Our work in Fiji in this round will last for 14 days. We departed Brisbane on 6 October and return on October 20. One of my colleagues – Dr David Nutchey is joining us in the second week in Lautoka. We are very grateful for his time and commitment towards this project. We do the first week in Sigatoka. The basic model is a 2 day PD session with 10 schools at each venue followed by visits to schools.

Well, we arrived with our boxes to the Brisbane Airport.  Fifteen laptops in all – all packaged and weighed. David was going to bring another 10. I calculated each laptop including the bag to be 3.5kg. Well I was wrong. The scales at the airport saw them differently. They were a good 2-3 kilograms over – including my suitcase. New rules are – if they are over 23 kilograms – it is charged as an extra bag (unless you are someone special – All men are equal but some men are more equal than the others – George Orwell was right). Even though I had paid for two extra pieces of luggage – I was told that I was overweight (bags not me this time). So I took out my violin and played it well – told her what I was trying to achieve in Fiji and so she charged me for one extra bag. Thank god – the world still has some people who have a heart. Arriving in Fiji was fine – no issues with any customs duties.

On the way to Sigatoka, we found some green-gold (green mangoes). The best way to enjoy them is with chillies and salt.

Fiji “aam” or Fiji mangoes (this is how they look because they have not been treated with any chemicals)

Ready to eat with salt and real birds eye chillies

You need a good knife to peel and slice them