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10/4/09= Sunbathing, Volleyball and Drunken card games
Woke up early for breakfast - won’t make the same mistake as dinner - threw some clothes on and headed straight for buffet table. Delighted to find pancakes waiting…yum 😊 Even better, they had fresh orange and sugar to put on them…well done Crusoe! Grabbed a stack of 3 and started the eating process. V.tasty, but also v.stodgy pancakes. Managed to squeeze a 4th in, but that well and truly finished me off. No lounging in bikini for at least 30mins. Had a quick morning chat with everyone, then headed off to reception to sort this reimbursement out once and for all. Found same owner as before, who typed lots of numbers into a calculator and came up with a refund of $74. Wasn’t as much as had hoped for, but better than nothing I guess and couldn’t be bothered to stand around all day having same argument about money. He was really helpful though and offered to help us plan rest of trip. Now Robinson Crusoe been cut short, had more available days and so decided would be good to travel round mainland, to get a better feel for the ‘real
Fiji’ that everyone keeps going on about. He showed us all good places to stop and a really cheap way to travel. Brilliant. All had to do was come back later and talk to his travel guy. Lot’s of ‘come back later’ on Robinson Crusoe.
Went off a bit happier then and since 30mins had passed, was now safe to lounge on beach in bikini. Couldn’t find where all other girls had gone, so just settled for the nearest sunny spot and flaked out. Crazy hot weather. Not intense sun and didn’t feel like was burning, but just felt heat all around us. Sweated more than have sweated in life. Within 30mins. Totally wet through and hadn’t even been in water yet. Persevered through it for an hour, then a Fijian guy came over and asked us if wanted to go on Coconut hunt…why not? Wow, now that was false advertising! The so called ‘hunt’ turned out to be us following the Fijian guy a couple of metres into jungle, waiting for him as he collected coconuts and then carring them back for him. That was our job. I carried a coconut…not quite a watermelon, but close enough.
Wasn’t such a waste of time, we got to keep the coconuts we carried and use them to make jewellrey and wanted to do the jewellrey making anyway. He peeled and cracked the outer shell for us by cracking the coconut over a nearby tree stump and then showed us how to make a bracelet. Involved a lot of intense sawing and sanding…hard work! Worse because only had one saw to share between a group of 8 of us and it wasn’t exactly a quick job. Bored of waiting, but when was my turn, arms got a real shock…haven’t had a workout in a long time! Made first cut through then had to take a mini break; tiny biceps trembling. No vices involved in coconut jewellrey making…it’s just you, your hand and a hacksaw. Not sure that would pass a health and safety in England.
Took a lot of effort and sweat, but managed to finally cut a bangle shape out of my coconut. Next job = lots and lots of sanding. Off I went with that job. Next time looked up it was 1pm and time for lunch. Now, I love jewellrey more than your average person,
but I don’t think there is a single thing in the world I love more than food. Packed bracelet swiftly away in pocket - finished or not finished - and headed straight over to buffet table. Quite dis-heartened to find lunch was at 1:30 today, but sat on beach instead and waited for the drums. Drumming = dinner time. Lunch today = good…really good. Salad, cheese, bread, spaghetti and meatballs. Wow. Some of my favourite foods all congregated together on one table…I’m obviously not referring to the salad there, but everything else! Got a bit of everything - even salad - and headed back to table. Had way too much food on plate because hadn’t anticipated so many nice things, but managed to squash it all in with a lot of effort. V.v.v.v full, but happy 😊 Food nightmares/memories of Mana nearly completely wiped out now…nearly. Had to sit for a while to let belly calm, then we all went to beach. The girls had found a nice spot right at top of island where water was nice and clear, so we all went there. Where we had been laying, water was murky and full of seaweed…not Mana water.
When got to top of beach, couldn’t believe water and neither could girls. They had left nice, clean water behind, but now, tide was out so far that could nearly walk back to mainland and it had left behind seaweed and murkiness. Crazy how far water had moved. Had a v.quick dip - don’t like it when you can’t see what’s around you - then laid on beach. Chatted to an Irish group for a while, then just about to start dozing when the ‘fish drive’ started. Hadn’t planned on watching it, but was happening right next to us, so all got up and had a look. One of Fijian guys spread a huge net across sea and dragged it in full of lots of little fish. He made it look so easy. He then dumped full net on beach and had to watch as all fish lay flapping there, stuggling for their last breath…well, maybe not breath…fish don’t breath, do they? Anyway, was a horrible sight. Wished he would either just put them back or kill them. I should have only wished for the former, because he decided on the second option. He picked up a nearby stick
and speared it straight through the fishes heads, one by one. Then all that was left was a stcik full of speared fish dribbling in blood. Really didn’t like it. Some of them were still flapping around even though they had been speared. I know it’s the circle of life and all, but I’d rather not see it.
He dumped those fish to one side (apparently bait for larger fish), then got out his big net again. Decided to watch how he did it this time. Couldn’t believe what he dragged out of the sea we had just paddled in….a Puffer-fish/ Blow-fish, in fact, there were 2 of them in his net. Just been swimming in that area. They were fully bloated as he dragged them out, but the longer he left them, the more they began to deflate and die. Awful. Could see and hear as they spurted and leaked out water slowly. An idiot Irish girl started to hit one with a stick, claiming she was trying to ‘put it out of it’s misery’…I know what I wanted to do with that stick! Fijian guy told her to back off because they were poisonous, then he
carefully put them back in sea, although had been way more than 5mins. Watched as one immediately started to move and regain life, but the other sat lifeless on top of the water. Oh no! And it was the one the stupid girl was hitting. We all followed it as the tide washed it down the beach, but it didn’t move, it floated. Definitely dead. Oh no! Had started to rain by this point anyway, so packed up things and walked back to camp. On way back, a different and much nicer Irish girl told me that she followed fish all way down and saw it come back to life. Don’t know if she was just lying to make me feel better, but it worked 😊
When got back to camp it was tea/break time…yeh! Rain always = cup of tea. Toddled up and nearly died of happiness when spotted cake and jam too. Wow. Crusoe is the place to be for food. Got 2 pieces of cake - on form with the greediness lately - then all sat round chatting and eating. Such a hard life traveling. Then decided, after all cake eating, that we needed some
exercise. Should make use of the volleyball court and brush up on non-existent skills. Us 6 girls went up to play, but before even reached net and discussed teams, people were flocking from all ends of beach. Then there were 24 of us and way too many for 1 game; had to split into 4 teams of 6. I was my usual rubbish self, but lots of others were rubbish too, so just kind of blended in. Goes without saying that my team lost. Then kind of all turned around. Debs’ team were in final with 1 player short, so I joined them and they ended up winning. From absolute loser to winner…my kind of ending. Was good fun anyway and at least a little bit of exercise.
Was shower time then…my first real bucket shower. Excited and nervous. Filled my spare bucket from cold tap, hoisted up full shower bucket using pulley system and all available strength, then turned on tap prepared for freezing cold dribble. Quite surprised actually, was nowhere near as cold as expected…actually refreshing. Had to turn it on and off every time had to lather soap, but that 1 bucket did my whole
body…conditioner and everything. V.impressive. Am a fan of the bucket shower! Not so good that then had to get changed and ready in that damp space. Rushing as well because wanted to see sunset bonfire. Made it late at 6:15, but quickly rushed to bar, bought margarita ice drink and sat on whicker mat in front of fire watching sun go down over ocean. Beautiful. This IS the life. All sat and chatted happily - v.chilled - then came close to dinnertime so went off to get a good table, a.k.a. one closet to buffet table.
Really good dinner tonight. Fish, veg and salad; nice change. Ate, then was time for drinking. Me and Deb had to do secret missions to room to fill up vodka and orange’s, and then spent rest of night chatting, drinking and playing cards. Played an awful game that involved downing drinks - thankfully I didn’t lose - then it was time for organised ‘Fun and Games’. Today’s game = pole spinning. Had to split into teams and spin round pole 10times. First round with head on stick, second round with stick in the air, on head. Glad I didn’t drink more. Definitely
not the fastest, but managed to not fall over = good. Last game = giant can-can with us all in a line and dragging each other round. That was o.k., but then had to link arms in between each others legs and still pull each other round. Even that would have been bearable, but not when you have a small 10yr old boy as the person in front of you. Jiggling up and down, even doing a thrusting action with a 10yr old boy in front of you…inappropriate doesn’t quite cover it. Weren’t allowed to quit either, this was the farewell game as all leaving island tomorrow. Couldn’t wait for that game to end…really couldn’t.
Back to table then for more drunken card games. Irish couple taught us a really good game called ‘f*ck the dealer’. Both Deb and Ashleigh well and truly lost this game and had to drink some pretty bad stuff…glad it wasn’t me. All camp came together than and played a giant game of cards…Kings. Was more than 30 of us, which actually ended up being way too many. More people = less chance of drinking rubbish concoction in middle though, so fine by
me. A guy called Zoomy (met him on Mana island) led game and it went on for ages. V.glad when a beer break came just so could stop concentrating. Re-joined table and sat with Irish couple and Irish girls. Diedra = drunk…v.v.v.drunk. Were all laughing at first, but wasn’t funny when she started abusing Canadian guy and other girls at end of table. They were’nt happy and then stitched her up so she lost game and had to down horrible drink in middle….oh no. That was pretty much it for Diedra. She fell back of bench a few times and had to catch her, found some random insect repellent in middle of table and used it all and called the 10yr old buy from the game earlier a ‘bast*rd’ to his face. Oh no! Eventually, she calmed down and last drink set in. 10mins later, she had collapsed on table, out cold. Probably a good thing.
Lights went out at midnight, so game ended and everyone headed to beach. Sat with a girls and Irish couple and chatted for a while. Deb was drunk and decided rugby would be a good game. Next to 6ft fire and with
big guys…rugby = not a good game. I headed off to bed around 1ish and into dark room. Ashleigh had dragged Diedra into bed and she seemed to be sleeping fine. Got a text from a friend at home (that’s you Michelle) saying that all friends were on a night out there for Bank holiday…miss them. For a second, wished could have been home, but then closed eyes, rolled over and eventually fell to sleep. Do miss you guys xxx
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