Updates and Photos 5th July - Maqai Fiji

Myrtle the Turtle in her bowl.

Tuesday 5th July - The girls spend the morning playing cards,swinging, reading and hunting for crabs for Myrtle the Turtle, as she has now been nicknamed. They also go with Stefanie Bej and Melanie to take Myrtle for a walk and a swim.

    

Stefanie with Myrtle the turtle.                                         Myrtle enjoying the freedom out of her bowl

    

Bej, Melanie and Stefanie making sure that Myrtle doesnt escape!

Rowan holding Myrtle.

The weather has turned again - I fear we are not having the best weather Fiji has to offer! After lunch there is crab racing. We each choose a random hermit crab which Simon has collected from the beach. The big ones seem to be the obvious choice but in reality appear to be asleep! The smaller ones more keen to get started! We mark each crab with a number and then they are released in the centre area from the jam jar to make their bid for victory and freedom! Sorry to say that not one of the 4 crabs chosen by the Handley clan made it to the final of the 3 knockout heats - in fact David's burrowed into the sand and Rowan's refused to move during the second race!

Update and Photos 3rd July Maqai, Fiji

Sunday 3rd July - Wake early and explore our home for the next few days. We are staying in little more than a glorified tent! There is no hot water and only sporadic electricity! Waves crash constantly all night long just outside our bure and the local bird and insect life only have "loud" volume setting! Totally amazing!

Our bure is 10 feet from the beach and has its own hammock. 

View from the back door while sitting on the loo!

   

Everything feels brighter and better today - we were both a bit in shock yesterday - but after a good nights sleep we feel more settled and begin to adjust to our new surroundings. The bure is basic but clean - with a back door which doubles as the outside toilet door! 

The makeshift volleyball court is just behind and there is a comedy moment when David is having some "me time" in our outside facilities during a game of volleyball, all the while praying that the ball does not crash over the top!

 Marina's husband has brought her 4 children by boat from their village to play with the girls and after a slow start they spend time swinging on the 2 rope swings, playing in the sea, hunting for sand crabs and snorkelling.Their patchy English was much better than our non existent Fijian!

  

Robert (10) takes quite a shine to Rowan showing  her the best places to snorkel and bringing her a beautiful starfish. He also climbs a tree and picks her several ripe pawpaws! Grace (6) plays in the sand with Tiegan making faces in the sand with a variety of found objects and they sit and draw together. The girls have the freedom here to take off and please themselves and do so throughout the day.  Max (4) and Caleb (2) tag along and join in when allowed to!

The other guests are a real variety. Surfers ( 2 German, 1 NZ/Fijian) who are in their 4th week here, a middle aged Australian couple and their 16 year old daughter, backpackers from the US(2), New Zealand (2), Germany (1) and the UK(1)  and a French couple (in their 30s) who are on a 2 month mini world tour. In addition there are many local Fijian ladies who run the resort and a collection of young ish Fijian men who hang out a lot and run a few ad hoc activities e.g. spear fishing, surfing trips, snorkelling at the edge of the reef, village tours etc. They welcome the children, engaging with them,  playing cards, singing both Polynesian/Fijian and Western songs, playing table tennis and pushing them on the rope swing.  

Rowan with Nicky and Colin (Aus) during a game of football.

The girls are coping really well and it is great to see them so comfortable around such a diverse mix of people.

David is adapting well to such an arduous lifestyle! There isnt much to do here apart from relax!