Complaining About Paradise??!!

Tadd doing the washing up outside our bure... Home sweet home



After less than 24hrs Mike left to go back to his lovely modern home in Nadi... and we were left to pick up the pieces of our so-called "dream job."

It's not all bad for sure... the weather is often nice... and other times it's insanely hot... or pouring with rain (I never knew Fiji had a rainy side... did you?)... oh, and that's not to mention the almost-cyclone we had come thru... (Tadd was away) it was pretty freaky... I had to walk around with my hands over my head to protect myself from all the falling coconuts!!

Then after the first round of rain.. the sun came out... but the wind continued to blow... I definitely don't want to be there through an actual cyclone!

Tadd has now fixed up the bure a bunch... we have a place to cook with one gas burner... we seem to be free of larger rodents, but still hear the rustle of the smaller, cuter variety, and have to hope that the geckos don't choose to use the toilet over our heads during dinner. We have a mosquito net over the bed, so I no longer have to go to sleep and wake up to that horrendously annoying "nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn" sound the mozzies make right before they land and devour me! We have a table and chairs indoors and a table outside with our cool tiki torches. And most of all... most of roof is rainproof... we think!

Working has been interesting... it turned out that the reason Barbara seemed a little off... she was likely drunk... apparently when she first arrived on the island for work she locked herself in her bure and drank so the staff didn't really see her.

Most of the boys we have on staff are working on becoming divemasters... when they bother to turn up, or can drag themselves out of their kava hangover (kava - the local root drink that passes as grog). They are getting a lot better now that we have talked with them and they see that we are staying around...

The exception to this is Jioti... our boat captain... Tadd had to go off for a couple of weeks to teach at another resort...meanwhile Jioti went off for a night or two in the city... he came back falling-down, stupid drunk... and propositioned his boss... yes that's me!! This is nothing new after all those years working in Ecuador... but still not cool...he ended up getting an official warning from Mike (this included the threat of taking him to the police per Fijian law)... so I was a little surprised when less than a week later he once again came back drunk, while I was out diving with guests... and he locked himself in the office of the dive shop... barracading himself in... where various people had left their clothes...well... it was his home after all.. ??!!

Jioti has since quit on us... in the middle of the work day... although no one but us seems to think this is actually a permanent situation... tough luck Jioti!

Tadd has now thrown himself into training up the guys when I'm unavailable to help him... they are gettting into it, so this offers satisfaction... so for now, we'll see how it goes... it's Christmas soon and then we'll have some time off in the new year!!

Surviving... or Just About`

Breakfast was tea and cold cereal with warm milk. Lindsay and I talked about how disappointed we were. I said let's tell him. Lindsay said she didn't want to let him down and leave him without someone to look after the place. We decided to let him know that we would see how things went, but we weren't happy with the living conditions.

We met Mike at the dive shop. He was bright eyed and bushy tailed and asked how we were. I told him that actually, not so good, and why, and that we would walk away from his job, but we would have to see how things went before we decided if we wanted to stay or not. He seemed to understand and got right into the orientation of things as they came into his mind. He mentioned how we would have to cook in the kitchen and just ask politely to come in to do so. I looked in there and wondered why it was so dirty and dark. The cold reality of a completely different set of standards was setting in. I mean, I've eaten from ramshackle kitchens in cheap street restaurants in Central America, but this look worse than any of them and this is a resort, isn't it?

Then we were given a tour of the shower facilities. The women's side is on the right, and men's on the left. Both of which were surrounded by a palm-frond fench that had definitely seen better days and didn't exactly offer much privacy anymore. Mike said the locals were used to living in close quarters and generally diverted their eyes from one another in these situations and suggested we follow suit. I noticed right away there was to hot water tap. No big deal, we thought, it's hot out normally, so who needs hot water. We were told that a new shower room was under construction and we could expect an upgrade in the facilities soon. Unfortunately, the shower room also has toilets and the well is about 40 meters away from the septic tank....

Mike warned us not to drink the well water. There was a rainwater collection system that we could use for drinking next to the office. We were shown the nearest toilet and after I used it, I realized that there was no sink for washing my hands, or soap for that matter. So do I just run the tap and rinse my hands then? Good grief.

It was then that we met Barbara. She is from Germany and had been temporarily running the dive shop until our arrival. She apologized for not making sure the boat driver knew we were coming. The boat driver came and apologized to Mike for not knowing we were coming. Barbara took about 45 minutes to run through the forms and their locations with us. Mike was somewhere else, looking at the compressor and tanks, I think. Some of the forms were in books, some where in a suitcase. Others were missing.

She thought she did pretty good considering nobody gave her a handover or orientation when she arrived. We thought this was unfair and empathized with her. She complained about Jioti's stuff hanging all over and on the shop's desk when she got there. She seemed a little off kilter, we just couldn't put our finger on why.

Mike met back up with us when we were finished. Lindsay and I thought about living in the dive shop, instead of the bure. We had to consider the pros and cons of it. Jioti used to live in the bure with Sharon, now he has moved out and into the dive shop. It was a weird situation, and we hadn't even met him yet. I noticed his Boatmaster license on the diveshop door. He was dark with dreadlocks and had a wide face. He was about six months younger than me....

Life In Paradise

Lindsay and I accepted a job offer from a friend of hers, Mike, who owns Viti Water Sports, way back in September of 2010. There was some back and forth by email, but we didn't ask loads of questions as he was a friend, and we thought... "it's gotta be nice enough, and it's our first job as diving instructors after all!"

We arrived for work on October 30th. Mike met us at the airport and took us to his home in Nadi ("Nandee"). We showered and he supplied us with some work uniforms. Then, he drove us three hours across the main Fijian island of Viti Levu.

We were told about Rai, who isthe office secretary and Tai, the resort manager being our contact people for the resort-side of things. Sharon was the previous manager (who has expressed an interest in buying the dive operation) here at Caqalai after she returns from college in Ireland. Her husband is a local villager named Jioti ("Georgey") and our main boat captain. We were warned that he is grumpy and is actually more reliable now that Sharon is away. We started taking notes.

We were so exhausted from the eleven hour flight and the jetlag that we stopped writing things down as Mike pointed at landmarks and telling political stories and whatnot. I asked if there were student waiting on us. In the back of my mind I was wondering why we were rushing things a bit. Mike said just the Divemasters in training needed teaching. So, I said, we have nobody trained as a Divemaster at the resort? The answer was no. So much for having someone qualified to help teaching and running dives.

When we arrived in another crazy town, filled with the chaos of market day, we were given an advance on our wages and instructed to buy some groceries because we would have to cook for ourselves while on the island, if we wanted to save money. We could pay for the food from the resort if we wished, but most of the others have just cooked in the resort kitchen and gotten along fine, Mike said.

He left to drop off his car somewhere and thirty minutes later, he met back up with us in a taxi. Lindsay was so lost in that store, not knowing what to grab, totally overwhelmed by the busy store and generally by the situation and the jetlag, I went into survival mode and started grabbing staples and tuna and pasta. We went through the checkout without a clue as to what we would need.

The driver said we had too much weight and we needed to get another taxi. We got into a taxi, Mike gave our driver directions and he got in the another cab. We were concerned when Mike's cab stopped for fuel and ours continued down the road. We had no idea how long the trip was, where we were going, the name of the place to get to, and without any way to all Mike!

Half an hour and many incomprehensible answers to my questions later, we arrived at a concrete bridge with what looked like an abandoned building next to it.

Apparently this was somewhere!

We were greeted by a nice local woman who seemed to know that we were headed to Caqalai ("Thangalai"). I said we were with Mike and she knew who he was. I was please when Mike's cab finally arrived at 3:30pm.

"Wyndy-leethee River" - will we ever work out how to pronounce the names??!!

We were now at the Waidalice Bridge for the 3pm resort boat. It had left without us. He had failed to remind anyone on that day that we were coming. We were picked up by the Viti Watersports dive boat several hours later. Mike downplayed the delay and laughed about “Fiji time.” When we finally boarded the boat, I was wondering how far away from civilization this resort could be. I asked how long the boat ride would be. He said 20 to 30 minutes.



As we came out of the mouth of the river 15 minutes later, strong SE winds greeted us and I was completely soaked in seawater by the time we arrived at the island 40 minutes after getting on board.


It was getting dark and I was pretty unhappy. We off-loaded and were shown the dive shop. As we were getting concerned about our frozen foods, we were then taken down a trail to "Sunset Point" to see our accommodations, or “bure” (hut) where we would reside.

We carried our packs and food down the 300 meter path, tripping over the roots. When we arrived at the shack, Mike shouldered the dragging door open and took our bags from us. He tossed them inside and said it's time for dinner. I was still wet and our food was now 300 meters from a refrigerator. I started to raise my voice and said I needed to change for dinner and why did we bring our food down here! (to keep it out of the reaches of the local dogs... hmmm! I think the it would have been safe in the fridge!! back up in the kitchen!!!)

I put on some dry clothes and found a flashlight. Lindsay and I peeked into the bure, cobwebs and clothesline were crisscrossed from end to end. There was a bed, some large wooden chairs and a low table. There were no lights, candles or a lantern in sight. We didn't see a mosquito net for the bed, or sheets. I was muttering something about how different this whole experience is turning out to be versus what I had in mind, as I walked my head into the five foot door opening. It was time to get to dinner. We backed away from the bure and headed back up to the dining hall.


There were a few guests at a long table, that were apparently waiting for us. We joined them at the end of the table. Mike sat down to my right. My anger and regret was starting to build inside me as I sat there, silently, not participating in Mike's conversation.

The food came. It was cold and wet and in a pile on my plate. I couldn't eat it. I just stared at the table, between my plate and Lindsay's. I didn't say a word. Mike was looking at me. He said something about us being tired and suggested we go to bed. He took us down the path to the other bures on the East end of the island, about a 100 meter walk. He pointed out the view of the moonlight and walked us back down the beach. Crabs ran from our flashlight beams as we walked West. Mike bid us goodnight and said that we could meet him in the morning at the dive shop after breakfast and he would show us the papers and such for daily operations.

I told Lindsay that as of right then, I was confused and angry and if I had to choose right then, I was going to quit this job. However, I said, I'm going to withhold judgement under morning.

We felt awful for not asking enough questions. How could our living conditions be so far from our expectations? Didn't the website for Caqalai mention flush toilets and a generator for power? Why did we not get that much? There was sand all over the floor mats, and in the bed. We were so exhausted that we climbed onto the mattress and slept in our clothes. When we woke, we realized that we were never shown where the bathrooms were. We went outside our shack and peed in the weeds. Okay, time for breakfast....

No Lights, No Power, No Running Water..and No Internet!!

Tadd & I had hoped to get a chance to catch up on blogs from our trip to the US and UK once we were settled here in Fiji... but what we weren't expecting was a tiny island with a home that has no lights, now power, and no running water. The island itself has a generator, but our hut, or Bure, has none of the above. And there seems to be something wrong with the internet USB chip that the island "resort" and our dive shop uses... so we only get internet when we travel about 1 and a half hours to the town of Nausori... so watch this space, and we hope to have updated news one of these days!!!

Lindsay & Tadd

Just for fun, a motorcycle, two helmets and a camera.

While visiting Lindsay's friends, Tammie and Paul in Morgan Hill, CA, we were encouraged to borrow Tammie's motorcycle and go exploring. I thought to myself, “does she really mean that?”

Well, she did. What a wonderful idea. It's a 2005 Yamaha 750 Silverado V-Star. (It's for sale if you can handle it! No wait, I wanna buy it...) 

Paul provided the very cool riding jacket, so I looked the part, you know!

Now, I have to say that Lindsay and I were a bit nervous at one point. We had just left Paul and Tammie's neighborhood and got onto Interstate 101. We had to accelerate up to 70 mph just to keep up with traffic. Of course, it seemed like twice as fast. 

Luckily, our exit was within a mile or two and we got to slow down and take a look around.

I can see myself getting into this way of life. What a way to travel! 

Just like when my roommate Peter said the best way to experience Key West was from a bicycle, I can thoroughly recommend cruising the hills of Northern California on a motorcycle.

We made our way around Anderson Lake and over a bridge. 

( 37 09' 09” N 121 34' 55” W for you Google Earth fanatics!)

And curled our way up to cooler winds at Henry Coe State Park where there were some hikers making their way back out again to the parking lot.

I got one of the hikers to snap a shot of us. Can you tell I'm having a good time?

This truly is one of the most beautiful areas I have seen in the States! Just imagine this covered in snow!

I guess we're in the dry season....

Lindsay did a spectacular job of taking pictures, negotiating the turns and making sure I was paying attention to the occasional passing car or hairpin turn!

And even managed to take a shot of herself underway!

So as we made our way back down from where we came, I got a bit more confident.

And being sailors at heart, put the bike in neutral and did lots of coasting on the way down.

I know it seems kind of simple, this afternoon motorcycle trip, but I have to say it has reminded me how much fun I can have on a joyride! 

Now I really understand why I've seen motorcycles being trailered around in the States!

The Baby Tour Begins... with the best!! WARNING lots of baby pics!!

Next stop San Francisco... well Berkeley to start with.

We had found a place to stay on my new favourite website airbnb.com (check it out!) And ended up with a lovely room in a local's house. We were free to come and go as we pleased and had use of the kitchen... and all for a bargain compared the options for hotels in the area.

Tadd relaxing in the front room of our "B n' B"

The main reason for the trip was to visit my brother and sister-in-law and meet my new, baby nephews... soooo cute!!

This was actually taken long before we got there... but I love this pic... Robbie & Will were so tiny that they had them sleeping in a tub.

Mummy Sheena with Robbie

A rather sleeping-looking Will

Robbie

Ian looking very proficient feeding Will

Robbie & Will in the double buggie that gets so much attention!!

Tammie with "her favourite!" (Whichever boy she's holding is her favourite!)

Super cute sepia pic Ian took of Robbie & Will

We did get a chance to go play in San Francisco... we opted against the bike tours this time and for the Muni day pass that gets you on all the buses, streetcars, cablecars... very fun!

There was some interesting art on the BART

... notice the design of the backpack!

Cable car

Of course, we stopped to eat in Chinatown!

Nice abstract of downtown SF

Down the dock in San Fran

Alcatraz with a race team practicing & the ferry

Just a cool plaque among the many in the streets of Berkeley

We managed to fit in time to have lunch with my friend Elsie

In fact, we had a lot of great food in SF... of course!! This was a fab burger joint in Berkeley

But it's not surprising there's such good food when they have so much amazing produce!!! And this is just in the everyday supermarket!! Eat your heart out East Coasters!!

Me, Tadd & Sheena enjoying our Provencal lunch... Yum!!

Ian & Paul

Family First

We spent a lovely few days down in Monticello, Indiana just chilling at Tadd's old house, where his parents, Joe & Linda, now live.

Monticello is out amid the farmlands of Indiana, about 2 hours south of Chicago

It's a lovely little town... I love this sculpture in the town square

Tadd's mum decided our visit was the perfect opportunity to get some of her family together for a bit of a reunion. His brother Brent & family came up from Bedford. There was quite a turnout if you ask me... but then again the Erb's are quite a large family compared to my own!!

A few more days of relaxing surrounded by the corn fields, it was time to head back to the airport and head off on the next leg of the trip...