Pillow Project

I'm in the middle of decorating.

Got fabric and made these for the place!

Before:

After:

Late night Au Pair work

I never thought of myself as an Au Pair, but I am now.

I had an interesting night filled with take away vietnamese pho and a cat costume.

Leila had a "Book Day" at her school and she'd just finished reading a book about a cat.

What started out as me simply helping out with the costume, turned in to me sewing all of the mostly precut pieces with lovely Lou's company. Aside from some backwards parts that I had to refurbish out of scraps it went pretty smoothly. It's just time consuming.

It was an all nighter but it was pretty accomplishing to remember I can still sew.

The cute Australian children I live with. (and the cat costume)

The Brisbane Exhibition - THE EKKA

The Ekka is the annual agricultural show of Queensland, Australia. Its formal title is the Royal Queensland Show. It was originally called the Brisbane Exhibition, but as you know Australians love shortening and abbreviating, so now it's the Ekka.

When I found out tomorrow was the last day of the Ekka and I'd been here for a year already and missed last years, I knew I had to get out there. I made it for the afternoon and walked around taking photos.
It is almost identical to the Del Mar Fair in California except the Ekka has SHOW BAGS.
You can choose from different cartoon characters or just soda or food brands and buy a show bag for just about anything.
Show bags range from $2 to $30 or more.

I was advised to get the Bertie Beetle Bag and I decided to get the Cadbury Freddo Bag because it came with 2 toys :)

There were rides

and games

and shows

and food

(cotton candy)

and races
and the show bags!

and there was art

photography

and more fun stuff

I < 3 West End: Hello Again Brisbane.

Thanks to very wonderful people I am able to stay in the West End neighborhood.
I love it here.

Bula Fiji and Moce Fiji: One Month of Island hopping

I started my Fijian journey in Nadi (pronounced Nandi locally in Fiji)
I couch surfed at the Buli's house. I arrived at 5 in the morning took a taxi in the dark
and as I waited for the family to answer the phone I acquired 10 mosquito bites in the prime time of mosquito attacks (dawn).


Once I got settled in I met Thomas and his nephew Ratu who helped me with everything I needed and even understood how my overnight flight with no sleep left me exhausted. They let me sleep all day.

I spent 5 days going into town and walking around each day and best of all reading tons!
One day I visited the Hindu Temple in Nadi and walked around it to check out the details of the Sri Siva Subramaniya temple, which happens to be the largest Hindu temple in the southern hemisphere.




THEN: finally Kevin arrived from Melbourne at 7 in the morning and we spent the day sorting out our travel plans for the rest of our stay in Fiji.
The night Kevin arrived:


That night Thomas has a welcoming ceremony for Kevin and I with the traditional Kava. Kava is a ground up pepper root that makes your tongue go numb at first sip and relaxes you the more you drink.

Once Kevin got to Nadi we immediately began our travels the following morning.

We started by heading south of Nadi to "beach house" which is a resort but also a stop on the local bus stop which is convenient.
We enjoyed the layout of the place and partook in the happy hour of $4.00 FJ (2$ Australian$) beers and walked along the beach for a bit and I wrote in my journal as Kevin took a dip in the pool.

The next day we went straight to Suva to sort out my visa application.
We sadly spent 2 days in a row going to the Australian High Commission Embassy because 3 or 4 people were giving me completely wrong information ... Luckily, I got my 3 month visa in ONE day of submitting my application!
So from Suva we took a bus to Waidalice (pronounced Waidalithe) and took a small river boat through the river and over the ocean to the Island of Leleuvia.

the dock on Waidalice bridge

Leleuvia

This is by far one of my favorite places in the world.
We shared our own private Bure (wood and straw hut/house)

our Bure

Our walk around the Island

the island only had electricity from a generator for about 4 to 6 hours a day depending on when they needed it for cooking meals.

Saro the Chef

There was a 5 Star Chef there who's food convinced us to stay for another 2 nights.
Every Saturday night they do "FIJI NIGHT" which means they prepare food in their traditional Lovo.

The day they caught the lobster for our Fiji night. we posed with it.

Lovo is an earth oven, a fire made on in a pit in the ground lined with heat-resistant stones. When the stones are hot, food, wrapped in banana leaves, is placed in the pit, covered with soil and left to cook before being exhumed and eaten. Dishes they cooked this way included taro (potato), chicken, fish, spinach saturated with coconut milk veggies and more.
Saro is the Top Chef for sure he even prepared the largest lobster I have ever seen with amazing presentation!

Lovo:

In Leleuvia we traded books, read, snorkeled, kayaked and enjoyed life on this island. We walked around the island one day on low tide and it easily took 20-30 minutes.

walked to the middle of the island to see the cannibal pot

blue star fish spotted while kayaking:



our last day on Leleuvia.

We enjoyed our ride with Gordy's daughter

After Leleuvia we went to the old capital of Fiji called Levuka. This town has the oldest church in Fiji and the oldest hotel.

Our little place in Levuka

our view wasn't too shabby. it's the ocean....

After one night in Levuka we woke up at 4am to catch a bus to eventually get to an island on the north tip of viti levu it's called nananu-i-ra.

When the bus came the woman said the bus was full and we were supposed to get our tickets Saturday because yesterday was Sunday and it was closed. We arrive on Sunday and the bus had like 5 people in it when it fits 80. So confused.... at 4:30 in the morning we stood there and waited because that's what the locals were doing. After 20 minutes. she said "okay" and sold us bus tickets?

the bus ride...

almost there...

leaving the island.

After Nananu-I-Ra we went BACk to Nadi for a night and headed to the wonderful YASAWAS!!

first sunset on the Yasawas

Next day on Nanuya...

Filo took us to the blue lagoon

but on the way, she taught us to open coconuts like 21 and 27 yr olds ... not like babies

amazing view on the way

and we made it

then we went out to the caves!!!

the boat ride back to Gold Coast Inn: amazing!
The Blue Lagoon Day 3: Kevin's adventures


From Nanuya we went to Naviti

White Sandy Beach Resort

Bula Dance

From Naviti we went to Waya Island Home to the Octopus Resort...

While we were at Octopus we learned that some of the money we spent on this resort actually gets donated to the village behind the resort on the other side of the Island. This isn't as great as it sounds because the village owns the land. BUT, the resort didn't have to donate money to them so it is a nice gesture.

We took a short hike to the village with the mayor of the village (not the chief) and we got to visit the school they've build with donated money and materials. The kids sang us songs and it was great!

and then they opened the market hoping to sell us some of their local handmade goods.

walking back to the "resort"

Round 1:

Round 2:

and the perfect way to end an evening:

Octopus Resort Trivia night!!!

we rapped the theme song from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

I hope there are no photos of me doing this. I know there is a video and I hope it never surfaces.

practicing our routine

On our last day in the Yasawa's we saw this super hero dog.

Then we got out very last Moce song (mothe) Goodbye Islands!

We left the Yasawas but we still had 2 nights in Fiji on Viti Levu before I went back to Brisbane and Kevin went back to California. Here is a great sunset in the Bountyful Estates.

We took our Fijian family with Kimika and Nobu out to Pizza King in Nadi!