January 28, 2021. The goal was to get back to Suva for the start of school in January, but there had been mixed messages from the Ministry of Education regarding opening up the schools so we put the kids back in Yarmouth Schools until we had a confirmation that schools were back in person. Jonathan, the new rep for UNICEF, and his family had been subleasing our house at 252 and our car and basically our life in Suva so we became good friends. He was leading the way in pushing for the schools to open and finally was successful in getting kids back into the schools.
So, after pushing back our flights 2 times, we finally were able to pack up our temporary life in Yarmouth, Maine and fight through a big snow storm in Boston and get back to Suva!
Greetings for Ote. After being away for 7 months, it really did feel like coming home. Salote / Eseta and the kids just jumped in each others arms and wouldn’t let go….
Wanadoi. One of the first things we did upon arriving back in Suva is head to Wainadoi and our spot on the river. With it’s growing popularity, they decided to move around the rocks upstream to make a bigger and calmer swimming area which changed everything……for the worse. No swimming against the current, no more pools in the rapids where you could have a natural bubble bath, no jumping off the rocks due to it being more shallow….kind of like The Giving Tree at the very end of the story.
Oh, but the memories! Vinaka Wainadoi!
Commonwealth Games. We were invited by Weightlifting Fiji to take part in the torch relay…
Apolonia. Bad. Ass.
The Octopus canvas is becoming a masterpiece…after Rainbow was evicted from her studio, art class was moved to our pool area.
William filling in his turtle canvas…..
There was a moment when William would read and put Tui to sleep…..you wish those moments could last forever.
Another one of those moments.
The Korean ladies really….really give Tui a bowl cut like no other.
William was taking boxfit classes and going up against Winston Hill. Here he is taking a body shot from the silver medalist in Commonwealth Games!
The kids rocking’ the Nasese bus….
Lucy’s first lemonade stand with friends in the neighborhood.
Sharon’s granddaughter Becky was a lovely addition to the house when she came around.
Matanivusi. 7+ years ago, we first visited Matanivusi (see ‘Weekend Getaway’ post…and forgive the poor page set up…it was early and I was just learning WordPress). Brian and Donna became good friends in a way that we didn’t communicate between visits, but when we see them there was oodles of love there…they watched our kids grow up and it is one of many special relationships developed over the years. .
Over the past 7 years, we spent many weekends along with some Sundays when we would come for an afternoon snorkel/lunch/swim/windsurf. We have been on countless number boat rides to all the snorkels spots, islands and surf breaks in the neighborhood with the Matanivusi family.
The lagoon protecting Matanivusi was perfection…..my favorite spot in Fiji (although I might say the same for Leluevia and some others). The reef was a 1/2 mile off shore which kept the pounding of the waves off in the distance resulting in just the perfect body of relatively calm water….never more than 15′ deep at high tide…very little coral, just white sand so it made for great swims, paddleboarding, kayaking and even better windsurf sessions with Phil and oh my….the sunsets.
Back to see Bobo and Ovalau….
Back to Nangani with Edgar, Anna, Anesh and Rio!
Sunset swims at the Holiday Inn with new friends from PNG.
The start of William’s relationship with Arsenal Football Club…..his lifeless expression matches most lifelong Arsenal supporters….which makes TJ Brown and all Spurs supporter smile from ear to ear.
Nightly soccer practice with IYFA at an Albert Park that was teeming with pick up rugby games….now with Tui. Yep, those are totally shin guards and crocs.
After soccer practice….
William’s 8th Bday Party. Bobbing for apples……but with donuts tied on a string by the pool. Good times, but literally impossible to finish a donut tied to a string without it landing on the ground….need to think that one through a bit more, but it didn’t get in the way of some solid 8 year old boy fun.
Lucy practicing.
If you look closely, you can see Lucy trying desperately to organize this game of barefoot driveway footy…..and if you look even closer, you can see Will’s eyes rolling to the back of his head. It all worked out, fun was had, nobody stubbed a toe and it was yet another massively successful Bday!
Another successful bday.
Followed by more snuggles.
Fire Stick Dance at Manava. Day One. We didn’t realize that 6 months later, William would be performing in front of hundreds….
Our not so little guy anymore!
Happy Mother’s Day from Bright Little One’s!
Lucy headed out to Leleuvia on her ISS sleep away trip.
Liz Kennedy. The absolute best.
Chicken skewers at ROC market and a walk home to remember. After this picture, I wandered around the ROC market talking to friends and when it was time to go, there was no sign of William. None. Ricky walked one way, I walked the other and we met, still no sign of William. Starting to get nervous, we asked Louie if he knew where William was..nothing. Trying to find the balance between being scared out of my gord and knowing, this is Suva…where is he going to go, I decided to make sure Lucy and Tui were good and then, I jumped in the car and drove home for some reason. As I flew down Service Street, I saw Laura in a car waiving me down. When I stopped she said she saw William near our house so I exhaled and then drove home only to see Will puttering in his room at home.
Much later on (after I stopped sweating), I asked him why he decided to walk home on that day without telling me. He said it was a dream to try to walk home from the market and he saw an opening and just went for it….I could see the logic in that and let it go.
Now and then we would lend out our basement apartment to various members of Fiji Weightlifting…the kids always loved having more people in the house!
My guy and I…having a moment on the porch.
Date night. Now and then Abby and I were able to get out on the boat after work and head over to Lami, grab a buoy and have a glass of wine…..
Another fun night at Bright Little Ones.
Nasilai or Black Sand beach. Outside of Natadola, one of the few places where there was a beach break. Here is Wiliam and Louie playing in the waves.
Ote and Lucy cruising outside the Suva Harbor….Salote couldn’t understand why we would ever go out on a boat….outside the reef for fun, but she did have Lucy to hold on to. đŸ™‚
Lucy’s dear friends from Rotuma.
Emily Miller. Where do we begin? We met Emily when we first moved to Suva….she is gold on every level. She is a tireless advocate, incredibly bright with a filthy sense of humor and a huge laugh…annoyingly big. :).
After a few years, she moved back to Melbourne.
When Tui was born she came to visit us in Noosa but ended up taking care of Lucy and Will for her holiday weekend when Abby started her battle with mastitis. Emily arrived, a few hours later we put Abby in the ambulance, I went back to the airbnb and told the kids that Emily was now in charge and then I raced down to the Sunshine Coast Hospital in Mooloolaba (about an hour away) with Tui (who was Theo at the time) for a few days. She taught the kids about crumpets and honey and everything else you need to know in life…they gave her a glimpse of challenges of parenting.
We clicked from day one and just fell in love with Emily in totality. Love love love Emily Miller!
A beautiful and peaceful run to the Sandbank with the NICNIC
The kids and the road down to the pools at Colo I Suva….and shoeless Tui.
Lucy and the boys performing at the ROC market
Lucy and Pai.
William’s battle with Covid. We picked up William after a sleepover at Samu’s and you could tell, he wasn’t feeling well….and it started with a fever and then the puffy eyelids. We had been here before..so we thought.
Knowing this wasn’t a typical fever and allergic reaction, we tested him and he was positive for Covid. We called Dr. Krupali who had us check his pulse ox and when it consistently came back at 85%, we rushed him to the hospital.
They cleared out a broom closet with an outside entrance and a young doc came over in the chaos and took over. He gave William a shot with the Epi Pen which helped as his Pulse Ox started to rise. Once stable, we took an ambulance ride to the Covid ward…
The Covid ward was a room with a bunch of beds…..a premature baby in his/her heated bed with the constant beeping noise and family. Another family of 4 and us. By this time William was stable but needed to stay the night so we hunkered down for the night.
Since we were in the Covid ward, there was no visitation, but luckily there was a busted window/screen so Abby and Lucy were able to come with Coffee and breakfast and some love…..that pretty much sums up CWM hospital and healthcare in Suva.
Sweaty Tuesday Night Footy….Luis, Rickey, Francesco, John Sachs, Steven, Massimo, Daniel…….just years of great fun and friendship.
Another Bday at Eden.
Joe. Oh god, we love you Joe. We have been through a ton with this man and he always was there sweeping, cutting….every week for 7+ years. It was always the same…”Bula Joe…howzit?”
Heads at another Bright Little One’s function.
More performances with Manava, this one at a music festival at RSYC.
Tui and Nellie….
Time to catch a fish.
The moment the engine started and we were cruising, both boys go below deck for a snooze.
Trolling outside the reef around the changing of the tide usually brought us a nice wahoo…..making for a fabulous fish fry and a very happy Salote or Eseta depending on who got to keep the head.
A windy day at Suva point….didn’t windsurf as much as I had hoped due to being alone in the murky sharks water, but now and then….
Pokemon dress up day!
Colo I Suva in the rain…the best.
Our last trip to Leluevia…..over the years I have written so much about Leleuvia that I will just let the pictures tell this last part of the story.
Api and Tui driving the boat to one of the reefs….
Honeymoon Island with a beer and Api….just so simple and perfect. From here we hit the reef where we would always see a white tip shark trolling the reef below us.
Honeymoon Island
Gearing up to snorkel.
How many sunsets on the windward side of Leluevia….maybe a hundred.
Tui Lewa and Tui Tagane. Tui boy and Tui girl growing up…..
No fear.
Taveuni – the Garden Island. We have been hearing about the waterfalls, the coral and beauty of Taveuni for years…..here we go. just the two of us!
All that and more from the moment we arrived.
When you swam past the opening, there was a pool with two waterfalls (there is another one to the left that you could climb up and slide down). Just spectacular. As I scaled up the waterfall to the left (out of this picture) I had visions of slipping and falling to a painful end of our trip…..that was the moment I felt that I was no longer young (and dumb).
We got an monster Airbnb with an amazing view….
Lot’s of rain, sun and then rainbows…..
Another hike and a slightly larger rainbow..
Here is yet another from the ocean side….
The infamous cabbage patch….
Legend says that the Tagimouci flowers were the result of the tears shed by a Fijian Princess who ran away into the forests after her father arranged her marriage. It is believed that she fell asleep while crying and her tears turned into the Tagimoucia flower. It is the official flower of Fiji and only grows on Taveuni….and only at this one lake up high up in the mountains. Naturally, we had to find it.
Taveuni is called the garden island because it is beautiful and green…because it rains a ton. As a result, the hike up the this hidden lake up in the mountains to find the elusive tagimoucia flower was muddy and rugged…and took hours…it was brutal.
We ended up at this small nondescript pond in a green field and it was raining and totally uneventful. The pond could have been in NY or WI…it was not magical and we were both tired, muddy and it started to really rain….and also, no flowers.
Our guide takes his cain knife and heads into the bush and comes back with one bundle of flowers….which I am quite sure he shouldn’t have done, but we also weren’t leaving till we saw this ridiculous flower…which is the size of a penny and pretty cool when you peal back some of the layers and look at it close up, but lets face it, the legend was far more interesting than the actual flower. But, we did it, we saw it and we have the story. :)….and I will fall in line and push the myth of the Tagimoucia flower to any and all unsuspecting visitors to Taveuni.
They actually look like a bundle of radishes…
Lucy’s first big sleepover party…such a good group of girls!
IYFA tourney in Pac Harbor….
Tui also got into the Manava dance world!
Graduation ceremony at Tui’s pre-school.
Thanksgiving ‘21. . Over the years, we shared our Thanksgiving with friends and family…near the end I do think it was a hot ticket. :). We cooked 3-4 Turkey’s at different houses in Suva and everyone came with a few dishes. Unquestionably, it was Thanksgiving at it’s best and most memorable. A few American’s had automatic invites and we always had a great group of friends. Best part was the What are we Thankful for speeches…..total ego boost as most of the speeches were thanking Abby and I and telling us how great we were. đŸ™‚
Our dear sweet Eseta came as family…she was beautiful in every possible way. RIP Eseta. You were everything to us!
Kids included….the numbers got pretty big!
Final Party. We through an absolute bender of a going away party at our house….filled with dance performances from the Manava family and all of our friends and of course, speeches…..It was really incredible!
Obligatory speeches and thank you’s!
Our first landlord and dear dear friend Tanya…never a dull moment and a friend till the end…
Ricky cooking his famous paella!
Lucy with the Manava crew!
Awe…Henry and Della!
Abby had endless numbers of professional good byes, but this one from Shamina was special!
Tess was our landlord at 252 Ratu Sukuna. She was incredibly tough but an amazing woman with an amazing story and she loved us….she would come by 1-2 times a week to talk / complain / laugh….
Our last trip to Matanivusi started out with Jonathan / Claire, Shami and Ricky and family….and then ended with Ann and her family from Seattle! It was a magical 5 days of surfing /snorkeling and swimming……Lucy did get sick in the end which made travel over the coming days really really brutal!
Showing Sam the sites of Matanivusi!
Our family pic on the deck at Matanivusi!
Final Before / After Pic. Always hard to resist before and after shots….so here is day #1 in Fiji. October 23rd 2015.
…and hear is our last day. December 16th, 2022.
…and with that, I will end it with the following: After 7+ years in Fiji, we are out of words….we are left with a lifetime of love for the people, the land and the ocean…and 10 lifetimes of memories.
Vinaka Viti.
Tui, Lucy, William, Abby and Clancey