The Maroochy Shire

Yes, we are officially on Australian turf! We have actually been here five days now and they’ve been a bit wild and crazy. To begin with, we didn’t fly out of Fiji on the 18th until 1:30am (our departure time was 8:40pm). That put is into the Brisbane airport at about 3:30 in the morning. Instead of figuring out public transportation to our hostile, we slept at the airport for an hour or so before boarding the first bus headed north to Maroochydore.

Maroochydore is a coastal city of about 18,000, or so it says on the little website I just visited. It sits right at the mouth of the Maroochy River and it definitely has the feel of a beach town. We’ve spent time at the ocean every day so far (from body-boarding and swimming to Jonathan’s first attempt at surfing) and it is certainly part of the culture here. There are tons of surfers in the water all day long, and we’ve both witnessed lots of swimming groups and even a rowing practice with at least a hundred kids (from probably kindergarten to high schoolers). There is definitely a laid back atmosphere here, as this is the spot that many Australian families come to celebrate holidays (we call them vacations).

As soon as we arrived we began the search for housing. We’d booked a few nights at a hostile here but were hoping to get into a place right away. It’s amazing how after only a week we were both dying to get out of our suitcases and feel settled. Well, the house hunt proved a bit overwhelming. We told everyone we talked with (real estate agents here handle rental & holiday bookings too – which is interesting) that we wanted three things: a furnished place, a place located as close to Jonathan’s work as possible, and a rental for as little money as possible. Most everyone laughed when they heard what we hoped to pay. We realized after a day of hunting that our “ideal” might not exist, sadly☺. So we started looking for shared accommodation. Of course, this was not what we initially had planned, but we soon realized it was our only realistic option. A few phone calls, visits, and an hour (at least) of lugging our belongings through the streets of Maroochydore (all done by Amy while Jonathan was at work on Monday!), and we are finally settled in our “home” for the next 3 ½ months.

We live in a lovely beach house literally on the same block as Jonathan’s PT clinic. Jonathan just walks around the corner and can make it to work in a minute or two. This is such a huge blessing, especially coming from long commutes!! There are a few great perks of living here (besides, obviously, the location, which also happens to be a block from the beach – the PT clinic is across the street from it). The perks include: air-conditioning, free laundry, and free wireless internet (yahoo!!!). So, we feel like the Lord really did answer our prayers. He is proving himself faithful, yet again. This place is perfect. Even if we do share it with a few people (some really nice Aussies), we are starting to feel at home already.

Another huge answer to prayer happened yesterday. After a day and half of job hunting, I found a job! I was getting pretty discouraging because I was visiting just about every shop along the Esplanade (there is this great street here with tons of shops, restaurants and boutiques right near where we live) and everyone asked two questions first: Are you looking for a permanent job? Are you willing to work weekends? Of course, my answer to both was “no” and this was not helping my job prospects. Yesterday, however, I stopped back into a little sandwich/coffee shop and brought my resume. I had the opportunity to sit down with the owner (a native of Nebraska of all places!) and was hired on the spot. The best part is that the café shares a wall with Jonathan’s PT clinic, so we’re literally right next door! It is funny, in hind sight, how I ever even doubt for a second that the Lord will provide. Needless to say, I am excited to start work (I start next Tuesday) and I am learning new things about myself every day (the first being that I am much better at being busy than being quiet and relaxing). I will save that for another blog, however☺. For now, I am going to take my sister’s advice and go for a long “adventure trek”, or whatever she calls them. I’m going to get my ipod rolling, bring along a little snack, and see how far I can walk and what I can observe as I walk the path towards Mooloolaba. It should be interesting☺…

Life in Fiji

Life is very “chill” here. “Fiji time” is what locals refer to the tendency everyone has towards being at least fifteen minutes late. We have certainly been enjoying the change of pace. We’ve both spent more time in the last few days reading and relaxing than we have during the entire time we spent in Frisco. I finished The Kite Runner (thanks, Aunt Gayle) and am now midway through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (thanks, Janie). Jonathan has been glued to his new Mechanical Shoulder Disorders book. Right now he has busted into his second “best seller”, Orthopaedic Clinical Examination: An Evidenced-Based Approach for Physical Therapists. Sounds great, huh?

In addition to reading to our hearts content, we’ve been able to snorkel a couple of times (we go straight out from the Beachouse to the coral reef). We’ve also taken the sea kayaks for a few whirls. Each afternoon we have 4:00 tea & scones followed by an intense few hours of volleyball. I, of course, have loved this (as has Jonathan). There are absolutely no rules. Kind of like the “Fiji time”, there is “Fiji volleyball”. You can hang all over the net if you want to, swat the ball with open hands, and you’ll never hear the “tweet” of a whistle. This has obviously taken some getting used to, but what can you do? I’ve just enjoyed the chance to touch a volleyball. And there is nothing quite like a volleyball court with the ocean as the backdrop!

Trekking Through the Rainforest

A few days ago we thought we’d go for a hike. We went and asked the lady at the front desk where we could go, thinking we’d just jump on some marked trail or something. She said that what we were looking for was nonexistent, but that we should join one of the jungle treks departing from the Beachouse. Today we took the trek with our tour guide, Jutah. We now understand that we could never have explored the jungles of Fiji on our own!

Jutah was an excellent guide. After all, he takes guests from the Beachouse nearly six days a week and has done so for the last six years! In addition to knowing his way perfectly through the maze of foliage, Jutah knew all about using the plants in the jungle for survival. “Fiji jungle: grocery store and pharmacy,” he said. He showed us how roots of certain plants can be ground, boiled, and used to cure the cough. He told us about the plant that you eat for breakfast and you get so full, you don’t need lunch or dinner. Of course he had dozens of other things he shared. He was very excited when he learned I was a teacher and might share some of his information with my students. I don’t know if he was as excited to hear that Jonathan is studying to become a kind of doctor. He pointed out how his ancestors, surviving off of natural products, lived long, healthy lives. With the existence of hospitals and modern medicine now days, his people are surprisingly less healthy. As you can tell, the entire trip was certainly more than just a hike; it was a cultural experience!

I’m sure you can tell from the pictures, the ground of this entire three-hour trek was mud – and Jutah did it all barefoot! I (Amy) have always had this “thing” about being barefoot. It sends shivers up my spine! I don’t think I would have done this hike for $1,000 without shoes! So, of course, it made it all the more amazing that this man has done it thousands of time without shoes! Jonathan and I were happy in our chaco sandles…and we still got PLENTY of mud all over ourselves!

We ended up at a beautiful waterfall were Jutah, despite my protesting, made us climb up into the middle of the waterfall. I kept looking back over my shoulder to where he was waiting with our camera to take our picture. He kept pointing and motioning for me to continue climbing and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’m glad we did it and I’m even more glad that I survivedJ. What an adventure…

Trip to Suva

Well, we experienced quite the day yesterday. We set off by ourselves to the capitol city of Fiji: Suva. We weren’t quite sure what we were going to do, once there, but thought it would be an adventure. It certainly was that. We jumped on a random bus headed that direction and arrived in the city two hours later. There were many times along the way that we wish we could have pulled over to take a quick picture (of course it was really killing Jonathan!). We passed many schools, homes, and little towns, as well as beautiful ocean vistas.

Once in Suva, we realized that it wasn’t really a “tourist destination” (that’s an understatement). We just decided to start following the crowds through the jam-packed streets into the markets. We ended up spending time in a grocery store and bought some supplies for dinner. We also explored some shops and ended up buying a backpack inside a larger department-type store advertising “Back to School” sales (school starts up again here in Fiji next week). Midway through our time there, it started raining like crazy. We eventually made it back to the “bus station” (a street with dozens of buses all honking wildly at one-another). I ran for cover while Jonathan went from bus to bus, looking for one to take us back to the Beachouse. Luckily, he found one and we climbed aboard. Since we were one of the last to climb aboard, we were separated but ended up making friends (myself with a college student named Mary and Jonathan with a local sugarcane worker). It was sure interesting to hear all about Fiji from a native’s perspective. The people here are so wonderful!

The Beachouse

Bula from Fiji! It’s hard to believe that we were in the mountains of Colorado less than a week ago! Talk about extremes. We left Frisco during a snow storm and were worried about C-Dot closing the Eisenhower Tunnel. Now we are in island humidity, experiencing both heat and the torrential downpours that are typical of the wet season here! I can say without a doubt that neither of us have seen anything quite like the rain here. The other day there was about two hours of an absolute down pour. All the pathways here were literally streams! We probably saw more than twenty frogs hopping all over the place. What did we do, you ask? We joined the locals for a game of volleyball in the rain. The next day our arms were covered with bruises from continuously passing the sopping wet, heavy ball!

Attached you’ll see some pics of the place we’ve been staying. We feel very blessed to have found the place since others we have spoken with here say it’s probably one of the best places they’ve stayed. We’ve certainly met some great people. I’m pretty sure we’re the only Americans here! There are two things that set us apart here, besides being American. The first is we’re married. We haven’t met anyone yet that shares that with us. The second is that we aren’t on a “world tour”, sadly. Most are on their way to Indonesia, New Zealand, or South America and are at least traveling for six months, most for more than that. We’ve had a great time visiting with people from Finland, England (Nottingham), The Netherlands, and Canada. It has certainly been a great start to our trip. We love Fiji!!

Christmas w/ the Fam!

It's hard to believe, but our family Christmas has come to an end. We had such a great time together -- all nine of us packed in to our little ski condo! It was certainly great to be together; the time passed too quickly. We had lots of adventure: xc skiing, snow-shoeing (Leah & I mastered Mt. Royal), running in the snow (Dev & Trav), attempting to "snow skate" (Ethan) and an all-day ski adventure to A-Basin. We also made lots of time for relaxation: movies, Settlers of Catan, reading, and sleeping. Of course, no family get together would be complete w/out lots of great food. Now the family is headed back to the great state of WA...Dev & Laris head to Portland next week. It's less than two weeks until we depart to the land down under. So much to do before then :)...

Hook's Visit

We had a great time with Jonathan's parents when they came to visit. They came at just the right time -- hours before a major snowstorm!! We got almost three feet while they were here. Thanks to the fresh snow, we were able to go on two xc ski outings (one major 4 hour trek). Jonathan and his dad got our Christmas tree too -- a little Charlie Brown tree:). We decorated it together and then celebrated our Christmas early. Since all of our Christmas supplies are in a basement in Fort Collins, we went w/ the lights, candy canes, and 2$ Walmart ball ornaments:). We're going for "simple" this year!