Stopover in Suva Fiji
At the Suva market, Paula wandered off
There were so many things in New Zealand that was interesting also
We had no trouble going through customs in Australia
1961 September 20 to Willa from Sydney Australia
Letter written by Ina Erickson mailed in Sydney Australia to Martin and Willa Tonn, 10316 Grand Ave, Minneapolis 20, Minnesota, USA.
Mailed Sept 27 from Sydney and received Nov 9
Dear Willa, Martin and family,
So far we have really had smooth sailing. Only two days left and it rained one of them and it was our day in Suva, Fiji. It’s so good to see land after days of looking out over water. Water and more water. We passed the international date line on Monday night about 1 AM so only had an hour of Tuesday. Soon it was Wednesday. Wednesday morning we arrived in Fiji. I was up about 6:00 AM and he said he could see land so I thought I’d run up to take a peek before the kids woke up. All I saw was fog and water and I thought maybe we had just passed an island. So I went down again. Here came to find out it was all on the other side of me.
Sydney. New Zealand, packing, immigration system and embarking have all taken place since I started this letter. Our plane will be leaving tonight around 10:00 PM so we got a hotel room so the kids could eat and rest and not half to drag them around all day. Tommy has been good and slept much of the time. Paula has been pretty good. But one can’t really expect too much of a 16-month-old. She loves to run and explore, speaking of exploring while we were in Suva Fiji. I was carrying Paula and a shopping bag full of raincoats and diapers and bottles. We were exploring a marketplace where each individual person was selling this ware or that, be at clams, bananas or some strange vegetation or handmade jewelry, -a very very busy place. Well Paula got kind of heavy so I put her down and was looking at some shell work. Not more than a few minutes later I looked around and no Paula. I looked around and I saw all of these dark people who were fine featured Indians and very coarse featured Fijians with their big bushy heads. The Fricke’s and Ted were with so the five of us spread out and searched for a frantic five minutes which seemed like an hour. A Fijian woman tapped Barb (Fricke) on the shoulder and pointed down the street about a block away and there was Paula aimlessly walking along looking at all the strange sites.
Fiji is under or has been under English control so all of the people drive on wrong side of the streets. I just can’t get used to seeing the steering wheel on the right side of the car.
In the afternoon, Vince and Barb said they were too tired to do anything and that they would watch the children if we wanted to go on. So Ted, Al and I rented bicycles for the afternoon and explored some of the Central area in Suva. I discovered one thing, that women do not wear slacks or shorts on the streets and do not ride bicycles. People would stare and some of the children would laugh ‘Americans’...
The men would holler remarks. I didn’t see any of the Fiji women in slacks. The men wore shirts and shorts and some had on long pants some like Westerners. Indians had been imported from India as slaves and now outnumber the Fijians. One would see the women with shells and long draped dresses and some men with turbines. Some squatting around the market with their wares. The palms and flowers were so beautiful and all of the trees have moss or vines or even some other forms of plant growth on them. We also watched some fire walkers. It was a ceremony they have once a year. It just happened to be on the day our ship was in. They had logs burning and these rocks to heat them up. Then pulled the logs away and the fellows walked on the hot rocks.
Love the E’s
1961 September 28 Thursday to Estelle
Letter written by Ina Erickson from Lae, New Guinea to Durward and Estelle Titus Box 224 Route1, Carlos MN USA
Dear mom and dad,
Well we are in New Guinea. We really did have a lovely trip with only one day of very rough weather. We had such an interesting day at Suva, Fiji. We were amazed at how well dressed they were. The men wore regular tailored shirts about knee length, shorts and of course some wore long pants. It was our first experience seeing fuzzy headed people. When their hair gets long it doesn’t grow down as ours does but up and out. Not too far from the wharf where our ship was docked was a market like you see in movies. There were tables after tables with each individual goods such as garden vegetables, clams and shell jewelry. Then they had little enclosed carts and cooked food so people could buy their dinner while shopping or selling. One little boy squatting with a loaf of bread and tearing it apart with his hands. In the cart was beans and clams that were cooked with peas and some strange looking things. The flowers and shrubs were very beautiful. And they were very different. The banana trees actually are more like stacks with leaves about three or 4 feet long and 1 foot wide. Oh, there were so many things in New Zealand that was interesting also. Not much to do as all the stores are closed on Saturdays. And we were there on a Saturday. We took a tour with a bus into the mountains. The woods were mostly palm trees I’ve bearing sizes and types. They had sheep in their parks to keep the grass mowed. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone. We also visited a zoo and saw a giraffe, hippo and monkeys and a US timberwolf along with many other of the usual zoo animals. They did have one bird peculiar to New Zealand and that was the kiwi bird. It doesn’t have any wings and looks almost fuzzy rather than with feathers.
We had no trouble going through customs in Australia. We had a real nice hotel room there. So we could change and feed the kids. I had a slight headache so didn’t do much exploring. They do have so many tiny shops. The alleys have roofs over them and shops along both sides of the alley. We went to a restaurant for our midday meal and for ’ tea’ in the evening. The waitresses wore high heels and black sheath dresses and pear necklaces and no aprons.
The children have been so good. Paula about had a fit though, when we hauled her crib out of the ship and another fit when we put it in the trunk of a car to come to the guest house here in Lae. She is very friendly with people, talking, waving and shaking hands until...they tried to pick her up. Every once in a while I hear her let out a noise and go to see what is the matter. One of the native girls has tried to pick her up. Tommy has been so good and he smiles and coo’s so much. We have enjoyed him so much. When Dr Kudor the president of the missionaries saw him and wondered if he wasn’t six months old. I am still nursing him. We are at Lae staying at the guesthouse until Monday when someone will take us up to Gurakor. We have already met the Horrolt’s.[1]
We’ve had cool weather so far. Lots of rain also.
Much love Al, Ina, Paula and Tom
[1] The Horrolts were an elderly missionary couple who have served at Gurakor missions who are retiring. Al and Ina are replacing them. They have been having various illness’s and health problems. They had come to PNG in 1933 and worked at Logaweng, Finschhafen. Possibly as a printer and then they were moved to Mumeng and lived at the Gurakor station. He died in 1969.
Suva Fiji Market