Fiji Feb 23rd

Our last day in Fiji has been an adventure. The depression off the coast hit hard during the night causing high winds and rain. The seas were rough we rocked and rolled all night. Kevin In the meantime got a mild dose of food poisoning and spend yesterday in bed feeling terrible something he eat the night before he thinks maybe a fish dish he feels better today and ready to fly home tonight. This Morning brought another challenge our ship could not dock because 2 months ago a bad cyclone caused major damage to the harbour leaving only one dock available for the size of our ship. Moored in what was supposed to be our dock was another ship that could not sail last night because of the weather. So we had to put down anchor out at sea and were told we would be tendered in. Under normal circumstances this works well but in a tropical depression with high waves and heavy rain it was a nightmare. The tender boats turned out to be our little open boats we used all week! This time garbage bags were not handed out only umbrellas which of course were useless they turned inside out in the wind. With the rain coming down hard the waves splashing over the sides soaking everyone believe it or not we were laughing what else could one do. We were fortunate we had a day room booked at an airport hotel as our flight is not till 10pm but for those going straight to a flight it was miserable. There will be a lot of complaints going to the cruise company they should have brought out a proper tender boat. In hindsight i now realize it was very dangerous I saw one life jacket on our boat with 14 people on board!! We called the couple who offered to take us around and canceled our day touring they told us they brought 6 people to their house to dry out and were taking them to the airport later on. For the short time we were on the ship friendships were formed and emails exchanged with people from all over the world it was the care free attitude of everyone and the ever happy crew members that made it a great experience. Mary Rose

 

 

 

 

Fiji Feb 22nd

Our last day in Fiji :( Another wet day with heavy rain on and off apparently there is a tropical depression surrounding Fiji The capital Nadi has major flooding we told today keeping our fingers crossed our flight will not be delayed. We went ashore to another village which was very quite not a lot to see. I decided to have a last swim when the rain came down in buckets the tender quickly gathered us for the ride back to the ship. Later I was able to contact Liam, Kiera and Naoise on FaceTime they were showing the snow outside to Susie a crew member who was amazed she was actually seeing "live" snow as she put it. We have met a lovely couple she is from Newcastle,UK he is from NZ and they currently live in Fiji they are going to take us around the mainland tomorrow before our flight at 10pm. This evening the sun finally peeked out thru the clouds and we had a lovely sunset that lasted all of 5mins! Later we had a Fijian farewell dinner with great entertainment by the crew a perfect ending to a wonderful holiday. Mary Rose

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fiji Feb 21st Afternoon

When I first became a travel agent 24yrs ago the company I worked for sold the Blue Lagoon cruise in Fiji. I used to dream of one day of taking that cruise and swim in the Blue Lagoon. Well my dream came true today it was everything I thought it would be and more. Even though we had cloudy skies the water was crystal blue very shallow and warm. I will watch the movie again with Brooke Shields when I go home. We had the option of swimming in a fresh water cave at the lagoon which I did it was like been in another world amazing the water was cooler and very refreshing Kevin decided not to go in but he went inside the opening and saw part of it and took photos. It is fed from the mountains and by rain from an opening at the top with just enough light to see. Some of the crew climbed up a ragged rock formation and were jumping in they also took anyone who was brave enough to swim under water thru a tunnel to another cave that had very little light. Kevin took most of the photos today and I can't upload them till we get home. To end a perfect day we were invited to eat at the Captains Table which meant dressing up luckily I bought a new dress in OZ. One more day on the cruise and hoping for a sunny day. Mary Rose

Kevin after his hike soaking wet and happy

 

 

 

 

 

Fiji Feb 21st morning

Once again an early start this time we took the tender to a village school to meet the children. What a teat first they sang and danced all of them have beautiful voices. Then they took us on a tour of their school I had a group of grade 4 boys take me they were so eager to show me everything and spoke perfect English. I took their photos with my IPad mini this fascinated them then I showed them photos of the snow with Sean and Tiaran playing this brought many more around me all anxious to see the snow and kids their age. They took out the Atlas to find Canada and Ireland and knew where they were. The village school has about 50 local children they live a very simple life far from the mainland yet at age 9 know their geography very well. There are two couples from Austria and Switzerland on the cruise and the kids immediately located the countries on the map. Kevin had little girls take him around they loved him as he asked all the right questions about their school and what they learn. Afterwards I came back on board while Kevin went on a hike up to an amazing view point he will post photos when we are at home. I watched them as white dots from the comfort of the ship:) when he came back he was soaking wet and loved the experience. It is overcast with a light drizzle today but nice and hot. Mary Rose

 

The Hikers

The

 

 

The hikers way there there somewhere

 

Fiji Feb 20th

We woke up this morning remembering 45yrs ago today when Jacqueline was born in London! Happy Birthday Jack where have the years gone?

Breakfast was at 7:30am which I had no problem getting up for because at 8:30am we were off again in our little boat to another beach. This time I declined the snorkelling while Kevin went out on a glass bottom boat to the reef. I swam and sat in the lovely warm water with a crew member Manasa and had a great chat with him learning about his life and the coral and telling him about Ice fishing and snow which he has never seen. Kevin really enjoyed the reef and the different fish. Unfortunately the rain came again and we had to head back to the boat which this time was a calm ride not like yesterday. The rain continued on and off all day so we sat on the deck reading and enjoyed a well needed rest. At 5pm we took a bigger boat this time to a local village called Gunu to Join the locals for a traditional evening. By now it was pouring rain the boat had a small canopy which kept dripping water on us so the crew provided garbage bags to make a poncho to keep dry we fortunately had our rain jackets. Normally the villagers meet you on the beach with a welcome ceremony this was not possible in the rain so it was held in their meeting house which was hot and humid we really enjoyed joining learning their traditions and in particular the "Meke" which is a celebration of song and dance . A drink called Kava was offered to the men first which Kevin drank then the women were offered some and I was one of the few to try it is brewed from the Kava root and served in a coconut shell. It tasted like dirty water and is 58% alcohol !, A Lovo Feast was planned which is a traditional Fijian dinner cooked in an earth oven but this too was cancelled because of the rain so we went back to the ship and had a wonderful Fijian buffet. I was afraid the rain would ruin our Fiji experience instead it has made it so enjoyable everyone getting soaked looking like wet rags laughing it off and saying so what it's all part of been in Fiji. Mary Rose

 

 

 

 

 

Sydney Feb 17/18th

Our last day in Manly was lovely and sunny. Kevin took the ferry to Sydney at 8am and did a two hour walk thru the streets of Sydney while I browsed around the Manly shops. The afternoon we spend on the beach soaking up the sun and heat :) We ended our day with a lovely supper at a Tapas bar and listened to a soft Jazz jam session. We really enjoyed staying in Manly we had hoped to do some hiking there but were too busy visiting family. Monday our last day in OZ was perfect. We took the ferry and train to an airport hotel where Trish's daughter Helga collected us. We picked up her son Ryder from school then on to her beautiful new home where she barbecued lamb chops for supper. Ryder played his drums and guitar and told us all about his surfing. He is 9 yrs old and loves to surf. We were in bed by 9pm and up at 3am for our flight to Fiji. We really enjoyed been back in Sydney it felt like going home knowing all the familiar places. The highlight was time spent with our extended families. Mary Rose

 

 

 

 

K

 

Fiji Feb 19th

Our fliight was delayed an hour not a problem it gave me the time to update my blog and emails at the airport. We spoke to Jacqueline and Kiera on Skype great to see them and catch up and I was able to phone my sister Annette on Viber for free . when we were in Picton, NZ we spoke to Michelle and the kids on Facetime and was able to show them where we were. How did we manage before all this new technology?

We arrived in Nadi at 12:30pm the ship was due to leave at 1pm !!!! They were paging us while we waiting for our luggage and of course ours were near the end. They had phoned ahead and the captain said he would wait for us we are on Fiji time then we were rushed in a taxi to the dock by a crazy driver who overtook every car he met which were many. After the usual checking in procedure we quickly put our stuff away and grabed some lunch. Within an hour we were at our first Island so mad rush to get suncream on and into our swimsuits. I had decided I was going snorkelling so before I knew it there I was in this small boat heading out into the Pacific. Kevin chose to swim and relax I should have done the same had I known what was ahead. My only experience snorkelling was at the Great Barrier Reef in very calm waters I was not prepared for Fiji. We arrived at what appeared to be the middle of the ocean in high waves and I felt very sea sick however I got that far and figured if I got in the water I'd feel better. My first shock was they told me jump of the edge of the boat and go in head over heels like those with me who were all used to snorkelling I refused so they opened the front gate of the boat! With Water rolling in I got in from a sitting position. By now all the others were out of sight I said well I have a life jacket on so relax which I did and started to snorkel. The reef and fish were really lovely purple star fish everywhere the coral was not as colourful as the Great Barrier Reef but the fish were more abundant and beautiful. When I'd come up to check where I was I'd see nothing but big waves and nobody in sight however i knew the boat was following me to make sure I was ok so I didn't worry. Then after an hour I had to get back on the boat! This time they put a ladder over the edge but because of the waves I had a hard time all I could do was laugh at this point. We arrived back on shore to collect Kevin and other people when it started to rain and I mean rain a tropical downpour. We set off to our ship which by the way is small with 60 cabins and 35 Crew. The ride was crazy 20 people in a small boat and we had to gather at the back to stop the water pouring in the front gate it was pouring rain with high waves but we felt totally safe and the laughter from everyone made it a memory to last. We became instant friends with everyone. At 7:30pm there was a welcome dinner and dance. By now we were up since 3am, flew 4hrs and lost 2hrs with the time change and still felt wonderful. When we were ready for bed we discoved a flood in our cabin a pipe had burst so we had to pack our stuff and we were upgraded to a suite with a separate bedroom and living room and two bathrooms and to top it off they gave us a bottle of champagne for the inconvenience a perfect ending to our first day in Fiji. The Fijian people are lovely always smiling and saying "Bula" very time we meet them. The only draw back is this is the rainy season so we can expect many more tropical downpours but the good part is the rain is "hot" and the ocean is 30c we are in Fiji at last. Mary Rose