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Bula !
Walking on to our Air Pacific flight and seeing that all of the air crew were wearing brightly colourful flowery shirts we got the feeling we were really going to enjoy Fiji. We have been to lots of places since leaving home but no where have we met people like the Fijian's. They are so friendly and welcoming. Our first stop was the Sky Lodge in Nadi where we spent two nights before heading off to Tribewanted. We used the time to catch up with some other tribe members and get all our stuff organised for the island. We also made a quick trip into Nadi town itself which is a crazy place and not really for the faint hearted.
On Saturday we arrived back at the airport for our internal flight to Labassa. On check in, they do not only weigh your bags but they also weigh you !!! So each of us had to hop up after our bags and have our weight recorded. This as we later learnt is a crucial part of getting an internal flight in Fiji because basically the planes are no bigger than my Polo and therefore can't take too
many people and bags at the same time!
While waiting for our flight to board we learnt all about 'Fiji Time' ...we waited.... and waited.... and waited....and then saw our plane take off with our bags and without us... and then waited some more before finally boarding another toy size plane ! It turned out there were too many people and heavy bags so all of us got moved to the next plane which had to fly in from somewhere else! Once it did arrive we walked out and boarded the 8 seater plane and took a depth breath in preparation for the hour that was ahead of us. As it turned out it wasn't too scary and actually amazing with breathtaking views over the Fijian Islands.
An hour later and we arrived in Labassa Airport (shed), climbed into a taxi and made our way to the Grand Eastern Hotel where we were greeted by the Tribewanted staff. First on the list was to go and buy our sulu's (Fijian sarong's which must be worn in villages and when the Chief is on the island, Zandubalm (good for mossie itch) and our Kava for the Chief. We then
made loaded all our purchases and bags into the small boat and begun the 40 min journey out to Vorovoro.
When you turn the corner and see beach and front of the island for the first time it is an amazing feeling - you can pretty much only see trees and hammocks, then out of the trees come all these people - it really is like a scene from Lost.
Vorovoro is a real community and from the minute you set foot on the island you are welcomed into this community and feel like you are at home. There are two tribes living on Vorovoro - the Fijians and us. Both tribes have a chief, Tui Mali is the chief of the entire Mali Community and Kaz was our Chief before handing over to Linda later in the week.
Each day on the island was spent doing different things from chilling in hammocks, to swimming, to picking veggies, learning Meke, having waterfall showers, hanging out with team Fiji, chatting, attending Elaine's coconut fitness class, eating (the food was amazing) and sharing stories around the camp fire. You can basically get involved with as little or as much
as you like while your on the island. For us there were some definite highlights, namely doing our Sevu Sevu for Chief Tui Mali and also being present for the Chief hand over of our tribe from Kaz to Linda. The Sevu Sevu is a welcome ceremony where the new tribe members on the island present Chief Tui Mali with Kava and thank him for allowing us on his island. All the tribe members then all performed a dance for him in full Fijian costume- girls first, then boys, and then we all joined together for the Fijian Meke (we had spend the day before learning all of these Fijian dances and practicing). Throughout the week there were also many Kava ceremonies on the grog mat and although it is hard to drink, it is a special experience to drink grog with the Fijians and learn all about their culture.
While on the island Luke also decided to attempt to swim around Vorovoro which was no easy feat. He set off with two other tribe members for what turned out to be a 2 hour and 20 minute long swim, alot of it against the tide and in among
mangroves!! I cheered on from a hammock !
My personal challenge was overcoming my fear of spiders...as Dad wasn't there to squish them for me and Luke couldn't come everywhere with me I learnt to cut a deal with them, I wouldn't touch them if they didn't move !! I have never in my life seen as many creepy crawlies as I did in Fiji - they are absolutely massive and at night their eyes just light up when your torch shines on them!! There were also a whole host of other things around the place from toads, rats, cockroaches - you name it, if it crawls, its there!! My other strategy was to give them all names to make them seem less scary - it worked for about 10 minutes !
On the Sunday afternoon I got the opportunity to go to one of the nearby villages to attend a church service and hear the Mali community choir practice for an upcoming choir competition on the mainland. The children in the village were so funny, they just wanted to play with our camera's and take photos of each other and then look at them. We spent the
whole afternoon on the grog mat, in the church and just chatting with the locals which was great fun.
During our week on Vorovoro we also got to go on a reef trip out to what is the 3rd largest reef in the world. It was brilliant to go to such a reef and be the only little boat out there - no big commercial tours in sight, just 6 of us and two Fijians with their spear guns! We saw so many fish and a few sharks which is always a bit scary but they were reef sharks so it was ok. Luke also tried his hand at some spear fishing, so at this stage I hopped into the boat and decided I was safer out of the water !!
While we were on the island we also got to take part in 'Vorovoro Day', this was a day for the tribe to try and be completely sustainable and live off of the island itself with no outside influences (so no sugar, alcohol, tea, coffee, non biodegradable products or food that was not from the actual island). This was much more of a challenge than it sounds
and by 4pm the lack of sugar was really starting to show in everyone - no one could concentrate and conversations were few and far between! We were also only really eating fish and whatever veg that grew on the island so the non fish eaters (like Luke) were really feeling it!. The day ended officially at 8pm when the cake and tea and coffee was broken out and devoured in minutes !!Although some of us may have had a sneaky piece of choc in the afternoon- the day really showed that the tribe could be completely sustainable which was a great achievement for the project itself.
Saturday came around far too quick and we couldn't believe our time on Vorovoro had come to an end. In Fiji when people leave somewhere it is tradition for the people saying goodbye to sign a farewell song called Isa Lei. On Vorovoro when you leave everyone lines up to bid you farewell and signs the Isa Lei - even after one week this proved to be a really sad event, saying goodbye to people who we had become great friends with over such a short space of time.
The second
part of our Fijian experience was completely different but also great. We spent a week on an island called Mantaray Island in the Yawasas. This was a really nice chilled out week although true to form the weather was miserable - who knew it could rain so much in Fiji!! We did however make the most of it by doing lots of snorkeling and I tried my hand at scuba diving which was brilliant.
We absolutely loved our time on Fiji and were very sad to leave what is a fantastic country....Mothe
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anonymous
non-member comment
oh my godd im doing this next year it looks amazing