The post-Wedding Post

We had a lovely meeting of the families, Kevin's family met my family, and we're happy to say that it was a lovely evening indeed.

In preparation for our wedding feast, I prepared 3 videos:

 A simple video of the actual ceremony.  

Zac had done such an excellent job recording it all, that it pretty much did not require any edits.  The volume was a bit low, so I raised it, but it's still somewhat difficult to decipher.  But if you're quiet and listening intently, you may be able to decipher some of it...  

The following is a compiled video of our wedding pictures, which Marida was so gracious to provide us with.  

And lastly, the following is a compilation video of our Fiji pictures.  You may notice that you've seen several of the pictures on the blog already.  

Now it's time to get back to life and reality, and to make sure our home is ready for Sebastian when he joins us!  

Goodbyes, Sunday 6/29/14

We knew that the high tide hit the beach at around 7:45 on our last day in Fiji.  This meant that we had to get up early to go snorkeling and say good morning to the fish.  With all the seaweed and coral in the waist-high water, there was no other time to do snorkeling at the resort.

Since we started using our breakfast package on our first day at the resort, rather than after our first night, it meant we were on our own for breakfast on our last morning.  We decided to try the Bedarra Inn since dinner had been so spectacular.  However, the breakfast menu was very disappointing for Kevin, who ended up getting a bowl of cereal and a cappuccino.  I got an omelette, which was yummy, and a latte, which was not to be desired.  We enjoyed it as much as we could, and got a move on to the beach.  

Didn't see too many anemones, but there were still clownfish!  Do you see it?

Kev made friends everywhere he went!

These were the brightest fish in our little cove...

I used to know what this fish was called...(possibly Threadfin Butterfly fish? -KPQ)

  

I never knew what these fish were called... 

Humuhumunukunukua'pua'a - I spelled it for Kevin the other day, 

and I believe I got it right on the first try!

(State fish of Hawaii!)

sea cucumber

Kev thought the orange buldgy thing was an octopus.  Turned out to just be some coral.

from here it looks like a puffer fish...

from here, it doesn't...

and we stumbled on to a few of these octopus-looking-arm things.  

Kev investigated and found that they were in fact NOT octopus arms.  

(Research indicates probably a Spotted Worm Sea Cucumber. -KPQ)

He got a video of their feathery mouth parts too, but it's a bit shaky and long, so not including it here.

We stayed out for quite a while.  By the time we got back onto the beach, we could see that the tide was already receding.  

After, we went back to the room and started packing.  Zac came to check on us, and told us we were supposed to check out by 11 -- OOPS!  We were no where near ready.  He told us we'd be fine til noon...  

After packing up and checking out, we went out onto the beach.  We actually had lunch at the Bederra Inn again, which was nice.  And we still had a few hours to kill before transportation came to get us.  So, we straggled back, stopping for a couple's massage.  Unfortunately, they only took cash, which we were out of.  So we stopped at a beach bar, where Kev ordered a bowl of kava and I had a virgin daiquiri -- the only one I've been able to get on the beach!  Our last little hoorah in Fiji...

Long story short, off to the airport, and onto our flight...  The funny thing is, we left at around 10:00 on the 29th.  Then, we got back to LA at noon on the 29th!...  Really confused us, and we had to ask which day of the week it was.  

Great trip!  Great vacation!  Great wedding! ...  Maybe we'll get back for our 25th wedding anniversary?!

Thank you Quindlens!!! Or as we say in Fiji, Vanaka Vakalevu!

A Ride on the Jet Boat, Saturday 6/28/14

Our last two days in Fiji were spent running around.  Saturday, we had to get up pretty early to be ready for the 8:00 bus transport to our Sigatoka River Safari.  We scarfed down a quick breakfast, but were still the last two to board the bus.

We rode into Sigatoka, which we were already very familiar with, and th van dropped us at a tourist shop, where we signed our waivers, they gave us water, and ladies got a sarong to wear in the village, which was part of the tour.  After 20 minutes of shopping time, which they allow for clients while they wait for all clients to arrive, and hope to make some money during the while -- good plan actually, but it gets quite old seeing all the same souvenirs -- we reboard our same buses to ride out to the starting point.

On the ride out, our tour guide, Mella Bella, talked lots of "bula-crap," which was a big joke within the company -- the less questions we tourists asked, the more bula-crap they would dish out for us...  The pun was definitely intended.  But she told us about a few of the farms on the way out and made a few jokes involving the driver, who she referred to as Sponge Bob. Kevin overheard one of the other guides calling her Maller Baller to rib her a little bit.

We got to the docks and prepped for the jet boats.  Of course, I had to let them know that we just got married.  Which is why, I think, we got the best seats in the boat!  We had the small jet-boat, fitting 3 couples and the captain, 6 people total, but I believe they said it was a 7-seater.  The boats were all custom made for this river, as the river can get very low during the dry season.  They are not able to have boat tours when the river is too low.  But I believe our captain told us that they need just 4-6 inches of water (Kevin says draft) to drive through.  We even hit the river bottom at time, and you could hear the boat scraping against all the rocks.  The faster, the better when going through the shallow spots, as the boat seemed to skate on top of the water.

The views of the river were gorgeous, even though it seemed to already be a bit low for June, the beginning of the dry season.  

These life jackets didn't smell very good, but we were ready for fun nonetheless!

There were farm animals grazing up and down the river.  

(I also need to comment here how much smaller Fijian horses are than our horses in Texas!)

The boat was lots of fun.  They were super fast too.  I was hoping that we could get our hands on one for tubing in San Marcos, but we haven't won that lottery ticket yet...  

So the boat takes us down the river, where we disembark, and walk the rest of the way to a local village.  They visit different villages every tour.  During the tour, the village cooks for the visitors, and the visitors present presents.  Touring different villages ensures that they don't impose on one village too much, and also they get to spread the wealth.  We visited Koronisagana, which means village of thigh [eaters]!  (Remember, Fijians used to be cannibals, which they also find fun to joke about.)  A truck met us by the boat dock, where we stuffed no less than 20 visitors and they gave us a ride up to the village -- 20 visitors!  I only wish I had gotten a picture of the tiny truck so that you could appreciate what a great feat that was!

There was a little pond right next to the village where they were cultivating beautiful flowers!

Upon our arrival to the village, they welcome us with a kava ceremony.  Still not a traditional ceremony, they did have more male involvement, as the kava ceremonies would traditionally only involve men.  Lady visitors were allowed to sit behind their men, however.  They did a lot more singing in this ceremony, as well, as the Fijians are very musical people.  We postulate that perhaps the kava helps them to all be excellent singers!

The men mixing the pounded kava with water, preparing to drink.

The children were so excited to have visitors, which is totally understandable, as visitors will typically deliver sweets during the visits.  They all race out to say BULA!  to us, and are so excited to see us. They may also be excited because the whole community gathers together in the community house for a celebration.  They feed us, we all dance together, and we exchange gifts before we head out.  

I would like to comment here that the village food was MARVELOUS!  This is what we were expecting throughout more of Fiji.  I think, unfortunately, the restaurants in town and at the resort cater to Kiwis and Aussie's.  But the village food was flavorful and not too salty, just yummy!  It wasn't as good as my dinner at the Bedarra, but it came close!  And I think Kevin agreed, even though he didn't try all of the food they set out for us (they had some eggs too). "All but the eggs!" proclaims Kevin.

After the dancing and gift exchange, we stuffed ourselves back into the truck and went back to the docks.  The ride back to the start was a little faster than the ride out, despite the fun 360s we did in the river!  I think the intent, aside from a little fun, was to cool us off with the water that splashes into the boat, in the middle of the hot afternoon.  (I was scared that I might get a little nauseous with little Gus-Gus in my tum-tum, but I guess I'm used to the water and enjoyed the heck out of the 360s!)

Kevin says that alone, either the jet boat ride or the village visit would have been awesome; but having both of them in a half day was even better. Kevin says he had to fake knowledge of Australian Football League happenings, as they all expected us to be Aussie tourists...

Just before a 360 -- so fun!

Both of us with Captain JT!

Laxidaisy Day, Friday 6/27/2014

We woke up and started with our typical breakfast today.  After breakfast, we headed into town to order our Decorated Fijian Marriage Certificate, and did a little more souvenir shopping, the last of the shopping, I hope!  (Paula, we did find forks for your friend, but there were no cutlery “sets.”)  I’m sure we got way too much stuff, and we’ll be hard-pressed to get it all home, but we’ll do what we can.  

We tried to snorkel, but we’d not timed the tide properly.  So we spent the afternoon at the adult pool.  Kev was not going to give in to the family pool, as I guess he was happy just having made friends with Alvin.  

This evening, we plan to go back to the restaurant that we loved from last night.  Kev much preferred it to tonight’s “Italian Buffet” here at the resort.  Not to mention, the price was the same as the resort, but we received much more!

We watched the homemade video from Zak — and we think he did an excellent job!  I hope to take an iMovie class when we get back home, and I might be able to doctor up the video just a little bit before our family showing.  But Zak really did a good job!  I have to also mention that I’m so glad that I picked Marica to be one of our witnesses!  At one point in the video, she crosses paths with Zak, and she sticks out her tongue, smiling at the camera — something, as you all know, that I would very likely do as well.  In fact, Kev and I were getting all sappy in the background, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from sticking it out!  I’ll have to give Marida a big hug tomorrow!  

Anyway, off to dinner!…  We love you!  And we’ll be home only too soon!

Wedding Evening, Thursday 6/26/2014

Kev and I decided to look off-resort for our personal wedding reception.  We went to a quaint little place that said “Ocean Terrace” off the road, which we found when riding the $1 bus.  However, when we went inside, it was actually a private little hotel, very fancy and quaint.  Also called the Bedarra Beach Inn (BBI), and they had another name for the bar…  

I have to mention it particularly because the food was SOOOO excellent!  All of the food since we got to Fiji has been bland or salty, but this food was exquisite!  I got a chicken stuffed with cheese, chives, and bacon — it was so good!  And the veggies were perfectly cooked, al dente and yummy.  Kev reminds me that my chicken sauce also had ginger in it, which usually I don’t prefer ginger, but it complemented all the other tastes and flavors that it was perfectly enjoyable!  

Anyway, when we returned from dinner last night, we were surprised to find the curtains to our bure closed, as we had left them open.  Upon stepping inside, however, we found a very nice surprise, left for us by our butlers.  Though Zak had the night off, he was sure to have Salote leave us a nice note.  (Which explains why she ran after us to find out our plans when we left for dinner!)  

Thank you Zak and Salote!!!  :-)  

Wedding Day! Thursday 6/26/2014

Ran around town this morning to get our clothes!  We love them!  You have to wait to see them!  

The driver for the $1 bus back to the resort was the same as our first $1 bus ride.  He totally remembered us and that today was our wedding day.  He told other passengers on the bus, and wished us well when we got off.  Kev insisted that I take his picture, which the big guy that he is, I had to reseat myself to get a good picture.  But it was worth it.  He was a nice guy.  

And now, drum roll please!  We are hitched!  We will tell you that our wonderful witnesses were more than willing to take videos and pictures.  So we have both.  Homemade qualify, of course, but viewable nonetheless.  More wedding details to follow, but here’s the picture for now.  

Robinson Crusoe Island, Wednesday 6/25/2014

We woke up for an early breakfast, and the bus picked us up right on time, 5 minutes to 9:00 (not Fiji time!).  We had a nice ride out to the dock, and waited for more people to arrive.  The boat ride through to the island was rather slow, and the boat was rather full, through a lovely canal system.  But the island was right outside the canal system, in the open water, guarded by barrier reef, we could see waves breaking all around us.  

We arrived to the island, where Kev and I started with a short kayak ride out past the boats and back.  Kayaks really are quite nice, aren’t they?  We think we might buy a set for ourselves one day.  

There were several demonstrations throughout the day, including a coconut demonstration, where we learned how to husk coconuts, braid leaves to make baskets, make brooms from the fronds, etc.  We even got to try some fresh coconut and to drink some fresh coconut milk, which was surprisingly salty.

We also participated in a crab race, which was surprisingly more exciting than you’d expect!  You pick a number, drop all the crabs into the middle of a circle, which was drawn in the sand, and the first crab to make it to the designated ring wins!  I was number 3, which was the first place winner for about a third of the way through, but then he turned and took the long way out.  I lost out to Alvin’s crab, number 30…  but it’s all in good fun, and in the end, they didn’t even get the winning crabs’ numbers right.  I imagine in some venues, the audience might get very upset with that!  

Ah, Alvin…  we’ll have to tell you about Alvin.  He’s a very precocious little boy of about 5 years, from China (Hong Kong specifically), there with his Mom, and I assume his aunt.  We actually met Alvin the day before at the Eco-Park, and were pleasantly surprised to see him again today on the Robinson Crusoe tour.  Kev was able to bond with him by showing him the beach-combing crabs, amongst other things.  

We had some lazy time at the island, where we read our books and enjoyed the sun.  After lunch, they took us out in a boat to go snorkeling.  We enjoyed the reef and the fish, though we felt the snorkel trip was too short in general.  I kept trying to convince them to take us to another spot for an encore, but to no avail.  We will definitely try to snorkel again before we leave.  

Looks like Kev's doing what Kev does best?!

Kevin, me, and little Alvin, coming back in from our snorkel.

Back on the beach, Kevin was able to catch one of the little crabs after several minutes of chasing. He then dutifully waded out into the water to give it to Alvin, forgetting at the time that his iPhone was in his pocket. I guess we won't be seeing any of the pictures he took today.

Right around sunset, they dropped off another boat full of people for the evening shows.  (We had signed up for the combo day pass and evening shows.)  We witnessed a kava ceremony, then we all drank some kava — which smells and tastes like soapy water.  However, if it’s strong enough, it’s supposed to make your lips and tongue numb.  It may also have an intoxicating and mellowing effect if you drink enough of it, which we didn’t…  

Before dinner, there was a fire walking show, where the natives walked on the hot coals which were used for the lovo — basically a pit where the food is placed to cook all day, buried underneath hot rocks and embers.  Apparently very similar to how Gene cooks potatoes when camping.  We bumped into a couple of ladies from Germany, who just couldn’t understand why they would need to walk on hot stones.  What purpose did it serve?  We couldn’t answer their question, other than the obvious:  they didn’t have rulers to measure whose cajones were bigger back then…  Or possibly it was a meditative, religious type action.  Either way, we didn’t have a definitive answer.  It might be interesting to look up one day, although I’m sure if Kevin stumbles onto the information on reddit, he will certainly let us know.  

Then the dinner buffet, which was probably very good, but the food was a little bland - but at least it wasn’t overly salty, which we have found most of the food here to be.  (Someone bring these Fijians some spices!)  My favorite food on the banquet line was the Fijian spinach, which is actually elephant leaf mixed with a few other veggies.  It was yummy and not too salty.  Unfortunately, I was absolutely put off when I saw this annoying kid open his mouth and show the disgusting mix of food inside — that kid was NOT Alvin — I suppose pregnancy can make you a bit more sensitive to these types of things…  

After dinner was the dancing and fire shows!  Awesome!!!  But after all day in the sun, we determined that the dancers had a bit more energy than we did.  They danced for probably an hour and a half, but it certainly felt like 6 hours. It was hard to keep up with all the clapping and shouting and hoo-hawing, but we tried.  We’ll add some pictures from the show, possibly tomorrow.  However, we’re rushing to catch up with our blogging, since we’re writing this a day after, and we assume that everyone wants to hear about the 26th!…

Actually, we have some videos to share, but it's taking forever to upload!...