Paradise Found

(steve)

Almost on a whim I decided to look into a little side trip to Fiji while doing planning for the rest of our Australia time. The more I looked, the better it seemed. After some deliberation, we booked a stay at the wonderful Garden Island Resort along with an overnight stay in Nadi before and after. All giddy and excited, we carried on with our Australia travels.

What would a trip to the airport be without some kind of drama? To prevent riff-raff from permanently staying on the islands, Fiji requires proof of an outbound airline ticket prior to letting you board the inbound flight. Written proof. Guess who didn't print out the itinerary two months ahead of time? Luckily for me, we arrived 2 hours before the flight, giving me just enough time to run around the airport twice, make two hasty phone calls to the airline (where I'm afraid I wasn't the most patient or well-mannered customer). With fifteen minutes to spare I managed to get a faxed copy of our tickets and we boarded the plane. Karen watched my dwindling sanity, it must have been fun for her.



This is the best medicine for a stressful morning. Upon arrival, the stress simply melted away in the tropical sun. We got a ride to our Nadi hostel and prepared for our entry to paradise. The next morning we boarded a 16 seat plane for the hour ride to Taveuni, the Garden Island of Fiji. The morning bright and we got a fantastic view of the surrounding island landscape. Once over the water, we saw a series of intriguing reef systems in turquoise waters.



We were met a van after the plane came to a stop at the local airport (really just a closed off stretch of asphalt). The van took us on a 30 minute drive along the coast road that circles the island. It turns out to be the only paved section of road on the island. Our check-in at the resort ended with the entire staff coming out to sing us a welcome song in Fijian and give us shell necklaces. Let's say this right now, Fijians are the most friendly people we have ever met. We'll repeat this again later.



We stayed for 5 nights at the resort. During the day, we loaded ourselves in a boat to visit the reefs. That's right, more diving. We dove eight times, and every single one was a treat. We thought that Whitsunday was a really good time. The Rainbow reef system was far better. With average visibility of about 80 feet, it was impossible to miss the huge abundance of coral and fish life. Following the lead of divemaster Hiram and boat operator Nia, we saw heaps of every local fish species. Every day at lunch we spent an hour looking through the fish books to id what we saw. Hiram provided an interesting experience when he reached into a hole and pulled out a banded sea snake. That's right, he grabbed a really poisonous creature and held it out for us to touch. Most of us held back respectfully, except for Karen, who it turns out didn't know how dangerous it really was. Her comment, "it didn't seem to like being held." (Karen found another snake swimming around the next day, but didn't touch it this time.) Another special treat was the discovery of a blue ribbon eel in a coral nook. These cute little guys are electric blue in color, except for their heads which are yellow. A little further down the reef was a teeny juvenile which is black in color. We also saw a few white tip reef sharks, some Moray eels hiding in the coral (I saw one swimming along the reef too), and a number of Spanish dancers. The very last dive we did was notable for the number of cast members from Finding Nemo found all together in one spot. Gil, Nemo, Dory, and Flo frolicked around a patch of coral that looked remarkably like the movie intro.



Our time above water was spent enjoying the sites and sounds of Taveuni. We walked around taking in Somosomo village and the local high school boys playing rugby after school. The ever present palm trees swayed, and no one seemed to be particularly in a hurry to get anywhere. Everywhere we went, the people smiled, waved, and said "bula" (hello) to us tourists. During a brief rainstorm, we visited the local play area known as the Waterslide, where children slide down the smooth rocks of a creek to small plunge pools.



There were also a couple of tours we took to visit Boumo National Park. While there, we indulged in our last waterfall swim with new diving buddy Gaby. After our hike, we spent a short time with the local villagers where the kids were anxious to test out their English skills, and everyone was smiling and willing for photos.



We were also privileged to be able to visit Duivosovoso village close to the resort for a tour and look into typical Fijian island life. While there we were shown how to many ways there are to use coconut palms. They make baskets, mats, and help insulate a fire, they also made clever tongs to pick up hot objects. We watched as they showed us how to prepare coconut and make a lolo (earth oven) to cook dalo (taro root), cassava, and a mixture of dalo leaves. We also learned how to make the traditional Fijian drink kava. Kava is a ceremonial drink prepared when there are visitors, but also to enjoy in the evening with family and friends. The drink itself comes from the roots of the kava plant, powdered and filtered with water. It kind of tastes like muddy water to me, but every Fijian adult loves the stuff. "It's like wine to us." The fact that it contains an antiseptic, an anesthetic, and a barbituate have nothing to do with it. Kava is an interesting characteristic, and it was definitely widespread.



Our time in Fiji went by very quickly, but we were left with a host of wonderful memories and heap of great photos. We highly recommend to anyone to give Fiji a shot if you like the laid back homey feel. Thanks to all the wonderful staff at the Garden Island Resort for making us feel like part of the family.