Fiji Island adventure.

Bula! Castaway Island – everything you come to Fiji to find…

Fiji. It really is a tropical islands paradise. Warm South Pacific waters, lush vegetation, pristine coral reefs,spectacular colours, cooling ocean breezes and friendly Fijians greeting you with a welcoming smile.


Castaway Island Fiji.

We visited Fiji in 2007. We flew to Fiji from Australia with Air Pacific.
(now called Fiji airlines).  We enjoyed the traditional welcome with flowers and island musicians. We stayed one night in Nadi on the main island and then went by ferry to our resort on a small outlying island. It is possible to fly by light plane but we chose the ferry because Joy was pregnant at that time. We enjoyed the ferry ride which went past lots of tiny sandy islands on the way. Our accomodation package at the resort included all meals. Our room was just a few steps from the beach
We stayed four nights at the resort. There was no tv or internet so we had a very relaxing time and returned to Australia feeling completely recharged.

We plan to return to Fiji one day. Fij is a healthy, safe and welcoming place for a family holiday.
We recommend you find out more about Fiji Island by reading this book.
 

Aussie Pinay friendship.

I first met Lita and Sam soon after arriving in Australia. Lita is from the Philippines and Sam is from Malta. Sam and Lita live at Winnap which is near Dartmoor about 75 km west of Portland on highway 1. It is a small place and for several years Leta and Sam ran the general store and petrol pump in Winnap.

When I first came to Portland I heard that Lita's store was the nearest place to by groceries from the Philippines. So one weekend  we went for a drive to get some groceries. Lita's shop  was just like an old-fashioned general store selling groceries, hardware, fishing licences, camping gear, automotive supplies and refreshments. It was always a friendly place to sit and chat. We started chatting and visiting regularly for supplies.  Lita and Sam have a lot of knowledge and experience to share. 

When my daughter was born Sam and Lita came to visit.
Now my daughter is 5 years old and we still good friends. When we visit the hospitality is always great. Lita has a heart of gold and loves to look after people.



Lita, Anna, Sam visiting.

Lita and Sam are also fond of animals and on their small 1 hectare property they have all sorts of animals. At the moment they have just 3 dogs and 6 chickens  and 3 sheep/goats. In the past they have had at various times lots of pups, pigeons, 2 cows and a pony. Frugal pets alternative.

Sam is a skillful handyman and mechanic and always seems to have a project on the go. Lita loves gardening. Homegrown Jalopeno chillies.
We have kept in touch on line when we a have been interstate and overseas but always look forward to visiting Lita and Sam  in person.

Celyne's 1st birthday.

 

How to enjoy a Singapore stopover.

Singapore is an exciting place for a stopover. There are a wide range of
airlines flying to and from Singapore in all directions. We flew in from Manila recently with Jets tar. We stayed just 3 night in Singapore then on to Darwin with Jets tar. We hired taxi driver to show around.

If your stopover is only a few hours between flights there is still a lot of fun things to see and do just at the airport. The highlight for was the amazing kinetic sculpture. Amazing Kinetics Sculpture in Singapore.



3 days in the hotel.

We stayed 3 night at the ParkRoyal hotel and next morning after an excellent breakfast we went on a quick sightseeing tour by taxi, We drove around and visited a scenic park.
Soon after it was time for us to return to the airport and catch our flight.

We were impressed with the 21st century city skyline. Singapore is very clean, polite, orderly and business-like place. We are looking forward to visiting Singapore again next time we go travelling. Sentosa Singapore, great place to visit.

Asian wives get-together

Friendship with good benefits .

I had a great time last night here in Portland. We had a get together of Asian wives.  We had so much fun. I think perhaps we should start a club and all meet once a month! The weather has been getting a little bit colder and windy this week because autumn is here so it is so important to get out and have some fun with friends. The day of rammfaahh!!

 

There were lots of good looking, young and sexy wives there! Everyone was looking beautiful and we kept busy sharing stories and jokes. We took lots of photo's.

Pose and emote wives with kids.

 

The get together was at Martin and Regine's beautiful home it is spacious and well organised and a great place for a party.

 

There was heaps of delicious food to share rice, pancit, laoya, biko, tenolang manok, roast chicken and pizza!

         

We are all determined to be happy and enjoy life here in Australia. We are busy working hard and making the most of opportunities here. We can do anything we set our mind too, even drive trucks. Filipina wife truck driver.

pose and emote after dinner.

 

 

We are all so busy working and looking after our families but it's important to find time to rammmffhaaa sometimes too!

Serenity beach walk in Portland Australia.

Impressions of a Darwin stopover

Darwin International Airport.

Recently we had a short stopover in Darwin for two nights and 3 days.
We flew into Darwin on Jets tar Airlines from Philippines via Singapore,

It was December and the wet season and so the city was relatively  quiet.
Darwin feels like a large provincial town that has been transplanted in the outback. We hired a car and went for a drive around town and then for about 100 km south down the main highway out of town. as soon as you are about 10 km out of town you realise that you are in the real outback where driving has unexpected challenges like road trains. ( A giant truck with 3 or 4 trailers).

The highlights of this trip were the blue lake at springs which had awesome bird life and scary signs warning of crocodiles.  Also the
.......... national park has some really awesome waterfalls. http://youtu.be/nDTIFj8ImaU
http://youtu.be/Hh5rllfS568
A brief stopover in Darwin is enough to realise that the Northern Territory is a place well worth exploring in a more leisurely way in the future.





Jim's loading a luggage.

                                                                                                   

  

Near Darwin Park.

Jim O'Connor Story.

Jim, grew up in suburban Melbourne, Australia in a large and happy family. His mother loved reading and encouraged him to read. A studious young boy he studied hard and was very successful in high school. He won a scholarship and studied at the University of Melbourne. While at University he also worked at various jobs to support himself. He was always interested in travel and whilst at university bought a motor cycle and explored Australia.

After graduating. he sold his motor cycle and decided to travel overseas as a backpacker. First he hitchhiked to Perth, WA then he caught a boat to Singapore. He then explored Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia for several months. Eventually he returned to Australia flying into Darwin from there he hitchhiked to Alice Springs and caught a train from there to Port Augusta and then hitchhiked home to Melbourne.

He then decided to study to become a high school teacher. After completing these studies he started work as teacher and taught for one year saving up all his salary for another travel adventure. The following year he set off again flying to Malaysia and after spending sometime in Thailand, caught a boat to India. Then returning via Sri Lanka to Australia after a whole year of adventures.

After teaching a few more years in Victoria and New South Wales he decided to return to university for more study, once again he studied hard and obtained a scholarship to spend more time at the university. After that he decided to try teaching overseas and landed a job teaching in England. After a year in England he decided to return to Australia.

After all these adventures it is not surprising that he finally started thinking it was time to settle down.

Before too long Jim met Joy from the Philippines and they decided to get married. Jim landed a job in Ras Ak Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, Jim and Joy lived in U. A. E. for several months before decided to come to Australia. They have lived happily in Australia now for 6 years and have a beautiful 5 year old daughter who has just started school. In Australia Jim and Joy have explored Victoria, South Australia, NSW. and Northern Territory They have also travelled together to China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Fiji, Vanuatu and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.

Recently they spent some time visiting the Philippines together. Jim and Joy are and happy together and the daughter Celyne's growing up to be hard working, organised and tidy like her mother, as well as studious and fond of reading about science like her dad. She is also growing up to be adventurous and a traveller too. http://youtu.be/UNMAz96ZYZo

China adventures

In September - October 2012  we lived in Dalian, China.
Dalian is in Northern China and is a sea-port. It is a smaller city by Chinese standards with about 6 million people. September October is Autumn in China and the weather is warm.

Our daughter attended the Dalian foreign national school and she was made
to feel very welcome even though she doesn't know how to speak any Chinese. She made some new friends there called Apple, Jason and Brad.

Her teachers were kind and caring. One of her teachers Jam who is  from U.S.A. spoke English very well and kept an eye on her and was very helpful.

Life in Dalian was interesting. We enjoyed some sightseeing. We enjoyed the parks and shopping malls because there was often music and dancing to be seen. The malls and shops were bustling and sometimes crowded but always exciting.

At first it was quite a challenge to find our way about, Taxis were inexpensive but the drivers rarely spoke any English. We found that if we had a visiting card from our destination or at least the destination written in Chinese we usually got there without too much confusion,

                                          http://youtu.be/xdUrId0i6C4

We are hoping to see more of China one day.