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Published: March 20th 2007
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Yasawa Islands, Fiji
Alex & Laura Having driven over 6000km around New Zealand we were looking forward to some serious R&R in Fiji. We were initially unsure about travelling to Fiji following their coup last December but were reassured by a brusque Air New Zealand representative that "Europe had blown it out of all proportion and we would be missing out ion a great holiday." So off we went and indeed there were no signs whatsoever of any kind of disturbance. There was however, on arrival to Nadi, signs of a lot of rain. Hmmm... The following morning we were woken by tropical rains lashing down and palm tree shaking winds, perhaps not the greatest day to be setting out on a four and a half hour boat journey to the Yasawa islands, our final destination.
Indeed it was not a great day to be on a boat. For almost the entire trip we were tossed around in our, admittedly sturdy, catamaran boat like a rubber ball. Children were crying and stupid girls sat at the front of the boat were actually screaming at one point. Needless to say after 4 hours of this I was feeling decidely sick and had to stagger out on
deck and gulp in some fresh air. Fortunately we had reached our destination, Nacula Island. Small boats from all the surrounding islands could be seen racing through the choppy waves in order to collect their guests from the catamaran and take them ashore. We and three other people were loaded into our small boat and we duly set off. Initially things were not too bad, until we turned into the waves to head for shore. Then we were literally bouncing out of our seats perilously close to the sea green waves with said waves slapping over the sides of the boat and drenching us. Thus we arrived at our destination, Oarsman Bay Lodge, feeling sick, soaking wet and under rain soaked skies. Where had we come to? Where was the promised island paradise? Feeling somewhat dejected we met the very welcoming staff and headed off to our little bure (or cabin) on the beach. After a short siesta we felt somewhat revived and headed out for a walk along the beach. Unfortunately the usually pristine white sand was covered in washed up pumice from an underwater volcano explosion off the coast of Tonga. Nevermind. We pushed on with me doing
my usual eager beaver beachcombing scan of the tide line to look for shells. Having spotted a particaluarly nice one I bent down to look and then noticed a tiny baby turtle washed up next to it. At first I was horrified, thinking it was dead, and tried to move some pumice away from it, when it blinked at me. Cries of "It's alive!" rang out just at the moment when a wave crashed to shore picked up the little fellow and pulled him out to sea. More cries of "Do something Alex!" rang out until we realised the little chap was swimming, and swimming hard. We looked on in disbelief as a huge fish swam up from the depths and took a pop at the poor guy but he instinctively pulled in his head and legs into his shell, hung there in the water for a few seconds until the fish lost interest and then, having cautiously emerged, set off swimming again. We stood and watched until he disappered into a clump of weed and suddenly Fiji seemed like a brighter place.
Things improved even further in the evening when the staffed hosted a 'lovo' or Fijian feast
for all the guests. This involved them singing and dancing in traditional Fijian dress and presenting us all with Frangipani necklaces. It was then our turn to get up and dance with them (much to Alex's horror, as he hadn't had nearly enough beer to begin dancing) before we sat down to a huge selection of traditional Fijian food cooked in an underground earth oven. All delicious.
The following morning the sky began to clear and by lunchtime the sun was out and it was hot. We headed for the least stony patch of the beach and stretched out. Ahhh, this was more like it. The following few days proceeded to be lovely and sunny and hot. We spent the days stretched out in hammocks or on the beach and our evenings eating delicious food, meeting great people, and participating in the nightly entertainment. This included Kava drinking, a quiz night, an international night and a limbo competion. We gamely participated in all activities, the strangest probably being the Kava drinking. Kava is a root grown in Fiji and much beloved by them. They mix either the root itself, or a powdered form of the root, in water and
then kind of squeeze the roots/powder like a large teabag to form the Kava drink. Then follows a cermony (very important in Fijian society) where you are presented with a coconut shell either full of kava (high tide) or half full (low tide.) You must clap once and shout 'bula!' ('welcome/hello'), drink the kava straight down, then hand the coconut shell back and clap three times. As you can imagine a drink made from roots and water tastes pretty much how it looks, but the strangest thing about it is, it numbs your face and mouth, much like a throat losenge would. In fact kava reputedly contains 14 different analgesic and anaesthetic properties and is alledgedly good for high blood pressure, depression and anxiety and a whole range of other things. It does not leave you feeling drunk, but drink enough and it will make your limbs go numb and give you strange dreams. Personally it just made our faces tingle, but it was an interesting experience.
The only time we exerted ourselves was when we made a trip to the local village in Nacula seeing their church, medical centre, markets and schools. In the schools the children would
assemble in a classroom and sing several different Fijian songs, beautifully intune without any musical accompaniment but with several floor shaking dances. Man, the whole country has got rhythm and the most amazing ability to sing. In the afternoon of the same day I attended a weaving session lead by Aunty Maria, one of the ladies from the village, who taught us how to make excellent jewellery out of local plants.
On our final day, another hot and sunny one, we collected snorkels and headed out for a reef hopping trip. The Fijians are making a real effort to protect their reefs, many of which were severely damaged in 2000 due to climate change. One of the things the people of Oarsman Bay lodge do is grow coral gardens. This involves cutting a piece of coral from a healthy plant and attaching it to a concrete 'cookie'. These are then placed back in the water at the site of damaged reefs and allowed to grow. Although it takes about 6 months to grow a piece as a long as your finger, the project is proving very successful. Certainly the three reefs we visited were very impressive with huge corals and a wide variety of fish, including harmelss jellyfish (which feel like real jelly in a silk bag when you touch them) and huge blue starfish.
The following day was our last, and after a final excellent lunch, we headed back out to meet the catamaran on the little boat we came in on. As we left the shore of the island, all the staff came out to sing us a Fijian farewell song accompanied by guitars and ukeleles. This time the sun was shining and the sea was like a millpond. Consequently a journey back to the mainland was dramatically different and involved no sickness on my part.
And so we head off to the final part of our adventure and the shores of California where, for the first time in three months, we will be in the Northern hemisphere again.
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