While the world (Australia and NZ now included) continued to grapple with COVID, day to day life in Suva continued in a very real but incredibly surreal way.
Abby headed off to Ovalau with Weightlifting Fiji to open the Levuka Satellite Training Center…..in business class.
Weightlifting Fiji Board.
Back in Suva, the kids and I headed out on the NicNic:
We tended to our garden…Lettuce!
We…err, Tui and Eseta prayed…
IYFA soccer tournament!
Front flippin’ at Matanivusi…..admittedly, Daddy got in a bit of trouble from Donna / Brian for allowing/encouraging this one….won’t happen again.
Dave and I after a sketchy boat ride back from Namuka Passage….drenched but alive and boats not at the bottom of the ocean.
Tui Boy and Tui Girl!
This shit is noise. I am plotting my escape my escape from the UN…… Have you ever thought that you are replying to a friend about a moderately offensive email not realising that you actually hit reply-all to about 3,000 staffers of the UN, World Bank, High Commision, Embassies, and ADB with the words, “This shit is noise, I am plotting your escape from the UN”, then in some quick thinking you send another reply a few minutes later to the same 3,000 people with a quick apology and a slightly self deprecating comment about being the captain of the UN cricket team which in turn went even more viral that the first reply but this time making you a hero to hundreds if not thousands for saying what they all feel and then after 6 weeks of practice as co-captain of the UN Cricket team with Hassan who sent out the initial email and then the two of you guide the UN to win a big cricket tournament in Suva? No? Well Abby did.
Not the best place in the wold to learn out to roller-skate, but Lucy gave it a go….
Right next to Tui’s pre-kindy school is Marist Primary ….just one of those buildings that you think about taking a picture of for years…and then one day, you pull over and finally take a few.
We played with dear friends…..
As did Lucy and Shiyana…
After 4 years of no relationship with the US Embassy, two things happened
The new ambassador Joseph Cella (Trump appointee via CPAC) arrived in Suva ahead of his family (7 pro gun home schooled kids) and we struck up an unlikely friendship that started in a coffee shop…..not discussing politics.
We then met Brit and Brendon via their boy Rowan who is pictured below and William’s new bestie.
The result was actually a healthy and fun relationship with the US Embassy and a string of invites to holiday parties and other functions……until Brit/Brendon moved to India and Biden became president. So long Joseph….it was actually quite fun and we will miss you and our relationship with the US Embassy has gone downhill since….
One of the absolute treasures of Fiji is walking through our garden and looking down at a flower you didn’t see the week before.
Malolo island is in the Mamanuca’s just outside of Nadi. Because of the distance from Suva, the cost and usually the crowds, we have avoided this part of Fiji. With the borders closed, it was time….and Richard and Kathy provided the transportation to Malolo for the weekend.
Cruisin’ the Mamanuca’s
Short shorts and coconuts on Malolo
The pool at Malolo
Our red kava bowl.…at sunset. Nobody but Abby and I and our traditional plastic red bowl of Kava. Not the fancy wood carved ones….but some good ol Kava from Ovalau in a $.25 red plastic bowl. It was a tiny moment but one where we felt a bit more Fijian than not.
Those aren’t slam balls! At an event in Pacific Harbour, Abby and her friend Seema were working out in the hotel gym. Seema on a bike, Abby weight training. Unbeknownst to Abby, the slam ball she was about to throw down wasn’t actually a slam ball but a high performance weight ball meaning it had air in it and actually bounced like a basketball so when you threw it down, it bounced back up right into Abby’s face tossing her backwards in front of her friend Seemạ.
Luckily, there was a ENT that afternoon at the Nasese Clinic so we were able to confirm that while Abby did some damage to her nose, it was pushed straight back and not to the side which meant her nose would continue to be straight. 🙂
As our friend Andy would say, “it is the life we choose”….:). After a few weeks, Abby and her nose returned to every day life with a story and a healthy fear of Slam Balls.
Ovalau – Part 1. Our relationship with Ovalau started through Weightlifting Fiji. As an active member of the board of Weightlifting Fiji, Abby had visited Ovalau a few times as many of Fiji’s finest weightlifters came from Ovalau and in particular the Bamba settlement.
It was a few hour ride on a car ferry from a jetty outside of Suva to Ovalau.
Our first part of the trip to Ovalau was to cheer on the Suva weightlifters to a competition in Levuka.
Group pic after the competition
As you can imagine, Tui stole the show….
Afterwards, we hiked up to the Bamba settlement to join the weightlifters and their families for a party with Tui serenading them on the walk up the hill with his version of Noqu Bebe…the butterfly song.
Of course Tui was there to help prepare/stir/serve the kava.
Introducing Bobo. We had heard about a homestay on the eastern side of the island started by a man / legend named Bobo and his German wife Karẹn. They no longer had tourists (it was Oct of 2020 so we were still within the early stages of the panedemic) nor the energy to host families, but were open to hosting us for lunch and a hike to the nearby waterfalls.
A short hike consisted of slogging through, a river, a trail, mud and a ton of sweat…opening up to a river that over the years had forged a smooth slide from one small pool to another ending in a pool at the end.
Tui was not quite ready
The kids loved Bobo’s stories, his energy and big laughs. Bobo and Tui shared some good natured Fijian trash talk and the relationship was on…..
Much….much…much more to come from Bobo and Ovalau….
Back in Suva.…another fishing boat ran aground on the reef outside the main harbor entrance.
Track Practice. Lucy, Shiyana and a few other kids from ISS at track practice with Coach Bolo. Twice a week in the heat…
Wainadoi. A small pool with clear fresh water ….deep enough that you could jump off the rocks and with a current strong enough that could allow you to swim in place. You could walk up stream for an hour if you want or just stay put and enjoy. The time to go was Sunday morning when everyone was in church…we could have the river all to ourselves. It was our go to spot to bring friends on a hot summer day.
Open your eyes! Fresh water!
Davey Dave hanging with Tui
Shami in one of the pools upstream
Coconut Boys. Up the street from our house on Ratu Sakuna Road, there is a spot where the coconut boys hang out to sell their coconuts and gamble. I told one of the boys (Vili) that I would give him $50 a week if we brought us 5 coconuts per day so we could make fresh boo in the fridge every day.
Too many coconuts? Some days it was too much….
Some days, it was just good to be alive in Suva!
The relationship thrived until one day Vili got a job and a visa to move to Australia….and quite frankly, none of us could drink another sip of bu….
Tuesday Night Footy. A year earlier, Ben started a Tuesday night footy game at the Victoria tennis courts. Over the years, it evolved into a proper game of 5 v 5…then expanded to Thursday nights as well.
Now and then, beer was served afterwards…here is my good friends Andy and Luis. I loved the boys and the game!
Pac Harbor Air BNB with Liz and Andy. We crashed their spot so Abby and Liz could have this moment….
Andy took one for the team and took the kids on a ride up and down the river.
Lucy on the beach in Pac Harbor.
Diwali dress up.
Rock climbing in Nausori. We tried to support Mana on his goal to bring rock climbing to Fiji…..a course bolted into the side of an apartment in Nausori. Everyone had a great day, but the wall and future of organized rock climbing in Fiji had its limits.
Pineapple Garden. Verea got adventurous and planted Pineapples…both in the garden and at the base of the mango tree. Looks lovely to see the heads, but they never grew and we never picked them….:).
Dame Meg Taylor. From Papua New Guinea, she served as Secretary General to the Pacific Islands Forum from 2014 to 2021.
Surfing Lessons at Matanivusi. We took a weekend trip with a few of the kid’s friends families….the kids took a surf lesson.
Lucy had some good experience surfing in Noosa so she was pretty confident as they hit the waves around the corner on a break called ‘Kindy’.
William caught a few waves as well.
Coco I Suva. We have spent many hot summary days hiking to the pools.
This one was different because William decided this was the day to take his turn on the rope swing. The really acrobatic swingers start from the upper platform so it is a very intimidating first swing with everyone watching…
Like a pro!
Art. We connected with a local artist named Rainbow. Slightly sketchy, but she loved to paint and pain with Lucy so we stuck with it and the result is some really wonderful work by Lucy.
The start of the Octopus canvas….
Manava Dance. Our relationship with Manava dance started with Lucy and poi and Pai…..it quickly blossomed into Poi and Modern Dance for Lucy, Fire Stick for William, and Tui started as well with the Tui dance…
Lewa. We met Lewa during our first trip to Ovalau. She was one of the bad ass weight lifters from the Bamba Settlement. After that trip, her situation became really difficult for her so she was moved to a girls home outside of Suva. It wasn’t a great situation so we took custody of her so she could have some stability. Obviously, the kids loved her.
We were able to get her into Home for Hope outside of Tamavua so she could socialize a bit more and have access to more support.
Category 5 Cyclone Yasa made landfall in Fiji on 17 December 2020, slamming into the island of Vanua Levu. As always, we were prepared but the damage to Viti Leva was nothing compared to the damage on Vanua Levu.
To protect themselves from Cyclone’s the big catamaran’s found refuge in the mangroves .
Shutters were put up making things a bit darker and gloomier…
The one upside of cyclone lockdown is more cuddle time with the boys…
We were able to have friends over for Xmas brunch, but with the destruction in Vanua Levu, it was subdued….
Bye Bye Daria. All thing
While the rest of the world was in total lockdown Fiji was still packin’ them into mega church services!
Helen giving William some tips…
Holi 2021. Over the years Holi has been one of our favorite holidays to celebrate. I mean what’s not to love about celebrating spring, love and new life…..and color.
With our new relationship with the US Embassy, we celebrated on the Embassy grounds this year and Brendan took some amazing pics.
Iridescent Clouds. We have been lucky to live in a place where more often than not, nature has a way of blowing your doors off….sometimes literally via cyclones, other times, the beauty of the S Pacific provides once in a lifetime moments.
April 10, 2021 was one of those moments.
Our friend Jim surprised Molly with a bday party at a rental house overlooking Albert Park and all of a sudden (and only for a few minutes) a cloud rainbow formed high above the hills outside of Suva.
It just appeared high above the clouds and then went away leaving everyone speechless knowing they just say something they might not see ever again.
Ovalau 2021. Our second trip to Ovalau was by far my favorite trip in 7+ years living in Fiji. We stayed with Bobo and Karen and planned a few mini trips around the island.
Lavonia. The first was a trip to Lovonia….and town set in the center of a crater from an old volcano. Surrounded on all sides by steep peaks, Bobo advised the only way to visit was with someone who was known and respected…and of course that was Bobo. We parked outside the village and hiked in (which looking back, it would have been a better idea to drive to the town itself, but these are great travel tips to pass on). That said, the hike gave us time to hear all the stories of the fierce warriors of Lavonia and how Cakobau finally succeeded to take Lavonia through deceit.
Naigani. The next trip was to Naigani….about a 15 min boat ride from Ovalau. From the start, it was perfect. 75-80 degrees with enough wind to keep things lovely, but still enjoy a smooth ride on a rented long boat. The water was clear and the sky was blue.
It was also William’s 7th Birthday……a birthday we will NEVER forget.
Naigani once had a favorite resort, but it was destroyed by Winston by in 2015 and never rebuilt. Everything was overgrown and the fleet of fishing, transport boats were there on the beach. It wasn’t creepy, just a reminder to how temporary things can be.
We headed to the opposite side of the island to a deserted beach. By far the most epic day trip once could ever imagine
We started with a snorkel. The reef was endless, 15’-30’ deep water and full of life….and it was ours to enjoy. While snorkeling with Lucy and William, Bobo and his friend spearfished for lunch catching some colorful coral trout and yes, they grabbed a giant claim.
Back at the beach, we gathered coconuts for fresh bu and Coco cooked up the fish and some hot dogs and his bubu cut up the giant clam with fresh limes….again, a once in a lifetime lunch in paradise…our paradise on an island off of another island off the main island in Fiji where we lived.
Bobo is the ultimate host.
After lunch, Tui napped under the palm frowns and Abby and I swam out past the first row of coral heads to take in the scene of kids playing on the beach
Yes, William fell for a colorful coral trout who he protected from being eaten…even though he was long passed. 🙂
While floating in that absolutely perfect moment, I remarked to Abby that after 6 or so years, we would never ever experience another moment in Fiji to match this one….and that it might be time to think about what comes next. Little did we know that at that very moment, a soldier returning from overseas and was in quarantine in Nadi, decided to venture out of quarantine after his first initial negative test…..and of course had a bowl of Kava with him mates not knowing he had Covid and that was the beginning of the end.
The next day, we had heard that there was a positive test in Nadi and we momentarily thought about just staying in Ovalau till it all passed, but then decided to pack up and head back to Suva. Everything changed in an instant.
Lockdown Fiji. The following 2 months consisted of Fiji trying to control the outbreak…down to a police enforced 48 hour curfew. This time we were dealing with the Delta variant and no containment measures were working You could feel the shift towards letting it rip.
Early on my Care Fiji app alerted me that I was within the vicinity of someone who tested positive so they sent a van out to our house to give Abby and I tests…..which remains one of my favorite pics….it was early on and man, they went deeeeeeeep!
Prior to the lockdown, our pool started to leak and literally the day before the lockdown was to start, the boys needed to put a second coat on the paint in the pool…..and didn’t have enough time so we had one less activity to enjoy during our confinement. That would hurt a bit, but all in all, we still counted ourselves lucky to have such issues. 🙂
There were some tough goodbyes made a bit easier or more brief by Covid…..
We again convinced Salote and Eseta to move in with us for the duration of the lockdown…..on the condition that we would set up church service in our backyard
(Am not 100%sure what is on the pink chair)
Luckily, we only had one Zoom Bday…..
Near the end of May we were advised that there was an evacuation flight to the US organized by the cast and crew of Survivor (which has been shooting almost year round in Savusavu for the past few years). We quickly did our pros / cons list and decided that the path forward in Fiji was too dicey to risk so we got on the flight and booked another to Boston and then rented a car to drive to Franklin, Maine where we planned to take a breath, watch Fijji’s covid nightmare from afar and figure out what to do.
See you later, not good bye. Most of the time, this is what you say when you don’t want to say good bye….this time, though, we were coming back….Abby remained working in the pacific via Maine, Salote and Eseta took turns taking care of the house and dog and we left all of our possessions behind. We were coming back, but didn’t know when and what life was going to look like so it was emotional.
Here is Tui with his ladies…truly his Fijian family….the way Eseta looks at Tui says it all. They were one.
In short, we spent 5 weeks at Georges Pond, then we rented a house in Yarmouth for the next 6 months before finally (after 3 delays) returning to Fiji in January 2022.