Mini Fiji TR - hope you don't mind

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I'm just back from 9 nights in Fiji and whilst it's not DISNEY , I still thought you might enjoy hearing how it went and to see some of the different things we got to experience.

Thank you for indulging me.

We flew in late last Friday and fortunately jetlag isn’t going to be such a problem with only a few hours time difference. I was so keen to share some photos with you from the trip because we had a wonderful time and had such a wonderful experience with the Fijian people. So sit back and enjoy the “visual” ride…

We stayed at the http://www.warwicknaviti.com/ which is somewhere between a 3.5 and 4 star resort. We were actually pleasantly surprised with how nice the rooms were and how lovely the resort was. The pool was OUTSTANDING, we all enjoyed that and the bar in the pool, well it goes without saying that was a personal fave LOL. The All Inclusive package was good, although the quality of the alcohol included was a little lacking, and I'm not fussy . Here is just a few pics around the resort...

The pool bar, one of my favourite places in the resort. What could be better than swimming up to the bar to get a drink. Heaven.

This is the bar we hung out in everynight. I would love to have something like this on a smaller scale in my new house, wouldn’t that be nice hahaha

Each meal of the day you were met with a buffet of many different styles of food. It was nice to be able to choose whatever took your fancy although “overeating” was the only option. I’ve come home bloated beyond words

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Ready to go

With my dear friend A travelling in the bus from the airport to the resort – we are excited

Ice cream was a big hit with the children more than once a day hahaha

Disclaimer – I pretty much look “crapola” in every photo because of humidity, lack of caring, sweat, holiday mode, etc. Okay on with regular programming

Cocktails – hmmmm yummmmm

The family

Best buddies

Relaxing baby

This is the night of my “40th” cough cough celebration. No DH is not a complete sweat ball, he walked in the rain whilst I was lucky enough to be whisked to the restaurant in a golf cart hehehe. What a gentlemen.

My princess

My baby boy

Ummmm, hmmm this is later in the evening of celebration. Clearly there is alcohol involved but if I’m honest, only I was under the influence LOL. Actually I think that is pretty clear from this photo hahahaha

This is pretty much the positon DH took up for the whole trip. He was all about relaxing and reading which at times I found annoying hahaha, but he loved it silly

Pool pals

Lunchtime dessert became a favourite

The foyer of the resort

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Now my most favourite day of the whole trip was when we hired a local man to take us to a traditional village and he kindly then took us up into the Fijian Hills to spend time at a little school that was well off the beaten track. I cannot put into words what a humbling experience this was for us all. The school was most especially our favourite. I was really keen not to do a “touristy” tour but to see real people living and learning in real conditions and of course I was keen to connect with some children since that is what draw me to my passion of children’s photography. I simply adore little children and it was very important for me to show my children how some people in this world live. It was very important for my children (and myself) to come away counting our blessings. And come away counting our blessings we did. Please enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed capturing them…

This is a traditional home in Fiji – it is called a bure (pronounced booray). Completely handmade

Us looking HOT HOT HOT and I don’t mean goodlooking hehe

For some reason I was completely fascinated with this clothes line full of little people clothing, it really stuck with me because even though it was all washed, it still looked quite worn and threadbare. I wanted to quickly run home and pack up every little item of clothing my children have ever worn and bring it back to this village

Look at this amazing view and location. You can kind of see over to the right a few small graves, now that is a view I would like when I am dead and gone.

This horse was just roaming around wherever he liked. As we wandered through the village with our guide, little faces would pop around door jams with a tiny smile and all grown ups would yell out “bula”. My family have decided that we love how the Fijians greet everyone with a “bula” all day everyday so that is now our morning greeting to each other. A big booming BULA can be heard at all hours of the morning in our home now

Some sweet little people came running out to say hi. They are so adorable.

After the village we headed on to school in the hills. I seriously barely have words to describe how I was affected by this place. The adorable happy little children running around, keen to have their picture taken, the amazingly dedicated teachers that go above and beyond and often start work at 5am, the kids who cross the river at least 9 times to get to school on a journey that takes over an hour (longer if the fruit trees are blooming because they are stuffing their faces LOL), the kids who have to board at the school during the week because their homes are too far away, the children who have to wash their own uniforms everyday after school and do chores – no matter their ages, the mothers who stayed behind to share a traditional welcome with us and perform some beautiful songs so that we could see a tiny piece of their culture.

I am truly so humbled by this experience. I know that my husband and I, along with our children, and our friends will forever be a little changed by their sweetness, their kindness, their generosity of spirit, their pride, their happiness – their everything.

This is the little school – kinder to year 8

The kids just adored having their photo taken and of course I was so happy to oblige

The little girl in the denim dress was my favourite. She managed to sneak into nearly every image I took and was so adorable and sweet, I wanted to take her home with me.

My kids couldn’t wait to get in on the act and the Fijian children loved them. Look at Fraser’ he is in heaven, amongst all the cool dudes

My beautiful Olivia spent so much time chatting with the girls and really bonding with them

The kids adored giving “hi fives”

The kids learn totally in english but do have one class in Fijian.

The boys were training for a big athletic meet that was coming up. Some of these guys could seriously jump a long way

This is where some of the boarder kids sleep during the week. They have to wash their own clothes after school each day and one mother comes and stays with the for the week on a roster system

This boy was sent up a tree to collect some wild oranges for us. Two things to know about this – wild oranges have green skin and taste good and those trees are so high and I would never let my children climb them for fear of breaking something haha

Here is the daily “duty board”. As soon as the kids finish school they need to complete their chores which include cleaning the toilets, sweeping, cleaning the blackboard, etc.

After we had look around everywhere, the mothers had planned a special little presentation and song time for us. We were the only visitors and it was the most special experience. They were so grateful for our visit and interest and I have to say that when they sang their first song I sat there crying because it was just so amazing and beautiful. Here we are in what I imagine is the schools “hall”.

Then we got up to do a big snake dance of some kind. This went on for ages but was the most fun thing, we were all giggling like children at being included in the show.

At the end, we were all asked to stand up individually and say our name and where we were from and what we did or were interested in.

Afterwards this precious little angel came around with a plate hoping for some kind of contribution for their wonderful efforts. We of course were extremely moved and gave generously (or so we hoped). We assumed it was well received by the hooping and hollering and dancing we heard as we walked back to our transport haha. The pleasure was most definitely all ours…

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

We went into Sigatoka, the nearest town, for some shopping one day and of course The Singing Chef was drawn to the local fruit and vege market. What an interesting experience. We had been told not to talk to anyone but of course I got sucked into chatting to a lovely lady who led me on a merry trail over to her stall of jewellery. The Singing Chef just shook his head at my naivete hahaha. Look at how lovely all of the vegetables look. Yum. It was a really interesting place…

This little village is located right next to the Naviti resort and it’s a great place to go for braids, jewellery, massages etc. My friend and I went for a massage that was seriously not for the modest. Halfway through we realised they had brought more people into the room for massages and here we were laying their mostly naked. At one point we heard a photo being taken and we were a little worried we may show up nakey on facebook hahaha. And see that little window at the front of the pink hut, well that was the room we were in. Imagine my surprise when the massage was all over and I sat up to be faced with that window and the whole world able to see me, my “sunny side ups” and everything else hahahaha. Those ladies were damn lucky it was such a great massage because privacy and the facilities left a little to be desired LOL.

During lunch and evening drinks these 4 amazing guys were always serenading us. They were wonderful

A local Fijian girl showing us some of her moves in a store in Sigatoka

We went to a Firewalking Show which I was beyond excited about. The warriors looked amazing and were grabbing the children for photos before the show

Now the concept of firewalking is very impressive but unfortunately this “show” lacked a little pizazz to be honest. They needed some tribal music or something to build the suspence and The Singing Chef felt he needed more proof that the rocks were HOT hehehe. I thought it was great and unique.

We met some groundsmen one day and they machetted open some coconuts for the kids to drink out of, the children thought it was cool

This clever fellow took a liking to Fraser and said he would make him something out of the leaves from the palm tree. We watched him in awe as he cut away at the leaves with his big machete, wondering what on earth he was making

This is what the finished product was. It’s a canoe with oars that row when you move the long reed bits. It was truly a masterpiece. We tipped the gentleman because we were so impressed. He seemed quite pleased and when we found out what the groundsman earn per day later on, we realised why he thought our tip was pretty good hahaha. Their wages are really very minimal and we were happy to thank him in a way that would hopefully help his family

Okay I think that is all the images I have to share for now. I hope you have enjoyed our little journey, we really enjoyed ourselves but as I mentioned, the village and most especially the school were the trip highlights. They will always be fond memories for me.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Shuttergirl - Fiji is not particularly high on my bucketlist so I was very interested to see your pictures.

The resort looks great and you all looked like you were having a fantastic time, being HOT HOT HOT.

I was really moved by your pictures of the school and the kids there. If nothing else, that experience alone and your description of your time there is enough to convince me to move Fiji higher up on my bucketlist.

Thanks for sharing!




ps. Red eyes in YOUR pictures????

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Yes PIO, red eyes . I was using a little point and shoot camera for much of the trip because I couldn't be bothered lugging the big camera around all the time and unfortunately, it and the flash don't help with red eyes. I couldn't fixed it in photoshop but strangely I think it's all part of the fun

Glad you have moved Fiji further up your list. The people are SOOOOO lovely.

 

[kylieh]

As usual, even with some P&S great photos!!! Thank you for sharing.

 

[queenie82]

Haha. Bloody PIO. We were debating mentioning the red eyes and it was determined I wasn't game to say it to a professional.

I get that problem with my point and shoot but I have to fix it before posting. I can't bring myself to post a photo with that. Lol...

Fiji still is low on the bucket list for me but I'm glad you had a lovely time.

 

[queenie82]

That humidity alone is a deterrent...
I melt...

 

[Jade+3]

Great trip report, and awesome photos, even with the red eyes!

Happy 40th!!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

You guys are making me paranoid about the red eyes .

 

[PrincessInOz]

Haha. Bloody PIO. We were debating mentioning the red eyes and it was determined I wasn't game to say it to a professional.

I get that problem with my point and shoot but I have to fix it before posting. I can't bring myself to post a photo with that. Lol...

Fiji still is low on the bucket list for me but I'm glad you had a lovely time.

That'll be because you are located within surburban striking distance of Canberra.

Melbourne, on the other hand, is a different town (and it really is too far away to be called the Southern Suburb of Canberra.....radiating spikes or not)

 

[PrincessInOz]

You guys are making me paranoid about the red eyes .

I don't have any post-processing software....but have you tried Windows Live Photo Gallery?

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I'm flying to Melbourne on Tuesday PIO, so look out, I'll be within striking distance.

Honestly, I don't care a jot about the red eyes. When I print them I may get rid of it but for online consumption, whatever

 

[queenie82]

I'm flying to Melbourne on Tuesday PIO, so look out, I'll be within striking distance.

Honestly, I don't care a jot about the red eyes. When I print them I may get rid of it but for online consumption, whatever

oh you poor thing having to travel to that city. I hope you manage to survive!!

Don't be paranoid about it...I am....but that's just me
PIO and I don't believe in being normal

 

[PrincessInOz]

I'm flying to Melbourne on Tuesday PIO, so look out, I'll be within striking distance.

Honestly, I don't care a jot about the red eyes. When I print them I may get rid of it but for online consumption, whatever

Just stirring....didn't mean to offend. I love your pictures, irrespective of what camera you take them with. It is always about the photographer; not the equipment.

How long are you staying? Are you in the CBD and free on Wednesday? We could catch up for a coffee.




ps. I'll shout!

 

[Travel Mum]

Thanks Shuttergirl and I'll always love reading a Fiji Trip report. It is one of my favourite places on the earth and it turned out that I ended up going there 4 times last year!! Don't expect to be going this year as all $$$ and time is being saved for Orlando

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Thanks Shuttergirl and I'll always love reading a Fiji Trip report. It is one of my favourite places on the earth and it turned out that I ended up going there 4 times last year!! Don't expect to be going this year as all $$$ and time is being saved for Orlando

Four times in one year, seriously? Wow!!!!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Just stirring....didn't mean to offend. I love your pictures, irrespective of what camera you take them with. It is always about the photographer; not the equipment.

How long are you staying? Are you in the CBD and free on Wednesday? We could catch up for a coffee.




ps. I'll shout!

Thanks for the lovely offer PIO. We will be hiring a car and driving straight to Ballarat to see FIL and MIL. DH's father has cancer and is quite sick so we head down that way every few months or so for a couple of days. We are flying in Tuesday morning and flying out Thursday night so alas no time for coffee but please have one for me (or a champagne, whatever works ). I'm sure we shall get to meet one day.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thanks for the lovely offer PIO. We will be hiring a car and driving straight to Ballarat to see FIL and MIL. DH's father has cancer and is quite sick so we head down that way every few months or so for a couple of days. We are flying in Tuesday morning and flying out Thursday night so alas no time for coffee but please have one for me (or a champagne, whatever works ). I'm sure we shall get to meet one day.

Hope FiL is stable....