whiti te ra

2008-12-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All..

Have just posted off some christmas cards today (at least it is actually before Christmas Day). So to everyone who won't actually get the card until the New Year, please enjoy the following video clip I was sent by Ed

Isa Lei Fiji

Well, after 3 years in the beautiful Fiji Islands we made the call to return to Auckland at the end of January. Tom has been accepted at St.Peters College, Grace at St.Marys and Joe will return to Pt.Chevalier Primary. It will be an interesting change for us all, especially Joe who has now spent more of his school years in Fiji rather than NZ.
.......

We are looking forward to spending our last Fiji Christmas on Mana Island with friends and New Years on Treasure Island (60’s theme, Grace and I have managed to find some rather tasteful leopard skin pants— keep an eye on the blogsite).

We have had another amazing and busy year, at Easter we took the boat right up to the Yasawa Islands , Rebecca & Dave came over for a return visit to Mana, a 50th in Melbourne, more trips around the place with the Mako swim Club and the Nadi Bay Canoe Club.

Of course though the highlight of our year being our round the world trip which took us to New York, Rome, Venice, Nice, Paris, London and finally to Africa.

It was really amazing, we saw so much and did so much it’s hard to recall it all, but Botswana is the place that we all enjoyed the most. We would love to do another safari (maybe 2010 ?), who knows. Am working on some slides and photos ....... I need a round to it for Xmas please someone.

We wish you all good health and prosperity for 2009 ,enjoy the photos and we are also looking forward to catching up with everyone very much.

Lolomais,

Dot, Brian, Tom, Grace and Joe xxxxx

2008-11-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

The Donkey Capitol of the World

Although it took a fair while to get off the Costa Fortuna by tender, we transfered onto an old styled Greek fishing boat. Just for something to do other than look at ruins or old buldings we decided to climb the local volcano and swim to a warm spring.

I think the guides and sailors of this boat didn't know quite what to make of our lot (especially Joe of course). They were climbing around no worries, as you can see.

Don't I just love having my photo taken....... You can really see what Brian's thinking can't you.

We particularly liked this sign...

Relax and Be Happy , a great sentiment for sure.

Although I didn't think to bring my cellphone with me as I swam from the boat. Maybe he means, give him a call and he'll grab his mobile to put in a rescue call ?

Could've been quite a nice photo, just can't get the models. Although Joe's previous modelling experience seems to be showing.

After the Island trip we returned to the main Island and had the choice of either waiting (again) to catch the cable car, walk or take a donkey. Actually, we didn't have any choice at all as Joe was extremely keen to take the donkey. Once at the top it is truely beautiful, the blue of the sea and sky and the white houses, just like the postcards.

I've been playing around with Picasa again, thought I'd try a photo collage instead of a slide show for a change, what ya think? Just click on the picture to enlarge.

2008-11-16T22:24:00.000-08:00

Ni Sa Bula from Nadi

Bula all, yes we're home already. It's been two weeks and I haven't done any blog updating - so sorry.

I have finally sorted our photos into some sort of order and created a web album to send to our dutch friends that we ended up camping with on the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. Or they ended up stuck with us really....

So here's a sneak peak of Botswana Salt Pans 4x4 overnight camp (it was a fantastic trip), but see what you think.

2008-10-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

A very quick post from London

Hi all, well we made it to London town ( I must say it is nice to be understood once again, I was begining to feel very dumb and frustrated about not being able to communicate properly). How I wish I had been more studious at French in school, although it is hard to get the relevence when you are so far away in little old NZ.

We have landed on our feet again and the place we are staying is great, great location (Pimlico - 2 stops from Victoria, 3 from Oxford Circus etc), great curry restaurant and pub and offy on the corner. It has 2 bedrooms and a kitchen which has made a big difference already.

Anyway, have been getting very behind in the postings so I thought I would load up a selected few, hope you enjoy......

ON BOARD COSTA FORTUNA

KATAKALON ( OLYMPIA )

Have to go for now...

PS Thanks for the comments Alison, yes I got it ok. (Wait till I post the Disneyland photos, they will love those -- no pressure now)

2008-10-07T08:31:00.001-07:00

Some Memories of the Costa Cruise

Arriving in Venice by train, we had to make our way to the Port which is very conveniently located right by the bus and water bus station, only problem is there is a very large bridge over the canal which separates the trains from buses. Now you think that it would make sense to have a ramp, as most travellers tend to have luggage, but no not in Venice, just loads of steps for travellers to haul their luggage up and over. Or, of course you could take a water taxi (for 60 euro).

Anyway, we managed this hurdle, as kiwis can do anything and succesfully checked into the ship and found our cabins. I have tried to describe the size, but really it was like a small city, a bit too big for me to be honest but still a great fun trip.

2008-10-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

A quick Bonjour from Nice

Hello, Bula, Kia Ora and Bonjour. We have made it to the south of France. It is really pleasant here, the water is a beautiful azure blue (nearly as pretty as Fiji), but the beach is very rocky. The trip to Venice just whizzed by, it is an amazing place but much too many people, just a zoo. Will try to find the time to do some postings but we are on the go again tomorrow.

This one's just for you Meg....

Sota tale....

2008-09-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

ROME - VENICE - COSTA CRUISE

Hi All,

Sorry we are unable to load any photos onto the blog at the moment as we are on the cruise ship. Man it is sooo huge, can't wait to load some of the photos to show you. I think there are around 7 bars, a casino, 6 or 7 restaurants, a disco, 7 or so jacuzzi's about 3 or 4 swimming pools and a large waterslide. It has around 3, 200 passengers and around 1, 200 crew. It really is phemonenal. Today we arrived in Santorini and hiked up the top of a volcano, went for a swim in a nearby island and took a donkey ride up to the main city, we will arrive in Mykonos shortly.

Have loads of photos but as I say I will find a good spot when we get back to the South of France.

Caio for Now !!!

2008-09-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Ancient Rome on a Saturday, St.Peters on Sunday

On Saturday we decided to try out the metro again and jumped on to make our way to the Circus Maximus. It was a much nicer day so we took the short walk to the Colosseum where once again we were lucky with the crowds (wasn't too bad at all). We joined an english speaking tour which was really worthwhile, then carried on past the Palatine hill, the Roman forum and other temples.

There were hoardes of people at the Panethon, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps so we really just had a quick look, threw a few coins into the fountain and headed back to our little haven by the pope's place.

Sunday morning we thought was the best time to visit St.Peters Basilica (along with a few thousand others of course), but we did get to see the Pope (albeit on a large screen), give mass. Also, when we went inside the Basilica there was a mass going on, the music from the choir really added to the amazing atmosphere of this huge church.

2008-09-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

So we had a little trouble leaving New York....

Yes, well never mind. So we missed our flight to Rome but just a smidge....... that blasted New York traffic. We took a walk around the city and found Grand Central Station, then headed down to the Empire State Building. The day was very suny and clear and there weren't any real queues (only took about 15 mins o get to the top). So it was really worth it.

Anyhow, we did manage to get onto the next flight to Milan about half anhour later at 5:45 pm, rather than wait another whole day in New York. Just as well we had our trusty Eurail Passes so when we landed in Milan we took the bus to the main train Terminal (which was a vey long 2 hour trip) and then jumped onto the next train to Rome. The train trip was great, lunch served in the dining car of aparagus risotto, beef and Torte to finish (along with a bottle of Chianti - of course). When we arrived at the Rome Termni, we just hadto grab the Metro which to us to our B&B, arriving at about 5:00 pm. So a very, very long day that the kids coped with brilliantly. Brian and I are even still talking.

The B&B has tuned out to be a little gem, we can literally see the Vatican wall from the front gate, is right on the Metro line which takes us directly to all the sites we want to see and back to the train Termini when we need to travel to Venice.

View from front door of Rome B&B

Have to go now, the washing is ready at the laundrette and I haven't been able to get into connect mail (typical), internet fine but won't log me i (will have to try again later).

Love to all,

Caio

2008-09-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

Roaming around Rome

Rome was great fun, actually very easy to find your way around, plenty of Metro stations and an easy place to walk around the main tourist spots. Our little B&B as I said was in a great spot, well we liked anyway, being away from the large crowds ( although we were across the road from the Vatican city Museum). Everything we needed was within 2 mins walk, and we found a cool very small corner bar that made the best coffee so far.

Friday in Rome was a little grey and rainy, but suited us well as we were happy to take it easy. By mid afternoon though we were ready for a walk around and strolled up towards the Vatican Museum. Much to our surprise there was no queue to get in, just a bit of a wait inside, so we were very lucky to get a really good run viewing the various Museums, Galleries, apartments and, of course the Sistine Chapel.

The place is really quite overwhelming, so many works of art from Egypt, Classical, Braccio Nuovo, Gregorian, Religious art, modern art, tapestries, frescoes and maps from the 16th Century. I was intrigued by the maps which were incredibly accurate, especially if you think about how they could have been drawn.

Anyway, a few pictures of inside which of course do very little justice to the place. There are no photos allowed in the Sistine Chapel, I lost track of how long we were in there gazing at the ceiling and walls.

Here's the obligatory photos of us in the Vatican, and a particularly special photo of Joe standing still, while everything around him is moving.

2008-09-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

New York, New York .......

Just trying to remember all the things we have done in the last couple of days is pretty mindblowing. The most memorable so far would have to be going to a New York Yankees vs Chicago White Sox at the old Yankee Sadium, the final games are playing this week as at the endof this session the new stadium will open, so it is the end of an era. Navigating the subway is something else, especially with 53,000 other people. I had a few people asking me what ticket and where to go and got a shock when I spoke with this weird accent "sorry, I've got no idea".

The animal clock at the Central Park Zoo

Grace at Toys 'R Us in Times Square (Spongebob paradise)

The other thing that struck us, espcially on the Sunday was the number of dogs (drssed up and being pushed around in prams - unbelievable ). They actually have a pet hospital, where you can get a private room for your cat, dog, bird, or lizard with a view of the Hudson River.

On a very dfferent note, today we found Ground Zero and the Twin Towers Memorial display, it was very moving and incredibly sad.

I think the kids most memoriable is Dylan's Candy Bar -- amazing !! I will let the picture do the talking.

It's "The Lion King" tonight, can't wait. Tomorrow we are off to Rome.

Ciao For Now.

2008-09-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

HELLO FROM THE BIG APPLE

Well, we've made it !! Still pinching myself that we're actually here. The flights went really well and we all managed at least a little sleep on the LA flight thanks to getting pretty cool seats upstairs on the 747 400. LA airport was under construction but was really easy to find our way around.

The Boys catch some zzzzzzzzzzz's onthe Nadi -LA flight

The American Airlines hostess greeted all the passengers with a cup off coffee in her hand and chewing gum (classy ), it was a pay for everything flight, including the earphones even. The in flight entertainment consisted of 3 hours of crap and 1 good movie. Still it was a good flight and although we arrived 12:30 am it was only about 6:00 pm Fiji Time, so the kids were in good form.

Once we got to New York, we were whisked away by a NY yellow cab and found our hotel a lot smaller than it looks in the photo's but still very comfortable and in a fantastic spot right on Time Square. Today was spent orienting ourselves and taking a trip on the Circle Line ferries that took us right the way around Manhattan Island.

Tommorrow we are planning a trip through Centrl Park to the Natural History Museum and across to Dylan Candy Store. The kids have discovered Kids 'R Us store and have a plan to tak us back there again.....

Fingers crossed we will be able to get some tickets for the Yankee Stadium tomorrow, failing that we will try for a show.

Love to all, will be in touch again soon.

2008-09-10T04:50:00.001-07:00

A visit From Nana Lois

A few weeks agao Nana Lois can for a very quick visit. She was suffering from cabin fever having had a nasty foot operation and being stuck indoors in the wet, cold Auckland weather. Sorry it was only a short visit Mum, but we all enjoyed having you stay and really glad to provide a bit of R&R and sunshine. Hope the foot continues to improve.

Here's the photo's of Nana and the kids, pretty poor show really wasn't it, just can't get good models these days. Nevermind we will make up for it over the next weeks on our trip. We will all be photoed (is there such a word?) out.

2008-08-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

A weekend in Melbourne

First of all note that the colour of the text in this posting is blue (just to remind me how cold it was). A good dumping of snow apparently also occurred in the outlying areas of Melbourne, all I know is that it was cold, or maybe I'm just getting soft from 3 years of Fiji. Don't know how we'll get on back in Auckland next year - guess we will be investing heavily in thermals.

It is always great to visit Melbourne, I really love the feel of the city and of course the opportunity to catch up with old friends. Not old, old friends just friends we've known a long time is what I mean, and be included in the celebration of the year (Brian's 50th). I went along armed with my camera but only managed a few shots I'm afraid - maybe needed a few more wines to improve my confidence as a papparatzie.

Was also too slow to get a photo of the cake, but got a good one of the excellent cupcake tower.

which also brought to mind the following YouTube (hope you enjoy)

2008-08-26T16:50:00.001-07:00

Courtney's Farewell Party

Grace and Matilda decided that it would be a good idea to throw a surprise party for Courtney as she and her family were off to Tobera (an island off Suva), which we are yet to explore - but we definatelywill be sooner later than later I hope. The girls actually went to a lot of trouble, making cakes and pinatas and organising other party games like pass the parcel and chocolate eating with knife and fork. Most of the class turned up and had a great time. I put together a slide show of the party, the photos I like the best are the ones where you can see the other kids laughing away in the background.

Anyway, good one Grace and Matilda it was an excellent party as you can see....

We all miss Courts, Siobhan, Lisa and Marty but wish them every success in their new venture.

PS. Marty -- there is a tri-nations rugby tournament on the go at the moment ( Golf Course, Nursery and HLKJacob), will keep you posted.

2008-08-07T02:16:00.000-07:00

Bula All,
Time is running away with us as usual and I am still not up to date with my postings, but today the Fiji Times ran an Opinion Page par excellence !
I think the newest member of the Interim Govt is pretty smooth, what do you reckon? ..... Go Frank's Team

Caption Reads: Interim Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama with some members of his government on a trip to Natadola.

Eeeek, I hope this means we'll still be allowed into New Zealand at the end of the year.

2008-07-27T01:22:00.001-07:00

On a Lighter Note

Hope everyone's roofs and houses are still intact after the big storm in Auckland (great timing for starting your renovations Andree and Brent, am sure Maria and Rob's renovations started in a big storm as well. I seem to remember their house was up on temporary piles).
Anyhow, as I was browsing through the NZ Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ , I found these little gems in Sideswipe.

The World's Worst Before and After Photo

"It's a miracle, this stuff Reallllly works...." Yeah Right !!!

And America's answer to Kath and Kim ??

Thank you Ana Samways. While I was browsing at the Grannies I stumbled across this other little gem, who remembers this beauty of an ad...

Sota Tale (see you later)
xxx

2008-07-20T02:04:00.000-07:00

ISA LEI FLORA

We have had a very sad day today, our lovely smelly old dog Flora had to be put down. Flora was a special girl who touched the lives of many. So I thought it would be nice to pay a small tribute to her today.

I think Grace has put it best with the few words she wrote:

To flora,
I will always remember you, and how you became a member of the family.
You are a very special dog, because you are family to so many families. I will always remember when we came home from New Zealand or an island, you would run up to the gate, tail wagging and a smile on your sweet face, or whenever we went down to the beach all the dogs would start barking and you would just walk through tail up in the tail and a smile on your face. You are so funny always refusing to have a bath and when you go in the sea you roll in horse pooh afterwards.
I will miss you sooo much and so will so many other people.

Remember you always
Grace

2008-06-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

ANOTHER GREAT WEEKEND AT MANA !!

Just before briefly returning to Auckland we caught up with friends and did a return visit to Mana. We just can't keep away and always wonder why we hadn't been back for so long. Due to a few last minute trips to Auckland we also squeezed in a Birthday party on Treasure for Joe and Tom (Back not Jacob), and gave No Bananas a good run.

I've loaded Web Album that I put together for the Lines -- hope you enjoy.

2008-06-29T22:16:00.000-07:00

Joe's 9th Birthday

Another day, another birthday celebration !! Joe's choice for his birthday dinner was a great curry from Saffron in Nadi Town.
It's become a bit of a tradition in the family to go out for dinner on the actual night with either just us or a couple of friends.

Ilai and Zain look very impressed with Joe's cake cutting expertise (I'm not quite so sure myself - Joe with a knife, eeekk).

The birthday celebrations continued onto Treasure where we Tomasi and Joe had a combined party on Treasure Island (thank you Meg, Graham, Tony and the Treasure Island staff), as you can see a great time was had by all.

All the boys had a go at the Subsurface Bubble Maker Course, they were all so excited and really enjoyed it. Some future divers in this lot for sure.

The first team getting ready, while the others watch ( I reckon Sam looks a bit like Robin - out of Batman and Robin ? spooky!)

A confident looking Zain well done

"Diver Joe"

2008-06-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

Tom's 13th Birthday Party

Yes, pick yourself back off the floor Meg, it is I posting a blog.......... I can't believe it but tomorrow we will have a teenager, in fact Tom's teenage hood is the beginning of a big run of Jacob's and Talbot's down that slippery slope. Today we took a group of Tom's friends to the Hard Rock cafe, Port Denerau, we had the run of the upstairs and they do a happy birthday presentation that can only happen in Fiji. Followed by a loud playing of the Village People YMCA and a snake round the upstairs tables, downstairs round and outside then back up. I reckon Tom was halfway between being mortified and actually quite chuffed. Also just playing with Adobe Contribute, see how it works, if it's any easier to post photos and write.

2008-05-27T02:09:00.000-07:00

Natadola Nursery vs HLKJacob

A highly anticipated event, there was a large turn out to watch HLKJacob smash the Natadola Nursery in a tense match. Actually, it was a lot of fun and Brian even had a run on the field (who says he hasn't got it anymore - shame on you). I was particularly impressed with the ladies from HLKJacob arriving with large purple banner flying out of the window of the CRV.

I out together a slideshow, hope you like (those kids love the camera, it was also my new camera's first outing as well - you can probably tell).

2007-11-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

PLANTATION ISLAND SWIM

If you look closely you can see the markers, that's a long way...gulp !

We had a beautiful day as you can see and had a lot of fun.

Myself Grace and Tom competed along with a large supportive contingent of Mako Swimmers. Also, Lisa who did very well and also Paul and Kelsey who had made a special trip from NZ.

YAY WE MADE IT !!

Now we can relax, no broken records other than our own PB's but a great sense of achievement at not having drowned.

Ice creams and wine all round.

2007-11-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

Ni Sa Bula,

Can't believe it is November already. Happy Birthday to Andree and Annie M., hope you get your presents OK. I thought I should quickly just add another posting to let you all see the "new" boat. I'm still not so sure about it's name, No Bananas, but I'm sure it'll grow on me, especially if we do manage to catch more fish than we did on Coastal II.

Here's a bit of a preview of our Maiden voyage, we won't mention that one of the engines broke down, so had to turn around and hang out not too far from home, we had a great day anyway. Fishing competition coming up on the 25th November -- any takers ???

It's also the start of the usual busy pre christmas time, the kids have library week this week at school and it's been a major finding things for costumes for all. It culminates in a Character parade on Friday, so I'll take some photos and post them on the weekend.

Halloween isn't a big deal over here, but we did cut out a few pumpkins and got together with a few other families at the Mecure (Vinaka Vakalevu once again Shelley and Paul). The kids got to dress up and get lollies, which is really what they are mostly interested in anyway. It'll be a busy week next week too, with the Melbourne Cup, Guy Fawks - again not huge here, but Diwali on the 9th is a big deal.

Lastly, have to share a brillant YouTube clip ( thanks Miriam - love it )

Have a good day all -- moce xxx

2007-10-13T23:48:00.001-07:00

Ni Sa Bula All,
Welcome to our first attempt at a Blog site, please excuse any glitches along the way, we hope you enjoy seeing what we have all been up to.
We have had some really exciting adventures over the last few months and I know we haven't always been great at keeping in touch. So here's a bit of an overview of the last few months.

What have we been up to ?

Good question - so I thought I'd take a look back through some of our photos and it always amazes me how much we have actually done. There have been birthdays, school trips to Savu Savu and Pacific Harbour, the Kaji Rugby Tournament, Tadra Kahani, swim meets, a couple of Ocean swims, a trip back home to New Zealand for us all skiing, a trip back home for me to sort out Piha and go to the WOW in Wellington.

So for whoever is interested I've been putting together some photos and a bit of blurb about a few of these. It's as much for ourselves as for anything, I thought it would be a great way of keeping an informal record for us to look back on and hopefully while we are away from home we can keep in better touch. We hope you enjoy this site.

Love Dot, Brian , Tom, Grace and Joe Jacob

Kaji Rugby Tournament 2007

This is a very popular competition in both Rugby and Netball held in the Western division of Viti Levu at Nadi's Prince Charles Stadium, although this year they even got a team coming all the way from Vanua Levu to compete. Rubgy is huge in Fiji and the excitement of the kids was heightened even more by the big Fiji Sevens hero Waisale Serevi who came to lead the march through Nadi's main street and open the tournament.

I have put together a slide show of the day and I hope it captures a little of the atmosphere, it was a privilege to be part of the day and a wonderful experience for Tom.

Still on the subject of rugby, although I know a lot of you back in NZ would rather be forgetting, the Flying Fijians are Huge at the moment, national hero's even. The interim prime minister here said if it was down to him there would be a new public holiday declared. At this stage I think this idea has been quietly down played. Anyway, on Fiji TV we have been getting some great ads, in particular the fmf biscuits doing the fijian cibi(pronounced thimba), which is a fijian meke (dance), pretty much an equivalent of the maori haka. See what you think.

As you see I'm still working on the layout of all this, but thought the best way to find what suits us is to jump on in and give it a go. I hope you all enjoy our blog and please send me some feedback.

Moce (pronounced mothay ) for now

2007-10-13T23:23:00.001-07:00

Trip To Heavens Edge

Heavens Edge Cook House Gang (photo courtesy of Meg Back)

Last week the kids were all on holiday and the Dad's were working hard, of course, so to save everyone's sanity a few of us decided we should head off into the mountains. So the 4 intrepid "wild hoes", we have Meg to thank for that label, set off in 3 cars with 10 children and a few light refreshments. The road was 4 wheel drive only and we were all very excited to have made it to the top of the first incredibly steep hill, little did we know was that was just the start of many. With a clutch that was slipping and a dodgey hand brake it made for an excellent adventure. All the girls screamed when I stalled it on yet another steep bit ( don'y know what they were worried about - I had it totally under control

"Yeah Right".

Once we made it to the top, WOW it is awesome you feel that this could well be Heavens Edge.

Many thanks to Lisa for letting me show you all her photo album of this trip, it's fantastic, and really does give you an idea of what the place was like. Take a look................

Slideshow courtesy of Lisa Catherwood's Picasa Web Album

2007-10-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

DINNER AT HOME

For Grace's birthday this year we decided to have a joint party with Courtney
and venture to the Mud Pools next week, but on the day we had a few girls over for dinner. Spaghetti Bologanese and Cheesecake by candle light under the coconut trees was the order of the day.
Some dressing up and jumping into the pool followed.....

(make sure you've got your mossy spray on girls )

PARY AT THE MUD POOLS AND THE ANCHORAGE

Now onto the party at the Mud Pools, thanks again to Lisa C for her photos. It was a great day, covering ourselves in Mud from head to toe, a few party favourites like egg throwing, cutting the flour cake (first one to make the coin fall gets to fish it out with their teeth) and of course chocolate eating with knife and fork.

BEFORE

AFTER