Fiji Adventures

Bula! The Fijians are a friendly bunch, shouting this greeting everywhere you go! We were lucky to spend 7 days on the Coral Coast at the Hideaway Resort. This is the place that we called home for the holiday!

We started the trip with a walk up the beach to explore.



The girls had fun finding coconuts, coral of all shapes and sizes, shells and crabs.



A dip in the sea was next on our agenda. The water was calm and warm.

Blakely's first taste of sand!

We found several of these blue starfish in the water!

A water babe.

A beach babe!

Time to get out of the water and go eat! 

Back to the beach as the sun was setting.

We visited a local village on Sunday and attended the church service. The homes were made of cinder blocks, most did not have windows. There was little if any furniture inside. The conditions were what we would call poor and yet the Fijian's are happy. Family is extremely important and they take care of each other and share what they have. It was very eye opening. They are also very faithful people and the church service was filled with beautiful song!

This picture was taken minutes before David and Blakely went around the staircase in the distance and were hit by two rogue waves that came up and over the stroller wheels. The first pushed them against the sea wall and then splashed on top of them. The second soaked them again and then pulled them out into the ocean. David was able to get the stroller back to the safety of the beach, but they were both soaking wet and very shaken up. Blakely was holding the digital camera so that got wet and was wrecked. A lesson on the power and unpredictability of the ocean was learned by all!



We became friends with a family visiting Fiji from Adelaide. Their daughter Chelsea became good friends with McKenna and the girls spend the rest of the vacation together. Because our camera was toast, they sent us several pictures of the kids that they had taken :)

New friend Chelsea!

 One morning the girls went horseback riding on the beach. It was a great experience and little Brookie couldn't stop smiling and petting the mane!  

Blakely and I with some locals!

Great trip with many memories made!

Missing home and friends,

The Basistys! 

Half way done....

It is truly amazing that 6 months have already gone by and in another 6 we will be back home! The month of June was very challenging, David was completing report cards and planning Canada Day celebrations for the school and everyone in the household took turns getting sick and run down. We are all healthy now and looking forward to heading to Fiji at the end of the week. Here are some month of June highlights!

David attended a State of Origin Rugby game, which is the best Rugby players from New South Wales (the Blues) playing a best of 3 against the best players from Queensland (the Maroons). This was game 2 of the series and the Blues managed to tie up the series! He went with a group of students and teachers from the school. There were 82,000 passionate fans in attendance! It was a fantastic experience!

We celebrated Canada Day at the school as July 1st was the last day of the second term. We organized several stations for the students to progress through including line dancing, hockey shootouts, Canada Flag crafts, pancakes with maple syrup and some media clips for students to experience scenery, national parks, and Canadian sport. It was a lot of fun and ended in an assembly where they tested David on Canadian and Australian trivia. If he answered incorrectly he had to eat a teaspoon of vegemite! The school also honoured David and the exchange with the planting of a Maple tree on the school grounds.

We had a party in the evening at our house to celebrate both Canada Day and Brooklyn's 3rd Birthday!

 

We also went to Bundanoon and visited Morton National Park. We hiked a path called Fairy Bower Falls walk and the girls did amazing! It was practically straight down the escarpment and they went down and up with minimal difficulties. I think that we are turning them into bushwalkers after all!

And of course the last few pictures of great views and cute kids :)

Hope everyone is well and thanks for taking an interest in our adventure!!