Dravuni Island

Our last stop on our cruise before sailing home was Dravuni Island in Fiji. This was the most gorgeous island with 1 village on it. It was so relaxing we had an amazing day. Here are some photos of what we looked at from our spot on the beach.

We had a nice shady spot, but it wasn't without it's hazards, this is what we saw when we looked up!

The village was quite well off and we went to the school for a visit, this is a photo of the schoolhouse. There was a separate, smaller building for the preschool. It was very well kept and quite well resourced.

Just a crazy photo of Emma that I like.

And one of Nathan concentrating on climbing trees.

We went on one of the boats in the photos above for a trip around the island. It was really good, it was hard to take photos but I got a few.

The man was great and he let the kids have a go at driving the boat. Nathan of course thought it was jet boat and went a bit fast, losing his hat which we had to go back for. He thought it was fabulous though.

This island had the most gorgeous shells and we actually collected quite a lot and brought them home. There were lots of hermit crabs so you had to check your shells carefully.

Nathan also found this biggish crab which he chased Caty all the way along the beach with. Lucky it didn't get him with its claws.

If you ever have the chance to go to Dravuni Island make sure you go it is well worth it.

Denarau Island

We had our second last stop of the cruise at Denarau Island, Fiji. This is where we usually holiday so we were excited to check the place out and see if it had changed. It hadn't really, a few new buildings and they now charge $6 Fiji a day for the Bula Bus, also no standing on the Bula Bus now due to someone being injured and they have a guide on the bus that tells you what you are passing etc. and punches your ticket. We went first to Worldmark Resort where we walked around and had a beer and a cocktail by the water. Emma had her hair braided and the kids got to have a swim in the pool.

We then walked along the beachfront path to Raddison and then Sheraton Resorts. The kids had a great time all playing on the hammocks.

This is just what the waterfront looks like from the resorts.

Then we headed back to the port to a restaurant called Indigo (our favourite) for lunch. Anthony was hanging out for the Chili Crab and loved every mouthful of it! I had the butter chicken which was delicious too.

Then one of the highlights of our day, the jet boat ride. We did this last time and a ball but we didn't take Emma or Tyler so this time we had them come along too. We all had a fantastic time and we all got very very wet!!!

Only 1 stop left, Dravuni Island, a small secluded island, gorgeous, one of the best stops we had. I am actually going to try to post that tonight so keep posted!

Suva (Fiji)

We docked in Suva on our next day in port. We didn't really know what to expect so we booked a day tour up a river and and to a village.

We travelled up the river in these boats. It was so beautiful, we had high rock faces and hills either side of us and we saw heaps of gorgeous waterfalls. It was very picturesque, however I couldn't have my camera out because it was also very wet. We had some adventure on the way as well, we tackled some rapids which was a bit scary, especially when the boat's motor is going at full speed but the boat is actually not going anywhere!

Our first stop was another waterfall, gorgeous. This one was a bit better equipped for tourists with a concrete walkway and plenty of places to put your stuff so you could swim.

This is Toni on her way to the waterfall.

Nathan swimming in the rock pools.

Me at the rock pools (not swimming, it was too cold for me!)

This is Nathan with our tour guide.

On our way back from the waterfall there was a section that had a platform where you could jump into the water (it was very high up). Caitlyn was the first to jump but when it came to Nathan he was frightened but really wanted to do it, so good old Toni got up there and jumped with him. Can you see them in the top of the picture? Caitlyn jumped a few times and Nathan really wanted to jump again so Geoff jumped with him the second time.

On our way back down the river in our little canoe-ish boat, we stopped at a village. At the village we had a Kava ceremony to welcome us and a packed lunch before the locals sang and danced for us. They invited us to get up and dance, of course I did not, but Toni did, she had a fabulous time.

Lastly, on our way out of the village I stopped to see the village kindergarten. It was tiny. They rely on donations from tourists for their resources.

This was definitely one of my highlight days during our holiday, would recommend it to anyone.

You may wonder why I have not blogged for a few days, well our caravan arrived here on Sunday so I have been busy cleaning it, making new curtains, cleaning some more, ordering new stuff for it and shopping for some caravan essentials. It's a great little caravan, it makes me laugh that it is almost as old as me, a 1977 Chesney! I'll share more about that another time.

I hope all the QLD teachers are having a good first week back for term 4. I'm back at work tomorrow so it may be a quiet end of the week.

*if there are letters missing on this post, I can spell but my keyboard is playing up.

Savusavu (Fiji)

Our first stop of the Fiji Islands was here, Savusavu. A really gorgeous little island. This is a picture of the port where the tender dropped us off. We didn't have any tours organised for this island, we thought we would do our own thing.

We started by walking to the hot pools. This is where the locals go to cook food etc. They are just in town, in like a small park, and they are just little pools of boiling water. You can see that there are new ones popping up as you walk around and they really go to this small area of grass and cook food.

We booked a tour through a lady at the port. It was a 4WD ride to a village and then a walk to a waterfall and a beach. This is what we travelled in. I can tell you it was a CRAZY trip to the village, I think we nearly died several times (and I am not joking!!!). Thank god, we did finally get there.

And when we did get there we had a very slippery walk to this gorgeous waterfall. The kids swam but I couldn't take photos because there was no dry spot.

During our walk we had to go barefoot because it was just thick mud. By the time we got back to the village our gorgeous feet looked like this... (in fact this was quite clean, they got a lot worse and our legs were covered too)

After the waterfall we walked in the other direction to the beach. The kids all got a terrific ride bareback on a horse along the beach while we sat back and watched. The village people here were amazing. One lady actually carried Emma, on her shoulders, all the way up to the waterfall and back. I struggled not to fall over just with my camera bag!

AND, we got back to the boat safely too. Oh my goodness, driving in countries like Fiji is crazy!

We ended up having a great day with lots to talk about afterwards.

Only 3 stops left! Have a wonderful Sunday

Tin Can Island (Tonga)

We had scenic cruising on one day of our cruise, past Tin Can Island. On this day they have a tradition. Long ago the people who lived on this island had no way to send or receive mail so they used to wrap it in greaseproof paper, seal it in a biscuit tin and send a strong swimmer with it out as far as they could swim where they would leave it and passing boats would collect it. The same happened vice versa. That was until one day the swimmer got eaten by a shark so they then started taking it out to see by dingy. They tried other things too, like shooting the mail from a canon but the mail caught on fire, so they stuck with the dingy idea. Hence the photos. On the ship you can post a letter to yourself or someone else via the tin can. They are wrapped in greaseproof paper and placed in these tins which are then hung on the side of the ship.

The locals from the island come out to the ship in their dingy and the tin can mail is lowered to them. They take it on board, life buoy as well.

They then take the mail back to the island where they now have a postal service (they have a little airport) and it is delivered back home (hopefully). We didn't post a letter as I was so busy having fun that I missed the deadline but it would of been interesting to see how long the letter took to get back to us.

It was really interesting to watch, we only just made it to the deck on time and I am glad we did.

On another note, I have not just been reliving my holiday this week lots has been happening around here too.

• I actually scrap booked a layout this week
• We went to Australia Zoo twice
• Our house got a very big clean (outside) and our garage got emptied and cleaned too.
• I started a new creative project, a knitted blanket, which is going nicely and I will share progress as I make it (totally inspired by Melissa Goodsell)
• I caught up with my fabulous friends which was fun
• I spent some time shopping too

Now holidays are just about over and it is time to get back to reality...... too soon!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Vavau (Tonga)

We had another stop is Tonga during our trip. Toni and I had the kids by ourselves for the morning while the boys did their own thing. We organised a tour to take them on to see some of the island. The first stop on our tour was here.

We were shown by the locals the kava and some weaving and how they cook their traditional food etc and then some school children danced and sang for us to raise money for their schooling. Below are some photos of a couple of the girls. Isn't the little one adorable? She must have only been about 3 or 4.

After that we drove to a resort on the other side of the island but on the way we stopped at a vanilla plantation. The smell here was divine. They grow in rows just like beans, they look like beans too. The photo is of Emma and Nathan among the vanilla plants. It was hard to get photos because the camera lens kept fogging up on me!

At the resort we had refreshments of fresh fruit and coconuts (of course) This is Emma with hers, she didn't drink it though, she doesn't like the juice (I don't like it either).

This is just a photo of a little hut on a walkway on the beach at the resort.

When the boys decided to return to the ship after their tour, plus a leisurely stroll through town and a few beers at the pub!!!!! We went to the local markets for a look. I got a cute little stuffed elephant made out of leaves, a woven bowl, a woven wall hanging and some teacher presents.

Wondering what the boys were doing??? Below is a photo of what they were doing. We tried to send the big kids along with them but they were too young. They had a great time without them! (who wouldn't?)

Have a fabulous Thursday everyone, Emma is back to preschool tomorrow and very excited to share her travel stories for show and share.

Nikalofou (Tonga)

Our next stop was Tonga (I don't know if I spelt the name properly). It was Tonga's capital. *he ship docked and we walked along the water to the markets. We actually thought the markets were close but they were in town which ended up taking us about 1 hour to walk. The photo below was taken during our walk with the ship in the background. We passed this carving place along the road side. This is a photo of the shop but right next to it was a shelter and the man was carving a huge dolphin as we walked past. There was also a huge Marlin on display. You can see the puddles of water, they had had about 3 hours of heavy rain just before we arrived and the place was flooded! Some of the house had yards under water.

When we finally got to the markets we didn't have time for a good look as we had a tour to get on but we did see a little bit. These are really big vegetables, I forget the name but they belong to the potato family. They were bundled at many stalls.

We got on our tour, the sky was really black and it absolutely poured down the whole way! I was worried but by the time we got to the beach we were headed the sky had cleared and it was lovely. This is a photo of the road we came in on.

We were treated to fresh fruits and coconuts that the man cut for us right there. We actually drank lots of coconut milk and ate lots of fresh coconuts on our trip. Here is Nathan with one.

This is a photo of the beach we were at, the water was lovely and clear, but freezing! I didn't swim, it was too cold for me.

The kids swam and snorkeled and so did Anthony, there wasn't a whole lot so see while snorkeling here though.

Emma found a Hermit crab, another thing we saw lots of on our trip and below she is making him a house.

This was a good day and the local people were very nice and friendly.

Back tomorrow with more of my travels, if I lose people through boredom I am sorry, I just love sharing my holiday photos and stories.

Have a wonderful Wednesday.