Fiji

 We finally made it to Nadi, Fiji!  We were greeted at the airport by someone from the resort.  Made us feel so welcome!

 We got settled into the resort, and decided to go explore Nadi.  

Unemployment here is around 60% so we were told.  These were grown men, in the middle of the day, out playing.

The price of everything here was so cheap, and then add in the fact that we got $1.77 Fijian dollars to one of our dollars, made things really cheap!

 The grocery store was a little scary, and kind of dirty.  The ceiling was falling in, and there were buckets catching water from the leaking roof.

 I thought this building called "New World" was pretty funny.  Looks like we stepped back in time about 30 years!

 We hung out that evening at the pool, watching frogs and geckos.

 Next morning we had a cruise to Tivua Island. It was raining like crazy.  It's warm rain, so it's ok. 

 Dean insisted on getting his picture taken with Captain Cook.  Weird!

 Through out this whole trip, we just kept saying "can you believe we are here?!"  Here we are out in middle of the ocean, going to a tiny island in Fiji!

 We had amazing food cooked for us on the little island

 Ready to take a picture and our boat's captain decided to step in.  He was such a funny guy! 

 This is what that picture was supposed to look like.  Check out the mask imprints on their faces.  We snorkeled for hours, and still couldn't get enough!

 This is the glass bottom boat that shuttled us from the big boat to the island.

 After spending the day on this island, I'm not feeling so bad for Gilligan and the crew of the SS Minnow! 

I loved this island!

 The crew was great too.  They drove the boats, were the entertainment, and also the cooks.  Fun group!

  We got back to the resort in time to grab our bags and head for the airport.  

We loved our short time in Fiji!

Awesome trip!  Good to be home.

   Krista picked us up from the SLC airport, and Amanda was willing to let us come over so we could see those stinkin' grandkids that we missed so much!

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

While we were staying in Coolum, Caitlyn was staying with her friend Ari up by Brisbane in Bannockburn.  They went on a tree walk, saw the city of Brisbane, and got to see the Brisbane temple.  

 We decided that we would spend the night before we flew out in Bannockburn.  By doing that, we would cut the drive time from Coolum to the airport by about an hour, and it would also allow us to see the temple and a little bit of Brisbane.

 We got up early in the morning, dropped the rental car off, and got to the airport.  Going through security was a pain!  The evening before we had bought some Vegemite to bring home.  For some reason, security decided it was a threat!  They took it away from us.  But, they did let me take this picture in an area where cameras are not allowed.  As soon as we got past security, we could by the exact same jars of Vegemite.  Go figure!

 Ok, now we have paid for Vegemite twice, and been at the airport for about 3-4 hours.  The flight had to be delayed because of something wrong with our plane.  They made us wait for a couple more hours, delayed the flight again, and gave us food vouchers.  We treated ourselves to a really nice lunch.

 Several hours later, they cancelled our flight.  We were disappointed because we had spent the entire day just waiting in the airport!  Oh well.  After several tense hours, the airline found hotels for all the passengers, and got us on buses, and sent us on our way to several different hotels. 

Dean made friends with this guy named Paul Maiu from Papua New Guinea.  He works for the LDS church.  Great guy with a great story. 

 Our hotel happened to be about a half a block from the Brisbane temple!  Caitlyn went to an institute class at the visitors center, and Dean and I walked around the temple grounds.  (This time not in the rain)

 The buses picked us up from our hotel at 3 a.m. and we were finally on our way to Fiji.

 A very tired Caitlyn