10/2 Today was designated as a rest and organising day. We have been so busy for a week now (and more in the weeks leading up) that we needed to catch our breath. For me today is also my first homesick day. The weather here is terrific (14 degrees), but there's not much to do today as we are organising our finances and travel for the next two weeks. I think it's also because it's Saturday at home which is my favourite day. On a lighter note I was appointed to a job starting at St Clere's teaching Maths from March 9th which is only ten minutes from where we are staying at Kez and Rod's. Bit surreal having a phone interview in Canada, and the other end of the phone is in the UK. 11/2 ... read more

Phil woke us up early again to go into town with him. Big day today, our plans were to go up Grouse Mountain (gondola) and cross the Capilano suspension bridge - massive test for my fear of heights. There had been showers overnight and it was a little overcast when we got to the city. We caught the seabus across to Vancouver North, which was pretty cool. The clouds had cleared so we decided to do Grouse Mountain first. Our bus driver was a bit gruff and crazy, she drove fast and was looking at photos as she drove - she got us there though. On arrival we could hear wolves howling which was exciting. We paid to go on the gondola, and I thought the guy had ripped me off. I was going by the ... read more

5/2/2006 Well a lot has happened since our last entry. We had a great day in Fiji relaxing by the pool, with both of us being sunburnt the only complication (me in particular). Sunscreen wasn't a priority when packing for the North American and European winters, but I wish it was! When we arrived at Nadi airport that night, we learnt that our flight had been delayed by 3 hours - making it two in the morning. There was also a transfer stop at Honolulu that wasn't in our itinerary. We befriended a Hawaiian chick - Bonnie, and a Canadian who had been in Sydney for two years - Mike. We shared a pizza and had some beers, before watching episodes of the OC on Mike's laptop that haven't been aired in Australia yet! When we ... read more

Our next stop after the Gardens was the Viseisei Village, which is where the first Fijian people landed and established themselves. Our tour guide around the village was Eleanor, and even though our adventures have only just started it is going to take something special to top Eleanor's tour. Eleanor and 500 other Fijians still live in the original community on around 35 acres. Eleanor was very friendly and explained that her ancestors were thought to have come from South Africa. When they landed her people split up, some staying on the coast, and others making for the highlands. Her community is split into three distinct tribes; carpenter, fisherman and warrior tribes. Before we could progress on the tour we were taken to a small market of about 8 stalls, which was run by ladies of ... read more