Io

It's a sunny day, not too hot, and I found a parking spot downtown. I'm going to take a couple of gals to Nadi today as soon as I'm done here.

Last night the Raintree was full, but for $2.50 more I got in the "small dorm" which turns out to be twice as nice, having tiled floors, a TV, kitchen, chairs, and clean(er) sheets. The bathroom is accordingly nicer too, though the hot water only lasted for 10 seconds and then was off for two minutes, then on again. So I had a long shower. There were womens underwear strewn all over, but I didn't see any women come to collect them.

This morning I stopped at McGoons to get my laundry. It was all done, folded, and even pressed. I uploaded all the pictures to my computer, so I can delete them from my camera and mess with them later. They take up a lot of space though. Like a gig for 186 pics at 5 megapixels. I don't know if that works out. As you can see from the sample, only about 10% of my pictures are worth keeping at all.

But I should have a lot of time to mess with resizing them on the computer, because it looks like I'm sailing to Australia.

After stopping at the Australian High Commission (embassy) this morning, and waiting like at the DMV, I got an EST or whatever. A visa. I asked the lady what was needed, and she said just give me your passport and wait for me to call your name. 25 minutes later (after watching Fijian parliament on TV) I had the deal. Free of charge. So Australia's cool again.

By the way, it looks like the yachtie is South African, not Australian. He's on his umteenth trip around the world. The actual owner of the Yacht (a 30 something foot catamaran called something like "De Jatger") had to fly home to take care of business. I guess that's what you do on around the world trips anyway. Park the boat and fly home every once in a while and take a few years completing it.

We talked for a few minutes while he loaded up with fuel, I helped him fill the spare diesel cans and water, hauled out the trash, went through what a typical day would be, and he said he's satisfied. He's interviewing one other guy, and we'll meet tomorrow at 4 for beers at the yacht club.

He's got computers on board and hopes to use my skills for something. So I'll take mine, and some books to keep me occupied. I'll work on a consulting website, and keep a journal that I'll try to upload when we stop. He's got a bit of fishing tackle, a rubby dinghy and a little plywood boat called "firewood." I'll probalby take all my stuff. I need to get some more shorts if I can't get my other pair back, and he says to pick up a waterproof jacket in case of squalls.

Now I'm going to go look at a property on the Coral Coast, drop the car (and girls) off in Nadi, and take the bus back here tomorrow morning. I'll try to get some pictures of Fiji before I go, but I'll still have a couple weeks to a month left when I get back. Hopefully hit Kadavu, Taveuni, and the security guard's home island of Yacata.