sonny photos

Last day in Fiji and we finally visit the Sigatoka Black Sand Dunes

long climb up to the top :-) we've heard/read about the dunes system and beach with surfing below. Although for surfing, it does get very windy most of the time, not today. And when I talked to the guy who runs a surf camp behind the sand dune in the village, where you can rent boards etc... he told me the surf does get good, and that not everyone that surfs gets bitten by a shark, and then he runss through the list of injuries surfers have suffered, yeah, the Japanese guy got bitten on the hand, but its ok, he did not lose all his fingers, the Brazillian guy went back to brazil with a piece missing from his leg, and on he went, really selling the place he was. The clincher, but don;t worry if you want some protection from the shark, for an extra 10 dollars, you can "rent" one of my cousins who will come out the surf with you, and act as "bait" to distract the sharks while you surf, over his shoulder I could see about 3-4 of his cousins drawing straws to see who gets the short straw. But I did not need a souvenir of Fiji that badly :-) am content with just watching the view from up here instead

King of the castle go knock him of his perch girls

queen of the dunes :-) my first time on black sand beach, ever since I saw the movie Piano, I always wanted to go and shoot on a black sand beach loving how the colour pops against the black sand I like, as a photographer, how some people see different things, like in this case, Jacqui saw the black sand sticking to the bottomw of the kids feet.




thanks Fiji. Off to the airport now.
And night time flight, so won;t be boring you with countless cloud photos.

A visit to Kula Eco Park Sigatoka

but first lunch at one of our favourite little indian restaurants on the way to the park

smiles all round

new hed piece :-)

Love the colour on this snake, golden brown

Rainy Sigatoka Day

but still lots of colour

you get the feeling that rain does not dampen the Fijians spirit

Earth Day at Shangri-LA Fijian Resort

Fred i think was his name

Oni from the Fijian Marine center, making sure everyone has signed in and the local students come down to help plant seedling to create a new mangrove section on the lagoon side of the resort seedlings, waiting for a new home on the low tide

lots of volunteers today as well



Moses, from the marine center,  shows how it is done girls get into it







group shot back on the lawn, presentation, where Belle & India get a certificate for all the volunteer work they have, not just this trip, but everytime we come here ( planted mangroves before and built the coral houses for new fish to colonise )

celebration time Earth day, because there only one !

We Love Tom Lu's restaurant in Fiji

Abd Jacqui loves her lobster ( but not hands on ) India loves her too ( hands on ) I opt for the mudcrab hands on :-) yummy

A day at the Shangri-La Fijian

Nemo Coco India has a new friend

Kenny checking out Nemo





inquisitive minds, love it so many fish Kenny watches on as Kristy finally musters up the courage to put some goggles on and have a peek under water later tht afternoon, Jacqui returns from her Stand up paddle session

and the kids still in the pool sweet memories from a fun holiday

Cloudbreak again for another session, and seasnake as an extra guest

went to surf cloudbreak again ( will post a video soon, once I get around to editing it )but this time just with Kenny, no kids and no girls
And the great thing was there was no crowds like lasttime when there was about 50 guys out. Me, Kenny and 3 hawaiians Kenny went back to the boat for a rest while I surfed on, and we had an extra guest on board, a poisonous seasnake While I was out in the water still, I could see some sort of commotion going on, Kenny standing on the seat and getting a broom ( why there was a broom on this small boat beats me ) and scopping it up to get it overboard again back in its natural habitat the look on one contented man, his first surf out at Cloudbreak and heading back to the mainland later that night, Kita gets her hands on the camera and takes some photos when we are out at Tomlu's for dinner

Some watercam shots - Fiji days

love this shot, they spent so much time in this pool in between snorkelling in the sea aaahh....cloudbreak while I'm out surfing , the girls try to ctch a few on the side

Belle's paddling out :-) This is when India was going out on the jet ski to come get me, " as long as you go slow" she said to the driver hehehehe, as if :-)

poor Bellie, little whitey that she is can;t stay in the sun too long after surfing and snorkelling most of the day, it's time to head back to the mainland

back at the resort, straight back in the water to check out this awesome fish, was a big one and further belwo, deadly stone fish

deadly sea snake, but don't worry, they have tiny mouths back in the pool, the other Vandevelde's Kita & Kenny oh my gawd, its the KKK, KennyKitaKristy ( funny colour is the colour pop setting on watercamera, i know , bit o.t.t. )

scary dude in the water

Planting with OISCA at Sigatoka Special school

As well as our holiday activities, we like to get involved in other things, like planting some needed trees at the local school and get veggie garden going as well the resort we stay at is very involved in the local community for every room that is booked at the resort a fee of 10 fijian dollars is already in coporated into the roomcharge, which goes directly back into the local community for projects like this one, supporting the locals schools

The students listen to one of the representatives from OISCA Japan  ( The Organization for Industrial Spiritual and Cultural Advancement International )





Evan finds a good spot for his tree seedling well just looking at it is not gonna do anything Evan

holidays = new friends and not having to worry about the cleaning :-) erm... Evan ?















group photo


Oni time for the balloon dance :-)

Sigatoka Markets, Fiji

the all important Kava that'll last for a few ceremonies

Evan just loves going shopping with girls, especially souvenir shopping hehehe The broken railway bridge that used carry the trains transporting all the sugar cane, shame they did not fix it, a lot more charm watching the sugar cane train roll past, as opposed to the trucks boom past on the road back at the resort in time for another sunset spot the fruit bat