July has been a packed month, and on July 19th
Matt and I celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. We had a great family weekend to
celebrate. I have ten amazing cards with
highlights from the last ten years that I will always cherish. We went out to a nice dinner with the kids at
Bathers Pavilion. It is
an iconic restaurant on Balmoral Beach and fortunately, they have a café,
family- friendly side as so many restaurants in Sydney are not family-friendly. We enjoyed a great dinner oceanside. The next day we took the bus and went to
Bondi Beach. Bondi is a great place to
go this time of year for whale watching as they are all migrating north. We
caught a few glimpses, but nothing too clear.
Bondi is the most famous beach in
Australia, with beautiful water and a very young and beautiful crowd. I was hoping for a Hugh Jackman citing as he
lives on Bondi, but no luck. It was a
great low-key weekend. The kids gave us two thumbs up for the next 10 years.
The weekend before was a big night out when we attended a
surprise 40th birthday celebration for our friend. His wife surprised him with a Bond style
party at the Quay Restaurant in the overseas passenger terminal (where all the cruise
ships dock). It was quite the event with
amazing views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, casino floor set up, DJ
and a server who would not let my bubbly drink get past half empty. Half way through the night, our friend’s wife
surprised him with a motorcycle. Matt
and I agreed that we would talk first before surprising each other with a motorcycle. We had a blast and felt it hard the next
day. If only we were playing for real money:)
Bula! That is hello
in Fiji. We just returned from a one week get away. The resorts were packed with Australian families
away for the winter term break. Fiji is a 3.5 hour flight from Sydney (like going
from Kansas City to Florida). We almost postponed the trip as Paige got bronchitis
a few days before we left and I was still under the weather after two rounds of
antibiotics, but we decided some Fiji sun would be good for us.
As we were checking in for our flight in the international
terminal, I turned my head and saw a K-State Wildcat. Sure enough they were a couple from
Manhattan, KS visiting Sydney and on their way home. The
international terminal in Sydney’s airport is so lively and you hear about
every possible language spoken. We were
lucky to hang out in the Qantas Executive lounge before our flight. The place was like a vacation in itself, with
any gelato, alcoholic beverage or food choice you could imagine. The kids did not want to get on the flight. We stayed the first night near the main airport
in Nadi as we had a very early morning flight to catch to get to Savusavu, the
island of the highly recommended Jean
Michel Cousteau resort. Unfortunately, our wake-up call came 2 hours
late and our phones did not adjust to the network/timezone change and we woke
up to sunlight, 30 minutes before our flight was scheduled to take off. And the Wildman adventure begins….
We got to the airport in 10 minutes after waking up and of
course, they had closed the flight with no chances of us getting on board and
all other flights to the tiny island were completely full. The airline
did not make any attempts to help us until a resort representative came over
and worked her magic in her native tongue. I would have loved to understand the
words exchanged. Fortunately, Savusavu has
another landing strip (a more appropriate term than airport in Fiji) about 1.5
hours away, so we were re-booked on a larger plan later that day and had to take
a taxi to our resort.
It was quite a drive seeing the small villages and young kids running
barefoot through the streets and animals (goats and roosters) just walking along the road. We finally arrived at the resort, and it was
paradise.
The food was fabulous and the
kids had a ball the kids club and their special nanny friends, Laesa and
Vuki.
As part of the standard package,
each child under the age of 6 is assigned a personal nanny for the week. Initially it seemed a bit excessive, but it
is part of the Fijian culture and service. It was nice to have some extra hands when we
were on excursions and so Matt and I could enjoy dinner together every
evening. Unfortunately, while I was there my bug
returned and I was under the weather most of the time. Fortunately, the doctor gave me a stronger antibiotic
when I took Paige in just in case. It got me through the week. Also,
the Fijian staff made me their home remedy medicines during my stay. Next time you have the cold/flu, try this recipe:
-
Full squeezed lemon
- Diced ginger
- Honey
- Hot water
We enjoyed family snorkeling trips every morning, kayaking
on the coral reef, live entertainment in the evenings and the kids took a
village tour with Matt one day, but most of their time was spent at the pool
and kids club.
After five days, we returned to Nadi (pronounced Nan-dee) and stayed two additional
nights at the Hilton on the main island to extend our vacation. There we hung out at the pool, knocked down a
coconut from a tree and enjoyed some cocktails and mocktails during happy
hour/sunset. Real coconut is pretty bland
and not nearly as sweet as I expected (proves how much food is altered before
it gets to us).
We returned home
Saturday evening to watch the anticipated rugby match between Australia Wallabies and the British Lions which only happens every twelve years, but we all fell asleep about 20 minutes into the match.
