Last night we had Marc over for dinner. Afterwards we showed him our website and the entry from the night we had dinner over at his house and he had given us a history/geography lesson regarding his home country.

Well, the first thing he did was point out that his name is spelled with a 'c' and not a 'k'. Oops! That's what happens when you make assumptions. Secondly, and most embarrassing, we had misspelled the name of his home country incorrectly no less than three times. So, I need to apologize to anyone from Britain, Great Britain, or any other form of the British Commonwealth. I surely will never make this mistake again:)

Marc also found it amusing that we thought there was some dispute over the origins of Pop Idol/American Idol/New Zealand Idol. A Kiwi we met claimed they had invented the show, while Marc is adamant that it was a British TV show well before the Kiwis came up with their version. As an American, I'm just thankful we didn't invent such nonsense and no one seems to be blaming us for it:)

We're officially into our final week on the island and are starting to make preparations for the next leg. Yesterday we weighed our luggage. Seems our tickets here had significantly higher baggage limits than our next three flights. A difference of 282 pounds vs. 88 pounds. Needless to say we didn't bring 282 pounds with us, but we did bring more than 88. So, our first box of stuff is heading home next week. Miscellaneous dive gear, excess clothing, and a few assorted things we won't need. We did a mock weigh-in and were still 10 kilos (22 pounds) over. This will cost us about $50NZ, but we figure it's cheaper than any of the alternatives at this point. Had we purchased Business Class tickets we could have avoided this, but we would have paid nearly double for our tickets. I think we're still coming out ahead paying the extra. It's just amazing that an international flight has such low baggage limits. Val are you sure you need so many clothes?

On the 15th our wireless internet access account expires. We will make a posting or two between now and then, but we're not sure what we'll find in Fiji. So, we'll keep writing entries, but they may not get posted right away. (Mom, don't worry if you don't hear from us for a few weeks:)

The Rugby 7's International Tournament started here yesterday. They play today and then finish up tomorrow. We plan to go to the finals tomorrow and join the locals in cheering on the Cook Island team. There are teams from New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti. There may be others, but those are the teams I know of. We'll write up a complete story on Sunday morning.

Until then, enjoy life and remember ... the journey is the prize.

Eric