When waiting in line at the US Embassy in Singapore, Cheri and I heard as several people in our same predicament were turned away and told to return the following day. Our visit to Indonesia had completely filled our respective passports and we were scheduled to fly to Australia the following day. We were called at 3pm, laid out the situation for the friendly embassy woman and we were told to come back in thirty minutes to receive our passports complete with extra pages. Thirty minutes rather than a full day? Not bad!
In Australia, Cheri and I rented a campervan. We drove to Byron Bay, hiked a surprisingly grueling Mt. Warning and enjoyed beach time and blending in. For the first time in months, we could walk down the street without drawing too much attention. We did get a few looks when be broke out shampoo, body wash and towels when using the showers at the beach. Though we could cook for ourselves, sleep when we wanted and go where we wanted, getting clean in the campervan required ingenuity. When returning the campervan, we broke the 10 hour drive into two parts. We got going early on the second day, went to a few "urban Koala sites" with no luck. The only stereotypically Australian animals we managed to see were a roadkill Kangaroo and a caged Koala. Too bad. After failing to spot Koala's we were on our way to Sydney again. Time was ticking away as traffic thickened and it seemed that we'd miss our deadline for returning the campervan. We called while in traffic, filled the tank, washed the van, packed up and got to the site twenty minutes late. Because we'd called and been friendly, we were allowed to stay late, clean up and avoid any late fees. We had seriously worried as the van involved a bit of financial splurging to begin with. Paying for an extra day for only twenty minutes' use sounded awful.
Now that we're in Fiji, it seems as though we're benefiting from kindness Karma. Everybody here is so frienly and inviting. We spent a few days in paradise on Mana Island. We enjoyed Kava (a local drink) and local singing, dancing and cooking while celebrating Cheri's 26th and our 2 1/2 year anniversary.
Tomorrow we fly to New Zealand where I hope to be able to upload some pictures of this gorgeous place. Unfortunately, our visit to Fiji coincided withe the Fiji Peace Corps close of service conference so again we missed out on seeing Peace Corps villages.
Maybe in Chile or Peru?
Love to all.
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1 comment:
I too have always thought of Fiji as paradise.
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