Up Top

It's Roast Dinner on Sundays.  We created a little tradition with our Neighbours "Up Top".  And we love it.  How could you not love this?

Roast chicken, carrots, potatoes, and pumpkin, beans, peas and gravy.  Plus because we are in Fiji, we add Fiji's favourite root vegetable, Kassava.  There's no denying it... it's a carby meal. 

We aim to eat around 6pm each Sunday, all together around the big brown table.  Some weeks it takes us a little longer to get organised.  Some weeks we have guests and other weeks we don't.

Take for example the Sunday just gone... there was me, and my 2 girls, there was Jacqui and Danny (who live Up Top), there was Danny's Niece, Bulou who was here visiting because it is school holidays here at the moment.   And of course, Togi, who is also staying Up Top.

Last week we had two lovely French travellers join us, who are spending 6 months travelling the world.  They have been to the most amazing sounding places.  Jealous is an understatement.  We also had my mate, Kiti and her 'new' boyfriend.  Wasn't that exciting!!!  So many questions flew around the table that night.

It may be interesting (or not!) to know that our meals that have fed up to 10 adults and 4 kids is always cooked in two electric fry-pans.  One belonging to me and the other belonging Up Top.  We don't have an oven here...

And that our gravy is super delicious but costs $10 for the teeny-tiny box from the supermarket.  We did bring a stash of gravy with us, but used it all up.  So this is what we use now.

Speaking of having no oven, we also have no television, so every chance she gets, Coco runs Up Top to watch theirs.  This is Coco and Bulou watching cartoons before Family Dinner on Sunday.  They were so engrossed, they didn't even see me take the pic (even with a big flashy flash!)

And after I snapped the TV Gals, I couldn't resist a quick pic of Togi, and little baby Chloe.  Togi is the 'manny' (man nanny) Up Top.  Coco will sit watching TV with him for hours, not saying a word.  But here's saying something, out of 4 other available seats, she always chooses the one right next to him.

Sometimes if we run out of something, like ice-cream for dessert, we walk down our hill, take a sharp left to the little corner shop.

  A little closer...

Yes he is just wearing a towel???

"Smoking kills!" and so does reaching through the many layers of security to ask for some ice-cream or phone credit, and then reach your hand all the way in to pay.

We walk back up the street, and past the flat we used to live in, way back in 2010...

The one on the end, furtherest away from you.  It was small but cute, 2 bedrooms and a loungeroom, small kitchen and bathroom for $350FJD a month.  Yes folks, that about $50 a week in Australia.

And in case you are interested, the house next door is For REANT right now...

We pass the local school, where you will be prosecuted for trespassing if you do it after 4pm.

And back to Home Sweet Home ... well that is the Up Top house you can see in the background, ours is down the driveway (walkway) to the left.  And I don't know what is up with Coco and her arms in all the photos.

After dinner, of course, we have to wash the dishes, so while in Fiji, we do as the Fijians do.  We don't use that whimpy Palmolive dishliquid, we use Axion Paste.  It solid and gets soft(ish) when you put a wet sponge in it.  It fights grease and grime.  It's hardcore.

How blessed we are that our Neighbours are not only caring and funny, but that we get to have dinner with our 'family' every Sunday night.  You are all welcome... next Sunday from 5.30pm.  Hope to see you there...

P.S that's Jacqui and Danny, Jewel and Coco, and Bulou...

Love from Fiji x

Labels, Samples, Fire, Easter Eggs and More...

Last week we spent almost the whole week in Suva, the capital city of Fiji.  It was cloudy, rainy, sunny some moments.  Typical Suva weather.  But I noticed on my last day there how fabulous Suva is when the sun is out.  Suva really sparkles in the sun.

I said goodbye to a dear friend I met in Fiji in 2012, who is taking the next adventure of her life and making a move to Melbourne.  Good luck Tilly!

We stayed with awesome friends, in their house in Namadi Heights.  We had such fun chatting chatting chatting chatting, and I barely saw Coco for all the playing she was doing with her Bestie... thanks Jacksons!!

And I met with a lot of people who are helping me achieve my dream of Little Bu.  I didn't take my camera along, which now I regret of course. 

I sorted out labels, both woven brand labels and care labels, size labels too.  I handed over my samples to a manufacturer who is going to quote me on grading my patterns, and manufacturing each piece.  Along with minimum quantities for those prices (that's scary!!).  I felt genuine pain in my heart when I handed them over, like each piece was my little wee baby.  I won't get them back for 2 weeks. 

Then I found the most gorgeous fabric at Threads, which is a small but amazing fabric shop in Raiwaqa.  I put around 40m on layby. 40m!!!! It looks like a lot but one of my dresses, yet to be named but for now I call it the Twirl Dress, uses around 1.5m per dress so it's a lot of fabric per piece. It's blue and green and aqua, and just like the ocean, perfect for resorts here in Fiji.

I got mockups done of my swing tags, and business cards and chose PMS colours for my branding. 

And before I handed those clothes over, I asked a sweet little friend of ours to model some of the samples so I could create a 'style guide' for Little Bu for my meetings with the two big Department Stores here (hoping for an appointment next week!! - keep your fingers crossed for me!)  Coco won't model for me anymore without significant bribes and my bribe bank is empty. But a huge thank you to Cami.

So instead Coco rode one of the Jackson's bike around...

The Little Bu Frill Top..

... with matching Poolside Pant

Poolside Pant in another colour...

The Twirl Dress, yep the one that uses 1.5m of fabric per dress.. it has a lot of twirl power (and obviously this was taken whilst I still had bribes left!)

Some sweet little shorts, that are not quite finished, will be adding some trims but you get the idea...

And finally a pic of the Neighbour burning her rubbish whilst we were taking these pics... choking.  PS. the neighour is hiding behind the tree haha

And to make you feel better about the amount of money you spent on your Easter Eggs this year... this pic was taken at MH in Suva last week (yes.. after Easter) and the price per egg was still $12.59.. and for that you got to take them home with the foil ripped off.  Extra delicious.

Happy belated Easter friends..

Love from Fiji

Tough Decisions

It's overcast today so we spend at least an hour deciding if we should head to The Hideaway today or not.  

I know.  We have tough decisions here in Fiji.

We haven't had any resort time for a couple of weeks. 

I know.  How sad, right?

Umming and aaarghing.... we decide YES let's go.  So we pack our towels and togs and off we go down the hill.  We meet our Neighbour, the Pastor's wife, on the walk down.  Nice to share the walk with somebody else today.  Chit chat, chit chat.

This is her taking her little girl to town to visit the Health Care Nurse.  This was the baby's first time on the bus, so we took a pic for them to remember the occasion.  Bubba was born on Valentine's Day so her middle name is Valentine, so pretty...

 First stop was MH (supermarket) to buy some essential supplies... 

bottled water and apples.  Bottled water $1.69FJ for 1.5L ($1 aussie) and apples on special today (lucky us!) 4 for $1.75FJ ($1.10aussie).  Apples are always imported in so are often expensive and not the best quality.  This is the checkout chick. Say BULA!

I absolutely must have coffee before 2nd bus trip, so head to Tappoos Cafe... some local cops on the beat, with shiny new vests on.

Today's Fiji Sun newspaper was beaming with good news for Fijians wishing to work in Australia.  I had three local Fijians ask me about this story (as though I knew Tony Abbott personally) and then ask me to find them a job in Australia.  One is a barman, one is a salesman and one is taxi driver - do you know of any jobs for them?

Coffee done, newspaper read... next stop market for some fruit.  Pineapples today, 3 for $5 so around $3 aussie.  We didn't buy them (they just looked so good I had to photograph them). We bought a bunch of bananas for $1 - lighter to carry in our bag, and easier to eat on the run.  Bargain for around 60c aussie, and yummo!

Also had to get some Indian Sweeties for the ride...

Finally on the bus that will take us to The Hideaway.  It's so hot in the bus today, we are all cranky.  Even the normally happy-go-lucky and very patient locals are losing their patience.  The windows don't open and we wait for almost an hour for the bus to fill up and then leave.  As it pulls away we give a cheer, not only because we are leaving but because the air-con kicks in.

Out the bus window leaving Sigatoka town..
.....the pink shop does hair braiding and calls out to us to come over Every. Single. Time we are in town, and no thank you we don't want our hair braided.

Some Council Workers stopping for a chat

Korotogo, a suburb which is populated heavily by foreigners.  Please Drive Slowly.

  Introducing the Bus Guy... his job is to check our tickets about 6 million times during the trip.  You know, in case we have snuck on the bus between now and the last time he checked.  He walks up and down checking tickets.  I don't know his name but given the amount of times we handed each other tickets, I should have asked. I also had to be very sneaky to get this pic, just in case you were wondering why he isn't smiling at the camera.

 Fresh Hot Corn, only $1... too bad we couldn't get off the bus to grab some.

Some cuties waiting for the bus... we are almost at our destination now.

Finally get there after an hour's wait on the bus, the drive only takes us about 20 minutes and costs a small $2.85FJ so around $1.90 aussie for the 2 of us (Coco doesn't count as she sits on  my lap - yes compounding the heat by a billion degrees).  Kids jump straight in the pool... the clouds aren't going away.  And I think it must be lunchtime because there is no one around the pool except for us.

A nice couple of hours in the pool, and the clouds roll in so we hitch a ride in a taxi going past.  When we get in, there is a Fijian man in the front and a lovely Fijian lady in the back with us.  Bargain price of $4 all the way home, because we hitched.  Love it.
 

Home sweet home.  Could be in New York, but we aren't.. we are in FIJI!

Walk up the hill and we are home ready for dinner...

Good night x

One fine Sunday in Sigatoka

Lots of my friends wonder about our life here in Fiji, and what we do each day.

'Not much' is usually my answer.  But 'not much' fills up our day nicely and we always seem busy, and fairly tired by nightfall.  It must be because everything takes so much longer here, and a trip to town is a series of adventures in itself.  We don't wear watches, or even know the time unless we deliberately look for it.

Our days start off with simple brekky like porridge (cooked in an electric frypan haha) or jam on toast, followed by morning chores like washing, and sweeping.. then we do school together.  After school, we mostly head into town for the day's food or some phone or internet recharges.  On sunny days we might go for a walk to the beach, or indulge in a visit to a local Resort for a swim in the pool.

Some days we will treat ourselves to a 'real' coffee at the only cafe in town.

This morning we took pictures on our trip to town.  It's Sunday so there was hardly anyone around, especially quiet actually since it's Easter Sunday.  Here's what the morning looked like through our eyes....

Walking down the Hill from our house to the bus-stop, or more accurately described as a spot on the road where the bus will stop!

Posing in front of the hibiscus, obviously not something we pose in front of each time we walk down the hill

Its a long walk down that hill for 6 year old legs!

See across the road, well that's the bottom of the hill we just walked down

 

Waiting waiting waiting... hoping a bus or taxi will come along soon!

About half an hour later, along comes a bus... YAY!  And double yay because we all get a seat.

The wheels on the bus go round and round.... round and round.... (are you singing now?)

8 minutes down the road we are in town "Sigatoka"... getting off the 'bus' which today was more like a van, a fairly dirty one at that. $2FJD for the 3 of us (around $1.30 in Australia)

Tappoo is the largest tourist type department store in Fiji with shops all over and in every Resort.. the Sigatoka store is their flagship store and is home to the nicest cafe in town.  Off for a coffee!  We were pretty excited getting off the bus to see that it was open today. 

This is the lovely lady who makes our lattes...

My latte with a sprinkle of chocolate happiness on top... yum!

Cheers!

Walking through town heading to the supermarket... normally this street is packed with people and taxi's.. today very quiet and peaceful.

Morris Headstrom, one of the supermarket chains here... Or to the locals, simply "MHs".  Open half day today because of Easter.

Next stop the bakery for a wholemeal "long loaf" only $1FJD, so around 65cents in Australia.  We bought 3 as we cooked dinner for our friends tonight and served it with garlic bread.  PS. it was yum!

The baker thought I was quite weird asking for a photo

Foodhall is around the corner from MH, it is another supermarket.. often you need to go to multiple shops to get your list filled.

Last stop is the markets for some fresh vegies and fruit.  I was suprised to see the market stalls today given it was Easter but grateful nonetheless.  Bought some of those bananas and had them in a banana shake for lunch - very nice!

 Coco checking out the fruit with Jewel up ahead of her leading the way.

Waiting for a taxi driver to pick us up.. we had left all our bags with him from MH so we could walk over to the other shops and the market.  When we got back he had gone, so we just waited and sure enough he showed up again.  A $5 ride home in a taxi was an easier option with all our groceries.


Then home sweet home.....

Goodnight xx