Saturday February 16th - Kansas USA

Hi All,

Wow I think I am finally alive and feel somewhat normal again :-) What a journey we have had. Okay so I left off with us departing our beautiful hotel in Korolevu, Fiji. We set sailed in mid afternoon on Captain Cooks Reef Escapes small size cruise ship. It held 125 passenagers, however there were only about 43 on the ship which made it quite nice. Once we got on board the dive masters explained snorkeling procedures, and set those up that wanted to snorkel with gear. We arrived at Tivue Island, a sandy enclave surrounded by nearly 500 acres of spectacular coral reefs and we had a relaxed twilight swim and snorkel - one of the pictures I will post on Snapfish shows a sign called Mystery Island that is this Island. Marlene was very brave and decided to try it dispite her asthma. She did okay the first time out. I was very proud of her! I was a bit nervous myself, but the dive masters were so helpful and really helped me get the hang of it quickly. After that we had our welcome dinner with the Captain, First Engineer and the Hospitality Manager. Our table was lucky enough to have dinner with the First Engineer and his spouse. They were actually from Sweden, but live in Cairns, Australia and sail like 4 months on and 3 months off or something like that. We had a great time. We shared our table with another couple from Raymore, MO - it was a lot of fun. The crew sang us welcome songs and danced too.

The next morning we sailed to Sacred Island. Did you know that Fiji is an archipelago of some 333 islands in all. We received exclusive access to Sacred Island from the local chief. Sacred Island is also were one of the Survivor series was filmed - That was so cool knowing I was laying on the beach and snorkeling on the same island as Survivor!! Okay so my secret is out - I am a huge fan of Survivor - haa, haa. I even saw Excile Island - I have pictures! The Snorkeling was unbelievable. The crew took us out a little ways out from the beach and let us snorkel for about 40 minutes. I took my underwater camera and hope the pictures turned out. I was really hoping to see a sea turtle but no such luck. One of the guys in our group did however. By mid afternoon we anchored at Nalauwaki Village. Marlene just wanted to relax in the afternoon - I sure had enough sun - so we just hung out on the ship - many went ashore to attend an islanders church service - we just were not up to standing for an hour in the hot humid conditions. We had another relaxing dinner on board and the crew performed a short skit for us.

The next day we explored the islands, reef and bays of Waya, a South pacific paradise where volcanic peaks tower over palm beaches. Simply amazing. It was fun exploring the beach and looking for different corals and sea shells plus relaxing in the sun. Evening we enjoyed a traditional fijian feast known as lovo during a special farewell dinner. The fijian feast consisted of slow-roasted meat and seafood with wonderful grilled vegetables, including pumpkin, sweet potato and coconut. They cooked this all underground covered by banana leaves. Before dinner the village people performed a welcome ceremony and Kava. After dinner they performed some wonderful song and dance. I have pictures of this as well.

Our last day - after breakfast, we disembarked after the crew sang us farewell songs. We traveled to Nadi, Fiji for a day room at the Mocambo Hotel for a day of rest and relaxation before our long journey home. Me and a few others in our group ventured out to the city of Nadi to shop and spend the rest of our Fijian money. We also visited what some call the American Embassy - McDonalds - haa, haa. Fiji actually has a McDonalds!! Judy in our group wanted to stop and take pictures and of course we had to buy ice cream and try the fries - The fries tasted different - good but different. While shoping in the city - it was a bit strange - we stood out like sore thumbs and each shop we walked past, we were pratically dragged in to spend our money - I didn't enjoy that so much - but got a few things. Marlene decided to stay back at the hotel and lay out by the pool for a bit and relax. By the time I got there and put my suit on it started storming so no more sun for me. We vegged out the rest of the afternoon until we had to leave at 7 for the airport. Our flight was to leave at 10:30 p.m.- however there was a 2 hour delay - we only had about 2 1/2 hours to catch our connecting flight from LA to Denver. We unfortunately ended up missing that flight. We should have left around 3:30 p.m. or something like that, and ended up with a flight to Chicago at 11 p.m. We managed to pass the time and made our 11 p.m. flight to Chicago for an arrival time of 5:00 a.m. - our connecting flight to Kansas City was to leave at 6 a.m. When we landed the first thing we looked for was the departures on the big screens - of course the first thing we saw was DELAYED..... UGH - We had another 3 hour delay and managed to pass the time and finally our flight left for good ol home at 9:06 a.m. We made it home by 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning - only 12 hours longer than we shoud have - hee, hee. Brad and Heather greeted us at the airport - I wanted to cry it was so great to see them. Wow what a ride we had. I am so blessed and cannot thank my mother-in-law Marlene enough for the beautiful experiences I have had during this wonderful adventure. Memories that will last me a lifetime. My heart is full :-) THANK YOU MARLENE FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. With Love, Alena

Saturday February 9th - 8:58 a.m. Fiji

BULA! Today is our last day in our beautiful resort, and on to our Fijian cruise. We leave here at 11:00 a.m. and arrive at the port about 1:00 p.m. I can't wait to wait!! Yesterday was definitely a day of relaxing. Marlene and I had a 1 hour aromatheraphy swedish massage - Wonderful. Then followed by an afternoon of laying by the pool all day. The pool had a bar you could literally swim to and order your drinks without getting out. It is very hot and humid here. We had our fairwell dinner last night at the Bamboo restuarant as there are about 11 from our group who will not be going on to the fiji extention. We had a great time. We had a cake made for our tour director and made up a song for her about all our experiences and sang it to her. She was so surprised. Her name is Maree and she has been fantastic. It was a great night. We then went to the lounge and danced for a few hours. It was a blast. There is one guy in our group who is about 75 years old and no one can keep up with him. He has been a blast! Well, I won't write again until I return to KC and fill you all in on the rest. I hope you all are doing well, and we will try and bring warm weather back with us :-) We get back about 10:30 p.m. on the 12th. Take care all, and we miss you dearly!!! Muah!!!

Thursday Feb 7th 4:28 p.m. Fiji

Hello All or as the Fijians say BULA!!! We are now in Fiji - and we are in paradise........ This is the most beautiful place in the world, even though this is a third world country, it is absolutely heaven!!! - - We arrived yesterday afternoon and were greeted by some lovely fijians who welcomed us and gave each of us a shelled lei necklace. Then went immediately to our beautiful resort which overlooks the Ocean. On the way to our resort it was quite strange seeing cows, pigs, and horsed just grazing along the sides of the roads - free as a bird. something. The little shacks we passed really made me appreciate our life and what we have, but we are told that they are very happy with their lifestyle. I am just taking this all in. It was raining when we arrived but it was late so no worries. Today was an incredible day. I told our tour director that my heart is full. We started the day with a Discovery lecture on Fiji. Then went to a Sigatoka town for a tour of the local markets where I found some good buys :-) Next we went to Namatakula Village to experience life in a traditional figian village including a welcome ceremony and then followed by a home hosted lunch. I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful the food was the family made for us. We had about 20 different dishes to try (small portions of course). Oh my gosh - absolutely out of this world. We all sat on the floor and the women fanning us and fanning the flies away while we ate with our fingers. They were all so friendly and loving. AMAZING EXPERIENCE. After that we went to the village's school and sat with a 4th grade class. Even though you can see how poor the village was and seeing the school desks and things literally falling apart, the joy those children had in entertaining us and us learning about them was such a heartwarming experience. MaKenna, my niece donated a few of her books which I gave to the class - and inscribed in side the book "with Love from Makenna Sharp in OP Kansas, USA". I also brought some school supplies which they were very grateful for. What another amazing day. We are now back at our lovely resort and had a food demonstration of Kokoda - raw fish with some lovely spices - - it was really good too. Tonight we are own our own and tomorrow is a free day - - REST for the both of us. Marlene is treating us to a massage - aaaahhhhhhhh then relaxing at the pool which overlooks the ocean. I am truly in heaven right now :-) The weather is very very humid and about mid 80's is my guess. Marlene was not able to join us today as her ankles have really swollen so hopefully with a massage and another day of rest, she will be back to normal. Well, tata for now. Miss you all XXXXOOOO

Tuesday February 5th 4:20 p.m. - Aukland, NZ

Hi All,

Thought I would write one more time - I am not sure if I will have another time when we get to Fiji - Today we went to Maritme Museum and a sail on the beautiful Waitamat Harbour in Aukland. After that we took a tour of their down town city - which includes views from one of approximately 62 volcanic cones, Mt Eden. How wonderful!!! After that I went with a couple of other ladies from our group and walked around downtown and had lunch. Marlene stayed back to rest. We are really looking forward to "relaxing" Fiji. I have experienced some wonderful foods while here as well. I tried Baby Lamb Chops for the first time and they were wonderful. I also tried their Venison - which too was out of this world. There are actual Deer farms here. No gamey taste to them at all. Tonight we are going for Angus Steak. Marlene is craving a good hamburger so hopefully she'll one :-)

Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 10:30 to catch a flight to fiji were we will spend the next 6 days. 2 days on land and the last 3 on a cruise. We can't wait. Well tata for now and I will write again if I have an opportunity. Kisses, Alena

Monday February 4th, 6:55 a.m.

Hello All, It has been a while since I wrote - our days have been jam packed!! Lets see where did I leave off. Our last few days in Christchurch were wonderful. When we arrived we went to the Antartic Centre. Christchurch is one of two gateways to the Antartic - if I recall correctly. We have learned so much and have been given so much information. My friend Susan (Kincaid) got us in contact with a client she works with who happens to live in Christchurch - so we rang her up and she took us on a lovely tour through the City. She was wonderful. We walked along the Avon River, took a tour through the botantaical gardens, then up through the mountains and took a gondala up that overlooked Christchurch. For lunch she took us to this beautiful place that overlooked the lake. It was amazing. We did all this before 3:00 p.m. The next day we went to Eyris Blue Pearls shop and learned about the Blue Pearls - and of course we had to induldge and buy! LOL. Then we went went on to Sumner Beach, Lyttleton Harbour & seen the flightless bird of NZ called the Takehe. After that we went to a lecture of the European Settlement of the South Island & the beginnings of Christchurch. That was very interesting. When that was finished we went to meet our Home Hosts - we actually got to stay with a local family in Christchurch. We had so much fun. The hosts were the best! So friendly and open. They had a beautiful home. They had sheep, cows, dogs and a cat. They also had a baby lamb whose mother wouldn't feed her. We all got to hold the cute baby lamb and bottle feed her. It was the Sweetiest ever. And of course I have pictures, but I need more time to download, just haven't found any free time yet....

Then off we went on a 10 hour bus ride to Queenstown. OMG, what spectacular views. I can't even discribe how breathtaking it was. Going through mountains, seeing waterfalls, beautiful chrystal clear rivers. Amazing. We stopped at Lake Tekapo before our journey began. It was wonderful.

The day before yesterday (which was Saturday) we got adventurous and took a jet boat ride. OMG, another wonderful experience. The jet boat got up to 50 miles Per hour and the tour guide got so close to the cliffs and did many 360's. It was so much fun!!! Brad are you proud of me :-) Did you know that parts of one of the Lord of the Rings was filmed here. We got to see the spots were it was filmed. Pretty interesting. After that, we went to Walters Peak Sheep Station and saw demenstrations and had afternoon tea. After that we were on our own so Marlene and I decided to take the gondala up the mountain close to where were are staying and got to see the city from above. So cool!

Yesterday, we went to Milford Sounds. Another long bus ride - 6 hours there and 5 hours back. But wow was that incredible - - the ride was taken through the mountains on very narrow roads and many curves. So beautiful though. We stopped many times along the way to take pictures. So beautiful. Once we got there we took a cruise through milford sounds - OMG (I know I keep saying that, but I can't begin to tell you how breath taking everything has been). We saw waterfalls, beautiful mountains that disappeared into the clouds. We even saw a pack of fur seals. Just spectacular. I can't wait to share pictures.....today is Monday, and it is about 6:52 a.m. After breakfast we are taking a walk through Arrowtown, then we head to the airport (for yes, another plane ride - ugh... hee, hee) to go to Aukland which is on the North Island. We are there for a day and a half and then off to RELAXING Fiji - woot woot :-) The temp in Queenstown has been high 70's and in Aukland I think it is supposed to be much hotter. I say Bring it on. Well, I hope you all are doing well, and thanks for leaving us comments. It is wonderful to hear from and I miss you All. With Love!