Fiji

Our plan for Fiji was simple: get there, camp out on a beach, relax a bit before we hit the US. Fiji is on the way between New Zealand and home, and flights were cheaper if they went through the island.
We did not necessarily bargain for the two tropical depressions/cyclones that were hanging around that area, including Cyclone Gita, and our first two days in Nadi, on the main island of Viti Levu, were pretty rainy. The temperatures were still summery and the island is very lush. After two days we moved down to Tambua Sands Resort on the Coral Coast south of Nadi. The Coral Coast is unique in that the ocean waves break about 400 meters from the waters’

edge, right over the coral reef that extends in to shore. The area near the shore was wonderful to kayak and snorkel and we were able to examine the fish below without strong waves nearby. Though the sea slugs in the coral looked like snakes, they didn’t move much and we received numerous assurances there were no deadly critters in the water.
We had a thatched roof cabin and were surrounded by palm trees and lovely flowers and a pool and we did not move too quickly for this week. We did a kava ceremony, which is a traditional ceremony for the native Fijians when guests arrive on the islands and involves a drink made from powdered root of the kava tree (not very delicious and it makes your tongue numb). We learned Fiji has fewer than one million people, and the major population groups are native Fijians and those of Indian descent who had been brought to the islands to work in the sugar cane fields by the ruling British at the time (Fiji officially became its own country in 1970). The native Fijians did include some cannibals prior to the 1900s when Christianity became the dominant religion (the first missionary to Fiji was killed and eaten, however, so this conversion did not occur overnight). Fiji earned its first Olympic medal in 2016, a gold medal for rugby. The rugby team was noted for both its humility and its size...these guys are pretty big! We saw kids going to school, and many of the teenage boys were wearing black or gray sarongs with a button-down shirt. The girls wore dresses that came down to the knee. The average Fijian does not own a car and the villages we passed brought to mind several of the African villages we saw. Fiji water was sold in Fiji, although it was more expensive than the other brands, and don’t assume all the Fijians are benefitting from the sales...they aren’t. There are numerous beautiful resorts for tourists in Fiji with every comfort and extravagance...and the native Fijians would never have enough money to stay there.

We hiked the Sigatoka National Park Sand Dunes trail, which took us above the coast and through a forest. We also did a day cruise aboard a high speed catamaran to an island owned by the travel company, South Seas Island. We went aboard their submersible vehicle to look at the coral and fish surrounding the bombies, but I think we all got a little motion sick and preferred snorkeling. We visited Matadola Beach, which is a white sand beach, and watched some kids surfing while we jumped waves. One of my personal highlights for the week occurred on Valentine’s Day: we were at our “favorite” restaurant which had a trio of guys playing the guitar and ukulele who sang the Hawaiian version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow and What a Wonderful World, which was our wedding song. Beautiful job.

We decided the Nadi airport security people were a bit overzealous about their jobs; I think we were questioned about four times about whether or not we had packed our bags, etc for our departure to San Francisco. Harley’s backpack, the insides of which resembled a garage sale, was thoroughly unpacked and examined and we needed to do a little explaining about the boomerang in it (memo to us, checked luggage for that thing when we fly to MSP) and seven Rubik's styled cubes. Finally we boarded the plane and headed across the International Date Line for...home, at least hitting the shores of the US.