Fiji

09/03/12-14/03/12

Time to move on as I boarded a half empty plane to make the short hop across the Pacific Ocean to the islands of Fiji. I ended up having the whole row on the aircraft to myself resulting in me having two lunches as well. I landed in Nadi at mid-afternoon and was promptly picked up by my hostel, on arriving I discovered that the dorm was full so I was instead upgraded to a private room, I was certainly having a nice introduction to Fiji. The journey from the airport revealed that I was no longer in a first class country anymore, pothole roads and the shabbiness of local buildings instantly brought back memories of South East Asia but without the cultural shock I first experienced out there. I took a quick dip in the pool before relaxing for the evening as I had an early start in the morning.

Waking up just past 6 o’clock in the morning I had an early pickup down to the local harbour to board my ferry which was to take me to my island paradise. With only 6 nights in Fiji I decided instead of doing a series of quick island hops I would instead just stick to one for an extended stay. My destination was to be Waya Lailai, part of the Yasawa Islands group. The reason I choose Waya was because the resort was completely run by the locals, no foreign partners were involved, and all the profit went back to the villagers. Setting off from the harbour it wasn’t long till we started dropping off passengers at various islands, some which only take 3 minutes to walk around others hours. It took just over 2 hours to reach Waya, on arriving a small stream of launches come alongside the ferry to drop off and pick up passengers and luggage. As we neared the beach to be dropped off the song of some of the staff grew louder as they welcome as to the resort, when they finished we shouted Bula (hello) to them, my stay had officially started. All the islands are much the same - sand, sea and palm trees, though Waya Lailai is rocky in the middle. This led me to join in the afternoon’s hike up to the summit of the rocky outcrop. The views from the top where stunning, you could see islands stretching out into the distance as the sun started to set.

As it was Sunday the locals where having a day of rest so there was no planned activities apart from going to the morning’s church service at the village next to the resort. On arriving we took off our shoes before entering into the church to await the start of the service, the local kids sung hymns as we waited. This was to be a taste of the stuff we were later to hear when the adults took their turn to sing during the main service with their beautiful and powerful chorus singing, it was very moving. After a few fire and brimstone readings by the priest we were finally able to escape the heat of the church, I spent the rest of the day mainly lounging in a hammock.

The start of a new week meant that all activities where available again so in the morning I jumped on a boat to be taken out to the local reefs to do a bit of snorkelling. Diving over the side of the boat I was instantly surprised how shallow the ocean floor was, it was only a couple of meters deep. There was reefs everywhere, all covered it a variety of coral and brightly coloured fish all shades of the rainbow. The main treat though was the friendly reef sharks which patrol the waters around here, the day before they saw no sharks but luckily for me three had decided to come and investigate what was happening. Compared to most sharks they are quite small but still impressive creatures. With food being provided by the locals who took as us we spent an enjoyable hour exploring the reefs and watching the sharks, though I was glad to get out of the mask at the end.

Having made friends with two British couples the night before today we decided to do a visit to the village on the other side of the island where most of the resort staff families live. The first thing we checked out was the sand bank that connects our island with the neighbouring one; this can be crossed during low tide. After we were taken to the school to visit the children who attend, we were eagerly grabbed by different children who took us for tours of the classrooms. I was amazed at how many pupils there were, must have been over a hundred kids. The highlight definitely was seeing the youngest kids singing songs as they learned. Next we were taken for a tour of the village to see how the locals live and to be introduced to some of them. It was a pleasant trip and a real cultural insight into everyday life for the people who live out on the islands.

My last day on the island resulting in me just making the most of the weather as I had to wait until the afternoon to be picked up and transferred back to the main land. On leaving a few of the staff sung as off, it was a fitting end to my island stay. The locals always had a smile on their faces during my stay, all the time you could hear them either laughing or singing, a very relaxed cultural. Everything as they say is done to ‘Fijian’ time – it will happen when it happens.