http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/ Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:35:32 GMT BirdBlog http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=938 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:00:21 GMT Traveling http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=938 This afternoon, at dusk, we watched the flame torches being lit around the resort. A Fijian warrior runs around the resort, followed by children from the kid's club who are also dressed as warriors, and he carries a flaming torch that he lights the gas flames in almost all corners of the grounds. The flames look great at night, but they also help keep the flying insects down as the insects are drawn to the warmth and light and then get burnt - it seems to work as I only saw one mosquito - in the lift on the first day. A little different tonight was the special fireshow - after the torches were lit, and the sun had set, we were entertained by some Fijian women dancers, then some men dancing (or practicing their warrior moves, it was hard to tell), but as it got darker the men brought out their flaming torches, lit at both ends, and we were treated to a show of flame twirling and gymnastics. Daniel and Thomas were transfixed, and our front-row seats had a nearly uninterrupted view of the show. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=938 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=937 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:00:06 GMT Traveling http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=937 Each time I go on holiday to a location on the sea, I try to get a couple of dives in. I am a certified diver, so it means I can just hop on a boat with a dive group and they know my skills and experience. I had to wake at 6am so that I could be collected from the hotel at 7am to be driven an hour down to the coral coast to a [url=http://www.seashellresort.com/diving.html]remote resort[/url], along a bumpy road through some stunning rolling Fijian countryside. The resort was large, but ramshackle and dilapidated, and had obviously seen better days - my taxi driver told me that the resort was once very popular, but a change in management resulted in a huge downturn in visitors. I was taken to the dockside, and in a small shed I was introduced to the English couple who were owners of the dive school. When he looked at my diving log, he was amazed that my diving at Cyprus was during dates that he had worked at the same diving company. Then he noticed that I was diving in Thailand when he was working in the same town, and when I dived in the Maldives, he was also there. When I dived in Kenya, he missed me by a year, but in the UK he was running the diving club at Seaton - just round the corner from where I lived. He never worked in Hawaii, Bali, the Carribean, Florida or on the Great Barrier Reef - but it was very coincidential where our paths crossed. Once I was fitted for equipment, I had to have a quick "refresher" dive in the swimming pool to check that I still understood how to cope with problems without panicing (like loosing my mask or my airpiece), and then we had to walk along the mud flats to a small boat. We headed out towards the reefs that were just off the resort - only accessible by boats from Seashell Momi. I was with four other divers, from Melbourne. I looked at the dive sheet, which listed their names and diving qualifications, and a column for the number of dives they had done - for me it was 35, but for the others it was 200-450. The other four were all members of the same diving club, and had decided to go on holiday for the diving, so the resort was ideal for them. As they were more experienced, they did a deep dive with their guide, and then the boat moved off and I was taken down by another dive master for a dive on a more vibrant reef. It was great as I saw 5 sharks, a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionfish]Lionfish[/url] which I have always wanted to see, angelfish, parrotfish, butterflyfish, a shoal of surgeonfish, some morays and lots of other fish and coral. After half an hour I was low on air and had to surface, and we waited an hour on the surface for all the nitrogen to come out of our blood. We had a cup of tea and a freshly opened coconut, chatted about diving, and then repeated the process again - the four experienced divers did another dive and I was taken to another reef. This time I saw more sharks and another lionfish, and cornetfish, trumpetfish, starfish and too many more to mention. Too soon later, I was back on shore and rinsing off all the equipment in rainwater, and paying my bill! My taxi driver had waited for me, and I was then taken straight back to my hotel. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=937 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=936 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:59:50 GMT Traveling http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=936 We decided to take advantage of one of the features of the hotel that first attracted us to it, the Kid's Club. We booked the boys in for the 2-5pm session, and then Ann and I went off to have a massage together. It was in a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bure_(Fiji)]bure[/url] on an island behind the waterfall in the middle of the hotel grounds. The massage lasted for an hour, and was relaxing - although I have had better massages and felt more relaxed elsewhere, but it was still a good experience to have together. The boys had a great time - they went crab fishing on the beach, played games and did colouring. Daniel was too young to be left alone, so we had to have a babysitter stay with him, and although it was an additional expense, it was still good to let the boys have some fun without mum and dad constantly looking over their shoulder! http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=936 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=935 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:58:53 GMT Traveling http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=935 After last night's excitement (and lack of sleep) we all just wanted to laze by the pool. In the Radisson Denerau, there is quite a good focus on children - Daniel had a pool that was only as deep as his knees, and then Thomas had a small pool that was up to his waist, and then there were three more pools (all emptying in to each other, until they eventually ended up in a large decorative pond and waterfall. The highlight though was a waterslide - only short - which the children were going down every few seconds. It was buried into a decorative rock outcrop, so when children shot out of the tube, it looked like they were coming out of a rock face. Thomas was more nervous than Daniel, and so when I took Daniel down the first time, it encouraged Thomas to give it a try. He didn't like it the first time, because the end of the slide ended up in deep water and Thomas can't swim. Once we put some floaties (arm bands) on to him, he was a bit cautious but then he was off and able to eventually do the slide by himself. Daniel was not keen on the floaties, so we kept him to the two shallower pools or I went down the slide with him. The main pool has a swim-up bar, two large shaded areas and the main feature is that is has a sandy edge that allowed Daniel to play with his bucket and spade and for all of us to relax for the 5 minutes between having to chase after one boy going too deep, or trying the explore the hotel grounds. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=935 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=934 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:39:07 GMT Daniel http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=934 As it was nearly 10:30pm, we were all tired and tried to get to sleep. The boys were both excited and so they were constantly running between the adjoining rooms with their latest find. The room layout is quite clever, with a small lobby to two front doors, and the room on the left is a twin bedroom with an en-suite with bath, and the right room is a king size bedroom, large bathroom suite with an extra shower and a washing machine/driver cupboard, and a large lounge with a kitchen, complete with fridge, microwave, dishwasher and halogen hob. All rooms have a flatscreen TV, with a DVD player in the boys room and the main lounge area. If the rooms were not in a suite, they would be easily stand-alone, but with the entrance lobby, they are connected. It was nearly midnight before lights went out, and then every 30 minutes one of the boys wanted something - water, a teddy from deep in the luggage or to complain about the loud buzzing coming from the fusebox by the entrance to the suite. It was a very loud hum, so loud that it kept us all awake. We managed to get a little bit of sleep, until I was awoken by Ann shouting, "Daniel's bleeding and there is blood everywhere", and so I ran in to find exactly what Ann was reporting. Ann is not good with blood, and even worse when it is one of the boys bleeding. She was a white as a sheet, and Daniel was screaming - blood was in his mouth and all over his face, and pouring out of one nostril. There were splotches all over the sheets and pillows, and he was very concerned. I tried to stop the bleeding, but it was still going, and after 10 minutes I managed to get Ann vertical so she could call reception for help. The staff were very good, security arrived with a first aid kit, and the night manager was on the phone to a doctor, who advised me that if Daniel would not accept having the bridge of his nose being pinched, that ice would help - and the night manager rushed to get some ice and Daniel calmed down when the bleeding slowed, and the activity that was going on around him with the very friendly and nice staff. They even arranged to have his bedsheets changed and then once the bleeding was completely stopped, we put Daniel back to bed, and convinced Thomas that 4:30 am was not a good time to get up. We managed to sleep through the buzzing fusebox and got another 2 hours of sleep. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=934 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=933 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:51:07 GMT Traveling http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=933 We woke on Thursday at 6am, got everyone ready and then were off to Adelaide airport for our flight to Sydney within an hour. The Sydney flight was delayed a little bit as the airline refused to transport a person who was ill, and they had to remove them and their baggage. I was with Daniel and Thomas, and Ann had a seat to herself across the aisle - which was OK, as both boys were more interested in the view out the window at takeoff. It was only when the snack was served and Daniel was unable to get out of his seat, that he suddenly wanted to get out of his seat and got very restless. It was a real battle as Thomas just wound him up more, and with the tray tables down and lots of little things on the tables, it was very hard work. Ann managed to get a lap full of hot coffee in the few minutes that she was able to assist, but I told Ann that she would have to swap seats with me for the landing. When the time came, Daniel constantly screamed for me, and Thomas was playing up too, so I had to sit with them to keep them in control. The international transfer was relatively quick, but we were delayed at security because Thomas had decided that he would take the sun cream out of the baggage and put into his backpack, and security had to remove it (and just dumped it in the bin) before we could be let through. We were assigned a middle row of four on the jumbo to Fiji, and when we were queuing to board, we were taken forward to a shorter line for families. The crew decided to stop the practice as they quickly noticed that nearly half of all passengers were families with small children. We found our seats and then we were off. There was no opportunity for Ann or myself to read or to watch any of the in-flight entertainment, as it was still daytime and the boys needed constant attention. At least when they cried it was not unique in the plane as the flight was nearly completely filled with children crying in one way or another, particularly during the landing. It was already dark when we arrived, and we were the last family to get through passport control and nearly the last to get our bags through customs, but the transport to the hotel was waiting for us and we had a personalised bumpy ride to the [url=http://www.radisson.com/fiji]Radisson[/url] at Denerau island. We were greeted by friendly staff who took the boys for a ride on the luggage trolley, straight to our room, without any check-in or paperwork. When we arrived at our suite, it turned out that there was someone else already in the room, so we were taken back to reception whilst they sorted it out, and asked us to enjoy some complimentary drinks. We had some drinks, but as it was nearly 10pm, the boys were getting more difficult to control and we were all tired. We were then taken to another suite, which was just in the process of being made up, and then we started to unpack. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=933 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=932 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:34:23 GMT Thomas http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=932 Ann called me at work with a technical problem on the computer. It was hard to understand the problem and even harder for me to get Ann to follow my instructions. I then asked for Thomas to be put on the phone, even though he is six, he was able to change the cables at the back of the computer, follow my instructions on rebooting and then get everything working again. Maybe he is going to inherit my IT skills too! http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=932 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=931 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:32:32 GMT Work http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=931 Last week I had one of my closest colleagues come over from Brisbane to work with me in Adelaide for a week. She and I spend many hours on the phone working together and unfortunately she is on her own in Brisbane (no other IT people in the office) and so she spends most of her time on the phone to me or other colleagues. When she was here, we could just turn to each other and talk about what we were doing and we were considerably more productive. One evening I brought her over to meet Ann, Thomas and Daniel and we had dinner together, and then we went back to work through the night to complete our project to change 9 major systems over to a new Internet connection. A couple of other nights were spent with Kristina on the project and even an early morning - she had to call me to ask the alarm code to get in to the office at 6:30, and then when I arrived she was sitting in the dark because she could not find the light switches! It was a pity that she had to go back, but I am sure Ann is happy that I an no longer spending my evenings with a 6ft blonde 27 year old ex-model. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=931 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=930 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:26:29 GMT Daniel http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=930 Daniel is having proper conversations with us now. He can make himself understood and can ask questions. He still has not learnt colours - everything is green to him - but he can count up to 12 with no problem, although he likes jumping straight from 5 to 16 and he likes the teens. He will come up to our bedroom in the morning and ask for his milk, then go to the fridge and retrieve it so we can put it in the microwave. He has become so consistent that I have switched off my alarm during the school holidays as Daniel is my wakeup call at 6:21 each morning. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=930 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=929 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:23:38 GMT General http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=929 It has been a bit cold, rainy and windy for the last 3 weeks. At least we only have a couple more weeks left and then it should be warming up a bit when winter is over. It's been great for the garden, plenty of water, although the citrus trees in the pots have suffered with much of their nutrients being washed out and so their leaves are turning a little yellow. When it warms up a bit, I will give them a good feed so we get a good crop this year. With school holidays on us, Ann has been stuck indoors with Thomas and trying to keep him entertained. It's been hard on both of them, but Thomas has been largely well behaved - but Ann still wants the routine back... http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=929 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=928 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:20:30 GMT Thomas http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=928 Thomas has been playing Australian Rules football on some weekends, and for the last match, he was the team captain. It was great to see him acknowledged and for him to get the boost of being made the captain. The match was cold and wet, with plenty of mud and wind. Thomas didn't manage to get a touch, and the result of the match was a little disappointing at 68 - 0. Thomas was not too bothered at the loss though, he still enjoyed the game. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=928 http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=927 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:17:41 GMT General http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=927 It turns out that this website might end up closing. I renewed it last month, but it appears that I only renewed the website name and not the hosting of the website. The hosting has now increased from 29 pounds a year to 280 dollars a year. Added to that, the company that does the hosting (CheapDomain) "lost" my email address and so didn't notify me that renewal was due and they just decided to delete the website. I only found out that the website was not working when Ann complained that she had had no email for the last week. I managed to get a backup of the website recovered, but it was a couple of weeks old. When it was cheap, it was worth it, but a 500% increase means that if I cannot find another company to host this site, it will have to close. I have renewed for 12 months. http://www.wickham.id.au/birdblog/comment.php?entryid=927