Blogs from Suva, Fiji, Oceania

Hello Everyone, I thought whilst I have a captivated audience of self isolaters I should write something to keep you jollied up. So I thought I would share a little of the child naming conventions of the world that I have come across as it came up again the other day here in Fiji, a little amuse-boosh for you. And some local photos. The Fijians take a concept of birth-events as the core to child's name. So for example if your uncle bought a car near your birth day then you might be called 'New Car' or if your parents used a computer for the first time you might be named 'Computer'. Or if someone drowned in the river, you might end up being called 'Drowned' - yikes that got dark! So moving swiftly on like ... read more

On Sunday 3rd November 2019, my Melbourne family (including my: ‘mum, brother, sister in-law, and my sisters family) boarded the Golden Princess at Port Melbourne International Ships Wharf for two weeks cruising fun in Fiji and the South Pacific to Celebrate (a few things including) mums birthday. OUR DEPARTURE DAY HAS ARRIVED: Although we met the ship at Port Melbourne; on Friday, 1st November 2019 the cruise officially began two days before hand in Adelaide. On Sunday 3rd November 2019, we woke up at 7am on departure day go to finish getting ready in time for our UBER driver for the drive down to port Melbourne Wharf, and to set Anneri Humphris (our house sitter) up for her two week staycation at our place. My brother in law, and the UBER driver arrived at 11am (in ... read more

So there is the cyclone occurring at the moment that could hit Fiji so I'm moving from Nadi (where it's more likely to hit) to Suva. I had a nice breakfast and then got the bus from Nadi for 4 hours to Suva which was a bargain $15 for an air conditioned bus! I just read my book the whole way. When I got to Suva my hostel was only a 5 minute walk so I went there and checked in at city hotel. I was meant to be in a 10 bed dorm but got upgraded to a private room with double bed and en suite- luxury compared to what I have been used to! Then I wandered into town and had a look around before getting some tea and cake in a cafe. Then ... read more

Tuesday, March 04, 2014 Today is an exciting day. We arrived at the first stop in Fiji. I have so been looking forward to this part of the trip, going to such an exotic location in the world. It is so remote and a big mystery to us. Today we are the port of Suva, Fiji. I woke up at 5:00am and headed down to the Royal Promenade to my normal spot to work on this blog. It is so peaceful sit down here before the hustle and bustle of the day. I returned to the cabin around 7:00am to wake up Cindy. We needed to eat breakfast early because our tour was meeting 845am. Today we needed to bring along our swimsuit, towel, lotion, change or clothes and a pair of shoes that ... read more

We had a wonderful stop two days ago on the island of Druvani, Fiji. Only 150 people, white sand beaches and a wonderful warm, clear blue-green water day. We just tendered ashore, had a stroll around in the morning and then went back to the ship for lunch. In the afternoon, we returned to buy some of very special forks they used to use on very special dinners (think Alferd Packer) and found some. We'll see if we have problems getting them back home though - Australia and New Zealand are very stringent in their rules on bringing organic material into their countries, so we have to have them vetted on the ship. Hope it works. Anyway, also had a tour of the little three-room school and a wonderful talk with the kindergarten teacher. The kids ... read more