Lots to Do at the new property!

We are getting there, in the 2 months since we moved in we have got the pool (mainly) in, the builder booked for Jan to alter the master bedroom, the gorse booked to be sprayed, a new tv, new bbq and new computer- (Graeme is a happy boy after waiting several years for all those!)
The animals have settled in well, Elvis (cat) is loving not having to be locked in every night to keep him away from neighbours avaries ?!@#!!! and Shylah, although 12 years old, half blind and more than half deaf now, is very happy here now she has stopped being disorientated and walking in to the windows!!

The trip to europe is all booked too-now later in the year due to me knee but YAY..... My knee is not what it was by a long shot after my accident in Vanuatu but at least it looks better healed so heres to a healthier and less stressful 2009!!!

Our new home is in a really good spot that is so perfect for entertaining friends and family and once we get the outside tidied up and landscaped it will be great!

We had a great new years with Gary and Claire over as well- a very relaxed and civilised 4 course meal affair- lots of laughs and great company to see in 2009!

We have moved!

Yay! We have moved into our new home and 30 acres this week- what a mission!!!

However, with the suberb skills of the removal company driver, they managed to get up the steep curvy driveway with a 40 foot truck!! And we are in, somewhat chaotically- but we are in.

Beautiful views as far as you can see and a resident chook who turned up on the front lawn!!!

Now getting quotes from builders for house alterations and pool builders are coming in too as it is a bit of a drive to any community pools!!

Have done a couple of walks over the 30 acres and can now downsize the gorse estimate from 20 of those acres to about 15 acres tops?!!! Thats another quote to get in, for the professionals to come in and spray!!!!

A productive week anyway, we are all very content here already, even Danni with her broken leg is managing the hills well.!

Post note

Had to laugh- we went back to Nadi as planned to shop in town. Knowing what the salesmen are like there, we warned the girls:

- To be aware of Fijian men who approach you and ask what your name is while being very friendly it seems. Next thing they whip out a piece of wood and carve your name in it then charge you. So dont tell anyone your name.

- Not to let any 'hawkers' take them to "The only genuine Fijian shop in Nadi"

-Dont accept any drink from any of the men that may approach them.

So what happens?? A Fijian man approaches them when they are on their own, comes out into the middle of the road when they are crossing and introduces himself while shaking their hands- asks them their names (mistake No1! )

Then they let him take them to his 'genuine fijian family run store' (mistake No2! )

Then they are suddenly dressed in grass skirts and sat down in the store (mistake No3! ) and told that they are going to be honoured guests at a traditional ceremony. Next a bowl of kava is produced and given to them (mistake No4! ) and a ceremony to give them good luck for their flight home is performed.

By this time Sam has told them her name, that she is from NZ, and that No she has no boyfriend - so no need to carve her name into a love statue the man wants to carve for her (correct action No1! ).

From the time he has shaken their hands in the middle of the street and asked their names, poor Ambers heart starts pounding and she's thinking "Denise told us not to do that.....and that.....and that !!)

At least they escaped quite ok thank goodness, but alas- no good luck, our flight ends up being delayed for over an hour and the airport air conditioning is broken down!!@##@!!!!!!!! This is to top off the money that is stolen from our hotel room while we are down in the pool!

However got home safe and sound as the shuttle man waited for us - home at 3am!
Still a great break away, without the pressure of an unsold house to come home to.

Now onto the packing!

Last Day on the island

We tidied up today and got packed, ready to leave Octopus resort- perfect weather of course!!! We have had all weathers while here which was actually quite neat, sun, cloud (cooler) blustery wind, rain and back to the sun! Cant complain.

We all went over the hill on a steep track yesterday to the village church service (me clinging on Graemes arm cos of my knee!) in the pouring rain- meant we were all nice and cool when we got there – seriously!. The service included a christening which was great and we had been talked through the ceremony beforehand as it is all in Fijian.
The church choir was out of this world- they have won competitions all over the yasawa islands…. Was so powerful it moved me almost to tears, but I was staunch and swallowed it down of course!


Today we lay around the pool after we checked out of our rooms- the girls have really enjoyed the dorm- the 3 girls all decided to tke part in the flax basket weaving session.
Two hours later they have a pretty impressive basket each, with lots of help from their ever patient Fijian teacher man ( complete with his avaiator sunnies!) He then tells them that he can knock off one of these baskets in 3 mins- from scratch!!!!

At 3pm we caught the big yasawa flyer boat back to the mainland Took 2 ¼ hours, seemed very slow cos we were going back and it was pretty smelly inside the cabin!!

Got back and had true air conditioning in the bus- no windows!! It was great. Now back at the mercure hotel, we have had a wonderful dinner (with no sand under our feet for the 1st time in a week!) and the girls are already in bed (8.15pm!).

Tomorrow we are going into Nadi as the older 2 girls want to shop with their remaining money and have a go at bartering. They also want to go to one of the two Mc Donalds, so we will walk down to that then off to the airport.

We will arrive home at midnight-ish tomorrow night, in Auckland. Bula to a great holiday!

Rest of the Days!

Hi all,
well not sure what the date is, but know that it is Saturday at least- love 'Fiji time' !!

We have not done a lot, but the 2 older girls also had another first- they had their first kava ceremony, where you learn to clap in the right places and drink muddy kava water, sieved through pantyhose!!!! Graeme was elected the spokesman, so had control of how much everyone drank, he let them off with a normal half coconut size bowl rather than the 'tsunami' size bowl hahaha!!!

We moved bures today as pre-arranged, as a couple from Kerikeri we know were already booked in our best end bure from today. Quite interesting to get a new view too.

We have two more days here then back to the mainland for a day so the girls can shop. They are enjoying the dorm- it is pretty big and they have met some really nice people, so good experience for them.

Thats about it for now- send us a cooment or two so we know what is happening in the 'big' world!! Cya

Octopus Resort days 2 & 3

Well we are all well enscounsed in island life, bikinis, suntan lotion and lots of food!!

We cant put photos on here as they have strict rules re using USB sticks, so will need to add these when we get back to Nadi.

We all laxed around yesterday, lay in the sun and clouds- lovely and warm though. We took the girls out for a snorkel-

Amber has had a few firsts- 1st international flight, first snorkel. She did admirably and didnt suck when she should have been blowing (with the snorkel!!)

We are all having lots of fun and today we took them all out for a boat trip round to the local school, where the island kids all board during the week. We got to visit their classrooms, talk to them and we all took some gifts for them as well which they will enjoy. Their standard of living is a bit of a shock for the girls, the beds in the dorms are made out of bits of wood, some dont have mattresses and there are holes (big) in the floor. Good for our lot to see so they appreciate how they live at home.

We then got to snorkel out in the bay and the girls all sat out on the roof of the boat which was cool.

Amber and Sam are booked for massages tomorrow which they are keen on and are working hard on their tans!!

Thats about it for now- its beer-o-clock!
Cya

Day 1- Auckland-> Nadi Fiji

We are here!!!

A long day in queues but no problems really (yes Graeme relax, relax) Left NZ in fog and arrived after a good flight (Ali WIlliams sitting further up in the plane!) and into 29C hot sunny weather.

We acclimatised (took our jackets off) got the shuttle driver to stop on the way to the hotel at the supermarket for drinks- it helps to have 2 pretty girls with us??!! then into our rooms, bikinis and out by the pool- aaahhh fantastic!

Then onto our balcony at the Mercure for pre dinner drinks and off to the restaurant for a great laid back meal in the open air. Couldnt get better. Graeme has managed quite a stack of alcohol, Sam and Amber had midori's and a few fiji bitter beers and we had a lovely night.

The bar here has the ball "Wilson" from the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks which was filmed in Fiji and Danni got to hold him for the photo included in our pics!

Now off to lax out in our two rooms (hmmm) and we are off on the boat tomorrow at 7.30 am for the yasawa islands and Octopus resort.

CYa

Heading to Fiji- Octopus Resort

We are off to Fiji tomorrow- YAYYYYYYYYY!! But to be fair, the weather at home is beautiful and sunny today, so hope it follows us!

This week has been a bit crazy but all in a good cause. We have sold our house, bought a home and 30 acres, found a new solicitor and accountant and are unconditional on both properties, in between working!! SUCH a relief- all compliments to Shaun Cosgrave who moved heaven and earth to do all house sales and finish it up in 2 days!

Life is now looking rosier in a lot of ways, so we will go and relax now. (Cant do much else unfortunately with Denise's knee damage from the accident in Vanuatu) However, we will endure Haha!!!!!

Will attempt to post from the Yasawa islands, all going well as we enjoy keeping a diary of our trips- you forget so much once you are home.

Remember if you want to leave us a comment, just click on the blue word 'comments' under the days post and you can either log on if you belong to blogspot, otherwise just click on anonymous and remember to write your name at the end!!

Cya :-)

Yay, discharged from hospital!

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the phone calls and txts over the past few days. It has been a bit stressful the past 2 weeks and needless to say, I still much prefer being on the giving side of hospital rather than the receiving!

Had a bit of a rough weekend after discharge with the threat of re-admission, but am now turning the corner and feeling more human! Thanks to all for the understanding re visiting when things have improved and a big, big thank you to Sue who dropped in dinner for 2 nights when I was first discharged, was exactly what Graeme needed at the time.

Im now sporting a leg brace (yes, one is in Canterbury colous Du tells me?!) and have the memory of an ameoba after all the G.A's but promise I will remember you, Mum says I'm practising for old age senility !@#$$@!!!

Anyhow, thanks again for all the thoughts- especially the guys at the power station, really appreciated it. :-)

Back home from hospital

Hi all, have been meaning to post, but life got a bit fraught as denise ended up being admitted to hopsital 9 days ago as her leg infection spread and she wasnt too well.

She ended up on i.v antibiotics and had 3 trips to theatre over 5 days to try and get it under control. Was a sick wee bunny, but when they finally got it stopped and the wound properly cleaned out, she is feeling better, just weak and tired.

Discharged home now in a leg brace with me as nursemaid - no more suggestions that she get a bell thanks haha.

Received our first ever meals on wheels today- thanks heaps Sue !

Epilogue from Graeme Brace yourself its ugly

On the last Day we were in Vanuatu, Saturday the 15th we went to Erakor Resort to say good bye to the staff there, as most days we had gone across on the ferry to have a drink.

On the way back while waiting for the ferry Denise slipped on the jetty steps and badly cut open her knee on a bolt used to fix the hand rail. With help from the resort staff we stopped the bleeding and got her on the ferry back to the other side where we got a taxi to the private hospital in Port Vila.

The nurse there, Anne then cleaned the cut which went from one side of her knee to the other just below the knee cap and called the on duty doctor. The doctor Basil Leoboro just happened to be a Surgical Registrar set to cleaning the wound after giving heaps of local anesthetic and then telling us that this is normally done under General anesthetic as they don't have facilities for any big accidents and normally medivac people back to Aussie or NZ.

No Entenox for pain so Denise just gritted her teeth and dug her nails into my hand as he washed it out.He then stitched up the cut, I haven't counted the stitches but there must be 25 to 30 in there.

After he was finished he drove us back to the resort (service!!!!!), where they got us a wheel chair and I took Denise back to our room with all the Aussies asking her if she wanted them to beat me up for what I had done to her!!!!!!!

After a sleepless night for Denise (PAIN) into the wheel chair and off to the airport and onto the plane where Denise was sick (yes you can vomit into a bag!), passed out, then was put on oxygen after the plane had taken off. My many thanks to the crew who were fantastic.

Then into Auckland and another wheel chair and home what an experience it really restores your faith in humanity with all the help we had from beginning to end.

Days 10 & 11 - 14th -15th March

No lizard today but spot the crab in its shell in the photo today!

For all those concerned about the gecko- he was being very good- not running across dinner plates but up a pillar in the lobby. And yes Mark, we are very ambi-dextrous (how do u spell that??)when it comes to holding torches under the sheets- yes we are having a GREAT time together !!

Hey thanks for all the comments while here, we always look to see whos written and enjoy the shite you all give us- even it is is often anonymous, I can usually work out the authors !! CYA soon'

Day 11

Woke at 7.30am and dragged ourselves up to breakast today (not!) Graeme has had about 20 eggs since he got here and thick bacon every day, he will miss this when back to reality.
I unfortunately had an allergic reaction to the juice today - I always stick with the pineapple eah day as I'm very allergic to the orange and mango ones. But somewhere along the line mango got tipped into the pineapple and I had drunk half a glass before I tasted it. Result - I did a good impression of the michelan man all swelling up!

The manager was very good though as he came over and could also taste the mango and had it taken out. Thought we had better tell the staff as if someone else was more allergic than me, they could have a problem on their hands.

Took an anti-histamine and drank copius amounts of water- no ice cream to be had Mum like when I was a kid ! but it was ok and I will be more careful from now on.

Packed our bags and confirmed the transfer for tomorrow, then we will lax out under our tree. Will try to find my bottle of perfume that seems to have disappeared out of the bathroom while we were in town on Wednesday. Ginette, the office manager was going to come in on her (1)day off to do a report, but I said I didnt want to take it further until we are packed up and know it hasnt been misplaced in the room somewhere. Dont think so somehow and a little disappointing that it has been taken but there are a few staff that have access to the rooms so its too hard to trace. Will just fill a report in at the desk.

There was an amazing thunder storm today- caught the lightening and thunder on video - you could feel the thunder through the ground. It was most impressive to give us a different view on the last day- it teemed down for about an hour and a half which is pretty rare!!

Dont know if its because we know we have to go home or if we are just ready, but we are ready to go and see everyone in cold old New Zealand - like Dorothy said- "Theres no place like home"- even if she did mean Kansas not the Waikato!.

We both think that Vanuatu is majorly missed out in the marketing of the "Pacific theme.... Fiji, Rarotonga, Samoa etc." It is such a lovely sunny destination with friendly warm people who are all bi-lingual and the country has easy access for Kiwis. The food and activities are a little expensive but nothing like Tahiti in our experience - you can easily get around yourselves and we would certainly promote Vanuatu as a great place for couples and families alike.

Finishing the holiday with a night at the wild ginger restaurant, trying out Teppenyaki for the first time tonight. We have heard the chef is very entertaining with his salt n pepper shakers and his knife set !!! Hmmm will be interesting and as long as he doesnt miss, we will see you all on the other side of the ocean !!!!!

Day 10

We have had such great sleeps while away and it has been just the tonic we needed after 9 months of daily routine, to wake each day when we wake rather than getting up to an alarm- for Graeme especially as the 5.15am get ups are a bit cruel!

We travelled into town on the bus/van again- we havent had any trouble getting these and they are a fifth the price of the taxi's. Have hardly ever had to wait either as its the type of service that runs informally all the time.
We were on a route that took us up to the parliment buildings then to the Port Vila hospital. There were alot of women holding their beautiful babies, waiting for the child health clinics. Graeme reckons I could get a job there in nursing or midwifery easily and they have diesel powered generators, so we are sussed if we come to live here!

One thing I would want to do first though would be to try and get children into seat restraints as no-one uses carseats here and kids move around freely inside vehicles and babies are just held on their mothers laps. Dont know what their statistics are like however.

Our resort is noticeably full of kids, we have never seen so many babies in arms and toddlers, then a gap up to the teenage age group away with their parents. It works well I think as the babysitting is only about $3 an hour and there is a kids club.

Maybe with couples achieving careers before becoming parents more these days- that this is why so many more seem to be able to travel with very young children and babies, its quite noticeable. We take our hat off to them, as taking babies and teenagers! on holiday overseas can be hard work as we have witnessed here.

One teenager here with the family gave his parents hell everytime we saw them in the restaurant- yet he came from private school, had all the techno equipment, ipod etc. But he held his prents to ransom all the time because he didnt want to be there. Graeme said he wanted to go up and throttle him as here he was in pacific paradise, ruining it for the rest of his family.

Anyhow! back into town, we swapped over our thai dvd for an english version! Not such great copies but as it is only just out at the movies at home, cant complain!

Went back to the resort and read etc, swam and snorkelled. It has been a funny day cloudy and rains but still very hot snd tropical. I managed to continue my bikini outline tan ! even though I have been under a tree each day sunbathing !!

Went to the seafood buffet as it was so nice last week and the prawns were the largest we've ever seen, but alas these were a disappointing normal size- bum.

Went back to our room and watched the national treasure- book of secrets dvd, very handy having the laptop!

day 9 - 13th March

Hey thanks for all the comments- we are most impressed- keep it up. And guys at work- Graeme said you are all heart about the 2 shift!!!!

We woke at 3.30am as Graeme was too hot and was tossing and turning. We lay and talked about things on our minds in our life at the moment- work, house, work, house blah blah- then remembered you Never let your mind worry at this time of the night, so promptly stopped that and fell asleep again!!

We went into town today, and either we have acclimatised majorly or the humidity is more bearable, but we lasted well for 5 hours in the main street which is probably the size of Morrinsvilles. We shopped for presents for home today, the duty free here- have I said about it? Alcohol and smokes are so, so cheap. A bottle of absolute vodka is AUD $16 and a 5 pack of 50gm tobaccos are an amazing $22!

There are also shops filled with label copies, nike,billabong,and games, dvd's etc.

Bought 5 videos for $20 in one place that are all great, but in another bought a supposed english version of national treasure that was not only NOT in english- it was dubbed into thai and it had obviously been filmed with a handicam in a theatre. So guess what- that one is going back for a refund tomorrow and if the asians there want to be unhelpful, Graeme said he will stand outside and tell everyone going in that they rip you off!! Cant imagine how many tourists that were in that shop today are going to be very unhappy when they get home to play their movies! Lucky we have the laptop to check!

To be fair, we bought a nintendo game for Danni which works fine in the same store.
Have to say on a whole the Vanuatu people are the most friendly people we have ever met. Even if you are just passing them in the street they say hello. The standard greeting when saying thank you here is in pidgen "tank you toomas"!

Later on we went back into town and caught the ferry over to Irirki resort for a look around at their rooms and had a meal in the restaurant. It was fantastic and the service rivals anywhere upmarket in NZ (that is usually the case anywhere here).

On the bus ride into town, we were lucky enough by defaut- to be taken on a van ride with a load of village men. In the semi-dark I jokingly think "jeez, hope they dont want to eat us big whiteys"?!! But all was fine and we got to experience their famous pot holed side roads. If you had a brain aneursym, it would pop it!!
Was really funny and we enjoyed seeing the real villages, with their shacks, pristine white churches and fields of men playing their favourite game- soccer in the twilight.

A really good day today. Have included a great pic of the cruise ship sailing out of the harbour at sunset, hopefully these photos on the blog arent too small as we have found you can compress them for the web which makes them alot quicker to upload.

Day 7 - 11 March

A quiet day at the resort today, lay on the lounger out under the tree's by our room. A breeze came up for the first time today and it was wonderful- took away the humidity for the morning.

Went for a walk up behind the golf course, which is a hua of a hill, then paddled around in the lagoon while the tide was out. I picked up a small cream starfish and when you turn it over, all these individual tentacles came out to try and turn itself over- was fascinating.

Finished reading a book today which is a good way to measure if you are relaxing!!
In the afternoon we caught the ferry over to Erakor (ear -a-core) island for our usual cocktail and a beer- very nice sitting looking back over the lagoon. The barman there is getting to know us well !!

Came back and had a nanna nap, have found that when you go outside and get so hot just moving around here, you tend to fall asleep straight away if you lay down afterwards in the air cond. room!

We sat and had our usual drinks with Sherlie and John before dinner, then went to the grill by the pool for a t-bone steak dinner. Was lovely, but as it gets dark here early, it was a bit hard to see what you are eating!!

Said our goodbyes to the Reids- they are off at a punishing 5am tomorrow back home to Morrinsville. We are hoping to be joining them in that area as soon as we sell our property - fingers crossed.

Day 6- Monday 10th March & Day 5- 9th March

Day 6- Thanks for all the comments everyone- love to get them so keep it up!!

We got up and had the usual lovely breakfast in the restaurant- the chef makes you omelets with any fillings you like. They are delicous with ham, cheese, mushrooms and tomato.

Then we and John and Sherlie from Morrinsville caught a bus into town - my goodness the humidity was off the rictor scale after the rain & sun earlier! Our clothes were absolutely soaking wet within 30mins but you just have to keep going. However, you can give us the hot dry air off the sahara desert anyday over the hot, humid and sticky air in alot of the pacific.

We tramped from store to store down the little main street, bought a few things and found that the duty free shops here are heaps cheaper than all the other duty free's we have ever seen, for cigarettes and alcohol.

Graeme bought some wooden statues he really liked about 4 ft high, thought the price was for one, but it was for all three. They are carved statues of safari styled men with plith hats on. Pretty cool but will no doubt be a pain to carry through customs! We have a fumigation certificate with them, so all good (I hope!)
We attracted some attention carrying them all wrapped up, up the road back to the bus.

Went back to the resort and promptly fell into the lagoon to cool down a bit. The current was really strong so we walked along the bank then just drifted down snorkelling to look at all the zillions of cream and red/black starfish.

Had a very enjoyable afternoon with John and Sherlie, sitting on the balcony having a few drinks and talking.

We tried out the wild ginger restaurant at the resort tonight- a more up market a la carte and teppenyaki restaurant- was lovely cuisine and a perfect setting, sitting up the top of the resort, outside under the stars looking out over the lagoon and other islands across the water- Very nice.


Day 5 -

Woke after another good sleep- seem to be sleepig an awful lot ! A quiet day today, we went on a small cruise around the lagoon up to Le Meridien resort and in the other direction to Breaka's resort. The guide took us right down to the end of the huge lagoon and showed us some beautiful homes on the waterway. He said it was where the 'rich people live!

One even had a huge out door day bed with a woven roof - could get used to lying out there, but we notice here that due to it all being in a protected lagoon, there is hardly ever a breeze, so it is very hot and still everywhere.

On the way back the skies opened and we had the most amzing tropical downpour- it was hilarious as everyone ended up standing in the middle as it was an open sided reef boat and the driver had to steer with his head out over the roof to see !!

Came back, dried off, had some ales (rude not too!) when it dried off, over on Erakor island. Have got in the habit of having 'toberlrone' cocktail over there in the afternoons and shared lunch with the Reids, looking out back towards our reasort across the bay, the catching the ferry back across.

Had a most enjoyable couple of hours yarning away about life in NZ! We will miss John and Sherlie when they leave in a few days!

Came back and watched 'T'he Mummy' movie on the laptop. Getting used to being 2 hours behind now, so can manage to stay up till 10.30pm or so like at home.