The Adventures of Eloise and Abbey: May 2011

Bula ! We spent 12 days in Fiji in May staying at the Outrigger on the Lagoon on the Coral Coast. It was a great holiday and probably one of the most relaxing we've had since the girls came along !! This was probably attributable to there being a kids club which Eloise happily attended; the complimentary nanny service at breakfast and not really needing to leave the resort.

The resort ....

We stayed in a Plantation Bure and that was a great choice as it was not too far up the hill and not far from the kids club and pool and the best thing was the deck out the front of the Bure where the girls could play and swing on the hammock. It was also a great place to watch the world or resort go by. We do miss the daily Talai (butler) service where every afternoon at around 5pm our own personal butler would bring us a glass of champagne/beer and fruit juice for the kids and our canapes. And everynight after dinner we would come back to a small sweet offering with a glass each of some sweet apperitif.

Like father like daughter ... Eloise and Brett cactus after a long day of travel to get to the resort

Eloise and Abbey playing on the balcony ... not sure why Eloise is looking so dishevelled?!?

Hanging out in front of our bure

Hairdressers ...

One of the first things Eloise wanted to do was to get her hair braided. But we learnt our lesson from Bali and did not get her whole head braided as that was too uncomfortable when she wanted to sleep!

The pool....

The pool was where we spent the majority of our days. There was a great kids section of the pool and there were plenty of rocks, waterfalls and shallow areas that made it interesting for the kids. Eloise also really enjoyed the water aerobics every morning, although it was hard work for mummy having to carry her (because the water was too deep) whilst doing the aerobic workout.

Andrea, Dave and Lochie were also in Fiji, joining us for the last 7 days and it was incredibly hard getting Eloise and Lochie out of the pool.

With all that time in the pool, Eloise's confidence in the water grew, so much so that when she went back to her swimming class, her teacher Claire, was so surprised when Eloise finally agreed to put her head under water and to dive into the pool.

Abbey was a real water baby too and could not wait to get into the pool everyday. She would wiggle and squirm until you finally put her in.

Sometimes she even insisted on having her bottles of milk whilst in the pool and some her best naps were on the banana lounges by the pool. Ahhhh... what a life.

Kids Club and the Mei Mei (nanny) service....
Eloise enjoyed the kids club and went to a number of sessions. At three and a half she was probably one of the youngest ones there but she still really enjoyed the activities there such as face painting, collecting flowers and making craft, fish feeding, frog hunting and sand castle competions. And there is also a night session where they have discos and movies and Eloise whilst a little shy at first got right into the disco thing. There were also lots of friends to be made from the kids club and also just around the resort (either by the pool or at the restaurant).

Eloise was very impressed with her face painting from the kids club

Eloise and her new friend, Georgia

Dancing with the kids from Kids Club

Abbey was too young for kids club (you had to be over 3 to stay at kids club on your own) and she did not particularly like the Mei Mei nanny service either as she still suffered from seperation anxiety. So we only left her with a Mei Mei one afternoon and that was during her afternoon nap so that we could take Eloise kayaking and snorkelling. We did however use the complimentary nanny service at breakfast time so that we could have a few moments of peace to eat ...wish there was a mei mei service back at home !

Abbey playing at breakfast time with the lovely Va from the Mei Mei service.

Off to church ....

Brett had a brilliant idea of going to a church to listen to the Fijians sing as they are reknown for their great voices. So on a Sunday morning we walked to the nearest village (Malevu) to listen to some singing and we were not disappointed. The singing was fantastic and we were invited to attend their church service. The church choir was actually so good that they perform every Sunday afternoon at the Outrigger.

The church was a simple brick building and Eloise was intrigued by the kids and shared some of her snacks and toys with them.

The kids we met on the way to the village were very friendly.

Listening to the congregation from the visitor's pew.

Brett talking to Solomon (the village chief) outside the church

Eloise showing off her toys

The locals were very taken by Abbey and her fair skin

Burial plots are often next to the house. Here is one with ocean views !

The wildlife park ....

The Eco Wildlife Park was also just across the road from our resort and we visited on one of our rare mornings away from the pool. The kids were very excited to be able to get up close and personal and to pat and touch the snakes, frogs and chameleons.

"What is that?"

Arrgh...its a snake and its licking my toes!

To market to market .....
We also went into Nadi one day to check out the shops and the fruit and veg market. a shopper's paradise it is not but the market was interesting. There however did not seem to be as great a variety of produce as you would find in a market in Asia - there was eggplant, oranges, papaya, green jackfruit, bananas and a cart of sweets that looked very much like Indian styled sweets.

The locals were very keen to touch Abbey but the feeling was not mutual !

Spot the stall holder!

Walking around downtown Nadi.

Bananas ....

The girls have been deprived of bananas back in Melbourne due to the shortage of bananas after the Queensland floods. We could not get enough bananas for the girls at the buffet breakfast and resorted to buying our own. Eloise and Abbey would go through at least 2 bananas in the one sitting and Eloise would sometimes devour 8 of the small Fijian bananas in one day!

Eating out ...
Eating out with the kids is generally an event fraught with danger! We found that the kids were best behaved in the buffet styled restaurants because they did not have to wait for food and there was usually some form of live entertainment.

Dinner at Bedarra Inn

The happy group after dinner

Lovely waitress from the main restaurant who happily played with Abbey during our dinners

Abbey and the Meke ....
The meke is the traditional Fijian dance with singing and drums. On quite a few nights we had the Meke as our after dinner entertainment in the restaurant and we found out from that just how much Abbey loves music and that she has rhythm. She would work up sweat bopping away on her knees to the music. She was not yet able to walk or stand unaided at that stage but if she could have she would have been up on her feet and dancing. Abbey in fact became the entertainment because of her antics at the meke dances, with many in the audience tuned in on her!

The beach ....

Whilst the beach was more corally (well what do you expect on the Coral Coast?) than white and sandy, it however did hold lots of appeal. There was the fish hunting (and scaring)first thing in the morning, sandcastles, kayaking and snorkelling. The water temperature was very warm and warmer than the pool.

Fish scaring

Eloise's deep sea "treasures" .... having a Little Mermaid moment.

There was some fairly decent snorkelling right off the beach and whilst mummy snorkled, Eloise and Daddy took the kayak out for a spin. Unfortunately, Eloise was not a huge fan of the salt water as it stung her very sensitive exczema skin.

Kayaking

We also found out how agile one of the guys from the resort were. This poor guy from the resort, scaled up the coconut tree in no time to fetch the resort kite that Eloise accidentally let go! Kites must be expensive in Fiji !