Levuka Homestay, Ovalau, Fiji Islands

LATEST NEWS

Monday, 19 January 2009

Happy New Year to you all.

Well, the New Year started off pretty much the same as last year - not a lot of tourists coming to Fiji, and now with the "world recession", times will get tougher. Then, of course, to make matters worse, we have just had the worst floods for over thirty years in our beautiful country.

We are all fine, although 840mm of rain in 8 days is something we would prefer to not go through again. That was just here on Ovalau - in most other parts of the country, they got a lot more.

There was some minor flooding in town in the first couple of days, but after the drains were cleaned out properly, there was no more flooding. There were a few landslides around the island, which blocked the road for a few days, but that is open now. St John's College lost their water pipeline in a landslide - there is a frantic rush to get this repaired as school starts next week and they have about 350 boarders coming. Another village here lost its water tank in another landslide, but they are coping OK.

The whole of the western side of Viti Levu is devastated - flood damage everywhere. People have lost homes and /or everything they own. The farmers have lost all of their crops. About one third of the shopkeepers in Nadi Town have said they will not re-open. The problem is that 98% of shop owners are not insured - the insurance companies here make it almost impossible or too expensive for people to take out cover for flooding in these areas. Thank God for Red Cross and other NGO's who have stepped into the breach. It is going to take a long time for people to rebuild their lives. It is just fortunate that people here are very resilient and will bounce back.

So that was the bad news - time for some good news!!!!

Pusspuss - mother cat

In our previous life in Australia, we always had cats or dogs as part of family. Of course, there you have access to vets 24 hours a day and it is not that difficult to care for your pets. Here, in Fiji, it is a different story - you can count the number of vets on one hand (with a couple of fingers left over!!!!). So we made a decision not to have any pets in our home and have resisted the temptation to have pets for the last seven years.

Someone forgot to tell Pusspuss and she arrived just over three months ago and decided to adopt us. She has a scar from her front shoulder right through to her tail - looks like she was attacked by dogs. So what could we do? She's obviously a fighter and deserved some quality in her life.

However, she forgot to tell us she was pregnant and she presented us with three early Christmas presents - Dua, Rua and Tolu.

Three surprise packets!!!!

It has been an interesting experience right from the start. Marilyn, Matilda, La and John acted as midwives (and "mid-husband") and it has been a learning experience for all of us - new mother and kittens included.

In Australia and other first world countries, when you get a kitten, they are already a few weeks old and you miss out on watching their early development. For us, it has been a time of fun and continual amazement to see these three little bundles growing and displaying their own characters.

Who needs television when you can get the real thing!!!!

Click here for news on the construction of our home

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