The Spectator

I was recently accused by a cousin of being a “media flirt” - I appreciated the restraint in her language.
It was not long ago that I was described in a feature article in a national paper as “lacking the physical attributes of an Olympiad.” Whilst I could argue that it is true - I don’t [...]

We’ve all done it a hundred times - it’s the annoying fire drill. Even at school when it meant 20 minutes out of class chatting with friends on the oval, I still found fire drills annoying - the having to get up, make my way outside in whatever the weather of the day was and [...]

There are a few things I have been asked repeatedly about Fiji and what I’m doing over here, so perhaps they will be of interest to a wider audience…
Q. Is Fiji bidding for the Olympics!?
A. No - Fiji has an Olympic Committee to do the administration for sending Team Fiji to the Olympics - just [...]

Yes, I know I’ve been a slack blogger. It’s been pointed out to me a bit lately too.
There are a few reasons for it, but mostly it comes down to laziness. Having said that – here are my other excuses:
Slow and/or unreliable internet connections
At home, our wireless modem receives one or sometimes two bars [...]

I seem to be making a habit of leaving a country of residence in the week of high drama. Whilst I was technically still in Fiji for this coup (can you call it a coup if it is the same guy taking over again?), I was ignorantly finding Nemos among the brightly coloured coral of [...]

It has been a hectic last few weeks. I only made it through 6 days of a 10 day in-country orientation before I had to take a wintery sojourn to the USA for Hunter and Sarah’s wedding. After a whirlwind (and very fun) trip to LA-Vegas-Utah-Vegas-Nashville, I’m back in Suva as of 3 days ago, [...]

I had not heard great things about Suva before I came here, so my expectations were pretty low. Having not got out to any of the real tourist destinations yet (ie the islands), I probably didn’t have the same point of comparison, but I think that was to my initial advantage. I was very pleasantly [...]

Nadi was the first stop for orientation - it’s where the international airport is (about 4 or 5 hours drive from Suva), and since we arrived on a Friday, we spent a couple of nights there getting acquainted with and learning the subtle differences between Fiji Bitter and Fiji Gold.
I have been really slack in [...]

Maybe not, but I’ll do my best.
I’m heading to Fiji at the end of February for my next adventure. Despite having the word “Olympic” in my job description, Captain Straya will be staying home.
I’ll be replacing the Captain’s uniform with my serious cap to spend the year as the Media and Communications Officer for the [...]