Auto/Truck Accident–September 11, 2013

Ever notice that just when you begin to think you’ve got it all together – bang – something always brings you back to earth.  Well today was my “bang” day. 

I have been feeling more and more comfortable and have been driving Fokie home from work every night and was just about ready to go try for my driving license.  So today we left and headed out to her house.  As I came down Kings Road  - just before the Grantham cutoff – it happened. 

There were about 6 cars lined up to turn onto the cutoff and I came up behind them.  I looked in my rear view mirror to see if I could move over into the left lane and pass them and there were two vehicles right behind me.  So I stopped, but continued to watch in the rear view mirror.

There was a huge truck right behind me and I could actually see the driver and realized in an instant that he was not going to stop.  Fokie said I said, “Bang” and they hit us.  I don’t remember saying anything, it was one of those slow motion moments. 

The car leaped forward and I had to jam on the brakes to stop it.  Luckily all the cars in front of us moved the second before the crash and we didn’t get sandwiched in between cars, just banged into from behind.

The guy who hit us felt awful, and Fokie and I were a bit shaken up, but other than that the only casualty was the little red car.  I didn’t even know what to do…so we called the service center and they took it from there and called the police.  They took forever to get there and while we waited a young man who worked for the car dealership where we had just taken the car yesterday for servicing came by and stopped and was so helpful.

And then George from the service center came and we were well taken care of.  And Dew borrowed the Tennis’ van and arrived about the same time.  All before the police man came riding up on his motor scooter.

It was just about 4:30 pm – and Kings Road is a major thoroughfare and we were the entertainment for this evening.

Just after we took Fokie home the fellow from the car dealership called to see how we were and we told him we left our umbrellas in the car and would come down tomorrow and get them.  He told us no – he will deliver them to us tomorrow.  I can’t say enough good things about Asco Motors in Suva!

All in all we were watched over and blessed.  The car can be repaired, no one else was hurt and the only real casualty was my desire to get my drivers license.

Home Away From Home–September 8, 2013

We have had four homes away from home.  The first is when we were first married and moved to Oklahoma/Texas, the second was in England while serving our mission in the Europe West Area, third was in Hong Kong while serving in the Asia Area and fourth now in Fiji while serving in the Suva Fiji Mission.

Our home away from home in Fiji is a very nice place with two bedrooms, one bath, a nice living room and dinning area and a nice kitchen with a gas stove. We’ve not had much experience on a gas stove, but we are getting it down.  We have an electric security gate and when we moved in we had a security man who spent every night sitting outside under our bathroom window – guarding the place.  It gave a whole new meaning to getting up to use the pottie in the middle of the night.  But he has moved on now, something we are both sorry for and happy for.

We live next door to our landlord who is Indian and his large extended family on one side and a large extended Fijian family on the other.  And our apartment has glass panes in the middle of each window and metal louvers on the sides which keep out (and in) absolutely no sound.  We hear the baby next door cry and the lady next door brush her teeth.  And we wonder what they hear from us.

The furniture is very uncomfortable but looks very nice.  We purchased a rocker for $200 Fijian Dollars that is the most comfortable chair in the house.  We have four channels on the television. One is a Christian channel, another comes out of New Zealand, the third is a Fiji station and the other is primarily cartons.  Not much of interest on!

There are three units in our complex.  An upstairs unit which is very large and has a spectacular view of the ocean, and two on the lower levels.  Elder and Sister Hogg live in one and we live in the other. 

Our apartment is open to bugs and we have a serious war going on with some very small ants to see who will rule the cupboards.  And every once in a while a friendly gecko comes in for a while and then leaves the same way he got in.  And we can’t for the life of us figure how they get in.

We have a cleaning lady who comes in once a week to clean our apartment.  It is so fun to leave in the morning and return to a sparkling clean house.  And all this for only $12.00 American.  I could get used to this.

We live in a very eclectic neighborhood and there is always a surprise waiting for us.  We have rugby players who play down the street and use our hill as their exercise road, we have people who sing and they have religious classes every so often and their music is nice.  We have Indians who live across the street and every so often they have a drum ceremony on a Sunday morning.  But my favorite is the early Sunday morning drummer.

About 4:30 or 5:00 am on most Sundays you will hear drumming begin.  Nothing too loud, just quietly and they continue off and on for most of the morning.  I love to hear them.  And there is a Primary School just down the street and there are weddings and other meetings held there on and off and we can hear just about everything that goes on.  It’s like living in the middle of a park and we are beginning to really enjoy it.

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A Rainy Week-end Snorkeling–August 31, 2013

Finally, it’s Friday.  Best day of the week.

Saturday we had reservations to go snorkeling out in Bega Lagoon and Friday night it rained.  And did it rain!  But early Saturday it had stopped so off we went.  We drove out to Pacific Harbor and to The Pearl Resort, where we met our boat and crew and were off.  And by then the clouds were back and it was sprinkling.

Dew used his new snorkel gear and said it was amazing to see the reef and all the colors and fish.  I stayed with the boat – I’m more of a “bright sunny day” type of person. They snorkeled around for a while and then we went back in, and as we left the parking lot the rain began in earnest again.  Great timing

We decided to drive out towards Sigatoka Town and visit the big gift shop there.  It was much farther than we remembered but finally we made it.  And they had some lovely things, but we aren’t ready to commit just yet, so we didn’t buy anything.  But a big tour bus arrived just as we were ready to leave and suddenly the store was filled and we left.

We drove into Sigatoka and walked around and visited the market and visited a few stores and then decided to find the Sand Dune National Park they have here.  We had to ask for instructions, but we found it.  We paid our money and started on the trail.  As we got to the top we discovered a huge burned area and the strong smell of fire.  We walked out far enough to see the breakers coming into the shore, one of the few places it actually does.  As you get out farther the trail turns to sand and on the steep hills it was hard slogging

As we returned back to the main area we passed through a mahogany forest, never seen mahogany trees before.  And someone had made figures with coconut heads and made them look like Fijian Warriors as you walked along the trail.  Fun!

As the office I asked if the fire was of natural cause or man made and the kid told me it was set by someone, and that they lost a lot of plants and that it happened just two days ago.  Sad!

As we drove back to Pacific Harbor we passed a lot of huge pots filled with boiling water steaming away.  They were filled with corn and you could buy 4 pieces for $1.  We just had to try some as we have been going through corn withdrawals.  Well it wasn’t anything near to our corn, just short cobs of field corn and they were tough from being boiled so long.  But they added salt to ours and we ate it.

It was best not to look at the bucket of cold water that they put it in to cool it down so they could take off the husks.  Yes they cooked it in the husks!  And He used his hands to take off the husks in the – shall I say rather scary looking dirty cold water!  Oh well at least we are becoming natives!

Then we headed back to Pacific Harbor and had dinner at the Baka Blues Café.  They make a mean salad – the best we’ve had since we got here.  And by then it was dark and we drove home in the dark and rain.  And the scary part is that there are people walking all along the roads and you can’t see them unless they have on reflective clothing, they just blend in.  But we made it back and we were both tired from our fun day.

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Upper Navua River–August 28, 2013

Elder and Sister Tennis’ family has been visiting.  They took their daughter, her husband and their two kids back to Nadi to fly out and only their son Robert stayed.  And they wanted adventure, so we went to the upper Navua River and floated down.  Sister Tennis decided she didn’t want to go, so it was just the four of us that went.

We got a heck of a deal, and we all thought we should have paid more for all the fun we had.  First off their van was broken down so they hired a taxi to take us up to the top.  Wow, what a ride.  Up through the jungle on this one car wide track and I kept thinking what happens when something comes down.  Well we found out when a big truck was all of a sudden right in front of us.  And after I gasped, the driver calmly moved over and with inches to spare we passed each other.  Okay, breath again!

The jungle was amazing and we stopped along the way for pictures, alas, the camera just doesn’t do it justice.  Up we went until all of a sudden we spotted washing on the line and at the top are two big villages.  You better make a list if you live there, you don’t want to forget anything when you live that far from town.

We unloaded at the most amazing gorge and hiked a short way down where they blew up the kayaks and our big fluffy raft.  We requested a raft and had we known how shallow it was, we probably would have gone with the kayaks.

Our guide was so good, his favorite thing to say was, “don’t worry”.  The river was very low and there were times when we had to get out and push, and in one little stretch of rapids Dew almost fell in backwards when we hit a rock, but we managed to grab him and pull him back in.

We passed through one of the most amazing gorges I have ever seen.  It was narrow, steep, and there were long vines hanging down to the river.  You thought Tarzan would swing by any second.

We stopped for lunch and the guys all hiked up to a waterfall and went swimming.  I stayed with the raft and relaxed.

Finally we arrived at the confluence of two rivers and they became the Lower Navua River.  At this point a long boat with a motor met us and we motored the rest of the way back.  It was a amazing day, and we had a marvelous time.  Work?  What work?

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Short video of Upper Navua River 1m 40s