A Livy to Love!

Currently making videos out of my photographs so am busy, but in the meantime, for today's post, check this out:



Livy is our friends Opi and Julie's youngest daughter.  Man, our next generation is doing us so proud the way they're turning into such spectacular and talented human beings!

Favourite Tribes!

Let's have a look at some of the HK7s tribes for this year.  Actually, let's not.  I'll do a slideshow of the best costumes to stick in here later and in the meantime, just show you a couple of my favourite shots:

And let me show you my absolute favourite:

OK, that's it for now.  I'll go into my photos and put together a slideshow of the costumes and get back to show it to you later:

Love? Truly THIS is the greatest party on earth.

Designated Correspondant for HK7s

I've been asked to update on what's happening for Fijians NOT in HK this weekend.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Well, Kai Loma, it's 3.00 pm Friday, and the gates open at 4.  I'm running late and so counting on Alisi-the-Well-Organised to get in there first and claim our usual seats in the West Stand. Go Alisi!

Alisi! 

Last year!

This sainted lady arrives early and drapes Fiji flags over the West Stand's front rows of seats ... right next to where the players come off the field so we can get autographs.

All the Kai Viti and Kai Loma race to grab these West Stand seats, although the naughty ladies always sit in the North Stand ...

... so they can watch the players do their warm-up stretches. Can't take us anywhere, ay?

Spot the Fijians!

Have to leave shortly because it's proving impossible to get taxis if you're wearing your rugby colours.  Man, those taxi drivers. They boycott us! Three years now!

 Taxis at the Stadium.
Some suitably tricky folk get lucky.

If you're wondering why they hate us, it's because, three years ago, the bloody English supporters (aka hooligans!) had a competition to see who could vomit the most in a HK taxi and now all the drivers want payback on all obvious rugby fans.  Cheesh! Get over it you guys!

It means you should leave very early to catch the tram and then trudge up Caroline Hill - good to do because there are all these elderly Chinese flag sellers on the way - or trick the taxis into stopping by covering up your clothes and stashing your flags for the journey.

Off now, and will update tonight.  However, you'll have to wait until Monday or Tuesday for me to post the photos up on Piccassa.  (I'll paste up the link so you can go in and take the ones you want.)

FRIDAY NIGHT

Isa gang!  Too tired to write much.  Good day. The only bad thing was the 40% more corporate boxes than in the past so there's hardly any room for "real people".

East Stand

See how the corporate boxes used to be only the middle tiers but now they've taken up nearly all the bottom tiers on both the West and East Stands so the only place we can sit these days is up in the top tier and in the South and North Stands where you can't see the play properly.

And the other thing that wasn't good was the prices for food and drink.  Met my friend Angus ...

... the waiter from one of my usual haunts and I paid him what I regularly pay and he was most ashamed to tell me the price was nearly double.  However, he did say he'll make up for it with freebies next time we meet away from the stadium.

Apart from that, it was non-stop fun. Fiji couldn't get it's usual place in the West Stand because of the corporate boxes but we dominated the North Stand:

Go Fiji Go!

The only Friday game we played was against "Minnows" Thailand and it was a massacre.

Double-click to see the score.

The only score the Thai got was spectacular; a run down the entire length of the field and a touchdown ... but the Fijians were with them all the way and just "girly touching" the shoulder of the Thai guy doing the run, like they were letting him know that they could take him down anytime they chose ... only they weren't choosing.

Apart from that, Samoa slaughtered Italy, NZ murdered Taiwan, Australia stomped all over China, Kenya beat up South Korea and England trounced Hong Kong, which was really mean because they could have let us get a try. Just one. Just like all the other Giant teams did to their little guy opponents.

Evenly matched games were Argentina vs Russia (A. won in the end) USA beat Portugal but it was close, Wales finally beat Japan in the last few minutes, France beat Scotland by one try or something.

And, can you believe it, Canada beat Tonga.  Canada beat Tonga!

That was a big dramatic game.  Here's what happened:

He didn't move for ages.

For the longest time we thought they'd killed a Tongan.  For ages, the game stopped but, as he was being stretchered off, he started to move ...

... amid cheers, roaring and clapping from the stands.

And then there was the women's finals: Australia vs China:  it was a brutal walk-over.  Talk about mad-cheering and yelling yourself hoarse. Nice revenge, I thought, for the Howard Stern/Rio Tinto trial currently underway in China.

Here's me trying to be all arty and vengeful during the prize-giving:

Note the Australian flag 
above the Chinese.

Try taking a photo with 
those in the other hand!

And then, very shortly after,  downstairs on the concourse, I bumped into the losing China team:

 Feeling like winners just being there!

These fabulous girls were so thrilled to be at the 7s they were doing the rounds of the stadium to get a feel for the atmosphere. And just being in HK meant so much to them.  They were just the sweetest darlings I felt terribly mean and heartless that I'd been so wildly cheering against them. See that's the problem with wanting revenge; it works so well in your head but seldom translates well into real life.

At that stage, the day was almost over. We left just as Zimbabwe was jumping all over South Africa. Sad to miss it (turns out South Africa got it together and won decisively so it would have been amazing) but you have to sneak off early in order to escape the mass exodus on Caroline Hill.

Oh, and here's something cute.  The sweetheart little boy behind us, sitting quietly with his parents, was wistfully watching the naughty boys around him trying to throw paper planes between the goal posts, so Christine suggested he try it and gave him cardboard to make a plane.  And he did and threw it and immediately got pounced on by a security guard who thought he was responsible for all of them, and even though the guard was very nice - they've had niceness training this year in preparation - the little cutie-pie was just so humiliated he slunk back to his seat all tiny and ashamed. Since it was our fault he got in trouble, I called the guard back and asked him to pose with the boy for a picture.  This was it:

Good friends!

The little boy was completely thrilled and from then on called us "Aunty" and kept offering us food and drink. Cute, la!

So that was Day One.  Sorry I didn't record the scores or the rest of the important stuff, but if you want to know you can google for the results.

And below us, on Lockhart Road, the party continues:

One drink and we escaped the boozy crush.  Tomorrow is another day and we're in it for the long haul so have to pace ourselves.

SATURDAY NIGHT

Sorry gang, again too tired to write much at all.

Here's the scoreboard so you can figure it out for yourselves:

Big photo so you can read it.
But double-click if you want 
to see it bigger.

And something weird happened to my camera for over an hour - but then it righted itself again - so the funnest part of a terrific day is all strange colours, but you can work out what's happening anyway:

In the pink.

All the drunk teenagers invading the pitch at half time, with the security officers chasing them and looking foolish and all the while knowing, because we were told many times over the tannoy, that anyone who did it would be arrested.  Drunken teenagers, ay! Should do a post of them on the concourse getting steadily drunker over the course of each day.

All up, it was an amazing day, with Fiji slaughtering Portugal and USA each in turn, with the victory over USA being particularly gratifying as it was done with only six men on the team after Roko was yellow carded and Fiji penalised.

And I couldn't get over Roko's behaviour.  Only last year he was so sweet and humble but this year? Did you see? First he spear-tackles the American - and that's banned because it kills people - and then, when he was rightfully sent off, he throws a bottle of water at the camera filming his walk of shame. It took only one year from Sweetheart to Total Celebrity Monster.

I just hope it wasn't our sweet honey-pie whose camera got splashed:

Fiji's good friends

in the HK press corps.

But nonetheless, temper tantrums aside, it's looking good for our chances for the cup.

Yayyy! Go Fiji.

And congratulations to Alisi for managing to again score such great seats in her usual place:

No corporate boxes are 

a match for A Determined Alisi.

Oh, and there was another 'dead Tongan' on the field today.  This has always been one of the world's great teams and yet this year they're all keeling over and staying down at the smallest tackle.

Stands to reason they're losing to everyone this year, even the lowliest.  Went to join the Tongans for their first game yesterday so I could yell myself hoarse on their behalf but I quickly had to slink away so I didn't witness their shame.  And I avoided them for every game thereafter.  Something not-good is afoot in Tongan rugby.

But that's good news for Fiji.

Yayyyy! Go Fiji!

  

SUNDAY NIGHT

Congratulations Samoa on winning the tournament.

 Prize giving!

And a genuine congratulations to Hong Kong for winning the Plate:

Go HK!

MONDAY MORNING

Genuinely too tired to write last night.  Still am. And I'm hoarse. Will tell you all only not today.

However, guess who we met?  Since you'll never believe me, check this out:

The great man himself.

Wasale Serevi!

It was the most enormous thrill. So unexpected.  We were just about to leave the stadium after everything was over and just saw him walking towards us.  Isa! Unbelievable, ay?  I just grabbed him and whoa! Total colo! Blathering on about how amazing he was etc, etc, etc.

Keith too was beside himself with pleasure. (And please note that Keith is being very treacherous and wearing an All Blacks T-shirt.  He does things like that, especially when he's hanging out with the Fiji supporters.) And Blue Beauty is Mere Hudson from Yacata Island.  I know because Merlyn Jamieson told me when I proudly posted this photo at a Fiji website.  We'd never met Mere until this moment but, as she was leaving the stadium, she saw us talking to Wasale and dashed over all breathless and excited and even more colo than me, asking for a photo with him as proof. And then she dragged him off to meet her friends so she has more proof than she ever needed.

And I'll have to tell you something about something so shocking that I have to have proof before you believe scandalous information I intend to impart:

Did you know Treacherous Levuka cheers for anyone:

 Japan.

And this was when they 

were playing HK too.

Talk about dissing your hosts. 

 Taiwan.

 USA.

And this is only a small selection of the photos I could show you. Whatever happened to being all partisan and biased like we right-minded folks!

TUESDAY MORNING

Hong Kong is overjoyed at our Plate victory.  Front page stuff even in the Chinese newspapers. Of course, we all know that the Plate is awarded to the best of all the third ranked teams but HK isn't being told that and everyone is so very excited Samoa's Cup Victory isn't getting much of a look-in. Front page, sure, but winsy little photos down at the bottom, placed so it looks like the Cup is lower or equally ranked with the Plate.

But who can blame us for spruiking this up as seriously big news because is that this is the first year we've even won more than one game - must be the training camp those nice All Blacks set up for us - and also the first time the general public has even known about HK7s.

In the past, this wonderful Tournament/Party was really "Gweilo Ghetto" stuff - something strange Foreign Devils got up to once a year - but not any more. Everyone knows and is so proud that Hong Kong invented a game the entire world loves, and there are even elderly Chinese who bring chairs out onto Caroline Hill to watch the passing parade of fancy-dressed partying-hordes on their way down to Wan Chai or Lan Kwai Fong to keep the party going.

 We make the evening's entertainment.

And the upshot of this now being common knowledge is that you no longer feel like a total idiot the further you get from the stadium.  In the past, you got so stared at with such total incomprehension, you quickly tried to hail a taxi to get off the street:

 Mind you, seriously,  
away from the stadium
 how silly is this.

 Or this.

Or this.

 Or this.

 Or this.

Actually, this one is dangerous.

Now, however, this year, the sillier your costume, the more likely you are to have Mainland Chinese pouncing on you, wanting to get photos.

"Hey, don't leave me you guys!" 

he kept shouting at his increasingly distant friends.

And even International Tourists who'd never heard of the HK7s wanted photos.

American guy get's into the 7s.

Or is it just a 7s supporter.

I really should be telling you about the games and who beat who, but I won't.  Google if you want serious reporting.  I'm just talking about the stuff you won't see elsewhere.

Oh, and here's something you most likely won't read elsewhere.  Everyone boo-ed the French this year because they were behaving horribly and there was a massive punch-up during the French vs Portugal game, with the French starting it.

And other insider news is that this year the Australians were hardly boo-ed at all.  As you know, there's been a long tradition of boo-ing the Oz team - 17 years, I've now learned - because they used to "sledge" the other teams, which they stopped doing when they were told it wasn't in the spirit of the game, but HK has never forgiven them ... although it appears that they might be starting to, especially if the French are to be the future recipients. 

Yayyyy!

Oh and another piece of seriously good insider news is that, on Friday, they tried to change the 7s 'between matches' unofficial singalong theme song "Ooooh Baby, Ugh Augh!" to something else more melodious and modern, and everyone didn't let it happen and kept singing "Ooooh Baby, Ugh Augh!" over the top of the other song ... and by Saturday "Ooooh Baby, Ugh Augh!" was reinstated.

Go People Power!

So that's it for another year.  I will be posting a few more times on this year's 7 - drunk teenagers on the concourse for example - but that'll be it for 2010.

So Kai Viti and Kai Loma, vinaka vaka levu for a fantastic time, and Moce Muda for another year. 

See you next year.

Hong Kong Sevens

Not around for the next three days.  It's the Hong Kong Sevens and I am BUSY!!!  Yes!  Those teams don't just cheer themselves you know!

And we all know who we're cheering for, don't we:

Meda Dou Doka!

And at the end of the weekend, you know what we will be singing, fingers crossed:

Our Anthem

Blessing grant oh God of nations on the isles of Fiji
As we stand united under noble banner blue
And we honour and defend the cause of freedom ever
Onward march together
God bless Fiji

 Noble banner blue!

CHORUS:

For Fiji, ever Fiji, let our voices ring with pride
For Fiji, ever Fiji, her name hail far and wide,
A land of freedom, hope and glory, to endure what ever befall
May God bless Fiji
Forever more!

Go Fiji!

And if you don't already know about this greatest party on earth, although I've blogged on it many many times, here's a link to the big one.

A Molly Moment!

Have to share this:

In town and this little teenage girl comes up to me and shyly says "I have seen you before. You go to Seven Rubies. Are you going again this year?"

I have NO idea what she's talking about but I respect her courage for coming up to talk to a stranger especially when her English is so poor so "Yes, I think so." I reply.

"It's such crazy fun. I love it so much."

OK, key words "crazy fun" and I get it:  HK7s.  Rugby. This weekend.

"Yes, it's always such crazy fun.  Are you going this year?"

"Yes, I work at Seven Rubies.  My job is with Carlsberg Beer. I am a go-go girl Carlsberg promoter."

So, yes, of course she'll have fun.  Those girls wear mini skirts and white go-go boots and bring around massive skeins of beer. I think I have photos, only I won't look for one now. No time.

Later:  Couldn't find any Carlsberg Gogo Girls but here's a Guiness Girl to give you some idea.

But still, I have no idea how or why our little Carlsberg Gogo Girl would notice me. Or maybe it's because she's one of the girls in the photo. And I had no idea the Chinese call it "Seven Rubies".

Mmm, wonder what all those international hordes of tough macho rugger-buggers would make of their sport being called A Ruby Game.

Random Photo #9

No time today so again with the photo chosen by chance:

Ah, the Tanka Gods of Protection.  Can't remember their names - something like Lao Bao and Lao Li - and there is absolutely nothing I can find on-line about them except that their pictures are to be renewed or refreshed on the first day of each Chinese New Year.

However I can tell you that they were both once living men, Tanka Generals who fought against the regular Chinese for the protection of their people, and who won, and so, after they died, the Tanka assigned them to the heavens and their images are placed onto doors to protect buildings.

If I had time I'd find photos of Tanka doors to show you, but I don't have time. That shot above is of a cupboard I fell in love with, so it will have to do.

What Kills Us This Week!

Everyone's going on and on about the weather in Hong Kong because it's behaving in ways that can only be called bizarre. Warm, cold, freezing, warm, cold, freezing, and this is well into spring.  I've packed away the winter wardrobe three times already this month only to be forced to un-stash again. And you know what we're all blaming:

Yup, Al Gore! No, not really.

Got into a taxi the other day, gave my destination and the driver snaps at me.  "Three blocks. Global warming! Save the planet! Get out! WALK!"

But this is nothing compared with what's happening in China. Seems it's brutal up there. Snow storms. Dust storms. Drought. Entire rivers drying up. 

Of course, there is another explanation: CHINA HAS LOST THE MANDATE OF HEAVEN!

Cha cha! Cha cha cha! That's my happy dance, btw.

Do you know about the Mandate of Heaven?  This Chinese theory says that a Dynasty can rule as long as heaven permits, and when heaven withdraws the mandate the weather goes all wonky and haywire.

Some HK guy just completed a history PhD and the results were published in SCMP and in it he looks at 2000 years of Chinese history and weather patterns and, it turns out, there really is something to this: that wonky haywire weather ALWAYS precedes the fall of a Dynasty.

Yeah, you go, Mandate of Heaven.

Of course, it could just be that everyone believes in the Mandate of Heaven and thus they rise up and throw out their rulers whenever the weather turns bizarre like this, so it's really much more Marxist Materialist than Hegelian ... and I can't believe I said that, or even that I remember a word of that particular university lecture back in ... gosh, it was so long ago I can't even remember what year that was.

But let's pretend we believe it's the weather gods telling the Chinese Communist Party "Your time is up!" in no uncertain terms. Of course, CCP deserves to go.  We started the big "This is the end for CCP!" talk last month when China made it illegal to complain against injustice.  Did you hear about that?

Up in China, for many decades they've been saying "As least the Emperors allowed you to petition against wrong." and behind that wistful nostalgia there's been growing resentment and anger at this hideous lot.  And now this. Fifteen years in prison if you petition against wrong being done to you.


CCP, you are soooo gone!

Did you know that the Reign of Terror started exactly six months after the French king outlawed 'lampooning' and made it a beheading offense? And there he is, losing his own head very shortly after. Rulers should realise that folks need an outlet against injustice and CCP's imprisonment of those who petition really is WRONG and in the stupidest way too.  They really do need to read Rousseau's "Social Contract", don't they!

However, let's not choose this as our Threatdown for this week. Still on the theme of petitioning however, have you seen this:

Love those raincoats!

Yes, HK is following what's currently happening in Thailand with enormous envy at their protestive inventiveness.  You know, don't you, that the Thais are right now on the streets protesting their on-going coup - are you listening, Fiji? - by drawing their own blood and covering government buildings with it?  Well, HK is now petitioning the government using the same tactics ... only without using real blood because that's just icky.  This is watered-down paint which doesn't have nearly the same resonance but still looks effective in photographs.

However, this isn't my choice of Threatdown for this week either.  It would have to be:

THREATDOWN

This weekend the HK7s 

co-incides with a visit by the US Navy.

International hordes of rugger-buggers

coming abut shore-leave sailors.

Wan Chai will definitely turn into a battlefield.

What idiot in the US Navy let this happen!

Proud!

Walking down Lockhart Road and saw the posters advertising this week's Hong Kong Tens:

 Our Hero!

It's Waisale Serevi. Yayyy! Go Fiji!

Do you know Fiji's Hero.  If you don't, let's see if I can find him on youtube:

Of course, Waisale plays HK7s, but I felt so proud that, in HK, FIJI is the very symbol of this new game of 10s.

Was feeling I couldn't BE any prouder when I opened the South China Morning Post and saw this:

Our Deb!

Yup, my old and very dear friend Deborah Mailman right there. She's in Rachel Maza's new film Bran Nue Dae, which will soon be opening here in Hong Kong.

Let's see if I can find the trailer:

Life is good, isn't it!

Letter from Fiji. Cyclone Tomas.

Watching the path Cyclone Tomas was taking I noticed how it was sweeping through the Lau Island Group and felt deeply for our dear friend Ela and her gorgeous parents. Ela's husband Brian has now written to say they are all alive and OK but Ela's entire village was hit quite badly.

 Here's the letter:

Thank you, dear friends, for your kind thoughts during the recent Cyclone Tomas in Fiji.  We thought we would update you with the latest.


Here's the picture of the path of the Cyclone:

Our small village of MAVANA  is on the un-named island (the island of Vanuabalavu) that has the thermometer symbol on it to the right of the yellow cyclone marker.

At last today, this afternoon, Ela's mum and dad made contact. The satellite phone was set back in working order and her dad, Jo, was the first one to get through. Things aren't as bad as we'd imagined but there's still a lot of work to be done. Luckily our village chief is there in person to lead the village back to rehabilitation.

Thankfully there were no casualties in Mavana but the roads to all the other villages are blocked so we still don't know the story from the other villages on the island. There is a rumour that LomaLoma Village - where the jetty is for the main island (about  30 km away) - was severely hit and is now very badly off.   

Our villagers say they were astounded at power of Cyclone Tomas. There wasn't a single dry place to shelter for the duration, what with the  deluge from the sky and the destruction from the sea where massive waves came over the sea wall and into and over the village green, but, as far as we can gather there was no major home destruction apart from the kindergarten section at the local school, and everyone's outside "tin-shed" kitchens and the traditional reed homes didn't stand up to the winds. 

All the items in the village store have been spoilt of course. Ela's Mum said that the force of the wind and the deluge got through the tiniest crack,  however she now knows that these homes are more solidly built than in some other places because Mavana has a long tradition of producing good carpenters, and she said she now thanks God for well-built structures as it makes such a difference. At times like these it's a cause for being thankful to these builders who take such a pride in their workmanship.

Here is a picture of the village before the Cyclone:

 You can see the big Community Hall (white roof) in the front and middle of the picture with the village store immediately to the right of it (red roof). That entire expanse of village green is now filled with a meter or so high huge coral formations and sand.

The huge waves rolling in also met with the waterfall in the hills at the back of the village (next picture shows the back of the village with its grove of coconut trees and big drains as they usually look),  so there is lots of debris at the back of the village blocking all the the drains, some of which are now broken.

All our food plantations have been chopped off at soil level and all the taro plants have all been buried under many feet of mud and soil. All the trees in the village are GONE with not one tree left standing, and it's still not clear whether any of the villages boats were saved from damage so that fishing can be resumed and keep the folk sustained.

The Vodophone tower which was at the top of the Mountain Korobasaga has completely blown away. Why Vodafone didn't dismantle it and lay it down before the cyclone is just insane since it cost nearly a million to install!!

So that's how things now stand. Everyone is now cleaning up, drying out belongings, fixing the broken water pipes and working out how to get the village generator functioning again. They say they have enough food for a week or so, but after that they will be scratching around. 

What they need now is to replace their lost kumala plants, planting the new crops in a hurry so that in three months they will have food back on line. They also need to find money for fares across on inter-island ferries because many young villagers who now work in other areas wish to come back to help with the replanting and rehabilitation but who can't afford it since everyone is suffering greatly in Fiji financially.


So that's how things stand in Mavana.  If you'd like to help, Jo is currently trying to raise money to bring the boys home.  If you want to help Jo and Mavana exclusively, you can always try contacting Brian at

http://www.rumbaresort.com.au/

Of course, if you'd prefer to donate to the entire Fiji Islands group, here's a link:


Fiji Cyclone Appeal 
 
IN the wake of Tropical Cyclone Tomas, the Fiji Times and ANZ Bank yesterday joined forces for the Fiji Cyclone Appeal. The Fiji Times kicked it off by committing to a $15,000 donation. And ANZ donated $50,000.
 
Donations can be made at ANZ branches worldwide, which will distributed through Fiji Red Cross Society. For the full story and many others go to Fiji Times Online.
 http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=142535

Give to the Fiji Cyclone Appeal

Random Photo.

Don't have a lot of time today so I'll do the "eyes-closed" random photo thing again.  Usual rules apply:

 Map of Merlin St in Fortress Hill

Ah, good one.  My very favourite antique shop in HK.  Forgotten the name - honestly, my memory these days? - but you can find it in the area between North Point and Fortress Hill, on one of those small road linking between King's Road and Electric Road.

Take the MTR to Fortress Hill and it's a two minute walk ...

Actually, I've posted on this place before.  Let's see if I can find it.  Here: Hong Kong Treasure.

Damn, I want to go off and see HK film "Echoes of a Rainbow" for the second time - yes, it's that good - but Keith's being a pain and saying I have to learn how to link to google maps, so let's see if I can!

YES! It's up there, under the photo. How to get to Hong Kong Treasure. Go me! Go me! Go me!

Mei Kana, Mei Bro.

My old friend, the beautiful and gorgeous Robert Oliver, has finally done it and his new book has just arrived in the market place.  If you want to check it out, here you go:

http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/Book_Display_46.aspx?CategoryId=22&ProductId=472811

Doesn't it look just beautiful.  How can you resist?

A bilo of kokoda! 

Mmmm, I'm both hungry and nostalgic just looking at it.

And the review?  Let me cut and paste:

Me'a Kai: The Food and Flavours of the South Pacific

Robert Oliver

The cuisines of the South Pacific island nations are noted for their sensational use of coconut cream, fresh fruit and the most delicate fish. Away from the big resort hotels, skilled local cooks make the most delicious meals, whose range would surprise most tourists. Two years ago, New Zealand-born chef Robert Oliver, who has had a stellar career in the United States restaurant industry, went back to Fiji, where he grew up, to rediscover the art of Pacific cooking. He travelled to Tonga, Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji,Vanuatu and the Cook Islands to track down the most skilled local cooks. This outstanding, landmark table-thumper of a book brings together a treasury of South Pacific cooking, arranged country by country, with 90-plus recipes and photos that capture the essence of the Pacific. And there's much more than just recipes, it's a culinary journey. Along the way Robert pauses to tell fascinating stories from his encounters with both local cooks and food producers. Flipping through its pages is like going on holiday! 

RRP:	$75.00	ISBN:	9781869621759
Format:	Hardback	Imprint:	RH NZ Godwit
Subject:	Cookery/Wine	Release:	30 April 2010

http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/Book_Display_46.aspx?CategoryId=22&ProductId=472811


And there's another review I've read that quotes Her Royal Highness Princess Pilolevu Tu'Pele'Akai Tau'fa'a'hau Tupoa of Tonga, saying she found reading this book uplifted her spirits.

Fantastic, la? Go Robert Go.