I think I have started using the term "home" in an increasingly flexible sense lately. Is England really home for me? Or is Crete...or is Fiji, as by December I had been living there almost a year. Well, I think I can have many homes, as many as I like in fact, as long as there is a reason to call somewhere home, and it feels like home, then home it is. In this instance I was coming home to England to see my parents, my brother and a whole load of friends. I wasn't coming back to England for the [View Full Entry]

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I visited Nauru for the second time about six months ago and this is my much delayed account of that visit. I wanted to write this short description mainly so I would have an excuse to also post over 15 photos which I think show a different side of Nauru than my first blog entry. There is a lot of beauty on this island, despite everything. This entry is dedicated to the beaches, the ocean and the simple things, both natural and man-made that surprised me and made me smile. My second visit to Nauru was quite a different experience to [View Full Entry]

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This was my first trip to Samoa and I was determined to make the most of it. I was rapidly realising that even though I lived in the Pacific, visiting the many hundreds of islands in it within the next year was going to be tricky, so every opportunity had to be grabbed by the horns (so to speak). Samoa for me conjured up images of fierce warriors, tribal tattoos and, more recently, a pretty decent rugby team in the World Cup. I had this image of the ultimate Pacific experience, a quite undefined and vague concept and yet I was [View Full Entry]

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Rafting down the Upper Navua river was excellent! I don't know if there's that much more to say really. Well, OK, here's a little bit more... This was another one day expedition with Rivers Fiji. It was great fun and I would recommend it to anyone. I guess it’s not the cheapest but in my opinion well worth the money. We set off from the Rivers Fiji office in Pacific Harbour and again (see the Luva River kayaking trip in September) headed into the Namosi highlands. It took a couple of hours to get to the starting point and then we [View Full Entry]

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Well, conquest may be a tad of an exaggeration but still...it was a long way to the top! After 7 months of residence in Fiji, finally, in September, I embarked on my first proper hike up a mountain. This was Mount Koroyanitu in the North West of Viti Levu. The trip was organised by the Rucksack club, an organisation that has been a lifesaver for me. Without them, I don’t think I would have seen any of Fiji at all, as with the travelling I do for work I hardly have any weekends to myself and it gets almost impossible to [View Full Entry]

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This is my day kayaking down the Luva river in Viti Levu (the big island of Fiji). It was a blast. I had probably hoped for a sunnier day but in Suva and the environs, that is all you can do. Hope. Then you just have to wake up in the morning and go with the flow. As it was, a cloudy day looked in the offing but at least it wasn’t raining. First things first, I had to find a packed lunch to take with me. I knew the fridge was empty - I had checked the night before and [View Full Entry]

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I had another opportunity to visit the Marshall Islands in August for the Pacific Power Association's Annual Conference. Doesn't sound like a holiday, does it? Well, yes, it was mainly work but there was time for a little hanging around on the beach too. As there always is when you are on a pacific island! The occasion was a networking picnic - or whatever you would like to call it. The substance of the matter was that we all headed out to the other side of the atoll - the side with no roads, no houses, no people, lots of palm [View Full Entry]

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End of July and time for a trip to Palau to sort out some work stuff. I was also planning to take the opportunity to do a little more exploration around the island of Koror and hopefully some sea kayaking. But low and behold, the day before I was to set off for the 1.5 days of travel just to get to Palau from Fiji, I came down with the most horrible cold ever. My nose was, well, disgusting, and I had a very charming I-am-just-about-to-die cough. Great, I thought. But I was not deterred. I was going to Palau because [View Full Entry]

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After a wonderfully pleasant stop-over in sunny Hawaii, I arrived in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, in the capital of Majuro to be precise, to be greeted by torrential rain. Hang-on a minute, I thought, aren't I still pretty close to the Equator? Where's the sun? Nevermind, I knew my visit was going to be short and mainly work related, so I didn't have high hopes of seeing the sights this time round. And I was right. Apart from being put off by frequent and substantial bouts of tropical rain, I was in and out of offices for most of [View Full Entry]

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I guess transiting isn't so bad when you get to spend a whole day at Waikiki beach, as I did on my recent trip to the Marshall Islands. I arrived very very early in the morning and discovered that Honolulu airport isn't the most user friendly as far as finding the nearest bus stop into town goes. After a little wandering around dazed and confused because of lack of sleep and rude awakening, I decided that maybe a hotel close to the airport would be a good option, to settle down, have a quick nap and then head into town for [View Full Entry]

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