A quick boat ride

We've been looking at these small islands off the coast for a few days now.

It was a pretty hot day and getting out on the ocean seemed fun. A boat dropped some snorkelers off at the villa next to our cottage so we hired them to take us out for a view of the little islands we can see from our beach.

We can't decide whether to buy the first island with the house or to build a new one on the next island over :-)

More birds

Here are a few more bird photos. The multi-colored fruit dove was from Bobby's about an hour away. The Fiji goshawk was on the way back. The Fiji white-eye was on a morning walk and the frigate just flew by our cottage.

Fiji White-eye

Fiji Goshawk

Many-colored Fruit Dove

Frigatebird

Reef Heron

Birding the parking lot at Nadi international airport

We have a four hour wait to get the flight to Taveuni which is supposed to be the best island for birding in Fiji. The parking lot and Nandi airport isn't bad.

   

Common Myna

   

Red-vented bulbul

Red Avadavat

1993

Wow, it's been 23 years since our last trip together to Australia. We stayed for three months while Mike was on sabbatical at Sydney University. While it was work, you can't go to Australia without taking a holiday.

We are starting the planning now for a trip over the Christmas break. We've got plane reservation there, stopping in Fiji for a few days. We did that last time too. It breaks up the long flight and makes it easier to adjust to the time change.

This time, we leave on Dec 24 and cross the international date line and arrive Dec 26, skipping the 25th. The funny thing is we haven't bought tickets for our return flight yet.