Fiji continued...

After the hustle and hassling of Nadi town - being hounded by every street seller and offered taxis every other step - we set off on a very small plane the following day to an island south-east of the main island called Kadavu. It had started raining at the end of our shopping sprint in Nadi and hadn’t let up all night, and this was the tropical warm-but-now-we-can’t-see-the-edge-of-our-balcony variety. A short, bumpy, viewless flight later we plopped onto the tiny airstrip on Kadavu and ran for the hut to await our suitcases. ‘Bula! Bula! Welcome!’ - a muddle of faces greeted us: those waiting to climb aboard the plane we just landed in and those waiting to meet the new arrivals both official and the local villagers who flocked twice daily to further confuse the comings and goings from the air. We were ushered into a muddy pick-up truck, our luggage bundled in plastic bin liners and placed behind us along with more locals jumping on top, happy to endure the rain for a free ride. We were issued with big yellow macks and advised by our smiling Fijian hosts that we may prefer to remove our shoes before disembarking for the hour boat trip transfer to our resort. Ankle deep in squelchy mud and floating pumice we picked our way along the shore and waded to the boat, Kate making a cartoonlike slippery fall down the bank! Safely on board, our bags wrapped in tarpaulin, we were given sweets (named ‘bush candy’ by Maggi our male escort) and biscuits (‘these are sea cookies and you must eat at least five – it’s the Fijian way’) and picked our way through the reef and sped across the bay.

Matava is an eco-friendly resort catering mainly for divers as the Astrolabe Reef is one of the top dive spots in the world. Their beach isn’t great but a short kayak trip to the small island opposite affords a small strip of white sand and snorkelling opportunities over beautiful corals before you can wade out of your depth. The rain had played in our favour as the roof of the standard bure we booked had been leaking so we got upgraded to a deluxe bure up the hill with fabulous views and a hot water shower! Our thatch-roofed wooden room had a huge mahogany bed with a large mosquito net tied above it, basic rustic furniture and one solar powered bulb that only operated at dusk – a whole world away from Canada and the western world we are used to! Dinner was communal in the open sided main bure and was beautifully lit with gas lamps. Drums would sound when food was ready. The food was excellent: a three course meal every night usually served by Maggi who would introduce the theme ie. ‘Hello tonight it is a Chinese night where we will be serving Mexican food which is Thai curry with a fish that tastes like chicken and American cheesecake for dessert, thank you!’ Maggi was a bit like Larry Grayson in a sarong only we never tired of his gags!

The drums beat early for breakfast of fresh pawpaw, pineapple, bananas (all grown on the island) and coffee, pancakes, cereal etc. We took advice from German honeymooners, Thomas and Louisa, to take cat food with us on the kayak if we were going to the island as there was a very small black kitten with white socks that had been abandoned over there. Sure enough, as we neared the shore a little furry dot ran out of the bushes meowing all the way to the sea edge! So cute.

As well as snorkelling Chester also surprised me by taking his first scuba dive. He started the first few days determined not to dive but by day two he was inquisitive and day three he was in there – wetsuit and ‘flippers’ and up for it! Sharon our Irish instructor was brilliant at sorting us all out and our merry party of four (with Kathy, a 60-ish first time scuba diver too) descended to see lionfish, porcupine fish, angel fish and many other beautiful shoals hovering over corals.

Other highlights of Fiji included a guided walk through bush to the local village with Robbie (one of the villagers) and further to the waterfall where I slipped and pulled Robbie in with me! A ‘kava ceremony’ - the local grog made by grinding the dried root of the kava plant and mixing with water. It makes your lips numb and is passed to you individually by the chief whereby the protocol is one clap, down in one, hand back the coconut shell while the rest of the seated circle clap. Most of the locals drink at least ten and end up slumped on cushions by the end of the evening. We feasted on ‘lovo’ – the traditional meal cooked over hot stones buried in the earth. Beautifully tender chicken and local root vegetables. Our farewell send-off was touching as the villagers had made us frangipani garlands and our new friends danced and waved on the jetty.

Next stop: Funky Fish resort on Molola Island – a short (and less muddy) trip back to Nadi to catch our connecting flight north-west of the main island. The weather was better but we got eaten by mozzies, sandflies and even the fish had a nibble! As the name indicated it catered for the younger crowd with music not gas lamps creating the atmosphere but we enjoyed the beaches, snorkelling off the sandbank and internet access!