The Final Chapter of this Adventure

The days in Oarsman’s Bay were deliciously slow.

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Mads and I went diving each morning and spent a lot of time doing as little as possible, while the girls had fun with the Czech girls – hermit crab racing, swimming, kayaking, playing.

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As our own resort was very basic, occasionally we would go to the larger resort next door to have a drink and a change of scenery, only to return to the calm of our homebase afterwards.

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One day during the week, a cargo ship arrived with materials for renovating some of the cabins in our resort.

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It didn’t take long for the children to spot an opportunity to have a different kind of waterworld. You would think someone might object to that (as would have been the case in Denmark, without a doubt) – but quite to the contrary, the crew more or less joined in, and made sure the girls had a buoy to hold on to in the water if needed. For a few hours the primary fun in the area was about jumping in the water from different heights on the boat. It was quite entertaining too. 😉

Back home, I remember someone advicing us against going to Fiji in the rain season. However, while we were there, we had rain only twice – once during the night, and one afternoon at a time, when it was rather welcome due to the heat. We had beautiful weather and a nice breeze during the day – the temperature was high, but not unbearable.

It was dark quite early in the evening, and soon after the sun had set, it was pitch black. The children didn’t stop swimming until the darkness fell, and by then, they went back to their hermit crabs and the attempts to find the fastest and most determined one of them.

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Living at the beach is great. Having sandy feet all the time, jumping into the water whenever you feel like it, and never worrying about getting wet, because you will dry within half an hour anyway. Of course, that calls for documentation. Look closely – Mads is photographing his feet and a drink – if you follow him on Instagram, you may recognize the motive.  😉

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Mads and I had some very nice dives there. Underwater rock formations, beautiful corals, and lots of different fish. Still, our last dive was in a league of its own – we encountered five different species of sharks, swimming closely all around us. It was an awe-inspiring sight, and definitely not something I have tried before, though I have a few hundred dives behind me. Awesome dive to finish off with.

 

Eventually, our week there had passed, and we had packed our bags and were waiting for the Yasawa Flyer to take us back to Nadi. I think we were all a bit sad about leaving this beautiful place, but at the same time we started to realize, that seeing our house back home again wouldn’t be so bad after all. Even Frida who had been looking forward to returning home, needed some sisterly consolation upon leaving Oarsman’s and their newfound friends. Goodbyes are hard.

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That same evening, we were back in the Raffles Gateway Hotel in Nadi. We had time for an extra swim in the swimming pool before dinner and bedtime.

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Now all that remained was a very early start the next morning before the flights home. Nadi – Hong Kong, Hong Kong – London, London – Copenhagen.

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26 hours of flying all in all. 11 hours of waiting in airports.

And bam. Back in greyish Denmark.

We’ve been back here for more than a week now – the kids are back in school, and Mads and I are back at our jobs. And what an adventure we have had together. I would totally do it again. Totally.

9 comments

  1. Megan says:

    Hi Astrid I have really enjoyed the travels with your lovely family. Isn’t Fiji great? Island time, it’s what life used to be like before we all got insanely busy. Rain in Fiji in the afternoon is something I remember from years ago when I was there, it rained like clockwork every afternoon then stopped about 45 minutes after it started. The shark dive is fabulous, poor maligned creatures, hunted to extinction for shark fin, totally obscene exploitation of our fellow creatures. My vet took his daughter to Fiji and they had a similar experience, he was very careful to put himself between his daughter and the shark so he didn’t have to explain it to his wife when they got home, so funny. They had a great time.

    • Astrid says:

      Hi Megan – thank you so much. I love that through my blog, we have had more people like you along for the journey. It has been an awesome adventure, and yes, Fiji is wonderful. I must say also, that I have completely fallen in love with New Zealand – I would very much like to go back there some day.
      We have been home for 2 weeks, and we are already talking about saving up to do something similar again, maybe in a few years.
      Thank you for coming along – I loved sharing.
      Hugs Astrid

  2. Di says:

    Thank you so much for sharing your travels! It’s been lovely to see all the amazing sights you saw in New Zealand…I am so glad you all had such a great time!

    • Astrid says:

      Dear Di – thank you! We have had an amazing journey, and New Zealand is such an amazing country to travel in. I am so glad that I managed to blog on the way, and it’s wonderful that more people enjoyed it. I know I will be coming back to my blog posts to relive the experiences we had.
      XO Astrid

  3. Rikki knab says:

    Astrid I have missed your posts. Been following you and enjoying your lovely family for a lit of years. I loved the vacation pix and commentary very much.. Your girls are growing up so beautifully

    • Astrid says:

      Hi Rikki – you are so sweet, thank you! I remember you from comments much earlier, when I was still blogging regularly. It’s just hard to find time for it in our busy lives. I do want to blog more, so let’s see if I succeed. Good to have you here! 🙂

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