ARCHIVES: SOUTH PACIFIC

SIGATOKA RIVER - SAFARI TO FIJIAN VILLAGE: The Fiji Islands
The 120 kilometre Sigatoka River flows between the central and western mountain ranges to the coast of Viti Levu, the largest of Fiji’s 333 islands. It is the major means of transportation to this part of the island’s interior. Emerald hills of lush tropical growth and shimmering marble cliffs that had seemingly been sliced by a mighty sculptor’s tool pass us by.

HAWAII’S COWBOY COUNTRY - HISTORIC PARKER RANCH: The Big Island, Hawaii
Surprising to many, Hawaiians were raising cattle long before their mainlander counterparts. Even today, four of the USA’s twenty biggest ranches flourish on the Big Island. So signing on for a cattle country tour, my hubby and I check out Parker Ranch, Hawaii’s oldest and largest.

STROLLING LEVUKA - FIJI'S HERITAGE CAPITAL: Levuka, Fiji
With her extraordinary past still harkening to the 1800's, Levuka snuggles on Ovalau Island's eastern side, just ten air-minutes off Fiji's mainland. Once the South Pacific's lawless 'black birding' center and popular with sailors, whalers and sandalwood traders, Levuka is easily Fiji's most picturesque town today.

TRADITIONAL BOAT BUILDING: Lessons In Environmental & Cultural Preservation in the South Pacific
My husband, Isaac Bingham won a Watson Fellowship to fund a year-long project titled Savants of the Sea: Boat Building on Two Sides of the Pacific. Although I am not a boat builder by trade, I was overjoyed participate in the project.

CELEBRATING THE ARTS & CULTURE: Maui, Hawaii
At Maui’s most Hawaiian hotel, the Ka’anapali Beach Hotel, Lahaina, Mike White, the enthusiastic general manager has encouraged his staff to participate in Project Po’okela (excellence), which stresses the importance of knowledge and pride in Hawaiian Culture and provides hospitality, helpfulness, respect and honesty, giving visitors an enriched vacation experience.

SURVIVING CYCLONE NARGIS: Mayanmar
When dawn broke, the gardens were a spectacle of utter devastation: royal palms chopped in half; bougainvillea trellises collapsed into the swimming pool; hundreds of ridge tiles shooting off the roofs and crashing into the pool and as far as the lake. The lake itself appeared through the dawn like an ocean, with waves streaking across it as the cyclone circled overhead.

LAND OF THE UNEXPECTED: Papua New Guinea
Patmos, a small island with about 2,000 residents, is one of the Greek Dodecanese Islands near the Turkish coast. It was once noted for its shipbuilding and trade and many of the traditional mansions have been restored. Today Patmos is known mainly for the Monastery of St. John the Theologian and for the pilgrimage at Easter, which attracts visitors from all over the world.