Void of Inspiration

Throwing stones for cocoanuts

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Author

Arnaud decided he would spend the day scuba diving as Richard and I decided we would like to check out the waterfalls. Having missed the last bus we changed our plans to take a rather lengthy walk along the coast. We met with many things on the way, including a group of puppies and local children that loved nothing more than to walk with us for awhile and chat about life on the islands. I have never been more impressed by the scenery – it was like living in a picture book. The layout of the land I have only ever seen in National Geographic-like books and Google images. To top it off we tried very hard to knock down cocoanuts with stones. We were both able to knock one down but had no luck finding them in the undergrowth afterwards. Then, on the way home, a local informed us it’s nearly impossible to knock down a green cocoanut with stones. Such is life! We may as well opt for buying them instead!

Posted in Project | Visual, Project | Ellipsis | Tagged Fiji, Nadi, Taveuni | Leave a comment

The remote is going remote

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Author

For a change of scene a couple of us decided to head over to another island – Taveuni. Calling ahead we found out that I cannot take the 23 hour ferry with Richard and Arnaud, but I can fly there! So the boys went ahead yesterday and I flew out today. There is also one more catch – the island is pretty remote, so they use generators for electricity. This is a slight problem since they only keep the power on for about 5 hours. However, making a deal with them, they agreed to provide me with power and internet through the night while I work for a reasonable fee. The flight was fantastic and the pictures incredible. It looks like we will have a spectacular time with epic crystal blue waters.

Posted in Project | Visual, Project | Ellipsis | Tagged Fiji, Nadi, Taveuni | Leave a comment

Oh man, you’re a legend!

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Author

Today Arnaud, Richard and I got to the beach a bit late in the day. It was a good thing we did because as we sat down to relax I noticed that a boat had broken loose and washed up on shore. Richard and I went over to help Yuri – the owner – push it back out to sea as he was having quite a bit of trouble with the rough surf. We got it pushed out a bit and went back to shore, only to realize it wasn’t enough, the boat was coming back in. We once again headed out to help Yuri but this time they lifted me onto the boat to help navigate toward the buoy where Yuri wanted to secure it. The guys pushed from behind as I steered them in the right direction and unraveled rope to attach the boat. Once we were close on the buoy, Yuri swam out and secured the boat. To our surprise he is the owner of one of the adventure agencies in the area and as a thank you to us for being so helpful, he offered us a free trip for any package adventure we would like! Richard and I are very excited about the prospect of going either hot air ballooning or jet skiing when we return to this island. Hopefully we can do it!

The boat challenge was awesome and allowed us enough time to get back to shore and photograph Arnaud playing the violin to the sunset. We had a scare that Richard lost his only pair of flip flops but Karma was definitely on our side because some unknown person was kind enough to move them up the shore before the surf got them. We eventually found them, which made the night simply perfect.

“Can you know all about the world without changing it? The answer is simple: No, you cannot.”
– Tor Norretranders, The User Illusion

“Mess is a kind of order that is so rich in detail that it is a mess.”
– Tor Norretranders, The User Illusion

“What is done by what is called myself is, I feel, done by something greater than myself in me.”
– Ludwig Boltzmann, quoted in The User Illusion by Tor Norretranders