Naviti Island

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Fijian War Dance

Song under the tree

We were not getting picked up for our transfer to Naviti Island until midday so this left us a huge dilemma with what to do with ourselves……… We managed to come up with a couple of ideas and spent the morning snorkeling and sitting in the hammock ; )

At the Korovou resort our accommodation improved somewhat! We even had an en-suite. And a sea view. The resort was a step up in terms of facilities too, with fresh water showers and running water being a welcomed plus. It even had a fresh water pool and no sooner had I spotted it, I was in it cooling off from our journey. Not too long after arriving the drum for afternoon tea sounded and everyone had high expectation for what turned out to be a huge anti climax……. NO cake! After some grumblings of discontent from a few post Coral View residents, life moved on.

On Naviti we again got to meet up with Bex & Rob and Ashley & Brent, who we had briefly met at the last resort. It turned out that we were all doing the same islands as each other, albeit we were a day behind. We had a good giggle over dinner the stories were mainly about how Bex (a fellow hostie) and Jo mistreated unpleasant passengers…..never cross a hostie I tell you! Teabag and toilet seat were used in the same sentence!! You’ve been warned. The evenings entertainment by the dancing Bula Boys was pretty funny too!! It got even funnier as after their routine they got everyone up to copy it and then after that we were paired off and competing in a dance off. Brilliant, I thought!! Unfortunately, we were all paired off with a complete stranger and luckily for me………… mine was a scaringly competitive German, who despite my best and at times, desperate efforts to get us out (I was worried that winning would involve dancing together at the end, in front of everyone, as had happened on a previous nights entertainment at Coral View). At one point she swung me round like a kid with a rag doll (she was a bit of a big girl!!) I was getting a little afraid that my increasingly blatant attempts to sabotage our chances of winning might lead to an unpleasant reaction……… but I needn’t have worried, my luck was in, if a little over due. We left the dance floor in the last round. It was a hot night and I was a little less out of breath than her as I gave her a sympathetic hug for her valiant efforts. I immediately wished I hadn’t….….what is it they say don’t rub salt into the wound of losing, that’ll go for sweat as well I think…not nice!!

Our last day on Naviti we put ourselves down for the village visit. A short boat trip took us around the corner of the island and into a sheltered bay. Two small boys were playing in the shallows as our boat pulled in to the shore. They soon recognized the tourist boat and were willing performers to our wanting audience.

Once on the beach our guide talked us through the schedule for our visit. First we would be welcomed by the Chief of the Village in a Kava ceremony (Kava is a white cloudy drink derived from crushing the root of an unknown plant in the pepper family, and yes it tastes lovely!! The strength varies as to who‘s making it, but most local Fijians spend the night drinking it. It is meant to induce the effects known from taking an amphetamine). It was no surprise then when Jo got a bit of a head rush as we rose from sitting on the floor to take a look around the small craft stalls laid out beside us. She immediately lost control of her senses and went shopping!! The items on sale ranged from handmade wooden masks to jewelry. Jo ended up buying a nicely put together brown and crème shell bracelet and in the process made a friend. Tooney who could only have been four or five was a real charmer, his first approach was to stick his hands in my pockets and try and fleece my cash!! After having a little fun talking to him and giving him a whizzy, we were off on a short walk to the village school. Not a lot to say about this one apart from watch the film clips and make your own mind up. For us it was the best part of our island hop. The Fijian War dance was my favourite. After the kids had performed their songs, dancing and poetry recitals we toured the school classrooms. Here there were many endearing things to see, from the old wooden desks that our dad’s, dad’s would have used, to the photo copied sheet displaying the 10 reasons why communal singing is good for you, it was just great. Before we left we took one last look back and could see the kids running around playing a mass game of catch on the school rugby pitch, their little faces beaming, you could almost see the little Sarrevi‘s in the making. We waved goodbye to a few villagers who had come to the beach to see us off (or make sure we were going!!), and we were off.

We arrived back at the resort for lunch, after which we said our goodbyes to Bex and Rob, who were off to Bounty Island. That Afternoon we spent a bit of time on the hammock out the front of our bure and when we got bored of that!! We went for a walk up the beach, where we bumped into Frank again (Frank is a German traveling alone who we have met each time on the transfer boat and on the Cave trip at the last resort). It was quite funny really because we had watched Frank do a pretty quick double back and expansive detour further down the beach in order to avoid a conversation with a fellow German woman who he too could obviously only take in small doses (She had a bad habit of making you wish you weren’t talking to her!!) only to reappear through the trees and bushes a few minutes later some way up the beach, right in front of us. We had a quick chat and he gave us some good pointers on a hire car company in New Zealand, so thanks Frank on that one. He also asked whether we had seen zee Piggies at the end of the beach….. : S By the time we were standing in the queue for dinner and had politely declined the pork on offer, we had!! Poor little pigs penned in small hutches at the end of the beach little be known to them that they would soon be on the table of the ungrateful tourists down at the resort. Argh!!!!! If they had apple sauce then we would have had some!! Although the trifle (eyes wide open!!) for desert went some way to making up for roasting our little friends the Bula Boy’s “Fire Dance” most certainly did. Billed as the best entertainment performance you will see in the Yasawa’s we were totally and utterly enthralled. Be it partly out of shock from the time when a dropped torch nearly scorched Jo’s legs (health and safety were on holiday!!), but in the main to what was a fantastic display of both athleticism and madness!! It was just tremendous, well worth booking this resort to see alone.

A bit of a funny one here but I’ll mention it nevertheless. Martin our friend we met at Coral View went and drank Kava with the boys after hours. He was a little shocked and a word of caution to any future traveler wanting an authentic Kava evening. I’ll give you a clue to the eventual proceedings that evening by telling you the following story of when Dave (Ramsey) encountered a gay man in a sauna. After enjoying a warm sauna and a pleasant conversation together the gay man turned to Dave and asked “Do you like men or women,?” to which Dave replied in a macho tone as he left “I’m a MAN’s man” LOL!! (Just be thankful I didn’t use it at your wedding!!)

Our transfer to our final Island was not until 2.30pm so we spent a relaxing morning in the hammock, before lunch Jo went on a basket weaving lesson and came back with a new palm leaf handbag and after some flower gathering she did a fine job of customizing it.

I’m writing this in New Zealand and its raining…….. again and I want to go back!!

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Photos

Village market
Brent & Ashley shopping for items to put in her new bag!!

Classrooms at the school
Remember those's desks grandad??

Weird sunset
That's me swimming up the beach. I think it was a world record for the longest doggy paddle, it was at least a mile!!

Bula Boys Fire Dance
That's entertainment!! Think Danny's in amongst that lot??