… so we come to the end of our stay in Fiji. It has been a great week – relaxing (mostly) with something for everyone. Fiji is an amazing series of islands, the people are extremely friendly and laidback, the pace is slow and the island has all the lush beauty that you would image a tropical paradise to have, including mosquitoes which seem to bite Clarissa 15 – 20 times a day and virtually no bites for Chloe and I. The coral reefs are among the best I have ever seen, with the sea bed dropping off sharply into deep crystal blue waters. The undersea topography is varied – some parts flat, some with huge (30m) columns of coral and some with peaks and crevasses rising sharply from 50m to 3m and then down again within a few meters of horizontal swimming; all with one thing in common – every inch of the seabed is covered in coral….not one tiny bit is let go to waste. The fish life is abundant and varied with tiny golden anthiers, shark, dolphin, turtles, tuna, barracuda, parrot fish – the list is endless.

Each day the format was mostly the same….up between 6am – 7am and straight off to breakfast just by the beach for the same order each day; Earl Grey Tea, scrambled egg, toast and porridge shared in an equally messy manner between the three of us.

After breakfast we would do an activity – either a dive or two, swimming with chloe (both pool and sea), building sand castles, playing in the gardens, going for a paddle, boat ride or a Kids Club activity (painting / arts & crafts etc).

Lunch’s were our sanity period as Chloe either slept in the Kids Club nursery or our room and we had some time to read…we always used to look at the other older couples on holiday who used to sit at meal times and read their books or play on their computers and think how sad it is they have nothing to say to each other anymore…well, now we are like that. It isn’t that we don’t have anything to say anymore – it is just that previously we would have spent our mornings sleeping or reading whereas we now spend it on the beach, in the gardens and have done all our chatting then….so come meals times we welcome the chance to read our books and play on our computers between courses. Lunch was always a three course meal and ended in a chocolate desert of some kind or another (for me anyway).

After lunch we do more activities – like today we went out to the local village and saw a natural hot spring boiling out the ground, two days ago we went hiking etc. Chloe has her dinner time at 17:30 and four guitarists come to the kids club to play kids songs, which keeps Chloe greatly amused as she wolfs down her dinner at top speed, clapping and dancing along. I think that Michelle is going to have to learn how to play the guitar.

After dinner we try have quiet time – and the thing that seems to keep chloe the most amused is a bucket of water, no nappy and a few toys / stones / moms handbag to put in and out of the bucket. A quick bath and then in bed, leaving us to have our anti-social dinner and then be in bed early for another day.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we fly out to Honolulu but are a bit worried because we have to rely on a local Fiji plane (10 seater) to get us from this island to the main city, where we catch a proper (747) to Honolulu – but the local plane is notorious for running late…one couple was kept waiting for 6 hours because the pilot didn’t pitch and when he did he kept everyone waiting for a further 45 minutes as he had his sandwich. Fiji time. Great when you can relax, not so great when you need to catch a connecting flight.

Before I sign off, one thing that we found quite amusing was a comment by Vito (the Nanny). Fiji has quite a problem with Indian Myna’s, a type of bird which is one of only three birds listed on the United Nations Top 100 Invasive Species list. They are more aggressive, harder working and smarter than the local population (of birds) and have mostly displaced the local birds. I told Vito that we had the same problem in South Africa, with the Indian Mayna’s being aggressive and pecking the other birds out their territory.

Now the two main ethnic groups in Fiji are the Fijians and the Indians; and you guessed it, the Indians are more aggressive, harder working and smarter than the local population (of people). There is some tension between the two groups and the Fijians own all the land but the Indians make all the money; there was actually a coup that overthrew a government that was deemed too Indian heavy. The tension boils over sometimes when the Fijians who own the land throw the Indians off the land when the Indians have built up proper plantations or property developments, reneging on leasing contracts etc.

Anyway, the mask shop was owned by an Indian family, and as we bought the mask Vito commented to us that it was not good that an Indian shop is selling Fijian curios and the Indians are just like the Indian Myna’s….of course referring to the birds pecking out the locals, but not realizing the true reason they have been able to do so. I saw this first hand as I watched the hotel staff going about their daily chores. Three people to lazily sand one chair by having two watch one half heartedly rubbing the chair with a bit of sandpaper, the phone will ring in the bar and the barman will watch it ring five times before answering and everyone walks in a manner that Clarissa’s 97 year old grandmother could lap….but it did slow us down to a relaxed pace and the service was great, so no complaints.

Hawaii here we come!