Later that night Khadija and her parents hosted me for a lovely night of drinking, prawn curry, making fun of FoxNews and spirited discussion about Barack Obama. I often feel an instant camaraderie with folks from England given that my parents are Brits as well. It was a fun gathering, that's for sure.
The very next day, the wallet turned up missing. Between the last fruit stand and the parking lot, it disappeared, never to be found again. To quote the Dude, "That's a bummer man!" Yeah, for sure. So, I've just been hanging more or less. I've helped work on the bookshop a bit, had a nice dinner with Bill LePage and his wife Diana, had another nice dinner with new friend Kendra and her father John. Hmmm, this being stranded thing hasn't been too bad after all. A couple of days ago Charmagne Foely dropped Elizabeth and I off in Brisbane for a tour of the city. It was nice, though our visit was limited to a local city center and a shopping area. Yesterday, I went with Elizabeth and the Foley's to an Aboriginal festival called the Bunya Festival. Bunya's are a nut that come from a large pine cone which can get as big as a pumpkin! They were an important food to the Aborigines for many years they held sacred festivals based on the versatility of the bunya. The festival occurred at a regional park next to a large reservoir. We ate, played traditional games (I came in third in the bunya carrying contest! - for which I won a gift certificate) and watched traditional dancing. A lovely festival indeed.
All that more or less brings us to today. With any luck I should be able to continue my travels sometime in the next few days. I'll keep you posted, as well as ad a few pics to the blog to flavor it up a bit. I've found a quicker connection that affords more reasonable upload times.All the best from Down Under.
J
About 20 minutes later we stopped and dropped anchor at the marker bouy. After a briefing that felt way too, well, brief - we were simply advised not to panic if the 6 meter tiger shark showed up. For those of you counting at home, 6 meters is 20 feet! Don't panic huh!?! Sound advice, I suppose. But then what!?!? No time for questions, we all hopped in the water and descended to 17 meters immediately. A short swim along a descending ocean floor soon had us at 25 meters all lined up along a rope that ran more or less across the ocean floor. Only 3 meters in from of us was a concrete grid made of individual concrete slabs. This was the bistro. I looked up and behind me and saw one of the Fijian dive masters swimming with a huge wheeled trash bin towards the bistro. It was somewhat of a funny sight, and yet it made perfect sense. They needed something to attract the sharks. Now, before the bins were even opened, there were hundres of fish, including a massive grouper, and large, black traveli, all getting a little frenzied. Apparently, they knew the routine. The bins were opened, and the divers each pulled out a large dolphin tuna. They cut it up right there on the ocean floor, and began waving the chunks of fish around. Sure enough, here came the sharks.
We returned to the dock, purchased the gratuitous "I survived the running of the bull sharks" T-shirts, and went back to our resort, where we just hung out for the remaining two days. Our last day in Pacific Harbor we visited Suva, the capital city of Fiji, but it was a Sunday, and most things were closed. We had some lunch, took in a movie, and headed back. The next day we headed back to Nadi, on the Western part of the main island. We were lucky enough to catch a lift with a local named Chetty, which cut our trip time literally in half. I was looking forward to another short trip back to the Yasawa's, and Keiren to returning home to Melbourne. Or so I thought. On January 7th, Keiren and I took a trip to the world famous Natadal beach, to take in the blue waters and relax. It would be the last day I would see sun in Fiji.
That night, the worst cyclone in 13 years hit Fiji, and everything came to a grinding halt. I cancelled my trip to the islands, and resolved to remain holed up at Momma's Tropic of Capricorn resort in Nadi Bay. There are a series of lower to higher end backpacker resorts and hotels in Nadi Bay. Moma's was run, naturally, by Momma. Momma is a 70 year old Fijian-born, Australian-raised, no-nonsense firecracker. All of her staff are in the family one way or another. She doesn't take crap from anyone, she swears like a sailor, and is by far the most loving and loveable Fijian in all of Fiji. The cooking is homestyle, the prices are more than reasonable, and the staff is friendly. Pay Momma a visit if you're ever in Nadi Bay.
The cyclone, however, was not nearly as nice as Momma. For 4 days everyone just did, well, nothing. Ryan had returned to the area and all of his dive jobs were cancelled, so we got to hang out a bit fair bit. I met more travelers from Columbia, England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia - all with stories of trips cancelled or prolonged due to the storm. By the 9th, Nadi town was flooded - really badly. The river banks were no longer discernable. So, on the 10th, we did what anyone with all the time in the world and nothing to do would do - we visited to town. Even in the middle of a catastophe, Fijians are friendly and joyful. "Enjoying the weather?" "Bula, where are you from?" "In town to go for a swim?" Pretty much all were heard. One Fijian named John escorted us everywhere through the flood waters, just to make sure we were OK. We passed by one photo shop that was open, now flood waters. Perhaps the shop where my shark dive photos were posted was open and safe too! A few blocks later, I discovered that of all the shops in all of Nadi, it was the deepest under water - about 5 feet! No photos that day. We waded through the waters, chatted with townspeople, police and other travelers alike, and capped off the visit with a trip to a McDonalds a few hundred meters away on higher ground. It was fun actually, though certainly not the tropical paradise we had all become accustomed too.
The next day - last Sunday - was my departure day. I arrived at the airport on-time. Problem was, the flight crew couldn't get there due to all the flooding all over the area. Flight cancelled, flat out. I was put on standby for a flight to Sydney. People were frustrated, angry, stuck. Some had arrived Nadi only a few hours before and were basically turning right around because most people couldn't get into or out of the airport. It was a little chaotic, but after some moments of disorganzied uncertainty, I got on the flight and ended up on the top deck of a 747 with a whole emergency exit row to myself. Leg room for miles!!! 
I arrived Sydney, was rebooked to Brisbane, and arrived later that night. 3 1/2 hours of travel turned into 11, but at least I'm here. Now, my Australia adventure begins. I'm staying in the gracious hospitality of Bill LePage on the Sunshine Coast at Avatar's Abode - another center dedicated to Meher Baba. It's beautiful here - and I've made some lovely friends already. From here I'll continue to plan my strategy for travel, and in some time I'll update you all again.