Sandwiched, Skint, but Sweaty!

My life in never dull. I am an extremely organised person, I plan things well, I get things done. However, put the word 'Fiji' or the island thereof into the equation and everything I know and understand goes out the window.
It was great to fly Air Pacific to Fiji for a change- instead of arriving tired and half starved on Virgin Blue, I actually got a nice meal, plenty of drinks,a friendly young couple for company and watched movies all the way.... I arrived in Nadi on time and noticed the boys with the ukele are no longer singing - a budgetary cutback no doubt and my transition through customs was seamless. I push my trolley to the ANZ ATM to extract a wad of cash and turn around to seek out the eyes of my beloved, and of course he is not there.
I buy a quick phone card to make a call, as I will never have International Roaming again ( $1600 phone bill) and hear his quiet dulcet tones saying " I am just getting off the bus".
We catch a taxi to Hotel San Bruno, cheap, cheerful and very quiet. My boy has grown very hairy and a beard is something new to adjust to. We take off to an Indian restaurant in Namaka for Tandoori prawns and duck curry.
I wake to the glorious heat and sunshine of Fiji only to fall in a complete heap. I stay lounging on my bed while Chita runs around on errands. I have had a coughing virus which has worn me out and its nice to hand over to someone else for a change. I eventually get dressed and we head off to Port Denarau for dinner. We sit at one of the cafes on the esplanade and enjoy sitting outdoors.
Sunday morning I had planned for us to catch a boat to Castaway to lounge around the pool with my brother and his family. Not to be. No bathers, sarong and thongs for me. We arrive early to find the booking station besieged and only one place to the island - Castaway only takes 15 day trippers a day. Buggar. I should have booked it yesterday but could not move. Instead Chita says 'Let's hire a car' Part of me wanted to say - no bloody way, I am too tired, its going to make me more tired, and we will be driving miles I know it" and then the soft side of me - I love this man, why don't I just give him what he wants' and therein lies my biggest mistake. Do not overide the I am too tired, and I really don't need this button. We head off to Satellite cars from whom I will never, ever, ever hire another car. I hired a car for the day last trip and had to beat them down on price and conditions. This time, it was way too expensive, no give, and the cost horrendous. I gave in. Why oh why?
We drove to Lautoka to drop off a photo to Chita's daughter Ranadi; who was not home. Let's drive down to Votua and I can show you the renovations to the shop and no one will see us, so we can escape again.
I knew it. An hour and a half later we hit Votua, have a look at the shop -which is going to be great. The building has been extended, the roof is being redone, the bathroom and toilet block concrete foundations have been laid and it looks like the plans developed by Fabi (an Italian friend) and Dege, her partner, have been well thought out.
I have time for a quick swim and we are off.
Please can we stop in Sigatoka?
Okay. As we drive around the roundabout, a van and car appear on our left and block our turn. I stop and Mr Grog in his fluoro green four wheel drive, goes right up the back of us. I step out, and there is a dent in the panel as well as a dent in the bumper bar.
No I didn't do anything. It was already there.
We had not had a condition report so I wasn't sure.
Chita, get out and have a look.
There is a dent, but its not your fault, don't worry about it.
I drove back to Nadi in an absolute lather, repeating over and over to myself why do I do these things when I don't have money in reserve to pay.
Sure enough the fine print states driver is responsible for all damages even if caused by another driver. Driver is also to pay up to $4,000 damage. Great.
I head off to the Satellite office for a fight and of course try madly to getout of it, but they have my credit card details and I have to pay. I manage to take a few hundred off the bill and then I realise that once I have paid that + the balance in cash - we have no holiday fund.
I was livid, pissed off, frothing at the mouth, and when the guy from Satellite dropped my off at our hotel, saying 'See you next time Amanda' I muttered 'Not bloody likely' and let the bomb drop on my relaxed boy lying on the bed watching tv.
I am never hiring a car again in Fiji. This is the last straw! It costs a fortune and now I have to pay damages for something I did not do. We are now officially skint so forget daytrips and romantic getaways - we have no money.
Will you have to go home?
What? Miss ever resourceful has got Chita's mobile phone out and quickly texting two friends who knew I was already scraping the bottom of the barrell to go, and had offered financial back up. Lucky I have good friends...
Lucky I had already paid for the accomdation in Suva at the Quest appartments for a week, and lucky I had already bought some food, so we were not destitute.
I am so over this half life we have in Fiji. I don't get the tropical holiday, I get living a city life with Chita in preparation for Oz and getting the visa organised - boring paperwork. I want real holidays with my man from here on in. I am so sick of being financially strapped. I am so sick of budgeting. I am so sick of this drain on my time, energy and resources. Give us the visa please...
Can we please move on from this half life to fun times in Oz in December.
I have all my family, friends and colleagues going - when's he coming? As if its tomorrow. 'Soon' is my reply. Everything moves so quickly here in Oz, no one can believe I have had to wait this bloody long, and the Department of Immigration could stretch it out until December, or refuse us, or ask for more information and delay us and then its the Migrant's tribunal with a migration barrister or get married and wait for a spouse visa - spend more money and wait all over again.... I hope this prospective spouse visa works. Fewer hurdles to overcome were the famous last words of my migration agent.... we shall see.
Anyhow I spent the rest of the day flat as you can imagine and thought" Come on, get over it, you only have a week with Chita- try and have fun!
Chita really likes the Quest appartments as it feels like we live in our own little world, our own little pad, and we live like a couple. He wakes up early and makes coffee. Then he runs off to get the papers. I make him a cooked breakast. We lounge about. Plan our day - a walk - a shop - a trip to the pictures $5 thank god and cheap as chips. He loves watching television and is a complete remote control freak.
We talk a lot about what we want to do and I am happy knowing Fabi and Dege are coming on board with the shop. We have put so much into it, and I have had a real issue dealing with the fact I can't be there to help make it grow into a real cafe. It tortures me, but I am the breadwinner at this stage and have no choice. Fabi and Dege had a guest house with no lease and have been kicked out after 5 years of renovating the place, so they needed a place to stay. We have negotiated in true island style, a place for them to live on the beach strip while they in return renovate the shop and make some additions. They are also going to build two bures - one for them and one for us - so Chita and I will have somewhere to stay when we visit and we can also rent it out to people passing by which will be good.
We had lunch with Fabi and Dege in Suva on the last Thursday and I suddenly discovered we were off to the accountant to sign an agreement and I had only seen it for five minutes and told Chita we needed to discuss it further. Avoidance is great in the Fijian male, especially when they know there is going to be an argument and they just want to keep the peace.
I was again volcanic but managed to keep it under control during the meeting. The agreement was okay. However, discussions of partnerships and setting up companies threw me, as I had not even had a chance to get my head around how the shop is going to managed while we are in Australia. My gut reaction is to lease the business to Fabi and Dege for two years with a review.... I don't want to spend any more serious money until I am ready to get his wood fired oven bakery off the ground.
I was in turmoil emotionally. I want so badly to be in Fiji and get this up and running but we don't have the money. I want to build a two bedroom shack so we can live a simple life and we don't have the money. I am constantly supporting the shop, saving up for this visa, and then spending any potential savings going back and forth to Fiji -it has been the most testing time of my life and I advise others to think carefully.
Of course I love him, and want to be with him. I have tried so hard to get a reasonably well paid job in Fiji but with the coup - no go. I have tried to get grants- but they are no go. Its not meant to be at this stage. Chita needs to come here, and learn about my life and develop a work ethic which will help grow the business in Fiji.
I know I always go for a challenge and the challenges won't stop when he gets here.
How is going to cope with the cold in Tassie? Don't know.
What kind of work does he want to do? I am hoping he will give anything a go.
What if he doesn't like it? He is coming here to get married to me - Tassie is full of wineries, great places to visit and lots of great food - what's not to like?
You are going to find it difficult when he comes as he adjusts to life in Oz - Yep just like he had to adjust to me making blunders through his culture in the four months I stayed with him last year.
I have to stay positive- its my only hope!