Bula! Have been a bit slack on the old updating, but who didn't see that coming! Has been a pretty awesome couple of weeks! Got our PADI Certs (photos to come with my new dive proof camera case), hiked up the top of the highest hill in Fiji (Tomanivi/ Mt Victoria) with the Rucksack Club, have found a motorbike to buy (its in the shop getting a bit of TLC and a coat of paint), have met a bunch of very awesome, very crazy people who have all done some pretty interesting stuff which makes for mad chats. Got a awesome job that's two minutes up the road, there has been the Hibiscus festival in all its muddy glory and we're picking up some Fijian words on the way! Olivia is off for a three week tour of the islands for work so I'll be getting up to all sorts of crazy stuff to make the most of my freedom! I'll keep the photos coming, or they will play a really nice slideshow at the funeral!
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| Suva at dusk... Its not always a busy grimy place |
The bats at dawn and dusk are amazing, they are huge and for a while you think they are just birds but they are a very different shape. Never seen anything like it, only the tiny ones in 'Merica which are on a entirely different scale. Apparently if you park your car under a tree with bats, you are gonna know all about it!!!
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| King Fisher at the National Park |
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| Quick fix for blisters... |
Not sure if kiwi ingenuity or stupid white man getting a blister in the first place but I thought I had come up with a pretty good solution!
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| I was wondering why there was so many over-weight, pastey white people walking around town... |
Cruise-ship season is here!!!!
Hiking Tomanivi/ Mt Victoria (1320 odd meters)
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| Stonebowl Lodge. Prime location to stay to climb Mt Victoria (Tomanivi) |
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| One of the little terrors of Stonebowl Lodge! |
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| Why I always sound like a muppet reading place names here... |
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| View from the doorway... Not a bad start to the day! |
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| On the back mate! 5 Star transport! |
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| Main St... Local Village |
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| Local Accommodations... |
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| Our guides for the walk up Tomanivi |
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| Getting higher! |
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| The top! (only 1300 meters) |
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| It was steep going in places... |
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| And steeper in others |
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| Fence-Envy |
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| What happens if you don't clean out your gutters... |
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| A fire place in Fiji... Bizarre |
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| He liked my bag (it had chocolate inside) |
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| 5 hour ride home... Nap time! |
Hibiscus Festival!
The Hibiscus Festival is a once a year, week long festival held in the heart of Suva! Most other villages hold something very similar called the Bula Festival, but you know how some people just like to be different. Its held on Albert Park (just down the road from home) which unfortunately doesn't do the whole draining thing really well... And since it rains every second day in Suva it get a bit squishy but its all good fun! The field is covered in crazy rides that I am sure were shipped over here when they failed safety checks in NZ, food vendors and loads of little shops selling souvenirs and glow/ light up toys and bits and pieces so your friends can find you when you pass out.
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| Hibiscus |
This was powering the biggest Ferris Wheel... Its the diffy of an old truck. Waste not want not my mother always said!!!
The best part of Hibiscus is the food... There is an entire street of food vendors jammed in stall to stall and there is pretty much anything that you can find in Fiji in the one place. And man do they know how to deep fry!
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| Its stuff like this that makes me love Fiji. They are my kind of people! |
