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Published: August 18th 2005
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Well friends and family, it certainly has been a while since I've sat down and continued to share my adventures with you. Sadly, they have come to an end for the time being. Last time, I believe, we met up with our hero, she was partying down in Auckland saying fairwell to her homies. Mr. Camper Van (Beethoven - for you, Claire) was delivered safe and sound. The last few days in New Zealand were gloomy - wet and overcast but that didn't stop our hero from soaking in the last remaining moments of Kiwi-dom before poof! she went off to Fiji!
Ah, Fiji. What can one say about Fiji that hasn't already been said about tropical paradises the world over. It was heaven. It was warm. I got tan. I relaxed and read on the beach. I probably spoke to 20-25 people the whole week. The far out, isolated island I stayed on was heavenly. No roads or cars. It sported the best snorkeling in the tri-island area (actually, there were more than three islands but I only visited three different snorkeling locations). The coral right off my island offered a metropolis of fish in all different shapes and
sizes, creeds and colors. A nearby spot was rumored to be as beautiful, so another resort guest and I hired a water taxi to take us over there only to find it was a boring suburb significantly duller than what was right outside my bure (Fijian for hut). My time there was very special. I spent several days with the two other families at the "resort" and I loved the dynamic. The locals were extremely friendly and helpful. And, well, I could go on and on but i'll surfice to say GO! I did spend my last two nights on two other islands. I purchased an island hopping pass on my way out to Tavewa when I was originally only going to stay for 2 nights. Once there, I feared that no other island or resort would be as nice. I ended up staying four nights but felt compelled to use my pass so I moved on. What I found is that the further away you get from the main lands, the better. Period. Don't bother with the anything other than far-off isolation. 'Cause really, you're not in Fiji to be around a lot of people, are you?
One
last note, Fiji can be done for very, very cheap. From North America, the flights are probably the killer but if you can find some decent fares, do it.
I arrived back in the US, Los Angeles specifically, approximately two hours before I was due at a wedding. It was a whirlwind arrival and a totally surreal moment occured when I took acount of the fact that I was sitting in a church, surrounded by my Jewish family, who I hadn't seen and barely spoken to in 4 months. But it was a great wedding and I was so happy to have made it back. Now being in Los Angeles, was horrendous. Fiji - the bluest skies, crystal clear waters, white sand. LA - grey muck for sky, ocean of metal and glass, enforced nature... However, the next weekend I attended a extremely special and beautiful wedding (congratulations to Mr & Mrs Collins) also in the LA area. And I got to sneak in a trip to San Diego to visit my grandmother so all was not lost.
Fast forward a couple of months of playing part-time nanny, I'm sitting here in a lovely 2 bedroom apartment I'm
Bures
Fijian Housing sharing for the moment with a friend of mine I've known for a couple of years. It's in my favorite part of the city, totally convenient to everything. I'm in my second week of a new job as office manager/HR/accounting person for a software start-up called Splunk (as in spelunking - www.splunk.com). It seems to be going well and I'm enjoying the environment. We are literally across the street from SBC Park where the San Francisco Giants play baseball and from our rooftop deck you can see out over the pier and the bay with lots of boats sailing along. It's actually a whole neighborhood of San Francisco that I've never spent time in before. It's called South Beach and is a fairly recent built up area. It has more high rise apartment buildings than anywhere else (or Resort Style Living as one of the slogans go) in SF. I'm not sure but I think South Beach may be a landfill area. Sexy.
I guess you can say I'm settled back into Bay Area living. It certainly took me a while. I enjoyed staying at the house on the hill with Elli and the kids while Mr. Elli was
away working for a few weeks - not going out very much. I slowly got back in touch with friends around the city and started revisiting some of my old favorite locales. But I took my time. I didn't want to lose the slower paced living I'd becomed accustomed to! And I didn't want to put myself at risk of experiencing some of the freakiness of America in unregulated portions. Or maybe it's that I've become boring since I don't have the energy or longing to stay out late and party. But then I talk with my friends and realize that at our severly advanced age, none of us do! I think about New Zealand often and ponder with sadness the possibility of not seeing some of my Kiwi friends again. I wonder if I'll ever see the pictureque landscape again... Overall, however, I know with every essence of my being that my Oceania Adventure was absolutely the right thing for me to do. I doubt there are many extended journeys in my future, but it's all good. I get to experience something called Paid Vacation - so at least I'll be enjoying a week to 10 day vacations (and
receiving a pay check while I'm gone - SUCKERS!).
Thank you all for coming on my journey with me. I've enjoyed hearing from you about how much you enjoyed the ride. Please be in touch. I'll see you all soon!
Over and Out,
Morganne
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