Back to school! ish.

                      Moonlit dawn 

 

Wowzies! I Haven't written for a while, clearly I'm not a very committed blogger, or maybe those who blog every day have too much time on their hands and not enough sunshine on their faces, moonlight on their skins, and sweaty dirty kids hanging off them all the time...

Lots happening since last time I wrote, ups and downs... we all got hit by a bad fish poisoning, Carl caught a whole lot of fish one day and there was one fish he didn’t really know and wasn’t sure if it was ok to eat or not. There have been stories here of people eating poison fish and dying within a couple of hours, but Carls uncle reckoned this one was ok... so him and Carl tried some of it first, thinking that if they don’t feel sick within an hour then it should be ok, which they didn’t, so we all dug in, and it was a damn delish fish, if I might say so myself, beautiful soft oily flesh, one of the tastiest ones I’ve had here, but the little bugger tricked us, and we all ended up horizontal for over a week, no vomiting and runs, but just an awful lethargy, body aches and an inability to MOVE!!! The kids weren’t too bad, it was mainly me, Carl and his Uncle, and they STILL haven't fully recovered and are still very wary of eating fish. So that put us all out for a couple of weeks, any work on the house was stalled and I was dragging myself along every day trying to keep the kids and myself sane.

Then there were the big Rotuma day celebrations on May 13^th, this is probably the biggest celebration on the island, and well prepared for, weeks in advanced. A boat arrived from Fiji carrying the Fijian President and a few ministers and government officials, and there were numerous celebrations and “do’s” around the island for the long weekend they were here.

One of them was a day of singing and dancing island style, with all the beautiful young and old women coming up dressed in their exquisite fresh flowered fashion of leaf skirts and flower lays, to dance and swing their hips for the President and co, basket weaving competitions (which reminded me of the Joint rolling competitions they have at the Nimbin Mardi Grass in northern NSW). Each district/village exhibited their goods in big stalls, including every variety of fruit and veg they grew, arts and crafts, fresh made virgin coconut oils, it was really beautiful. They constructed trees by standing a banana tree and hanging coconuts off it, sour sop fruits, and other branches from different trees- looking really good. They decorated posts with beautiful flowers and fruit, ate lots of food, and all in all was really lovely to see how the whole island comes together in celebration, everyone making their best efforts to serve the best of the best to the government officials. Because there is no accommodation on the island other than people’s homes, Mr. President and his crew had to sleep on the (not at all posh) boat they came on, saying they didn’t want to impose on the locals and their families by staying in their houses. No presidential suites, no motorcades of security personal, no hovering helicopters. Just another guy coming over for a weekend of song and dance. And apparently old mate was dancing away with all the ladies all night long!!!!

Local display of arts and crafts- i LOVE these baskets!!!




              Decoration of post!

             Display of one of the districts produce

Display of my very first crop- white radishes!(which i pickled...)

 

Taro root/banana tree/coconut tree

 

Arts and crafts display

Carl’s uncle Varo, who’s house we’re living in, arrived on the government boat from Fiji, smuggled by one of his mates who was the engineer on the boat (apparently no civilians were allowed on the boat, but Varo was locked in his mate’s room for the first day of travel, only to be allowed out when in the middle of the ocean and acted as part of the crew...). With him arrived lots of stock- all the basics- sugar, flour, eggs, butter, lamb chops, frozen chickens, soaps, detergents etc; and also the connection to sky TV satellite, which has turned this house into a place of blaring loud TV noise, and very loud blokey rugby watching epicentre every night...not great for my idyllic desert island scene, but oh well...

What has kept me busy the most, is our new Preschool, which opened a couple of weeks ago, after working together with a few keen mums and women that wanted to get it going, and we’re now up and running. Ish.

We had a “Launch” on the first day of the school term- they had invited some “Honorary guests” (which to my understanding were a few of the more wealthy people in the district, in the hope of them donating some $$$ which they did!!!), they had a reverend to come and bless the place and the children, they had the high-school band come to play music and all the kids and guests were dancing around, we all brought a pot of food and we served a yummy lunch to all the guests and ourselves. They loaded all the kids (and me)in a ute and took them for a ride around the school grounds (the preschool Bur’e is attached to the primary and highschool grounds) while waving and screaming at all the school kids, who stared at them with not much interest. I must say tho, that my kids were the only ones yelling out “HI!!!” and waving the royal wave to all the passers by, while the other Rotuman kids just sat there, probably not quite understanding what they were supposed to be doing...

Anyway- the launch was good, they put lots of effort into it, but it seemed like they didn’t really think much of what needs to be done beyond the launch, like preparing a daily program to teach the kids, for example...

The preschool is basically run by mums, none of whom have ever had any early childhood teaching experience, (one woman used to be a primary teacher) so its pretty much making it up day by day. There are 2-3 very enthusiastic women who really want it to work and are working hard for it, but the rest of the mums that have been on the “committee” aren’t really committed and just come and go as they please, conveniently leaving their kids at the school to be looked after, without contributing much for its function. I find that very frustrating, as we are all volunteering to do this work, no one is getting payed for anything, and whatever we have has been donated by others, or raised at different fund raising occasions. ( We had a fundraiser one day and managed to raise $165! Which to them was alot- all from selling 20-50 cent muffins, sugar cane, cakes, second hand clothes, face painting etc. We also make and sell iceblocks to sell to the primary school kids- mixing red cordial with milk powder (yuck!), pouring into plastic cups with re-used iceblock sticks and freezing them-en mass!. The kids LOVE it!!!)

Some of the money raised goes towards the teachers transport, there is a big problem with transport on the island, we catch the school kids truck every morning, and need to find a ride home at the end of the day (12.30pm, as the school trucks only come at 3-3.30). Tricky sometimes, but we’ve been managing.

I emailed Noah’s preschool in Bondi to ask if they would like to help with collecting stuff from the parents to send over for the Preschool here, and had a great response! They all brought over stuff and even donated some money to pay for the freight. It was so nice to see how people come together for a cause and were so generous with their help. I haven't yet received the boxes unfortunately, as the flight that came to Rotuma yesterday was too full and they couldn’t take any extra cargo, so we’re hoping it will arrive on next week’s flight. Thank you so much to all of you who were involved in getting that together (Selina, Em, and O.S.L.D.P.S staff and parents).

The first couple of weeks of preschool has been a bit of a shambles, very unorganized and uncoordinated, but I guess it’s to be expected. We have so little resources, basically all we have is a Bur’e, we have to use the primary school toilets (which rarely flush), we have some play dough which I made and brought in, a few bits of Lego, some off cuts of timber cut into blocks, a bit of crayons, markers and pencils, and that’s pretty much it... we have to make do with what nature provides, and improvise with recycled rubbish. We take the kids down to the water front to collect stones and seed pods, and pick leaves and flowers when learning about the different colours.

Rotumans are very much into singing, especially devotional songs, so my boys are now learning and bringing home all these “thank you Jesus” and “praise the lord” songs, which is quite funny actually. I’ve had to teach a few songs which I had to pull out of my childhood sleaves, and found myself reciting songs like (and this is a song that only my generation in Israel MIGHT remember) “sing a song” by Susie surprise, and the Hokey pokey, and gosh- who knows what else will pop out from my memory box, but it’s been fun!

And speaking of devotional songs, I might have mentioned this in the past, but Rotumans LOVE praying to the lord Jesus at any given occasion... so they thank the lord at the beginning of the day, they thank the lord before morning tea, and then again at lunch, and then again at the end of the day (might I mention that all of this is within the 3.5 hours that we are there...)So now my kids are saying prayers before meals, which is kinda cute, as long as they don’t mention any PARTICULAR God!  Their prayers usually go ”... mumble mumble mumble... AMEN!!!!” or my favourite “Thank you for the world so sweet, thank you for the things we eat, thank you for the birds that sing, thank you lord for everything”. (I'm happy with that one- it incorporates gratitude and acknowledgement to the universe, mother earth, natures beings and everything!).

We do alot of dancing! Rotumans LOVE their dancing, and it is too cute seeing how the little girls shake their hips and the boys shake their knees- a-la Rotuman style. Even cuter is to see my boys trying to do the Rotuman knee shake dance... HILARIOUS!!!

So we’re plodding along with the preschool, we’ll see how well it goes, hopefully they will manage to keep it going, get more support and get it registered and sponsored by the government.

Noah was the little kid who gave the decorated scissors to the guy to cut the flower lay to"open" the preschool

Inside the preschool Bur'e

Me and the kids going on a joy ride around the school grounds...

Other than that- life goes on, I was thinking that my blogging this time must be far less interesting than it was last year when we were living in Itumuta and I was having such a hard time of it. There is so much less to write about this time, coz life is pretty good, and simple, and I’m really enjoying the family time we have here. Nothing major happens (besides the odd fish poisoning, boils and occasional sickness) everyone we’re living with are very lovely, considerate and easy, the kids are happy, Carl, as usual is working hard. The house building is on again after a long few weeks of stalling because Carl needed to cut more trees down and mill the timber (another MASSIVE Mahogany tree for the floorboards), and being sick, and the usual glitches of lack of fuel on the island etc... but its now all on- they’ve got all (but two of )the posts in the ground and will be starting to bolt the bearers and joists in next week. They’ve cleared all the land of weeds and old trees and the view is looking more beautiful than before.

Massive Mahogany tree, this is one of 2 logs Carl used to cut for our floorboards...

I often stop and think of how impossible this project has seemed, how much we’ve been thru and how slooooooooow its been, but when I look ahead into the not too distant future and think of what an amazing house we will have here, that WE built , from scratch, and We’ll be able to come here and hang out whenever we want, even when we’re 80 yrs old, and our kids can come here with their mates one day, and our mates can come here with us one day...and it makes me feel excited! But mostly I feel very very proud, of myself too, but mainly of Carl. He has worked so damn hard on this, from designing the house to planning and calculating the number and size of every piece of timber that needed to be cut, to cutting down massive trees, to milling them into perfect size without ever having touched a chain saw in his life, to the very very hard physical work that I cant  believe he has endured. And that’s not to mention all the organizing of everything being shipped from Australia to Fiji and then on the almost impossible route to Rotuma. I can go on and on, but I might sound like I’m bragging, which I don’t mind at all because he deserves it, but Carl would hate that, so I’ll stop.

All I can say is- good on us!

 Oh and also- that we shaved the boys hair off!!!! OMG- I cried to see their beautiful curls fall to the ground, and my angelic looking boys turn into blokey looking kids... their soft curls being replaced by prickly heads... they look so different, its like I need to get to know them again, and its weird. It had to be done, their hair started looking like mops, so a healthy cut will bring healthy growth of new beautiful soft curls... quickly, I hope!

My 2 shaved heads!!!!

Until then, blessings upon you, and I am going to eat some donuts that Aggy has made. Yum.

And after you read that last post, here are a few pics x

The two clowns

 

My boys and the big Yellow fin

 

Does it look like I'm building a house???

 

The crew

Fisharama...

So here I am, in the depths of the coconut jungle, feeling the most relaxed and peaceful I have for a very long time! Its been 5 weeks since we left Oz, it feels like much longer and I feel like I have smoothly settled into what my idea of living on a tropical island should be like.

For the first time in about 5 years (since Noah was born) I am doing a whole lot of absolutely NOTHING! Besides the daily routine of cooking and house keeping, I am not doing much else and am absolutely LOVING IT!!!!!

In the few weeks Before I left Sydney I was running around like a chook with its head cut off (which being here I’ve seen a few of – Noah particularly loves that stage of dinner preparation- after he traps the chooks in the cage, someone will come and chop their heads off and he loves watching the headless things run around flapping to death...)- organizing, preparing, schlepping back and forth from Cronulla to Bondi, shopping, lists, packing, more lists bla bla bla... I cant stress how nice it is to have all that behind me, and how grateful I feel to be living such a peaceful stress free life here.

For the first few days or couple of weeks here I was freaking out, feeling bored and at a loss of what the heck I'm gonna do here for all this time. I felt similar feelings to how I did before I left last time, and pushed my head into overdrive trying to think of things I can do here to stimulate me, mentally mainly. At some stage I just decided – to hell with that! I'm gonna just do NOTHING!!!! How about that??? How DARE I? How can one do NOTHING in this world??? Surely there are things TO BE DONE!!!!!!?!?!!

But no! I decided to dedicate this time here to spend real quality time with my kids, to wake up every morning and get out of the way the routine duties (breakfast, washing, cleaning, cooking) and spend the rest of the day having fun with my kids!!!!

What parents out there can say that they have spent a whole day just playing with their kids? (not to mention weeks and months of it???) Thinking only of what game or activity or fun they can do next???

Well I am LOVING it! I am so grateful for this time, coz I doubt I could be doing this anywhere else. I’d always be too busy, too distracted, too frustrated. But here, we’ve been making and playing with play dough, we’ve been painting, and face painting, and building dens, and playing music, singing and dancing, baking cookies and muffins, screeching tickling sessions, climbing trees to pick fruit, watching movies in the day time with massive bowls of popcorn, watching the moon and the stars at night lying in our mozzie dome on the grass, going for swims at sunset, watching the “seals” (eels in Noah lingo) eat the fishes “greedy guts” (guts) when Carl cleans the fish he has speared, planting seeds and growing the vegie patch, telling stories, going for walks and counting “Shungululu’s” (centipedes) on the road, playing “I spy with my little eye”, reading loads of books, doing lots of schooling for Noah (with Saulei drawing or playing paper aeroplanes or hanging off my neck). The kids are so happy, and I am so happy. This time is making me appreciate them so much more, and adore them to my absolute core. I get blown away everyday by their cuteness and divinity, and just cant get enough of cuddling and squeezing them to death! At times I feel sad that I have missed out on so much of this because I’m always too busy cleaning or cooking or doing this or that.

PLEASE!!!! All you parents out there- make the effort of at least one day a week, or even a couple of hours a day-  to drop everything and be an “Island parent” like me... you dunno what you’re missing out on. It will make you so happy, and make your kids even happier...

The boys have befriended the 2 little girls who live down the road, they’re similar ages, and have just started to warm to each other, which is great! Its taken a while, but they're now playing together at some point of every day, and loving it!

Carl has been fishing loads (he’s actually just gone out now, 8:45pm to catch me some Lobsters. Its the 3^rd night after the full moon that, apparently, is the best time to go Lobstering. Yum breakfast tomorrow morning for me...

He has become quite the spear fishing pro, my husband. Every time he goes out, he comes back with enough fish to feed us all (plus some to freeze) and at least 2 other families in the village, which everyone is very grateful for. Did I mention the Yellow fin Tuna he came back with one day- it was the size of Saulei!!!!! (he didn’t actually spear that one, but it was so cool, and sooo yum!!!).

I cant go on without saying that yesterday, I finally scaled and gutted some fish!!! I was always so grossed out by that part of the process- scales flying up in the air and into my hair, digging my hands deep into the fishes guts pulling out all the insides covered in fish poo... yuk!!! But I decided it is time to graduate from Jewish Princess to Island Queen- and I did it!!!! (With the help of Futfiri- the gorgeous mum of the 2 little girls, who came running over when she saw Carl brought home fish, as she LOVES eating the RAW fish guts!!!! (dunno if I will be doing that one...)

So fish has been our staple food lately- fish cooked in coconut cream, fish baked in banana leaves, fried fish, Tom Yum fish soup, Massaman fish curry, steamed spicy fish. Fish fish fish. (and Taro, Cassava, Taro Cassava, rice.) oh, and still loads of Avocado’s (GuyGross - thinking of you each bite...), Pawpaw’s on tap (we are surrounded by pawpaw trees, and whatever we cant eat- the chooks get. And then we eat them, so its more pawpaw in a roundabout kinda way...)

What else? – a “night out” on the piss with Aggy (who’s house we’re in) and her mates, which started off hilarious, drinking Vodka and lemon juice, badly mixed with homebrew made of fermented Cassava water... I knew very well how bad that mix is so only had a couple, but these Rotumans, I tell you, THEY CAN DRINK!!!!!! Jug after jug after jug- ridiculous amounts, which at first was amusing, but it got to a point where I remembered why I don’t like drinking with Rotumans, or drinking much at all, and I was falling asleep on the floor and ended up being walked home at 1am (about 20 minute walk) by Charlie and Lilly, who felt really bad for me, and worried that Carl would be waiting up for me worrying about what I was doing... (NOT! Clearly Carl was fast asleep and didn’t even stir when I climbed into bed...). The rest of them were drinking till they passed out, and only came home in the morning...

Another little event, in a place where not much happens, was a 1^st birthday party we went to down the road, which wasn’t much different to any other “DO” here, but what is worth mentioning was the birthday cake, flown in from Suva, a massive pink thing, about 4 times the size of my laptop, with a not- Barbi doll coming out of it, pink gown and all, royal icing, marzipan roses- the works!!! (tasted shit). I stood there fanning the thing for ages, until it was time to eat it (before dinner, not after), so got a good look at the details. I think all the old ladies sitting around felt sorry for the “Hen Fissi” (white woman) having to stand there and fan... (Clearly a heavenly feast for thousands of flies...)

So Passover has passed, without me even thinking of Matza balls, and Easter is this weekend, and all I can think of is Chocolate, which I wont be eating, and the days flow by, the full moon was incredible, shone like daylight in the middle of the night, the tides come in and out, and the waves crash so loud that sometimes I wake up at night thinking that an electric appliance is on...

On Saturday I am going with the ladies to the local school to help weave the roof for a Bure (traditional hut) they’re building as a first time ever “pre school” on the island. The head teacher there heard I was here and wanted to send Noah there, and asked if I will come and teach there once a week. Not sure what exactly, but I'm sure it will be fun. And great for Noah to have more interaction with kids and learn some Rotuman stuff (like how to make a ball out of coconut leaves...or something...)

As for the progress of the house, Carl has been quite the Logger the past couple of weeks, and has been in the bush preparing more timber for the house, so not much building. The lack of fuel on the island has slightly held him back, but he is stoked with all the wood he has slabbed and prepared.

I still haven't managed to nail him down to write, maybe over this long weekend.

So signing off to go look out the window to see Carl’s flashing torch out in the deep dark sea...

Happy holidays- whatever it is you celebrate!

Coconut cheers, and love from us all

x

pics!!!

Hey! just quickly, while the slow internet is miraculously allowing me, am attaching some pics. hope you're feeling green!...

Will Post more in the next few days!!!

x N

 

This is the foundations of the house and a peep into the views which will be clearer when the bush is cleared one day...

 

View from the back deck of the house we are currently living in.

 

Fabulous four affloat

 

OUCH!!!

 

Clear clear water...

 

What to do with a box full of Avocado's????

 

Noah's first reef surf

An apology...

Hi all,
This post is an apology to Carl and his family.
When I wrote my last entry I was expressing alot about how I personally felt about what has happened here in rotuma, without thinking that what I wrote might offend anyone. I tend to get carried away when expressing my feeling and thoughts, and should have been conscious that some things aren't apropriate to publish on the internet for anyone to read.
I also failed to aknowledge that altho what Carl's couzins did was really bad, they did do alot of good too, and they too sacrificed alot of their time and energy in helping Carl persue his dream. They're not all bad, and I do know that... what I wrote came from a place of anger, and I should have kept it to myself.
So mainly to Carl and his mum, I am truely sorry, and have learnt a good lesson from this...
X N

We are back!!!

We are back!!!!!!!

A very long time has passed since I last blogged, and many many waters have flowed thru many rivers, I'm sure.

It was August last year when I managed to get that miracle flight out of Rotuma and returned to Sydney, thinking I will stay a few weeks and go back, but the kids and I ended up staying in Sydney for 7 months, doing our thang, doing the ups and downs of life, and coming out stronger than ever.

Carl returned to Sydney in October to come save US and see us, and returned to Rotuma at the beginning of Feb.

When he left here last year, he made sure he packed up all his gear and specifically told his relatives here not to touch or use or lend or borrow any of his gear, and left them with instructions of what work needed to be done while he was away.

After staying in Fiji for a couple of weeks, having a little surf holiday on the coral coast, he took the dreadful 4 day boat trip over to Rotuma, the poor thing said it was the worst boat ride he has ever been on. I didn’t even want to know too much about it, as just the thought of it triggers my PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from our boat trip over here just under a year ago, so I just felt sorry for him, and left it at that...

When he arrived back to Itumuta, his village, eager to get back into the work and get the house built, he discovered that his cousins had messed up big time!!!  Everything he had told them NOT to do, they pretty much disrespected, and did it all:  They used his Chain saw (and lent it to random people) and broke it, they used his other power tools and lent them to others, they used our push bikes and messed up the gears on one of them, they used or sold half a barrel of fuel  and most of the pre-mix fuel we had left , they had spent  money Carl had left for them to pay someone for work he was supposed to do, and the saddest part was they went and sold 2 massive slabs of the beautiful Mahogany timber Carl had cut for $250, (and obviously spent the money) after Carl had very specifically said not to sell or touch any of the timber...

When Carl heard all about it, from several relatives and people around the island, he was absolutely devastated!!!! For 6 months he had worked so hard on this project, slaved his soul, sacrificed so much, invested so much energy, time and money in this project, which was his life dream, but eventually it is his family here who would have benefited from living in probably the nicest house on the island, and they pretty much just stabbed him in the chest 59 times in return. It was 2 of his closest cousins that did it all, and he was really hurt. The one cousin is in Fiji, and we havent heard a word from him, and the other one , is here. Carl confronted him about it all, and asked him to tell him nothing but the truth about what he had done, which he did. It turns out that all he wanted was a bit of money to be able to drink and party over the Xmas period... He apparently showed a lot of remorse about it all, but this whole thing prompted a lot of family upheaval and anger.
Carl had to really have a think about what he wants to do. He felt so disappointed and betrayed by these relatives, and eventually made the decision not to build the house on that land, and rather build it on another piece of family land in another village called Hapmak.
They all begged him not to leave, but Carl had already made up his mind.

I was still in Australia when this all had happened, and when I heard about it, I too was ready to go slit some necks and punch some faces... I COULD NOT believe that these people can do something like this, and was really upset for Carl, and angry as hell!!! I too sacrificed allot for these people, much more than they could possibly understand, and I felt really gutted about it all. Clearly I was TOTALLY supportive of Carl to get out of that place and move to Hapmak, and was really glad he made that decision.

So within a few days, Carl moved EVERYTHING out of that house, from power tools and timber, to condiments and toothpaste that we had brought there, and took everything over to Hapmak.

I dunno if you remember me writing about this, but if you go back to my blog on 1^st of August  2010, I had written about staying at uncle Varo’s house, which was a great house and felt like being on holiday.... well- this is where we are now! A lovely spacious bright and airy house, with electricity from 5am till 11pm, a fridge, ceiling fans, a washing machine that actually cleans the clothes, fly screens on every door and window, a decent bathroom, a great kitchen! And a room to ourselves with a door on it!

We are living with Aggy, Uncle Varo’s wife, who is a funny character and is always trying to talk me into drinking with her and getting drunk, but she is sweet, and although she talks a hellova lot, she needs and takes her own space and gives me mine too. She is happy to have kids around and another woman in the house. Her 16 yr old son Muero is here too, he goes to high school and plays with the kids when he gets home. Uncle Varo is in Nadi (Fiji) at the moment, and will be back probably in April or May.

Needless to say how much happier I am here, and the spot we are building on is amazing. It is higher up on a bit of a hill, so it feels more spacious and breezy, it has million dollar views, surrounded by coconut,  pawpaw and banana trees, the ocean is about 50 meters down the hill, there isn’t a beach here, it’s all rocks and reef, which is a bit of a bummer, but, hey, I go to sleep and wake up to the sound of the waves, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, Carl goes out surfing and spear fishing from the bottom of the hill, and the kids have loads of space to run around here.

I went back to Itumuta yesterday to say hi to the lovely old ladies I love and left there, and saw the house we left and felt SO happy we weren’t there anymore. So many bad  feelings about that place, the energy there felt so stale and dead, I felt so much joy not being there anymore....

Luckily Carl hadn’t actually started building there yet, they had only built the retaining wall and filled the land with loads of sand to extend the property into the water (did I mention how good it is to be higher up rather than right on the water after the last devastation of earth quake and Tsunami in Japan?  The night of that tragedy, they had Tsunami alerts here too and I was really worried about Carl here. They ended up having to go sleep at some relative’s house on higher grounds for the night, and came back home after they were cleared of Tsunami warnings). So what is left for them in Itumuta is a beautiful extension to their land.

I always had the feeling that if we were to build the house there, it would not be looked after as soon as we left, and I had almost come to terms with the fact that this whole project, this whole journey is to support Carl in his dream of building a house in his village where his heart is, and knew that I can’t get attached to the result- the house,  So it would be like building a house of cards, and then just blowing it down, just like that... the law of detachment...

So after arriving in Fiji last Thursday and staying in a hotel for 3 nights because our flight, which was supposed to be the following morning was cancelled, (of course- nothing goes as planned in Fiji, but it ended up being good, nice to stay in a hotel, kids had a ball in the pool, spent lots of time with some relatives in Nadi), we boarded the miniature aircraft that flew us over the ocean and Fiji islands back to Rotuma...

I'm not in anyway a religious person, but whenever I go on one of these flights I feel I need to pray for the protection Goddesses to look after us, especially sitting in the front row of the 12 seater watching the pilots both have to use their full force to move the leavers which make the plane ascend, the buttons and dials looking rusty,  freezing all the way because of the cracks around the windows allowing the cold air at 10,000 feet to enter the aircraft, and us needing to scream in each other’s ears in order to communicate coz the engines are so close and noisy...

We made it, and the kids ran off the plane into their daddy’s arms, who they missed allot. Carls dad, Chris, is here too, he arrived 2 weeks before us to help with the first stages of building, and so was Shane, Carl’s best mate from Sydney, who had been here with us 3.5 years ago for Noah’s 1^st birthday party, but he took off back home on the plane we arrived on.

I was going to attempt to write about the work on the house that Carl and his mighty men have done up till now, but I think it is too technical and I don’t understand enough of it yet to be able to write about all the boysie stuff, so I will let Carl write all about that side of things when I manage to nail him down to the computer...

So its back to loads of coconuts, gazillions of Pawpaws, taro and Cassava, beautiful fresh fish that Carl spears, he had allot of practice while we weren’t here, and has got very good at it!!! (Cas and Ben- you’d be green!!!), SourSop, Vee, beautiful buttery Avocados, and this time- COLD water to drink, Ice blocks for the kids, a blender for cocktails, a toaster, and an electric kettle to boil water in 2 minutes as opposed to half an hour on the stinky kerosene cooker... the little things in life...

A few months ago I was reading a random blog of a guy who was cruising thru the pacific and stopped over in Rotuma, but I clearly remembered one thing that he wrote about the journey, the rough seas and all the hurdles on his way, he said that the difference between and adventure and a disaster- is your ATITUDE!

Clearly this time round in Rotuma is going to be much more comfortable, and I am determined to make it an adventure for us all, rather than it turn into a disaster like last time...

Wish me luck!!!!!! 

P.S The internet connection seems slower than it was the last time i was here, progress, it seems, doesnt exist here

Carl's update

I know, I know! Its probably been about 2 solid months since anyone has heard boo from me, but I cant get my head around writing on the computer. Its partly the fact that at the end of each day I am exhausted and busy with the kids, but I think mostly its I don’t like to use technology whilst I am here. I really like the idea that we are so cut off here, from all the modern convenience of our life in Oz and I like also like to keep things really simple here. I love the fact that my days and weeks are governed by the  sun and the cycles of the moon.  

Enough of the pathetic excuses for being slack. Where are we up to in the building? Well if you look at the property there is no visible change as we have been waiting for the tip truck to be finished its repairs, which finally happened last week. This means that yesterday we were able to bring the last loads of rocks from the piggery, and hopefully finally finish the retaining wall. The sand which will be backfilled into the new area, has also been delayed for the last 6 weeks as the government truck thats meant to bring it has been to busy. This is an island in the Pacific, nothing happens quickly and no one dies of stress related heart disease. Although I often think it would be nice to see a little bit of stress or worry over something. Despite the delays we have been busier than ever with cutting up the 40 plus trees we knocked over in the past 2 months. We have cut up the bulk of the trees with just the mahogany and the hefau tree remaining, which also happened to be the 2 biggest trees that we cut down. The hefau tree was massive, it would require 3-4 of us to join arms to go around its circumference. It smashed everything in its path when It came down. By the way standing right next to the trunk when it came down, chainsaw in hand, caused a little tightening in the back passage. I must say that with about 60+ trees under my belt now, I feel quite confident when it comes to felling most trees. Where I think it will land is pretty much well where it ends up, which is gratifying to see. We have been using 2 methods  to cut the trees up into slabs. The main method has been manually sawing the tree into slabs with the chainsaw and the other method is the original idea with the chainsaw mill. The mill is very slow and takes a little while to set up for the first cut, as we have to use a set of rails so that the mill and saw have something to run across. Once the first cut is achieved, the rails are removed and the mill and saw run on the smooth surface of the first cut.  The advantage to the mill is that it is very accurate. So with that in mind I have decided to use the mill only for the floorboards and the walls of the house. These will be only 25mm thick which is difficult to get an accurate cut if done manually. The manual method requires us to do a first cut perpendicular to the ground, then we roll the log over so that the first cut is on top and parallel to the ground, and then with our chalk line we mark out the size of the slabs we are to cut and start sawing. Not quite as easy as it sounds as the saw weighs a tonne and has to be kept perfectly in line with the mark on the wood. I must say we have become surprisingly accurate with our cuts. In the front yard of the house we now have a shite load of 25,50 and 80mm slabs of beautiful tropical hardwood timber, waiting to be cut up into dimensioned lumber on the tablesaw. When the camera arrives on the next boat I will start taking photos of everything I have described.

As you probably already know, Nadine and the kids have gone back to Oz for a break, not for the kids sake, but Nadines. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about it at the beginning{ major understatement}, but it has actually worked out really well. I now no longer have the stress of having to worry about how Nadine is coping with the day and also am actually getting a full nights rest, as I no longer have Saulei  needing to be nursed in the middle of the night. It was tough going there for awhile when I was working very hard physically and then getting up several times a night to see to Saulei. The other major advantage has been I get to go to the sea at will. This meant last week I went fishing 6 times, on Saturday I went twice. The disadvantage is that I miss the them all a lot. The house seems empty without the kids running amok and making noise. Every one here really misses the kids, and cant wait for them all to get back.

As for the fishing. As I have been staying at my uncles place in hapmak, another village, and his house is on the oceanfront not the bay, like our place. So the routine has been work until about 3pm, down tools and clean the chainsaw, and then get changed into fishing outfit and head out for a couple of hours of spearfishing out the front of his place. We have met with success every time we have gone out and have managed to eat fish for dinner every night. One of the afternoons I saw a massive fish that I was little scared to spear as it was so big, also I didn’t know whether it was edible or not and don’t like to kill things unless we plan on eating it. This thing was like a small car. I screamed for my uncle and cousin to come over and identify it for me, they also happened to be towing the rope with the buoy on the end of it, handy if you come across a big fish as you clip the rope to the gun and hang onto the buoy after you shoot the fish. They looked at the fish and were a little taken aback by the size of it, but both said shoot it. I clipped the rope to my gun and dived down. By this stage the fish had decided to slowly make its way to underneath a large coral outcrop. I could see its tail and its mouth but couldn’t get a good shot at its head, which is vital with a fish this big, to try to kill it with one shot. I dived down 3 more times and decided to leave it be as I would almost certainly have trouble extracting the thing from under the rock, even if I was lucky enough to kill it with one shot and not just piss it off. Now every time we go fishing there I go back to the same spot to check if it has returned, no luck so far. The other bit of sea life that we have encountered quite a bit has been 2 large manta rays, that are very curious. They usually come within a couple of meters and spend quite a bit of time just hanging out, following us around. It was a little disconcerting at first as they are forkin huge, 2-3 metres across. But as I have got used to them they have become beautiful accompaniments to the afternoon expeditions.

My cousin Jione and I will be going back to hapmak for the next 2 weeks as the slabbing of the mahogany is taking a little longer than expected. The timber even in its rough form is starting to look beautiful. Amazingly it starts out white and then as it seasons it changes to a deep red. We have probably got about 6-7 more trees to cut down and then we will have all the timber we need for the house. When slabbed manually we can have a tree down, limbed and slabbed in about 3-4 days, which is pretty good going as none of us previous to starting had ever touched a chainsaw or slabbed a tree before.

I sometimes look around and take a mental note of what we are doing and still am amazed that its all happening. This was just an idea in my head[ not a very good one originally] 4 years ago. Most people that I mentioned it to thought it was a crazy idea especially considering you can get very good timber in Fiji and have it shipped over to Rotuma. Also the fact that I had never used a chainsaw before and also have never built a thing in my life, made the idea not just crazy but a little on the stupid side. We are nowhere near finished yet but looking at what we have achieved so far, makes me believe what my parents told me and my siblings when we were young. Put your mind to anything and you will achieve whatever  you want, or something to that effect. All these years I thought that they were pissing in my pocket, but in fact they were right. As I mentioned this maybe a little premature as all we have is a pile of hardwood slabs and nothing quite resembling a house yet, but we have made it this far...

On a bit of a crap note Ben a mate who is in Fiji awaiting a boat to here, cant wait any longer and has to go back to Oz. The shipping company oversold tickets to the tune of about 150. The boat left on time, and amazingly arrived on time but no Ben. As my Pa used to say, “you wouldn’t feed these people”. They sold Ben a ticket so he organised all his flights around the itinerary of the ship, but at the wharf on the day of departure they said they couldn’t take him and 149 other pre-paid passengers. Useless bastards!! Welcome to the 3^rd world. Its ironic really, as it has taken Ben3 weeks to unsuccessfully make it to Rotuma, yet Nadine and the kids were able to book a flight one  day before leaving and arrive in Australia on the same day they left Rotuma, which Is unheard of. You would be lucky to arrive in Fiji on the same day you left Rotuma, let alone Oz.

Thats enough from me. If history is anything to go by you probably wont here from me again until about xmas , hopefully this year.

Take it easy and much lOve..

Carlos..

p.s. We have started planeing and sanding the mahogany slabs. All the hard work of felling the trees and cutting them up into slabs, now seems all worthwhile. The timber is absolutely beautiful! I cant wait to walk on these floors.