the week brings...

Funniest sight? The maintenance men out in the pouring rain working on the pipeline while guests were leaving on the (essential travel only) south seas boat. Suddenly they realised that we had guests coming off the boat (?!). They run down the beach in their coats and large red rubber gloves to clap and sing an impromptu welcome song... too funny! here's some images...

We're going to town, its flooding...

No, we haven't got so callous that we race into town to watch misfortune... on the sunday night my mum and sister (alias Granny and Ape, ok lets just call her Jane) flew into Nadi to visit us, and we stayed the night in town so we could meet them at the airport. We stayed at the Nadi Bay Hotel (of course- we like to stay there or the Mercure as they don't break the bank AND they have great food which is not a given even at flash resorts). True to form we had a great meal at the Nadi Bay. But it was raining and raining and raining. We took comfort in the fact that its generally much drier out on the island. The next morning the plan was to let the travelers sleep in while I dropped the kids to school. Then we would sightsee until the boat at 4.30pm...

So they were not expecting the call just before 8am. Quick! get packed, we're going to town, its flooding...(so why are we going there?) Infact the school was closed as high tide was 0930 and it was still raining. If we were going to see Nadi the best thing to do was to get into town, assess the water level, park in the appropriate place, then do a bit of shopping and sightseeing while everything was still open. As it turned out the river didn't come into town as in this other time if it had of course I would've been all prepared with the car parked safely over the bridge and the rellies all in good shoes for walking in water. But the banks seem to be a different shape this year, and the village doesn't flood as much, which is good, very good. We headed to Bulaccino of course, the best spot to have brek, assess the situation, and watch local school kids walking past as the schools were closed early one by one...

So what do you buy as a souvenir if you have studied traditional cultural women's clothing as part of your university degree? A Salwar Kameez of course! Jane tried on maybe 100? no I am just kidding, but Gran and I did have to find seats before she was finished- luckily the one she did buy was gorgeous so we all voted it well worthwhile.

Then as a contrast to the fine cafe style of Bulaccino we had another local experience for lunch- dining at MH (which is a supermarket)! OK they do good basic curries, chowmein, chicken, fish and chips. Infact some of the best fish and chips I have had anywhere. And cheap as chips too! I didn't get much in the way of comments from the rellies there. Hopefully because they were too full and happy, and not (the possible alternative) too shocked to speak... Then to finish the day we hopped on the boat, still raining (I am assuring them there will be lots of sunshine and I have just arranged this to help them acclimatise), a huge swell and we bounce our way out to the island (Veniana throws up on the sink just off Bounty). Welcome to our paradise (tee hee)...

(visit from the rellies to be continued...Jane learns to snorkel and meets the local sea lice and mosquitoes)

Quick photos which are not mine!

2 quick extras to add on to the last post... As I took very few decent pics of the cyclone I kerekere'd Carol, one of our guests for one of her photos. And here it is! Check out that hammock! (Carol also shoots with the D200)

and then a shout out to those of you who have ever wanted their photos to look like this...

or like this...

The very talented Renee Oakenfull is launching her new website...today! The website is here and its blog is here. Have a look for yourself, but it features actions, lightroom presets, textures, templates for gorgeous cards, creative borders for your pics and so much more. I personally would like to get Renee to design me a new logo- I have seen some that she has done that are just fantastic...

OK that's all!

The week the kids didn't go back to school...

After a long summer holiday which started early December the kids were due back in school tuesday and wednesday of this week. But monday night we knew a big storm was brewing and that although it only happens once or twice a year most likely there would be no boats in the morning. Jonathan emailed that night to warn us they had wailing winds and no power over in Suva (blackberry power!), and Wendy posted quite a cautionary tale from Taveuni on Babasiga so I went outside to bring the washing in. It was completely calm. I felt a little silly as I hauled the barbeque in side (we just got it, haven't even got the gas hooked up yet), and took all the outdoor seat cushions etc in before pushing the furniture against the wall; however it did indeed start blowing about 11 pm, and checking the Fiji Met Service it looked like cyclone "Gene" a category 2 would arrive at our place sometime on tuesday morning.

Sure enough when our 6am school alarm went off in the morning it was clear there was no school that day. The wind was strong and stepping up, seas which are usually calm like the photos in the previous post (which was, lets face it only two days earlier) huge and choppy, the drop off (the ring of coral reef marking the underwater edge of the island) clearly defined with a huge surf. And here's my terrible confession... I didn't take any photos!! The wind was howling and rain hammering rendering even a camera in a plastic bag unuseable. And here's the proof. I know you may have assumed this was some groovy post processing effect. But actually its just a cat 2 cyclone attacking a Nikon dSLR in a plastic bag...

actually if you look closely at the sea you can see our landing pontoon washing away in pieces... and here's one from the pentax point and shoot of some rather buffeted trees...

And in addition to not getting any worthy pics I was worried for my good camera- even if its meant to be weather proof. But we did take the little pentax optio w30 out on movie mode- its water proof to 3m after all. We dashed about between heavy rain squalls- but still had to frequently stop and wipe the rain off the lens. I've turned it into a short movie, but it really doesn't do justice to the might of the wind. Movie making is quite a skill isn't it! The island has a mature tree canopy- luckily (and only one fell over) so a lot of areas were quite sheltered- but you can hear the wind regardless, and the buffeting wind on the little point and shoot has added an um... rather interesting shaky effect the makers of the Bourne movies will probably be very interested in ("Like its predecessor, The Bourne Supremacy, the film was criticized for its shaky camera work" "The film frame trembles, obscures the speaker with the listener's shoulder, annoys viewers and distracts them from the content of the scene")!

The movie starts at the back door of our place- I then stopped to pick up the neighbour's washing that was blowing past- and then continues in a walk from the front of our place (quite sheltered under the deck eh, lucky us) round to the restaurant and office and down to the beach on the other side. The guys are putting up the storm shutters, and water has driven in under the doors (so I did a session mopping after that). I must add that that handsome red tractor is actually running on CNO- a locally produced coconut oil derived bio diesel (someone commented that the exhaust now smells like cakes!). Note the plastic chairs are in the pool to stop them blowing away (the wooden ones are inside). And inside its breakfast as usual (its about 6:50 am). AJ still has her sense of humour and is joking that her hairstyle is ruined!! Now I msut note the quality on this photobucket upload is very degraded compared to our original, and it has cut the last 20 sec off. I must work out another way to upload it...But here it is in the meantime. **edited to add- I have changed the vid and made it shorter so it's a little better now...or *here's* the full length version as a podcast...

(nb a category 2 cyclone Gene was estimated to have winds of average speeds to 100km/hr close to the centre with momentary gusts to 150km/hr).

Cyclone Gene caused a lot of damage on a wide scale on the mainland, and Nadi is still currently flooded and looking worse than this morning back in March... Power was off on the mainland, and in many places water too- but we were very lucky with our own generators, water tanks, sturdy buildings and even for parts of the day had internet and sky TV. It is seriously a worry now to see how much stronger Gene is getting as it heads for Vanuatu -now a catergory 3. We had a feeling it was getting worse. At 6pm on Tuesday night when it had already passed over and was 240km approx away it was still just as windy as earlier in the day..

So anyway we are lucky enough to have the luxury of this being for us an experience rather than a disaster; today for the resort the cleanup begins in earnest. We appreciate how utterly lucky we are compared to many in Fiji who are facing far worse clean ups and consequences of this weather than us. This is the first major cyclonic event here in more than 10 years too, so readers from overseas (that's most of you) please don't think Fiji is just a big cyclone trap, because that simply isn't true! The irony of the whole experience is reading another different sort of storm warning on the blog "Scattered Thoughts" -BRRRRRRR!!!!

T has spent the last two days chilling out inside with his lego (especially as the internet and TV were patchy). Yesterday he came in with a rotor he had made, which turned. Pretty cool, but I was knackered from two nights of patchy sleep in the storm, so I handed him the novel "Chickenhawk", pointed to the diagram of the Huey and went back to sleep (mother of the year). Well the lego helicopter flew to bits several times doing the day. T consulted with local helicopter pilot Adrian when he landed in the squirrel around lunch time and he said unfortunately they did sometimes do that... But each rebuild improved the machine and late afternoon it was looking like this...

Although we wanted to preserve it for ever of course it was immediately dismantled and rebuilt and later in the night looked like this...a sort of gnarlier black hawk sort of look emerging now...

So anyway since all schools in the country are closed until Monday the week the kids go back to school is now... next week!

PS as I said photobucket has cut the last 29 secs off our short movie. It infact ends with our glass bottom boat bobbing around on the mooring, then this frame...

An altered perspective on things...

We like to think/hope that we are doing the right thing by our kids by living here on a small island in their formative years. I mean even in our home countries we make decisions- what school? or home school? day care or an endless round of after school activities transported by Mum taxi? What TV programmes should they be allowed to watch? We haven't got play station or xbox- we like to think we have a play ocean instead and we know our children are growing up here self sufficient and looked after by a whole "village". We know they are the type of kids not afraid to jump into the ocean off a boat or climb a tree- which can be rare amongst urban children these days I'm told; but from time to time we notice subtle differences appearing in our children.

Tom has been avidly watching Tracie's blog for pictures of Alex's lego creations- he loves them. He was very taken with Alex's Post Office and decided to build one himself. Well he got part way through and then asked "Mum, is this what a post office looks like?". Actually he hasn't been to one in his recent memory! His post office was excellent (well I thought it was)- sort of a cross between a space ship and the post office from The Grinch. If you look carefully you can see Chewbacca officiating over a pile of packages.

Our friends Shelley and Paul came over in the weekend and their son is also a lego enthusiast. So T and R were delighted to see Alex's lego chess set blogged and I was telling them about the post office. Paul and Shelley pointed out (also living on a resort like us) that the boys may trip up on post offices, but they can build entire hotels! and to demonstrate here's T's restaurant. Check out the cashier at the back, the chef on the right, the table with the lazy suzy in the centre (just like "Daikoku" says T)!

it even has a ...back up generator!! A true Fijian touch. The flip side of this is that they don't "get" Alex's Chicago Skyline . Sorry Tracie but you will have to post a photo of the Chicago skyline now for our poor countrified kids!

We had another reminder of the subtle differences a few weeks ago watching good old Shortland Street (a soap opera out of NZ which is very popular in Fiji). The kids have had to go up to Lautoka Hospital a few times for various reasons- nothing serious- T arrived in Fiji 2 years ago with his foot already in plaster; and we spent a bit of time up there checking on a guest recently who arrived with pneumonia (and was medivaced out to Auckland by her insurance company). Lautoka is, well, a third world country hospital. But we cracked up laughing when we saw the girls discussing Shortland Street. "that hospital is SO amazingly clean!" said Miss 9 yrs. "Yes" said Miss 11yrs knowingly "I think that must be because it is a private hospital!

Since I can't really describe Lautoka Hospital I will post some images from when we first got here instead (look at how little my baby is!). And YES! I have of course photoshopped some effects on them... This was the day the plaster came off...

So incase I am accused of single handedly putting people off Fiji with my recent posts I will post two photos from yesterday. Cyclone? what cyclone? (ok cyclone Gene is currently approaching Fiji tonight. Fingers crossed for minimum damage)...

Cyclone Summer

Any way so where was I... that's right! So summer is the time of the beautiful blue clear days, and the monsoon rain, but also of course its "cyclone season". This year the mangoes (yum yum!) came early- in local folklore that means there will be cyclones; and also the sea water was very warm very early after a relatively warm winter- that also is a sure fire way to brew cyclones.

School wound up for the year with the school concert (1 pic for the moment!), shared lunches, final assemblies and reports while all the while we knew Cyclone Daman was approaching.

We had just finished school infact and were still in town when Daman approached Fiji and headed straight for us. As we went to bed it was a category two and heading straight for the Mamanuca's. but when we woke in the morning it was bigger, yes, but it had turned a sharp right and was now heading straight for Labasa. We checked the satellite maps every few hours and the storm shutters went up out at the resort.

Miraculously it then kept turning and looped around almost completely missing Fiji, and thankfully not seriously injuring anyone on the one small island it did hit. In the Fiji Times one article did attribute the changing of the cyclones path to the power of prayer! The kids and I had been stuck in town when FiMSA stopped all the boats running (thanks for the hospitality Dot and Brian!) so we were pleased to be home even though home looked odd, the storm shutters up, the outdoor furniture packed away, just some pegs strewn around (ah well that's normal)...

(the second photo is the restaurant with the storm shutters up)
Thankfully (eh Mum!) we know the buildings have not only survived a few cyclones in the last 30 years, but also have recently been checked and passed with new engineers certificates... More fine weather and normal rain and then last week hullo Funa. This really didn't come anywhere near us but windy!! phew!! There's only a few days the boats can't run and that was two of them. The beaches have all changed, and the trees are dropping leaves from the 48 hrs of salt spray they took. Again we were all stuck in town this time, even the island's boat captains that had to borrow money to get home for the night! Anyway despite having no luggage we went to the Anchorage Resort and ended up having a nice night sitting having drinks out on the deck on the edge of the calm bay, in the distinctive yellow storm light... followed by a nice night in town staying at the Mercure Nadi. An enforced day off for mBosso....

So our pontoons have gone, one of our boats broke its mooring and ran away (but it got as far as Sonaisali before being sent back!) but we're back again to our clear calm blue days. Summer eh!!! I'll leave you with this pano which has no artistic merit what so ever. Its Treasure's beach (well one side- it is an island after all) on xmas day. and to quote Sarah "Meg, get a fish eye. shssss!!!" and "I'm glad you didn't include a picture of your hairy legs. ewwww.."

Back again. again...

Well I finally get back to typepad after an absence actually caused by how long it takes to get a credit card out here...(shut out!). And I get about half way through a post before the kids grizzle for a turn on club penguin (they've been on holidays since early December as its summer over here right now); so I give them a turn and... they lose my post... I'm sure there's a moral there somewhere...

So I'll catch up what we've been up to over a series of posts. I also had a look for Dane Sander's simple photo tutorial on how to use google reader, I thought that might be good for those of you who like reading "irregular" (a nice way of saying "slack arse") blogs like mine. Can't find it anymore (sorry Dane!), suffice it to say go to google, get a personalised home page and add google reader. If this isn't detailed enough then I could put the steps in in a future post- just ask in comments... I'm getting the hang of screen shots with this new computer...

First up a big thank you to Wendy and Peceli of Babasiga blog (say "bambasinga") for their kind words. I've put Babasiga in the side bar- its a very interesting slice of Fiji life. Julie O and nzm this photo is for you...(they're here with David H from Fiji Swims)...

So its summer here and typically calm mornings, and hot, hot and maybe rainy afternoons. It rains a lot on the mainland, but less out here in the Mamanuca's, in fact we can often see from here the clouds and rain on the mainland 19km away. The water is crystal clear and perfect for swimming and snorkelling. One of our sharks had babies and guests would watch them from the sea wall. I had no idea sharks were maternal, but there you go... No photo, shame, not keen to grab the pentax optio W30 and hop in! We do swim a lot with the camera though, and last week it was pouring with rain and really muggy, so what better thing to do than go for a swim?

We were out swimming and suddenly the rain stopped and it went very calm, and reflected. I took lots of photos which I haven't really looked at yet, but I selected two and had a play as well. Its not easy when you're floating and can't see the lcd either to take photos! But here they go...

and here's the play on them...

Well of course when it looks as beautiful as that its always tempting to go and get the big camera, so that's what I did- ran up the beach and went to get the D200. But by the time I got back... of course the whole effect was finished. So we had some wide angle fun with the kids instead. It may look grey and cold and just like a southern beach, but remember its about 30C both above water and in!!

(I have used a retro vintage action by rocket launch- on action central -on some of these!)

and final photos to share- same time- Big T is currently known as "big tooth" (nice to have T stand for tooth instead of "trouble"). The second one is coming in now, but for a while he had one HUGE tooth and a gap and little baby teeth all around. Very comic. I had been meaning to get a photo of him and T2 who also currently has the big tooth effect happening (which makes them very strange looking best friends!) but of course I didn't get around to it before they went to NZ for the long holidays. Anyway here's big tooth. And the idea actually isn't all mine- I saw a classic baby shot by Anna Kuperberg and I thought yes! Go wide young man!

So anyway this conversation is leading itself naturally to our near miss with two recent cyclones, but I need to do some other work now, so I'll post this and not push my luck, and hopefully continue later!!