Amazing Fiji

We had been to Pure Fiji for some shopping, Bullacino for a coffee with every other ex-pat in Suva, Diakoko for a quick lunch and then headed out of town. I found out what is better than a sunny day in Suva - my first trip to the mountains. Mountains of every shape where ever we looked, our car said we had reached 500m twice on our journey up and down

At one of the high points we had a different view of the coast line with Beqa in the background

as expected the road was pretty bad in parts, we even had to engage 4WD, didn't realise I had snapped myself in the rear vision mirror

We stopped on the way to ask directions, no people in sight so we asked a cow grazing on the side of the road, but she only gave a blank stare at the strange people talking to her in non-cow language,that gave the boys a laugh, finally we did find a man to ask the way and when we arrived it was well worth the drive to Namosi falls

We stopped for a swim on the way back at a bridge with lovely rocky pools and crystal clear, cold water, the boys decided they would try Nana's story that you can drink clear running and they had a taste. blogger won't let me put in more than 5 pictures, so I hope the description gives the picture and this one of the sun light was too good not to show the world. Sorry Chris you weren't with us, but now Alex knows the way he is anxious to explore further. We heard from a cyclists on the track that there are more waterfalls as you drive further and make a loop back to Suva.

Perfect Fiji

what is better than the sun shining and a gentle breeze in Suva especially when it happens two days in a row

On Thursday we had delicious Korean food at the Southern Cross Hotel and a little extra art never goes astray

Friday Gado Gado for lunch and Fern salad with lemon, chilli and onion dressing with sour cream

Sunset and pizza at the Holiday Inn always ends the perfect day

Guess what - its still raining

No matter what the weather is like, (pouring rain again today) the Rau rau leaf soup and rau rau stalk salad were delicious for lunch. Even Alex agreed!

Fiji

Fiji is clouds and rain, Curried Daruka for lunch, RAIN, Markets full of flowers, and the house as well. more rain, Zip Line, SOAKING RAIN, boys eating my chocolate stash, showers, from the sky and for the boys who play in the mud. How could you not love it!!!!

Here and there

Life in Brisbane was spent on the computer, trying to get my Family Tree up to date, I did take the time to visit the Matisse drawing exhibit at GOMA, but didn't try my hand at drawing the Matisse salon which was set up exactly as in many of his paintings. Then I got a call to come to Canberra to be with Alex parents while Don needed extra care, I flew down.



















Fortunately Alex made it out of flooded Fiji and we had a couple of days at home with Don before his condition became worse and he was admitted to the Hospice. Chris and the boys made a quick trip back to Canberra and we explored the beautiful grounds beside the lake















Under a willow tree we found this fungus, there had been two but one had fallen over before we saw them. You can see the stalk in the foreground












Driving home one evening with Franca there was the most amazing sunset, I quickly grabbed my camera and took a photo only to discover later that some boys had changed the settings on my camera and all I got was black and white when I should have had bright orange and grey.











I had to return quickly to Brisbane for an appointment and decided to drive back to Canberra so my car would be there for when I needed it. I drove to Coffs the first night, it poured rain from Nerang to Woodburn, The next day I drove to Gosford to stay a night with Merril and Gary, and by some coincidence a Gosford friend phoned me when I was at the bank at Wyoming, so I included a quick visit to her as well. Then I had a leisurely drive to Canberra, eager to see Lake George after all the rain they had, it was certainly more water than when I was there last, but still a long way from being full.