Floating Suitcases

---

I think we might have become a bit addicted to Fiji. Then again, what's not to get addicted to - balmy weather, palm fringed beaches, super friendly locals..... OK, so they might have the occasional military coup that makes headlines back home, but the locals know which side their bread's buttered on. The coup leaders leave the tourist hotspots well alone, and any visitors who've been there during any of these so-called uprisings have apparently scarcely been aware that they were even happening.

Now I know that if you travel often enough eventually one of your flights is going to be delayed. Our turn had come. We landed in Brisbane to discover that our midnight flight was now not going to leave until 6am. We'd also managed to miss the last transfer bus for the night from the domestic to the international terminal so we didn't have much choice but to hail a cab. Price gouging was clearly alive and well at Brisbane Airport in the middle of the night. Fifty dollars to take us a few hundred metres... Now there's nothing quite like spending a night in an airport terminal to get you ready for a holiday, particularly when all the shops have closed for the night, and the only flat surfaces available to try to catch some shuteye on are a few cushionless steel benches.

We waited on the dock at Port Denarau for a ferry to take us out to our island. We checked in and then watched on as the local baggage handlers pushed trolleys full of suitcases down a narrow ramp towards the boats. One of the handlers seemed to be having just a tad of difficulty with one overloaded looking trolley, and we waited for the inevitable. Sure enough one of the wheels slipped over the edge of the ramp, and trolley and suitcases suddenly found themselves upended into the drink. Hmmm. I don't think that was supposed to happen. Fortunately our luggage was on one of the other trolleys. I'd often wondered whether suitcases float. Apparently they do, provided someone dives in after them before they get too waterlogged. That doesn't seem however to prevent at least some of the contents getting wet. The young lady sitting across from us on the ferry appeared just a little unimpressed that her brand new laptop didn't seem to be working quite as it should have been after its unplanned dip. What is it with baggage handlers? I've sometimes looked out a plane window and watched airline baggage handlers ply their trade. It's not a sight for the fainthearted. I doubt you'd be overly pleased if you just remembered that you'd packed a priceless souvenir vase in the suitcase you've just seen sent crashing down onto the concrete.

The ferry took us out to Treasure Island, which is in the Mamanuca Group off the west coast of Viti Levu. We had a bure with two interconnecting rooms right on the beach. Being right on the beach is good, surely. Well it was until Issy just happened to be roused from her sleep one night to the sound of Troy sleepwalking out the door towards the sand. I wonder if you wake up if you sleep walk into the water. I would have thought that "yes" was the answer to that particular question, but Issy wasn't taking any chances. She double bolted the doors before we went to sleep every night after that, and then slept with the keys under her pillow.

We tried to befriend the island's resident bird, who we decided to call George. I'm not entirely sure that George wanted to be befriended. He moved like lightning. We'd see him behind us one minute, then ten metres ahead of us, but when we turned around he'd be behind us again. I think part of my brain might have shut itself down for the holidays, well at least that's my excuse for not realising for a quite few days that the island was actually populated with a few different Georges..... Troy and Emma seemed quite happy to go along with the One George Theory, but maybe they were just feeling sorry for their poor old idiot dad....

The island was very small, but it did have a golf course, well a mini golf course. I can't remember who won, so it probably wasn't me. The good thing about mini golf, in my mind at least, is that it's over quite quickly, so unlike real golf it only ruins part of a day. Troy and I went parasailing for the first time. The colours of the reef looked more spectacular than ever from this new vantage point. We landed over on neighbouring Beachcomber Island, which is a backpacker hangout only a few hundred metres across the water from Treasure. If the noise booming out from there on a nightly basis was anything to go by, "party central" doesn't even begin to cover it.

We took a day trip to nearby Bounty Island, another backpacker hangout. We snorkeled and were treated to a traditional Fijian feast cooked in an underground oven by a group of fearsome looking warriors. We'd gotten used to the concept of "Fiji time", which seems to entail things happening when they happen, rather than in accordance with any sort of schedule. I asked what time our boat was going to leave to go back to Treasure, and got the usual "at Fiji time" response, which I took to mean whenever, and certainly not very soon. I thought I'd use the opportunity to do some more snorkeling, and that perhaps this time I'd venture a bit further offshore. I took my hat off and left it on the beach. It was very relaxing out along the reef. Well it was until I stuck my head up for air to hear the serenity interrupted by panicked cries. They sounded suspiciously like they were coming from a not overly happy Issy and Scott. They also seemed to be coming from the direction of our quite full looking boat moored at the pier. I swam towards it to find out what the problem was. It seemed that our transport was ready to leave, and the only thing that was stopping it was a single recalcitrant straggler - me. But wait, my precious hat was still lying hundreds on metres away on the beach. It was my very favourite hat, and I couldn't possibly leave the island without it. What's another twenty minutes delay for a boatload of tourists on Fiji time, in comparison to the potential loss of a treasured headpiece. I got back to the boat to discover that it was perhaps only me who held this opinion. I climbed aboard past daggered stares and tried to keep a low profile as I waited for us to leave. Why aren't we going anywhere I thought. Apparently I wasn't the only thing holding us up; the skipper seemed to be having just a tad of difficulty starting the engine. It spluttered to life a few times, only to quickly die again. The hatch came off, and the skipper and his crewman huddled over the semi lifeless motor in search of solutions. A knob was twiddled, and it suddenly burst into life, but as the ropes were cast off it died again. More twiddling, and it started up somewhat hesitantly once again. Minutes past and it was still chugging. The skipper told us that he'd decided that it was now time to risk the perilous crossing back to Treasure. What's the worst thing that could happen we all thought. If the looks were anything to go by the scenario at the front of most minds was the engine cutting out again while we were out in the middle of the ocean, and us then drifting aimlessly for days before dying of thirst. But all seemed to be going well. And it was, well until someone's hat flew off and landed in the drink. (Fortunately it wasn't mine or I think my shipmates may have decided it was time to throw me in after it.) The skipper instinctively went to stop the engine so he could retrieve the hat, but the passengers weren't having any of it. "Don't turn it off" rung out in perfect unison as the three passengers closest to him dived frantically to push his hand away from the keys. Disaster averted, but only just.

---

Comments

[RENanDREW]

Fiji
I've just caught up on your Fiji blogs... it's made me add Fiji to our list of potential 'close neighbours' we may wish to explore when our borders eventually open. Your George story was hilarious... :D

[DaveandIssy]

Fiji
Thanks for this. Yep, we love Fiji, although it's now got a tad expensive, and will possibly get more so if it's covid safe when other places aren't. Love your idea about travelling round Tassie - a part of our homeland we've seen very little of. Good luck with that. We will read with interest. We're planning a trip to northern Aus later in the year, when hopefully potential border closures are a bit less of a risk..... Am I dreaming?

[D MJ Binkley]

Fiji Islands
We went to Matamanoa Island and the main island for our 10th wedding anniversary. 300 islands of fun. Love all the orchids. Thanks for sharing your trip.