Have you thought about making a quilt to capture your memories of a special place?  This week in Fiji is a marvellous opportunity to do just that. You will have a rich choice of subject matter in and around the resort where we stay – the mountainous landscape, the view over the bay, the tropical gardens…or you might like to use a scene from a nearby village or the nearby market. No matter what the inspiration, creating a landscape quilt is an achievable project.  The process combines making decisions about design and colour choices as well as incorporating accurate construction techniques.

Over the week, Gloria will show you how to choose the subject, what aspect to focus on, how to make it come alive, and where to begin. She will then guide you through the process, looking at how to translate what you see into an image in textiles. By the end of the week you will have had the opportunity to produce  a wall hanging depicting a scene of your choice.

You will need to bring basic sewing supplies and a sewing machine, and she will supply hand dyed fabrics, fabrics to paint and the paint.
Gloria Loughman lives by the sea, on the beautiful Bellarine Peninsula, in Victoria.

She has been teaching patchwork classes for many years and enjoys sharing her knowledge and skills with others. She likes to challenge students to design their own quilts but is also happy to provide patterns for those less confident. Her classes are very popular with lots of students coming back. She has also travelled extensively overseas teaching classes in New Zealand, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, South Africa, and Japan.

Over the years she has dabbled in many areas including strip piecing, bargello, colourwash, fabric dyeing and painting, and machine embroidery After completing some studies in design and colour as part of a Diploma of Art in 1996, she began to make her large vivid landscape quilts depicting the Australian bush. Most of the textiles used have been hand dyed or painted and feature extensive machine embroidery. These quilts have won many major awards in Australia, Europe, Japan and the United States. Her quilt ‘Kimberley Mystique’ was the winner of Australia’s most prestigious national quilting award in 2003.

She has also curated eight exhibitions of Australian quilts to the United States and have had the privilege of judging at many major shows. She has had a number of solo exhibitions, including an invitation to exhibit at the prestigious NEC Show in Birmingham, UK. Her book, Luminous Landscapes, was released by C&T in January 2007, and her second book, Quilted Symphony, will be available in January 2010.

Programme

Saturday 30 October
Arrive Fiji and fly on to Savusavu.

Sunday 31 October
Morning workshop: an introduction to the week. Learn about designing a landscape quilt.  Look at different colour choices.  Begin to design quilt, concentrating on the background.  Poolside lunch and coconut cutting demonstration, followed by a walk around the resort gardens.

Monday 1 November
Morning workshop: Watch demonstrations of fabric painting then have fun painting your own unique fabrics.  Paint fabric for your sky, water or any other areas of your background.  After lunch you will have some free time for snorkelling, swimming and relaxing.  Or there’s an optional visit to town, visiting geothermal hot springs, local market and shops.

Tuesday 2 November
Morning workshop: Time now to construct the background of your landscape.  Simple construction techniques will be outlined including mosaic piecing and invisible appliqué.  There will also be a tapa making demonstration.

Wednesday 3 November
Morning workshop: Today we will look at the various techniques that can be used to create trees, buildings or other elements on the surface. Appliqué, painting and machine stitching will be explored to give extra texture and dimension to the landscape. In the afternoon we will have a boat or beach outing.

Thursday 4 November
Continue with individual projects.   In the evening we will go into Savusavu for drinks at the yacht Club and diner in town.

Friday 5 November
Finish individual projects, concentrating on quilting and looking at various options for borders and binding. End session with a show and tell.  Afternoon visit to Vivili village for traditional meke (dance).  Final diner.

Saturday 6 November
Return home.

A fantastic week of snorkeling, learning and exploring in Fiji.

The reefs around Vanua Levu provide some of the most rewarding snorkelling in the world. If you don’t want to dive the reefs, this week will give you the chance to see sharks, rays, turtles and many species of reef fish and corals.

In the evenings, an experienced marine biologist will give talks on the marine environment and brief you on the next day’s snorkel. He will come with you to guide the snorkel and point out some of the wonders of the ocean on an all-day field trip.

Below the water is definitely the centre of the week, but we’ll also show you a lot of Fiji above the water. Visits to schools, farms and villages are included.

This is a week of learning and a fabulous holiday as well.

And you are welcome to arrive earlier in the week or stay on later – we’ll just charge you at regular room rates less 15% if you’re on the course.

Itinerary:

Saturday
Introductory lecture and field trip with Johnnie Singh, marine biologist, to Nuggets.

Sunday
Field trip day with Johnnie Singh to Lighthouse.

Monday
Morning: Snorkel to Split Rock.
Afternoon: Town Visit.
Evening: Lecture on Conceptual Coral Reefs

Tuesday
Morning: Snorkel to Cousteau Marine Reserve.
Afternoon: Snorkel to Charlie’s Reef.
Evening: Lecture by Robin Irwin, former Government Minister, on Fijian politics.

Wednesday
Morning: Snorkel to Mystery Reef.
Afternoon: Excursion to Pearl Farm
Evening : Lecture on ‘Cities under the sea’

Thursday
Morning: Snorkel to Lesciaceva Reef.
Afternoon: Excursion to school at Urata village.
Evening at Yacht Club and dinner at Surf & Turf Restaurant.

Friday
Morning: Snorkel to Lighthouse.
Afternoon: Visit to Vivili village
Evening: Lecture on Coral Critters

Saturday
Leaving Ceremony and departure to Nadi.

And you can snorkel off our beach whenever you want – we have a small but pretty reef right outside the front of the resort.

Cost: F$1615 twin share. F$1615 is approx AUD$1050 / US$850 – we take payment in Fiji dollars and your bank will advise you the rates they charge. Single supplement F$400.
Includes accommodation, all meals, excursions, equipment.

Not included: Travel – but we are happy to help book your domestic flights if you’d like, and we’ll pick you up from Savusavu airport.

Bookings: This week can be booked directly with Daku Resort on reservations@dakuresort.com

Sites in more detail

Split Rock
Split Rock is 200 metres off shore; a large coral head, it is named for the distinctive split down one side. At the bottom of the split you can see purple gorgonian fans and pale yellow soft corals. At the entrance to the split a fierce clown fish defends her anemone and the male takes refuge in its fronds. When a female clown fish dies, the male changes sex and becomes female, and he next male moves up the hierarchy. There’s a large school of inquisitive black and white sergeant fish nearby; they will come right up to you and often give your fingers a gentle nip. There is a glorious abundance of orange and purple anthias and golden damsels near the surface; a little deeper, parrotfish can be seen nibbling away at the coral, and a large brown spotted grouper glides shyly away. There are two large clams on the rock, and several small green fern corals. Split Rock is one of the most colourful and enchanting sites of the bay, and endlessly fascinating in visit after visit. The top of the coral head is 3 foot deep, and the base is about 30 foot deep.

Golden Nuggets
Some 700 metres past the point of the peninsula, the twin pinnacles of Golden Nuggets offer anther magnificent display of smaller fish. The first pinnacle has purple and orange anthias, the beautiful iridescent blue sapphire damsels, Moorish idols with their lazy grace, and the blue damsel fish guarding his garden against intruders – human or fish. On the second pinnacle you will see schools of surgeon fish and snapper fish. Quite often a white tipped shark is around, utterly arresting in its fearsome power – but not aggressive to humans and very well fed on the fish life. You will also see magic coral which turns from bluey-brown to white when threatened and is hardly known outside Fiji.

Lighthouse
At the edge of the reef which runs out from Savusavu Bay is a lighthouse, which gives its name to the site. There are numerous plate corals, soft spaghetti corals with tentacles swaying in the currents, and many fish – trumpet fish, pale green damsel fish, humpbacked wrasse and maori wrasse. We sometimes see a turtle at this sight,
always a treat – and occasionally a shark cruising deep below.

Charlie’s Point
About half a kilometer past the end of the peninsula, Charlie’s Point offers reefs in two directions. One way is a relatively shallow reef with coral heads on a sandy sea bottom; the other way goes out towards the deeper sea and there is a wall dropping down to about 50 metres. There are mainly hard corals here, with many of the blue-tipped corals. You will see clouds of blue damsel fish; trumpet fish, wrasse, damsel fish – and possibly cuttlefish who are likely to disappear, leaving only a squirt of black ink as evidence of their presence.

Mystery
This is an isolated reef out in the bay, a bit further than the other sites. It’s scattered with coral heads covered in multi- coloured soft corals. You’ll see Spanish mackerel, coral trout and unicorn fish.

Coral Gardens
The Coral Gardens are best dived at mid to high tide as they are in relatively shallow Water. They are a reef running along the shore line near Split Rock – you’ll see many types of coral including staghorn coral, brain coral, finger coral, table coral and cabbage (lettuce) coral. Fish life is abundant. One of the pleasures of this area is the sense of swimming through the maze of interlocking coral heads – and if the tide is low, be cautious as you can easily cut yourself. And because its shallow, you’ll also see mushroom corals and sea cucumbers on the ocean floor.

$1980 twin share (not including international flights)

The Yoga with Awareness Retreat run by Pam is a profoundly calming blend of Hatha and Kundalini yoga, aiming to bring balance to the mind and body which in turn leads to  a sense of inner peace. Regular practice of this approach has the power to transform your life, greatly enhancing your ability to handle lifes challenges.  Kundalini yoga emphasises slow, focused breathing, bringing profound changes within the mind and body. This in turn can lead to a higher level of awareness.

There will be two 2-hr sessions each morning. We start at 6am with an energizing practise incorporating pranayama (breath work) and pawanmuktasana (to loosen up the joints and strengthen the digestive system) moving into the physical asanas followed by meditation. After breakfast and a short break, we return for our daily2 hr workshop which will follow a pattern of working through the various chakras in depth. We will examine their significance and discuss the meaning of such subjects as hand mudras, prana, nadis (subtle channels through which pranic forces flow)and various subject matter which naturally evolves during the course of the workshops. This allows for your personal questions to be answered and explored in depth throughout the week.

Pam Badman has been teaching yoga and meditation for over six  years. Her 2009 retreat in Fiji was a week filled with vitality and joy, and Pam looks forward to building upon last year’s success for the 2010 trip. A member of the AYTAA, her students have included Fitness First members,First Grade  NRL teams (the Cronulla Sharks and South Sydney Rabbitohs), as well as teaching within the corporate sector (St George Bank). Pam has experience teaching high school students and pre-natal classes for expectant mothers. She specialises in the practice of meditation and stress management.

You can visit Pam’s website at www.yogawithpam.com.au

Programme

Sunday 10 October
Arrive Nadi. Local flight to Savusavu.
6.00pm: Welcome to Daku

Monday 11 October
Approx 6.30 – 8.00am: First morning session
Approx 9.30 – 11.00am: Second morning session
Afternoon: Visit to Savusavu town
7.00pm: Dinner

Tuesday 12 October
Approx 6.30 – 8.00am: First morning session
Approx 9.30 – 11.00am: Second morning session
1.00pm: Lunch
2.30pm: Boat / beach outing
7.00pm: Dinner

Wednesday 13 October
Approx 6.30 – 8.00am: First morning session
Approx 9.3 – 11.30 am: Second morning session
4.00pm: Tapa making demonstration
4.30 – 6.30pm: Alternative second session for some teachers

Thursday 14 October
Approx 6.30 – 8.00am: First morning session
Approx 9.30 – 11.30am: Second morning session
2.00pm: Coconut demonstration
6.30pm: Dinner at yacht club

Friday 15 October
Approx 6.30 – 8.00am: First morning session
Approx 9.30 – 11.30am: Second morning session
3.30 – 5.30pm: Village visit and meke

Saturday 16 October
Approx 6.30 – 8.00am: First morning session
Approx 9.30 – 11.30am: Second morning session
Afternoon: Free time
7.00pm: Final dinner and lovo

Sunday 17 October
Return to Nadi and on to international flight