When asked about breakfast one of the elders said “Not surprising, it was the best breakfast I have had today and will probably stay that way.” When asked about the relative merit of todays breakfast in the context of the tour so far he said “That’s a tough question. In the Hitch Hikers Guide, Earth is described as being mostly harmless with a down grade under review to harmless. Today’s breakfast, in the same vein, could be classified mostly repetitive.” You guessed it – boiled eggs and pancakes.
Coaches left on time and the driver was all decked out in a new shirt. Must have a girl friend in every resort. The boys were really quiet, all the late nights are working at last. Someone had bought a guide book to orientate themselves, “maybe you should have used it last night as up and down was hard enough”. Its easy for the driver to keep to the national speed limit of 80Km as his speedo is not working.
Took us 45 mins to get to the boat ramp where we loaded onto three ten meter tinnies and left in convoy between the mangroves. Where is Cappuccino Afloat when you need it.
As we got nearer the mouth of the river the wind picked up and we got a lot of chop. One boat had no gunwales so anything on the floor of the boat got wet. This was the Fijian boat for toughies, the Aussie boat had sides to keep the water out. The driver had an unpronounceable long Fijian name or we could call him Steve. As we left the river and entered the sea an island could be seen ahead of us. We headed towards it with waves coming over and into the boat – still windy.
As we got near the beach an army of islanders in native garb rushed out of the palms, throwing coconut and spears at the boats - really quite frightening for the youngsters as they looked fearsome and very impressive – cannibal look. We pushed the old farts to the front of the boat.
Once we were on the island we were treated to an Kava ceremony. We are informed that the Kava root must be at least 6 years old for it to be any good but the older the better. The dads have been telling their kids they get better with age too. The kavaholics pushed to the front with Orange and Bladsie representing the tour as Chief and Spokesman. The island was also a resort and had lots of activities. Massage (5mins or the full half hour), Pedicure (some of the players needed these), Braiding, Tinting and Horse Riding. The horses wade across on really low tide as there is a sand bridge to mainland. There were also canoes that the guys could use FOC. There were fights initially to use these but as the day wore on the competition for seats was akin to an out-back parliamentary seat.
The resort on the island is called Robinson Crusoe Resort – in the resort shop. This is a traditional hut selling t-shirts, tea towels and tea, all tastefully printed with a summary of the story. Edward de Foe would turn in his hammock. Talking of hammocks, these were quickly snapped up by the kids and parents alike - must needed sleep was caught up on.
Against this back drop the resort is shuttling people out to the reef for snorkelling. This was fantastic. The reef, despite the chop kicking up sand and silt, was beautiful with red and white corals. Fish of all colours and sizes massed especially when the lead diver opened up a bag of bread. He then dived down 4 meters into a hole in the coral and disappeared, only to reappear 5 meters away out of the side of the reef. The view back to the resort was great.
While we were away snorkelling the islanders had built a fire and were cooking fish and chicken for lunch. The food was great and no stir fry. This put some to sleep what with the heat and exercise.
After lunch there was a show put on where doubled ended flaming batons were twirled and thrown at amazing speeds without setting light to the huts or vegetation in the area. They would put one end out, squash it in the sand so as to leave some of the fuel to be lit by the other end. While this burned for a second or two the other end would be lit. This was done at speed and with twirls around the body. The ultimate of this (not to be tried at home) was when one of them squashed fuel onto his tongue, lit it and relit the end he had put out.
The rocks from the fire were then used for a fire walking display and their proved when water just fizzed off them. This was followed by a mass crab race with 64 crabs vying for the top spot. No 17 from Germany won, not sure which crab came first in the race though.
The guys were then treated to a turtle hunt. They followed a guide to the other side of the island and were shown a turtle that had half buried itself in the sand to prevent attack. They all huddled around it and were asked to slowly approach for a closer look. As they got really close the turtle shell flew in the air and a warrior leapt into the air from a hole dug in the sand under the shell. Nervous laughs and a few “didn’t scare me’s” saw the end to that entertainment. It was all over too quick like all great days out so as the boats were loaded some quick memories were taken, a last fish and the group photo.
The sun behind the island made it a postcard shot which was hard to avoid. So we didn’t…
We arrived back at the pontoon and tumbled back into the buses having re-negotiated the mangroves. These were nustled up against a bridge for narrow gauge cane trains and looked quite rustic.
The trip back was even quieter than the trip out to the resort. Should be a quiet night – as if. A sugar cane burn-off had got out of hand and half one side of a mountain was on fire. No-one was looking after it or attempting to stop it. The owners of the lumber mill in its way must have been nervous.
When we arrived back at the resort the sun was about to go down and the boys were all demanding a photo of it. Not sure if they were taking the piss or not but it was a good shot. Fortunately, my camera crew and the paparazzi were on hand to assist.
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The evening meal was a massive fish Soko had caught that morning at the local markets. This was grilled much to everyone’s amazement without any stir fry in sight. Those who went to the Out-Rigger to escape the stir fry were really pissed off having forked out for fish, paid a premium to see the same show we had seen yesterday (island singers / dancers) and paid taxis to boot.
All is not quiet at the resort but getting that way as curfew approaches.
Night Sue-Ellen …..