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A few people commented on the morose tone of my last entry, so I’m following it up with a cheery blog. Just to add another twist to the story, I got the call a week ago saying my assignment was given the all-clear to return, so I’ve decided to spend another three months in Fiji to finish it off. But more on that later - first, a rundown on one of the most amazing days I’ve ever had. Ed and I hopped on an aeroplane down to Kadavu, an island half an hour’s flight to the south of Suva, to join Kellie, Cassie and Simo who were visiting from Australia for a few days relaxing Fiji-style. We reached Kadavu and after some miscommunication we found ourselves in the wrong boat heading the wrong way around the island, so a 40 minute trip became two and a half hours in a tinny. Instead of appreciating the gorgeous coastline we spent the whole trip kicking ourselves for the mix-up, and arrived slightly grumpy and crumpled. With the sight of our friends though and the beautiful place we were in, we shook off the frustration, settled down to a cup of tea and began to soak up the surroundings. Matava is a small collection of bures nestled on the side of a hill, squeezed between coconut palms and looking out over turquoise waters. There’s no electricity so at dusk everyone is handed a kerosene lamp to carry around, and the food is some of the best I’ve had in Fiji.
Now to the amazing day. Kadavu is known for its diving, particularly the Astrolabe reef near Matava. We had plans of doing some diving while there, but woke up on our third day a bit tired and decided against it. Then at breakfast we discovered the site for the day was the Manta Reef, and immediately changed our minds. This is the spot where manta rays are often seen, and we tried desperately not to get our hopes up on the 45 min boat ride to the site - Joe, our dive master, said they see mantas on about 70% of dives there. We kitted up and splashed into the water, and less than five minutes in, what looked like a UFO glided past. We all watched in awe, the ray was about 3 m across and circled back a few times inquisitively to have a good look at us. Another ray glided over to see what was happening, before we descended further to a 30m-deep swim-through - a tiny little tunnel under the rock which opened out into some amazing corals, followed by another swim-through higher up. Reaching the top of the pinnacle of coral, a third ray approached, practically blocking out the sun - this one was about 5 metres across, swimming past gracefully flapping its wings. It really is an awesome sight, in the true sense of the word. Two of the other divers had underwater cameras, so hopefully I will soon get an email with some pictures of the incredible creatures - in the mean time go and google a picture of one, you really need to see what they look like! After a surface interval accompanied by small bowls of tea and banana cake we descended again - apparently the big one came back for a quick fly-past but I missed it this time, and instead contented myself with viewing a grey reef shark, a couple of black and white banded sea snakes, and more swim-throughs, coral and fish. In thoroughly high spirits on the boat ride back to Matava, we were even more excited when someone shouted, “Dolphins!” We all strained to spot them, then were stunned when one of them leapt several feet out of the water and spun around in the air before diving back in. There were at least twenty of them playing around the boat, and a few more showed off with the leaping into the air and spinning trick (it was then pointed out to us that these are actually called spinner dolphins).
That afternoon we were joined by Kellie, Cassie and Simo for a walk through villages to a waterfall. We traipsed through mangroves, ducked under trees when it bucketed rain, waved at locals playing volleyball and about 40 minutes later arrived at the rock pools. We clambered across rocks to a small cascade, and helped by the local children we climbed up the cascade (while I kept an eagle eye on Ed as his last run-in with a waterfall was not so successful). When we flopped over the other side, we found ourselves in a crystal pool within a large cavern, with a towering waterfall at the other end. The local children tried to outdo each other by leaping off impossibly high and precarious ledges into the water, often followed by clumps of earth and foliage to which they had been clinging. After a refreshing swim we wandered back out to the village, followed by huddles of bedraggled children and a few chickens, where we were met by a boat to carry us back to Matava in time for dinner. Dinner was a traditional lovo, and I happily munched away and contemplated a fantastic day.
Back in Suva, things are basically the same as they were before. There are a few military check-points about the place, but you don’t tend to get stopped, there are just a few soldiers with guns standing around watching the cars. It was a bit sad seeing our house looking so empty (Caz has moved to Lautoka in the west and Jeremie is coming back for a short visit but not staying), but it was fantastic to get such a warm welcome from our surrogate family - Kara and Atu, Luisa and children Sala and Atu, as well as assorted extra family members. We have noticed a couple of minor differences though. Having taken our Aussie friends out to show them a Saturday night in Suva, we hit Bar 66 at about 12:30am. Premises are supposed to close about midnight, but then everyone usually ups sticks to Bar 66 where the police generally turn up a few times each night, the lights go on, everyone stands around for a bit, someone pays them off and they leave again, then repeat until about 4am. This time though we’d been in there just enough time to buy a drink when the lights came on. We were hanging around waiting for the music to come back on when we noticed people were leaving in droves, and then noticed it was the military, not the police who had turned up. That put a fairly swift end to the evening. The next weekend we had planned a trip four hours up the coast to Volivoli, a place we’ve visited three times already. On Friday afternoon seven of us piled into a minibus organised through a friend of a friend, and were merrily on our way when an hour later we went through a police checkpoint and were stopped. A policeman informed us our minibus was unlicensed to carry us and he had to seize it. Minibus travel (whether licensed or not) is a staple of Fiji transport so we all sat there thinking it must be a joke, until the policeman shooed the driver and got in to drive us to the nearest bus station himself. Three more hours in a minibus instead became 40 minutes wait then four cramped hours on a public bus, holding myself up in the aisle with half a bum cheek on the seat. So there’s definitely been some law and order crack down!
Back to my earlier news, after having decided to pull the plug on waiting for Fiji, I was told I could return after all, and so decided to take that option. Ed’s assignment unfortunately remains cancelled, so we’re currently trying to work out what he’s going to do - it probably means spending three months or so apart while he heads home to Australia, but stay tuned for updates. There is plenty happening at Fiji Rugby with the World Cup fast approaching, so I decided there was a lot more I could contribute for a few more months. Of course in the grand scheme of our management organisation nothing is ever simple, so I have to return to Australia next week and then turn around and come back again to officially restart my placement - I’ll be back for about a week, so hopefully catch up with some of you in that time!
Yesterday was Sala’s seventh birthday, and we had a party on our living room floor with icecream, chips and soft drink. We thoroughly loaded the kids up on sugar before handing them back to Luisa, their mother, so I’m sure she was thrilled! See the piccies and check out how much small Atu has grown since his photo on the first or second blog.

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