Bula Family & Friends,

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Leaving Fiji’s largest island of Viti Levu we were aboard our Twin Otter 19-seater, with the cockpit doors wide open, watching the pilot and copilot putting both hands on the vibrating throttle, whisking us off for our hour long hop to Fiji’s second largest island, Vanua Levu (formerly known as Sandalwood Island). We landed at the small town of Savusavu’s airport (comprised of shacks alongside the landing strip) for 10 minutes while goods were loaded to deliver to our final destination of Taveuni, Fiji’s third largest island, known as the ‘Garden Island of Fiji.’ We each sat in single seats on this craft, flying with some locals island hopping, one memorable scene was with a young boy sitting across the 2 foot wide aisle from us, being nursed by his mother, when he was not wandering the aisle, grabbing onto passengers’ knees and grinning with his infectious smile. The views of forests, rivers, wetlands, reefs, tide pools and underwater formations looking like perfectly cooked pancakes were incredible as we were only at an altitude of 1,000 feet! The clouds were few and when we flew into any, they absorbed us like puffs of cotton candy. Landings at both airports were rather alarming, as we could see into the cockpit and the descents were at a 45 degree angle, with side winds, our plane swaying on approach!

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At Matei Airport on Taveuni, we were met by the driver from our lodging at Coconut Grove (CG) on the northern tip of the island. We were only a quarter mile away and met by staffers Noa, Petro, Vina and Lagi upon arrival. We unloaded our gear at our bure’ (bungalow), Papaya, named for the tree directly in front of our east-facing window, from which we would view the sun rises whilst still in bed. Other denizens of this lodging were dogs Gracie (12 y.o. Doberman) and Kirby (an adolescent German Shephard). After unpacking we went for a late afternoon walk with Kirby, feeling a few sprinkles in concert with the searing sun. Returning to our bure as the storm came in we encountered a small green lizard at the lip of a glass that our Welcome fruit shake had come in. Turned out it was a sugar-loving gecko, cute, with dark beady eyes, leaping to the wall and climbing under a wall hanging.

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Showing up for dinner, we met Serah, a beautiful, tall, quiet and gracious Fijian, who was also the house masseuse and worked on Maggie while we were there. We had Ginger fish and lobster, wine and sangria. While dining outside on the deck, a fat Gecko above us let go a phosphorescent deposit right next to us! Yum!! Taking off our footwear (mandatory for entering the main house) we were entertained with music and Kava, known as yaqona, a mildly narcotic drink made from mixing the powdered (or chewed) root of the pepper plant with water, resulting in a numb feeling around the mouth, lips and tongue and a sense of relaxation. As we bedded down for the night, the storm really hit, rain pounding throughout the night. John Huston’s 1932 movie, “Rain” came to mind. The rain continued well into the next day, keeping us on our covered veranda for breakfast, dining on a large plate of fresh fruit, eggs and muesli.

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Fortified now and grabbing our umbrellas, we left to walk down to Tovu Tovu Resort, to use their WiFi and review our emails. There we met the owner of CG, Ronna, a woman in her mid-fifties, who had just come back from a medical visit to Australia shared bits of her story with us, including 15 years here in Fiji. Later that morning we heard a row between her and someone else. Turned out she was firing one of her employees who had been stealing from the CG! Later we discovered that what we might call ‘stealing’, in Fiji it would be called ‘borrowing’ (even up to a period of 20 years!!!).  Returning to our Papaya bure, we took Kirby on a short beach walk, throwing him the coconut he had found, exercising his retrieval skills. We later met the new residents of the Mango bure, more newlyweds, Richard & Abby from New Hampshire, he, a wood worker, she, a bio-technologist. Seems like Fiji is a magnet for lovers which added to our own experience and rationale for choosing Fiji. That night we dined with our newest comrades, getting to know them and bonding quite nicely.

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The next day, with the storm having run its course and the sun making attempts on breaking through the cloud layer, we decided to “strike while the iron is hot” and toured in a 2-person kayak, half a mile east over to the first isle to snorkel, being buffeted by strong winds and wave action, challenging our upper body strength. Lagi had supplied us with fins from CG, gave us directions and pushed us off to take on the day. We found a small narrow cove and climbed up the rocks with the bow rope to secure the kayak, looping the line between two rocks. Underwater, through a narrow passageway between those rocks, me wearing only one fin due to a broken pin on the other, impeding my speed, we viewed the colorful hard coral, electric blue starfish, the softer coral formations appearing as an artist’s palette, then moving on to isle #2 against rough wave action, forcing us to remain close to isle #1. After an hour we headed back, going with the waves, to retrieve our kayaks and paddle back to our lodging, moving into a more spacious bure, named Banana, relaxing in the double hammock out front after a cleansing in an outdoor shower which accommodated both of us concurrently, accessible from our living room. Laying in our hammock, on the north side of our bure, we were within reach of a 3-4 inch spider with a yellow body, fortunately, we learned, not dangerous. We topped off the afternoon by walking down to Audrey’s for coffee and pastries (coconut & pear cake). She provided us with some of her home-made Kahlua and its recipe. Total cost: 11 FJD or $5 USD!!!

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The meals at CG were not included and on this night we signed up for the 28 FJD buffet, being entertained by a songfest with Lagi and his “band boys”, with their soprano voices, ukuleles and guitars, imbibing Kava, guests drawing from the “low tide” cup size, Lagi & Co., the “high tide” size. As it turned out, no matter how much Kava we consumed, we did not feel the supposed effects…perhaps we needed the “high tide’ size! We splurged on a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc as a go-with for our splendid buffet. We conversed with another couple, Kathryn & Anthony from Redlands, CA, via London, via Melbourne, working for a software company making maps (a la MapQuest).

After our usual breakfast the next day, on our veranda, we met up with Abby & Richard, to share a taxi to the start of the Lavena Coastal Walk (part of the Bouma National Heritage Park), a 10 meters (6 miles) round trip sojourn through lush vegetation, waterfalls and streams. Our driver, Babbu, took us on a dirt road for the first hour, along the southeastern coastline, where we viewed the rustic living conditions of islanders, including CG staff (Serah, Petro & Noa). Passing through these villages, Babbu would take his hat off, a traditional respect for the village chief. Nearing our destination, we crossed over a river that had overrun this concrete raised passage by about 6 inches! Arriving at Village Centre, we signed in for the walk, paid 8 FJD each, meeting Simone, who would guide us for the 4 hour walk, following the coast leading to a hike to the 40 foot high Wainibau Falls.

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Along the way, Simone would point out plants and bark used for a myriad of things: ankle sprains, clotting, diabetes (wild ginger root), shaving brush lathering, pillow fill, etc. We came across wild pigs, orange breasted doves, giant rubber trees, coleus, Gigantic Philodendron (rainforest size).  We walked on sand at times, then on coral, Simone being barefoot! At the river, we were introduced to barking pigeons, brown frogs, orchids and unique roots of the Fijian Chestnut tree. When we arrived at the river emanating from the falls, we had ropes to grip, as we were walking on slippery stones. We stopped after a while, disrobed and left our lunches to swim upstream to the base of the falls (no photos available as the camera was left behind too). It was a strong, cold (but refreshing) current, us gripping the rock face on our left.

We arrived at the falls where there were natural ‘seats’ occurring in the rock, from which we could sit and view the main falls and a lesser one to our left. Simone had stayed back, nursing a cold, otherwise he would have scaled to the top of the falls and jumped in (probably to double his tip?).  We swam back and found Simone asleep, so we ate and fed the fish until he woke up. One highlight of the trek back was the suspension bridge over the Wainisairi River, which was limited to 10 hikers at a time, snapping a photo of Simone, Abby & Richard on the bridge. Simone eventually led us through the “backdoor” of the Lavena Village and across the rugby field, where Babbu was waiting to taxi us back to CG. We tipped Simone 10 FJD each, plus a bit more because he was sick. On the way back to CG, Babbu stopped at Tavoro Falls, leaving us to hike for 10 minutes up a tree-lined path alongside the river to the lower falls, 70 feet spilling into a perfect pool for swimming and not as dangerous as our earlier experience. Then the four of us hiked up a rapid ascent ‘staircase’ to view the ocean and interior vegetation. We were having such a good time and were gone so long that Babbu came looking for us. After an 8 hour day, we arrived back at 4:40 PM, paying Babbu his 80 FJD plus another 20 FJD for the side trip to Tavoro.

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We decided to not dine at our location, instead walking to the Vunibokoi restaurant at Tovu Tovu, with Miss Josephine serving us veggie stir fry, prawns & beer and country music as a back drop. Our walk back to our residence was in total darkness…no electricity, no street lamps, being guided by the white paint on the pavement next to the road shoulder, a few sprinkles, a bit of a wind, fresh air and romantic. Richard & Abby left the next day on their way to the Koro coast and river rafting on Viti Levu. We hooked up with Babbu once more, to go to the west side of the island to the dive shop at Garden Island Resort to get a skiff to snorkel near Koro Levu Island, where we were dropped off. Snorkeling consumed 2 hours seeing mainly scores of pale turquoise 2 inch long fish congregating around coral. We drifted toward a steep drop off, looking down into the eerie abyss, wondering what lay in the impenetrable deep dark blue depths, but we were fascinated with lots of small Hermit crabs. Upon our return to the dive shop, we were pleased that they had fixed the broken pin on my fin to save face with CG. The whole dive experience totaled 60 FJD, including fin repair. Leaving, we drove over a rugby field to the International Date Line marker where Maggie and I were each on a different day… me a day later on the West side of the divide, while Maggie was still stuck on the East side, today. This dichotomy was caught on camera by Babbu. Stopping for some shopping, the Somo Somo village general store politeness was present, folks letting those with very small purchases to go ahead of them…”No Worry, No Hurry”.

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Back at CG, Maggie had a massage from Serah in our bure. I sat on the bed, drinking rum and reading (my idea of relaxation). We learned about Serah’s life at 25 y.o., with 3 children ages 4 y.o., 2 y.o. and 2 months. She was floored when she found out our son was 24 y.o. and our 30 years of marriage. We hung around after dinner with another couple, Anthony & Catherine until we got booted out. This couple was moving on the next day to the Cousteau Resort on Vanua Levu and then off to get married in Melbourne after a 12 year relationship. Yet one more example of the types drawn to Fiji. Our last full day was spent snorkeling straight out in front of CG, toward their reef, sans fins, with dead coral giving way to colorful, live coral and the usual amphibian suspects plus new ones, e.g., angel and butterfly fish. Listening to the rain squalls, we drifted off to sleep, anticipating the next adventure which would be the most adventurous of our whole time in Fiji, at sea aboard the 3-masted schooner, Tui Tai.

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Our next dispatch will detail that wonderful time, with only 5 others aboard.

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 Bula! Stan & Maggie

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