Back to the Future
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2005
1
43
Trip End
Aug 24, 2005
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Nadi, Fiji
Monday, August 15, 2005
Included within the price of the accommodation were 3 meals a day. We were given lunch on arrival and we all introduced ourselves. Andy, Spike, Cesar, myself, Rob, Ash, an Irish guy, Mike, and his girlfriend, Delphine. An Irish couple, Keane and Jane, had already been there a few days and Keane had been made chief of the Lodge. After each meal he would stand up and introduce himself and everyone would take it in turns to follow suit so we all became very well acquainted as we all stayed for the best part of 5 days. After that, those who had been there for a few days joined in singing the Bula Song to the new comers, a song that I'll never get out of my head!! The place is so small that you spend every minute of every day in each other's company sunbathing, eating, swimming, drinking so you really get to know each other... It's hard at the top!!
It turned out that both Spike and Andy were keen rugby fans with both of them managing to get to some if not all of the Lions tour. Some of the Lions fans had been through Fiji on their way home and had fortunately left behind a rugby ball. So I'm on a paradise beach with awesome weather and a rugby ball - that's perfection! It was the first time in ages I'd been able to sling one around and I had 2 people there who were just as keen. Couldn't have asked for more.
The locals played 1 touch rugby in the local village and we were invited to join them for a game. It is Fijian custom to be welcomed into the village by its chief. We brought him some Kava (root of a plant made into a very popoular Fijian drink) and he invited us to look around. The houses were primitive at best, all very rustic. the church on the beach front was a quaint little place too yet it all came together to create a lot of character.
At 5pm, roughly 30 Fijians turned up to play. Every day they turn up and I'd done very little in physical exercise in the past 6 months so it wasn't long before they were running circles around the Europeans. It was one crazy game, played at a ridiculously fast pace. The ball was launched everywhere and they lacked any kind of structure but their agility and handling ability was incredible for the most part. We soon retired and left them to it. It was time for a cold shower and a beer!
The night life on Nacula Island was far from happening. Electricity shut off around 10pm so there really wasn't too much to do. By now though a few more people had turned up and the group had become a lot bigger. Joining us were a couple from Wales and Scotland, Sarah and Russell, an American, Katie and her friend from New Zealand, Brenwyn. One night we had a bonfire down on the beach and typically it started to rain. We'd invited a few people we'd met from the neighbouring accommodation to join us, we'd bought in bottles of rum at extorionate costs, had a CD player plugged in blasting Bob Marley out and then it rained, which in my opinion, was just damn right rude!!
As the final night approached and the weather was yet to clear up, we moved back down the islands towards the port to cut down the 4 hour journey. So we decided to head to Naviti and stay at Korovou beach side resort. Here we were welcomed again by locals singing and playing guitars. There was a pool and bar here with a decent eating area, this was more like it. That night we ate dinner and were treated to an awesome dance which included the now infamous Bula Song as well as many others. It was a great show to watch and everyone watching had massive smiles on their faces. Afterwards, as it was my last night travelling after nearly 7 months on the road, we (Rob, Ash, Spike and Andy) played some drinkning games. The Irish games we had learnt in Fraser Island came into play and Spike was soon on his way to the land of the inebriated. Later we played 'Arrogance', using a pack of cards, you top up a pint glass with however much drink you want depending on whether you think the next card will be higher or lower than the one before. I'd gone to the toilet and returned to discover they'd all fixed the game to screw me over, and despite knowing this, there was nothing I could do about it!!
The next day we packed up and Rob, Ash and myself left the island to head back to Nadi. Later that night, Rob and I flew out to Los Angeles after another emotional goodbye with Ash.
