Roses

This is a hedged-in garden I've just found minutes from my new job. Lovely!!

Fiji

The last day of our trip we spent just staying around the resort. Mark and his mum went parasailing and we enjoyed just relaxing by the pool. The blue is amazing. 

Doors

I found some wonderful quirky doors walking around Newcastle today. Canberra is such a new city and finding anything with an aged patina makes me want to take photos!!

Mamanuca Islands

We took a day trip to the Mamanuca Islands because we wanted to check it out for the next trip to Fiji.

We took a sail boat to the islands. Soooo relaxing. 

En route to the island. 

We went snorkelling off the side of the boat half way there. And then stopped for lunch and more snorkelling. 

One of the crew shimmied up a coconut palm to get four coconuts. He also broke off a leaf and the crew spent the return trip making things for all the kids on board. 

They made a paddle boat for Ben. The paddles worked. 

One of the guys also made a bracelet for me. He tried it on me several times to make sure it fit. I took a video too. The crewman was so sure of himself - probably makes these bracelets every other day!

We sailed back for much of the return trip. Loved the sound of the wind and the feeling that the power of the wind was very ably propelling us along. 

Village

We took a day trip, visiting a remote island, Tonga Island. It was so interesting, it's near a village which had the last recorded cases of cannibalism in Fiji. The victim was an English pastor and his crime was to touch, or try to remove a chief's head dress. 

We spent about an hour on a bus then took a trip by speed boat including lots of high speed 360 degree turns. 

Mark and the kids on the boat. 

Mark was chief for the day. He had the task of giving the village chief a gift of kava root. 

These are the kind of bites that the villagers live in. They got electricity two years ago. 

They put out an amazing spread of good for us. I felt terrible because visitors eat first and I had to check this. It was so odd having the kids, the men and women from the village watching us eat first. 

I had to wear a sarong in the village and we were all given a garland to wear. 

Street art

We're visiting Newcastle this weekend. There's dome great street art near our apartment.