Fiji
In 1997 I had the benefit of a sabbatical from my job, which meant a 6 week vacation,
Six weeks, oh what to do...
We're Heading Down Under!!!
We contemplated a lot of different options, but Australia was always one of those places that if we had the time, we would love to go. It was completely different from home, with diverse locations; desert, rainforest, beach and reef, and maybe the wackiest collection of animals on the planet. Seemed like a no-brainer... As part of the planning process and the long long flights we decided to break it up a bit with a stop-over on the way there (Fiji), and a stop-over on the way back (Cook Islands).
January 31st
We left Vancouver at 7 pm, and are surprised to find our Air New Zealand stewardess, sky-hostess, flight attendant... whatever you call them now... is an old school friend. As we leave the plane she gives us a bottle of wine to take on our trip, a great start to a great vacation.
After a short stop-over in Honolulu, we arrive in Fiji at 6 am (10am BC time). Somewhere we gained a day after crossing the International Date Line. We receive a shell necklace in the airport and are escorted to our temporary home... the Fiji Mocombo Hotel, a tropical locale, complete with cane toads all over the walkways.
The next day we are picked up and bused to the boat for our Blue Lagoon Cruise.
(click here to see route map)
February 2nd
We didn't have a February 1st since we crossed the date-line, so on the 2nd we start a 4 day/3 Night cruise around the Mamanuca and Yasawa Islands of Fiji on a small cruise ship. During our check-In we get upgraded to 'A' deck, another fine start to our vacation.
Traveling is not only about the places you see, but also the people you meet. The first of those people are Margaret and Richard from Ottawa... who we would meet up with later in our trip. The other great people we meet are Norm and Ardelle from Vancouver, Lorna and Keith from the UK, and of course the Fijiian crew, Joe, Lars, Paul and the rest of the guys.
After loading the ship and departing, we arrived at the harbour where Blue lagoon was filmed by 6:00pm. Joe asks "anyone want to swim?", and Richard, Margaret, Norine and I are the only takers. We are put in a small boat, taken around the corner to a private beach complete with coconut trees, and birds singing, warm and clear water... the only footprints on the sand are ours (just the 4 of us).
We have the freshest of seafood for dinner (really fresh), after we watch our crew fishing off the back of the boat, or diving and bringing up other assorted Seafood. Norine decides on the pork, and for the rest of the trip our busboy Lars is making piggy noises around her. After dinner we see the glow-in-the-dark Sea Snakes, swimming around the boat, picking of bugs and smaller fish. The whole time Lars is bugging Norine, oinking or pretending to be a bug on her legs. The first night it's early to bed (9:30) since the early swim is at 6:30am.
February 3rd
We are up at 6:15, and we made it in time for the morning swim, the crew was already on shore playing rugby... after an hour of lazing in the water, we head back for eggs with bacon or pancakes, Fijiian Eggs and pancakes are just like ours, except less cooked.
Meanwhile the boat heads off to Yasawa-I-Rara Island, another seemingly deserted beach, we go snorkeling with Joe, who has a knife strapped to his leg, we see thousands of those black and white striped reef fish, and we bob around in the surf for a while. While lazing on the beach under the dangerous coconut trees, a small shark (2-3 feet) came roaring into the shore, swooped along the shoreline and then took off as fast as it came in, now we know why Joe has a knife. It wasn't to help him prepare morning tea and lunch that we at on the beach.
Nacula Village is our next destination, we piled into 2 boats, then are marched through the jungle to the village. We are saying "Bula" to all the natives we pass, it is our one Fijjian word. We are treated to the time-honoured "yaqona" welcoming ceremony... There is an assortment of singing, dancing, and native rituals, it was all a little emotionally overwhelming for a few... quite an amazing experience. Joe presented a Kava root to the chief on our behalf, actually the elders, since the chief was in New Zealand looking for a wife.
Which was followed by the native ritual drinking of the Kava, a local root blended into a tea, that makes your tongue, lips and mouth go numb. After the ceremony the local women put out their crafts for sale. It was hard to talk to them with a numb tongue.
After visiting this Village lost-in-time we are taken back to the boat, and then we are invited to the beach for volleyball, en-route we see 2 sea turtles... then we lose 3 games in a row... but we saw Sea turtles! Back to the boat for dinner, and then singing with the crew, 2 guitars and a ukelele our little group of "regulars" were the last ones to leave for bed. Norine showed everyone how to do the Macarena... Hey! Macerana! I am badly sunburned from the day in the sun, especially where the snorkelling gear rubbed off the sunscreen, I will be sleeping on my stomach, apparently snorkeling is good for baking backs
February 4th
No morning swim for me, I felt awful from the sunburn, and 6:15am just seemed like a bad idea. Norine went and walked on the beach instead... past the small village of Nanuya Lai Lai. She is back on the boat for breakfast, and the crew are all calling her 'Macarena'. After some more Fijiian eggs, we head back to the beach, Joe is feeding fish with bread, tossing pieces of bun right by the girls so the fish go into a mad swarm right by them, Joe finds the screams quite hilarious, as do the rest of us. I layed under a palm tree staying in the shade most of the day, avoiding falling coconuts.
A good portion of the afternoon was spent by the crew preparing a Lovo, They dig a hole and start a fire, creating lots of red embers and super heated rocks, then in layers stacked with Banana Leaves, they put all of our food in the hole to be cooked. Finally the hole is covered with Sand, and left to cook underground until dinnertime.
We lost the vote and the majority of guests chose to eat dinner on the boat instead of the shore. A group of us boated to the shore that was all lit up with torches to dig out and retrieve the Lovo. As we come ashore with the lights, huge crabs are running for cover in every direction. The next day we notice our feet are covered in mosquito bites, apparently eating on the boat was a good idea.
Lars tells me I should eat the spinach on the buffet so we can make a baby, he is imitating strong man sounds now. His culture cannot understand how we could be married for 10 years and not have any kids, Imagine his horror if he met us next year after 20 years... We finished our last night on the deck singing with the crew until 11:00pm, Norine showed the ladies how to do the Macarena again, and re-affirmed that her nickname would stick with the crew.
February 5th
Up at 6:15 for the morning swim, we just missed the boat, but one of the crew, Paul took us over by ourselves. We enjoyed the final "morning swim" before our boat makes it's final trek back to Lautoka, Nadi. After we paid our hefty bar bill, the crew came out and sang goodbye to all of us (Isa Lei)... It was a beautiful end to that portion of the trip, and by noon we are back on the bus and returning to our hotel. After dinner we spend the night in our Fijiian hotel room applying burn cream and bug bite medicine
February 6th
The next morning we have a 3 hour flight to New Zealand, and spend the day in Auckland, but it's the day that New Zealand signed a treaty with the Maori people so most of the shops are closed.