A letter from Fiji...

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...

Never work with Children or Animals... or Fish...

  

As promised some fish photos! These were taken just off the island by the swimming pontoon a couple of days ago with the W60... I must apologise for the fish. They kept swimming out of frame, under rocks, or worse, they kept swimming too close to me and I couldn't keep them in focus...bad fish! I must also apologise for the children, you'll note I couldn't get them in the photos at all, except the ones in the boats. But you get the idea... 

...all taken with the pentax W60, some are adjusted for colour and contrast levels. The half water/half above look isn't created in photoshop- it's just the camera sticking half out of the water. Some of those work, some don't. But that's the joy of digital huh? Just delete all the ones that don't work out... 

  

and this is the photo I wish I had taken... but it was taken by Alice...

Sorry if this post is a bit boring, but lets be honest, the weather is hot and the water is clear, and the whole situation is really more conducive to hanging out with the fishies than sitting at the computer blogging. Bye!

PS if you actually want to see some decent fish photos, not swimming snapshots from our point and shoot, then go check out Ann Worthy's Fish Faces.... wonderful...

Snorkelling can be hard work...

Is it really that long since the last post? Shame! I guess we have been busy... Firstly GB has been flat out with his job, and it looks like construction will start soon on a big gorgeous new pool out here on the island! yay! But the yay only comes from the aesthetic part of me which objects to the shape and form of the old one, and looks forward to one that will shape itself around the shade of the large tavola trees and with an infinity edge blend seamlessly into the beauty of the ocean beyond... (gosh I must be tired. I just spelt ocean "otion". well it sort of works...)... Because in reality the best place to swim here, hands down is out in the sea. It's closer to the pool than any bure for a start. And its fabulous...

I was surprised to discover my sis Jane never learnt to snorkel? [ok I know the question mark doesn't technically go there either, but you know I like how it works] I mean I did, and she's only 4 years younger than me. I suspect that the problem was that I had most likely lost or broken all the snorkelling gear by the time she was old enough to give it a go. I do remember being devastated at Mill Dam one time (near Oamaru- my fave swimming hole when I was little) (or was it Trotter's Gorge- another favourite spot?) when I dropped a snorkel out of my mouth and it sank into the water weed never to be seen again...

nb: I couldn't remember the name of Trotter's Gorge, I keep thinking "porky?" and then thought maybe Hutton's (a brand of ham and bacon in NZ). But I knew it was somewhere near Palmerston and look! the magic of google, there it is... I wonder what it's like these days (30 years later)...and er yes... that place really is called "Shag Point" and yep, that other place really is called "Shag Valley"...;)

Anyway we used to snorkel in the sea too, usually down further south in the incomparable Catlins.. For any sensible person alarm bells should now be ringing. The first two places mentioned were below the 45th parallel (ie further south than Oregon is North) and the Catlins further south (read "cold") again... So basically when you snokelled down there not only did you not see much except water weed or kelp (a giant seaweed)- a highlight might be seeing a Kina (sea urchin) -but also you were prone to terrible ice cream style headaches somedays from dipping your head for prolonged amounts of time in 10-13C water (50F). Brrrrr! Bracing! When I first visited Beachcomber in 1992 after a work conference at the Sheraton in Denarau I thought it was just heaven on earth and the most amazing place ever! Granted I was young and very impressed with features like a bar with beer on tap and a sand floor... but it took a day before I could be tempted to snorkel. "Ah snorkelling" I said "its not THAT exciting". But it was hot enough that I went in the water and WOW! there were all these fish! not plain coloured fish that you just saw scarpering away from a distance as you admired the kina you had found, no these fish were all sorts of brilliant colours and flocked around you and even the coral was all sorts of amazing colours... I was hypnotised and drifted out there for ages or rather until the locals decided to drive their glass bottom boat fast around and around us to give us a fright. As they do...

Oddly enough Rhys, who is younger than Jane did learn to snorkel- maybe with friends? But he had the same southern psychological snorkelling problem as me and in his 10 days over here only went out on his second to last day near Honeymoon Island while we were island hopping. His head shot out of the water in surprise and then he had the gall to say "you didn't tell me..." I tried Bro, I tried... Of course that was the moment the underwater point and shoot abruptly ran out of battery.

When we took J out for her first snorkel she had no preconceived ideas, and the water was nice and warm at least (about 29C). But as you may remember from that post in the dim dark past we had had storms and flooding on the mainland just the day before, so it was a bit murky, and yep there were a few sea lice as well. But it was good for a first go, we popped the gear on her and off she went. And despite the gloom this is what we saw...

So the conditions weren't great, we just went off the beach, but it was still a lot of fun, and some of the fish were very friendly and curious. After a while we decided to swim together back to the beach. Gran and I got back to the beach and congratulated ourselves on our gentle exercise. The waves (a slight swell) rolled us around a bit (sort of like beached whales, lots of jokes about watching out for people pouring buckets of water on us and trying to push us back into the tide...) -yeah/no I have a photo and I'm not going to post it... But then we saw Jane. As she came towards us she went into a slight turn, which continued until she was still kicking away thinking she was heading into shore- but she wasn't. Infact she was out by the buoys where we moor the boats! Gran was concerned and suggested I should swim out and stop her before she reached Australia. But I felt that any moment if we watched we would see her poke her head up, see she had gone the wrong way, be very surprised, and we would laugh. And that's what happened. It took her a while to get back in as the turning problem continued. One leg must be a bit stronger than the other?

Then once she finally got in she said "snorkelling can be really hard work if you're not careful"!

We headed to a kokoda making demonstration to relax. Kokoda (Kodonda) is a truly delicious fish dish. I won't try and describe it as it's much easier to just direct you instead to Wendy's recipe. It was made with fresh coconut milk. Yummy!

and by the next day the water was clear. How clear?

this clear... (mum the super kayaking snorkelling gran)

So I'll finish now before I make reading about snorkelling hard work too... that's if I haven't already! For something lighter (even though its NSFW as Wilson says (not suitable for work -or people sensitive about "bad" language- Bah you'll be fine)), and the funniest blog post I have read in a long time (Lisa and I are planning to memorise it) see this. Language is a wonderful thing. As Dame Whina Cooper said it is not a wall to separate us, it is a blanket that can keep us all warm. Or something like that, though I'm not sure that sort of post is what she had in mind it still rings true. Every kid I know here seems to know the words "sa kana oti?" and "sa bera!" regardless of their first language from a frequently shown instant noodles ad here. But Wilson's post is far more useful. And surprisingly T already knew a lot of them. He said they're the words the boat captains use when the engines stop... And after you've read that hit the tag "engrish". That's just so typical... hehehe. We have a sign here that says "keep door close"... (I am itching to take a photo of a bride hugging it- true fiji wedding photography)...

PS... a note on "sea lice". They're not actually lice. They're little teeny tiny broken pieces of hydroid (such as fire coral), that's why we tend to get a little after rough stormy weather. But we don't get much at all, luckily. And only once in nearly 2 1/2 years have I come across it bad enough that I've had to get out! Cold tea works quite well. Actually I reckon cold tea externally and hot tea internally is the best!

Sending some Sunshine!

{...coming home the other night. I used a frame overlay from FlickR's ttv pool -it has a bit of a storm light look to it doesn't it? But it wasn't, indeed we've had some pretty solid sunshine...}

I felt bad recently when I read this in the NZ Herald:

Late-winter storms sock parts of US and Canada

A late-season winter storm slammed into the Ohio Valley on Saturday, forcing flight delays and cancellations at airports before heading out toward the eastern Great Lakes and the Northeast.

Canada also was being hit with a winter blast that snarled air traffic and wreaked havoc on the roads.

Snow totals from Ohio to western New York could exceed 15 to 20 inches by Sunday, the National Weather Service said. Ahead of the snow, freezing rain, ice and sleet fell from eastern Kentucky into New York state.

Ice and heavy, blowing snow closed Cleveland Hopkins International Airport around 11:45 a.m. EST, the Federal Aviation Administration said. It was not expected to reopen until Sunday morning.

The storm extends a brutal season for much of the central United States, where people have faced some of the heaviest snowfall and mix of wintry conditions in years.

Chicago was hit on Saturday by lake-effect snows whipped up over Lake Michigan, and was shivering in the coldest late-season temperatures in five years.

The city has had its snowiest winter since 1978-1979, overrunning its snow removal budget and leaving streets strewn with thousands of potholes.

A storm that hit eastern and central Canada was expected to leave parts of the country buried under more than 16 inches of snow over the weekend.

Many flights to and from Toronto, Canada's most populous city, have been canceled or delayed, according to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority. But the city's Pearson International Airport remained open.

Air traffic also was reported affected in Montreal and the capital, Ottawa.

Weather advisories were in effect across Atlantic Canada, from rain and wind warnings in Nova Scotia to snow and freezing-rain warnings in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The storm has resulted in so many car crashes that police in Ontario were no longer attending crash sites. Instead, they were asking those involved in a collision to get a tow and report to a designated center, local media said.

I mean it seems to have been an almost endless winter for my online buddies over there, and I feel I should send some sunshine... I mean while we have been doing this...

Heidi's daughter has been doing this...

and she's been out photographing this...

I took the camera out for a swim the other day... here's Mum back on the shore reading a book...

Carole has also been out and about in Ontario. And it looks like this...

Laureen is further west and says its a little warmer now... Still here's one of her kids playing outside:

and here we are playing outside with the kids...

OK actually if I'm to be honest I'm posting these diverse pictures because in reality I love winters. Why else would I have travelled in such a way as to have consecutive winters (ie winter in NZ immediately followed by winter in USA/or Canada) not once, but twice! I love these snow shots, and I'd love to get out and take some too. BUT! its been such a long hard relentless winter over there. So I'm sending some sunshine to all my wonderful friends in the northern hemisphere -finishing with the other nights sunset (we were still coming home, so this is from the boat as we pulled up)...

The second one of course shows rugby practice. Please remember that while many of todays photos are not mine, they are still subject to copyright. Don't copy these photos please, without asking the photographer first. The award for the young lady who experienced the best of both worlds goes of course to Stace Chomlack from Whistler. If you view her blog at the moment you'll see both big beautiful pregnant tummies in the snow, but further down the page you'll see her shots from Fiji...

Other interesting reading I saw recently from the Online Photographer about the digital fashion for colours... All I can say in my defence is that I wear polarised sunnies! So it really does look like that to me... Coming next is Jane's snorkelling experience. I didn't think it would be fair on her really to post two posts in a row with her in the spotlight (but I can tell you its funny)!

Situation Normal

Just thought I should let you all know, especially those coming over in the next few months that the weather is back to its normal brilliant status. Sorry Jane, I know you were particularly impressed with "Gene" but we're not putting another one on (touch wood)! It's situation normal...

above water...

under water...

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...

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!!

Technology and Noisy Kids!

Several things this week reminded me how much (at the risk of sounding cliched) we take technology for granted. I mean we do don't we?! The first was a clip on the Oceanic blog which I will repost here- here's the premise- what if the series 24 was filmed in 1994? Have a look. I love the comment "but that's three floppy discs!!!" and "page him"...

But where we really take it for granted of course is photography. For all that we know film is great we have really taken to heart the flexibility of a decent digital SLR. Take memory cards- no one says "oh remember when we used 24-36 shot films then changed them?" No you are more likely to hear "this 2GB card is just too small..." (folks even allowing for different file formats etc we're talking 100+ photos here). Then there is ISO. Remember when it was stamped on the side of the film, and you couldn't change it? And 400 or higher got really grainy? Now the expectation is no noise at high iso's that you can switch on the fly according to the conditions and effect you want. My camera is reasonably noisy at higher iso's- but then I think well compare that to film! There are some amazing products too- I have Imagenomic's noiseware, portraiture and realgrain, and the noiseware is amazing. So clever! I do not know how they do it, but it can systematically remove noise from your image without ruining it, which obviously is the aim.

So what is real grain? for that matter what is noise (I can hear my friends and family asking)? Well the above photo is a noisy kid. No she hasn't even got her mouth open I know, but notice the grainy look. I used postprocessing that emphasised the noise rather than damping it down and producing a shiney faced smooth perfect kid. I think it looks good! Herein lies the irony. As technology smoothes out the artifacts fashion brings them back. Real grain is a product that adds grain to your perfect photo! As Paul Gero said on Better Photo recently "old film guys don't die...they just add grain in photoshop...". Then of course there is the beautiful texture as used by/ pioneered by Jesh de Rox (sidebar for link), which is a technique used in all the trendiest wedding photos at the moment. I like it. For an alternative here's how we added texture to some photos a few weeks ago...

yep that was tongue in cheek ;) -Tom is off to the right hand side of the photo and has lifted the flaps on the side up of the boat so the girls get splashed. Luckily there was only one guest on board, and he was in a pretty mellow mood, rather than a "look at those waves aaarrrrgh!" sort of mood (its ok Mum the Tui Eluvuka is a very stable catamaran style boat)!

The other tool in photoshop we discuss too often is the liquify. Kate and Liz asked if it really was all that? and if it was could I use it on their photos? Ladies you don't need it- but for a demo look at the embed below. Watch out! Bare bottom...

glumbert - Photoshop: Your New Weight-Loss Regimen

so yes it really is all that... Shall I start post-processing your photos now? Then I'd better go, promise -as always -more news and images soon...
oh PS I know I love my camera noise, 1.5X crop and all; but if anyone in the family wins lotto and WANTS to give me the D300 or D3 (as seen in Cliff Mautner's post here) for christmas then...well... ok!

post post script- not for the faint of heart- and may disturb some viewers so discretion is advised...
Technology eh! They can create a camera that takes sharp photos at iso 3200 (as seen on Cliff Mautner's blog above), cameras that work in the rain, underwater, and as seen on this blog even take photos with parts underwater and above. As demonstrated here (look! it rains sometimes!!)(pentax optio w30)

But! and here's the really scary image.....
there's still no solution for the look of your legs the week before you wax!!!!

So much for technology.... Check out the magnification from the water and the pale washed out colouring!!!

Rugby Pride

While Americans could be forgiven for missing it, a lot of the rest of the world has been in the grips of world cup fever, even those trying to ignore it. Rugby here in Fiji is a game that is taken seriously, even Treasure Island has it own rugby team, complete with uniforms and matching bula shirts. They practice weekly around the island including game strategies practised on the beach in the evening, and tour to NZ each year, kava bowl going on the plane with them as unusual carry-on.

Yes I suspect the one on the wing does get wet. Below the team are back home- but having dinner with some of their hosts from Otorohonga (AGGAC gals- see I do sometimes practice using the SB800! and you may wonder if Henry's head has been distorted by the wide lens. The answer is no, it really is that shape). The waipiro in the wooden bowl (for you non NZ'ers this is a maori term and literally means dirty water, though it has a colloquial meaning...) is kava. Looks yummy huh?

Yes I suspect the one on the wing does get wet... So while the Fijian team didn't have near the financial support the All Blacks had, infact possibly not even a hundreth (is that a word?!), they had the support of the heart of their people from top politicians, chiefs and businessmen right down to the man in the canefield. Patriotic advertising and songs broke out in the media; our favourite was the "Cibi". The Cibi, pronounced "thimbi" (yeah I know, apparently you can blame the missionaries for the spelling) is the Fijian version of the NZ Haka. It as been argued the FMF (flour mills of Fiji) ad is a copy of the NZ gingerbread man haka, but what the hey. We enjoyed immensely seeing the biscuits we have grown to love over here doing their cibi... have a look.

Before the news everynight the new patriotic song played too- it maust be noted that parts of it come directly from the national anthem- here's a copy embedded from u-tube as well. We all hummed along. So all of Fiji is outrageously proud of the performance of the Fijians at the world cup- sure they were ousted in the quarter finals, but then so were Australia and NZ!

In typical classic local reporting everything that happens at the moment is somehow related to the rugby. Here's an exerpt from tuesday's Fiji Times where the military discuss the intensifying of Australian travel warnings...
"Colonel Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara yesterday attributed Australia's concerns on Fiji's political situation to the Wallabies loss at the Rugby World Cup saying the only threat Fiji could face was an invasion from Australia." (I kid you not! that's what it said) and also the quote..."It is very irresponsible of them and shows what the commander earlier said that (sic) they don't understand the Fiji situation. They're the biggest liars. They said they'd win the rugby world cup" he said". The Fijian Rubgy Team arrive home tomorrow- you can guarantee there will be a hero's welcome for them.

I see I have been tagged! and tagged! and tagged again! I will get onto that soon as I slowly start to catch back up with real life after our trip. We also went away last week to Heavens Edge at Vaturu Dam, so I will post about that too. Just to tease you all in the meantime a couple of watery shots, and with those a big shout out to TR Little the agents for Pentax in Christchurch, NZ for their exemplary after sales service (they are the agents- we of course bought our camera from www.photo.co.nz). Our family know from our pictures (especially this post from february ) what fun we had with the first optio WPi. Well we are now the proud owners of the Pentax Optio W30 and it is just such a cool little camera. Firstly given it cost 1/10 of my other camera it performs very well. This shot here is just point and shoot in P with no adjustment beyond sharpening a bit more for uploading to this web...Note that he is trying to splash me. One of the many situations where it pays to have a waterproof model.

This camera goes to 3m underwater. What only 3 metres? Well unless you are in the habit of dropping yor camera off the side of boats you really don't need deeper. Remember all the photos taken with the previous WPi were taken at 1m but usually less- lets face it you can't take it diving as there's simply not enough light- that's why the good underwater photographers like the amazing Ann Worthy have those wonderful strobe lights. And if you're snorkelling and photographing the easiest way not to move too much is to be floating on the top, which is how all of our W30 and Wpi photos were taken... This camera is also great if you have a leaky water bottle in your bag, or get caught out in the rain- the kiss of death for many more expensive models. And so much fun at swimming lessons...

Its definitley summer here now, it seemed just a couple of weeks ago the temperature and humidty abruptly jumped up, the mangoes (yum!) came into season, then last week the water temperature came up too, from around 27C to real warm bath stuff. We swam with friends from Suva out to the swimming pontoon at Treasure Island before school holidays ended two days ago, and were mobbed by fish which seemed to fly up to us to see what the silver thing was in my hand... Good thing they weren't piranhas eh!

The final word for this week goes to one of the kids talking about coming home from school "When we got off the bus the policeman at the police post passed us mangoes over the fence. They were so good we ate them walking down the driveway- skin and all!"

Monsoon Season?

nb: more about Fiji weather and floods here...

Rhys wrote this in an email the other day...

"Giday,
Heard you had some rain there, are your roads like these ones?"

and attached was a very nice power point presentation of some Russian roads, here are some examples... (these two photos below are taken from the power point and are definitely not mine. to whomever took them, thank you for the use!)...

Actually it was pretty fascinating (thanks Igor) and reminded me of when Charley and Ewan took on the Road of Bones in Russia in the series Long Way Round, an absolutely amazing TV series which is now out on dvd. If you haven't seen it then go and buy a copy, its great. Myself I am absolutely in awe of the skills of their motorbiking chief cameraman, Claudio VonPlanta, the cinematography was beautiful. But I digress... I was discussing the weather of course.

Well it started raining last Friday, and raining with a vengeance. GB was out in town, and we had a farewell to go to- Louise, Murray and their three children, off to Brisbane (where's that sad emoticon when you need it!). I foolishly blow dried my hair, and went to catch the boat...it was the Seahorse 1 (our open sided cargo boat). When we arrived, head to toe drenched at Vuda, I commented it could've been worse- it could've been the Seahorse 2 (a "long boat" previously seen here in the mad dogs and Englishman post...). "Actually" said Toby "it could've been the Seahorse 3"! To explain- the Seahorse 3 is little more than a raft, built by our six year old,Tom. It does however have a little cup for bailing (the bilge cup) and a very nice Fijian flag on the back!

GB and I headed into town for the (no kids under 30) farewell, and since it's still pouring with rain with several hours to kill we go to Bulaccino for coffee and tapas. The river is well up, and all the local kids have gathered to jump off the bridge, with lots of whoops and yells in the persisting rain (you know what I mean- it was persisting down)(D200 and 18-200VR lens for the GAAC girls).

It continues to pour down, and we nearly don't get the boat back due to adverse conditions, but it eases off and we go (yay for GPS!). Just as we thought we were going to have to be one of those dodgy couples who check into a hotel with no luggage... Shame... Back at the island it's raining heavily too (unusual- it often rains on the mainland, but not out here at the island), and our house is filling with water every time it gets extra hard. Monday am, still raining, and I empty six buckets of water from the house out the back door, another six by lunch when the maintenance guys arrive and in desperation tie a tarpaulin over the whole roof!

But while I'm playing Mrs Mop (with help from Yabaki) we have of course put the kids on the boat to school (they leave 6.30am), with extra dry clothes to put on when they get there! The school rings just after 8am- they're closing, would we like the children to catch the bus back or will we pick them up? Why? Nadi is flooding... Alice tells us when they get home off the boat that they were riding along in the school bus and things didn't look right. First at the bridge by Vuda the water was nearly over the cane train rails- but it wasn't even near high tide. Then closer to Nadi there was a two story house- but only the top story was sticking out of the water! They arrived at school, but no classes started. Then they were put back into bus lines again, and were off home, this time not along the back road (which unbeknown to them was now closed) but across to Nadi and home via Namaka. They were shocked at Nadi to see the water was nearly right up to Bulaccino's balcony (where I had been taking photos from), but otherwise got home without incident.

What happened next we saw on the news, in the newspaper, and heard from the Bulaccino staff. The river breached its banks and flowed into Nadi town. The military moved in and blocked off town to stop looters and help with evacuation. At Bulaccino the water didn't get in, though it did come right up to the balcony. They continued to trade, in fact they had a stranded bus of tourists, so as the barista said " the faces were unfamiliar, but we were busy!" (Bulaccino is a bit of a locals haunt- the sign of a good eatery of course). These photos are also not mine- from the morning papers on Tuesday...

On Tuesday, with Nadi's main street now resembling Rhys's Russian road pictures, the schools are mostly closed, including ISN. So the kids stay at home, but GB is flying out to Australia on the first leg of a trip to Europe and Japan, so we go out on the early boat to take him to the airport. As we pass Vuda one of the families is at the bus stop (!), so we pull up and say "Mate! School's closed!" to which he answers, lightening quick "I don't care, I'm going to send them anyway!!"

I run GB to the airport (more sad emoticons required here Marla), but with time to kill before Air NZ opens, and the next boat departure from Vuda I decide to sneak into town for a look/ coffee/ some raisin toast (well the boat did leave home at 6.30am). The river had dropped, but was still running very high. It may not be Russia (much warmer that's for sure), but I'll put in the photos for you anyway...There's one off the balcony, and one of the balcony!

So sorry Rhys, you can't back out- on the way home that day I paid for your tickets! Have a good week everyone else...mcb

PS guess what we did with the kids at home- we went snorkeling! ... and despite the foul weather it was great. A whole lot of people saw apparently the most amazing school of squid (I missed that), and remember we said the turtles love jelly fish? Well we discovered fish like them too (poor things).