Happy Thanksgiving from Fiji

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone From Fiji!

We are a day ahead here in Fiji, but we will be eating turkey too with cruising friends at the marina restaurant.   Our boat is in the trench and 99% ready for us to leave on Sunday for New Zealand.  For those of you curious about the trench, here are some photos:

Keel being nested in the ground, supported by tires.

For all the photos, go to our Vuda Trench Album on Picasa.

We have so much for which to be thankful.  Our first year of cruising has been an adventure which has been filled with new experiences, wonderful people, beautiful scenery, amazing wildlife, and some terrifying moments which we came through safe and sound.  Both Garyn and Abby have married and we now have two additional family members Jessica and Neal.  All seems to be well on the home front.  We miss you all, but will be thinking of you today and tomorrow.

We  just returned from a five day road trip around Viti Levu.  We trudged up sand dunes,

hiked through Mahogony Forests,

visited an ecopark where we made new friends,

 trudged up the hill to Tavuni Fort, cannibal stronghold, and were thankful to be here now not 100 years ago when indigenous people were not eating turkey for their feast,

Killing Stones.  Ugh!

 found three geocaches and three travel bugs off the beaten track,

Russ finds the cache

Lagoon View

 rubbed elbows with locals in bustling downtown Suva in the local markets,

 caught a show at the local theater ...Going the Distance with Drew Barrymore...hilarious romantic comedy, shopping in beautiful new malls

four wheeled on the King's Highway, (Fiji is a part of the British Commonwealth, but is currently suspended because of it martial law)

Questionable Bridge. We waited to see if some other car made it across before our attempt.

Traditional Bure

going through many local villages,

observing sugar cane production, and finally returning to Vuda Point Marina.

We'll catch up with everyone again once we start touring in New Zealand.

All is Well on Worrall Wind and with 2 Sail R's, soon to be the 2 Land Travel R's