Coups, New Years and a Final Goodbye
Well, like all blogs this one has been very slack over the last couple of months. So whether i am doing this for my own pleasure/boredom or maybe there could be some people still checking on this, I am still not sure. But here we go........
In case you have been living in a bubble, or perhaps you killed a few too many braincells over Christmas, Fiji had a military coup in which they took over the government on 5 December last year. It was a bloodless coup which resulted in the Australian media getting bored of it very quickly. Essentially, the country goes on as per normal, except for those people holding high positions in the public sector. They have all been replaced and a new interim administration has been put in place by the military commander, Voreqe Bainimarama (or Frankie Banana-rama). Leading up to this coup, the Australian government became worried about its volunteers in the country, so they pulled them out on about 1st December. This all happened while Bella was in Suva, and i was stuck on a island in the Yasawa's diving every day (supposedly working). Bella's evacuation consisted of being told on the Friday about lunchtime, that they were being evacuated to Nadi for the weekend and were given two hours to pack. Once they arrived in Nadi, like all good volunteers with nothing else to do they decided to have a few drinks at the Nadi Bay Hotel whilst awaiting there meeting at 11pm on Friday night, after the powers that be, had decided what to do. At this meeting they were informed they were being evacuated the next day. Needless to say, people were less than impressed to be evacuated on effectively 2 hours notice of a weekend away. On Monday, i made it back from my island and headed off to Suva to do a pack up as much stuff as i could fit in and changed my flights as i didn't really see the point of remaining in country without any friends with a possible coup on the way. Effectively, it gave us a month long Christmas in Australia. Not such a bad thing.
As for the coup itself, it was definitely Fijian. No noticable differences apart from a few soldiers forming roadblocks on the major roads into Suva. However, these roadblocks failed to stop any cars and normally were just a source for the soldiers to wave hello to friends and family passing by. Fiji is a small place and this more than kept them occupied.
FiX
Fiji 2006 New Year's celebration was a plan that had been 12 months in the making and was conceived on a hot day under the harbour bridge 12 months earlier. It resulted in 9 Aussies (including 3 local guides) taking over a house in Taveuni, Fiji. An island to the North-east of where most people fly into. In one word, AWESOME! After a lot of effort it some-how managed to come together. We all met at Brisbane airport a few days after Christmas. We all flew into Nadi, road-tripped it across the country to Suva. Partied all night in Suva, some harder then others. Made it to the airport the next morning at 7.30am for our domestic flight that flew out at 10am, after a few Fijian moments. The house is gob-smacking (good word that), with the picture speaking for itself (1,000 words and all that).
Completely made of Fijian hardwood, with the most amazing position. Although, slightly disturbing house of death with about 5 turtle shells, rams horns, shark jaw, shells, etc....Oh well, the're Hawaian.
The crew, Bella ('s legs), Jake, Rap, Joel, Carla, Leon, Alby and a slightly gay Hammer.
Taveuni is kwown as the Garden Island. It is a bit out of the traditional tourist path, but it is a little secret of fiji. The island itself is simply stunning. From the tiny airport, surrounded by coconut trees to the dense jungle everywhere, to the waterfalls and water slides, the rugged un-disturbed coastline and don't forget the friendly Fijian people. The week was filled with substantial amounts of sun-baking (sometimes extreme-baking), waterfalls, drinking, kayaking, drinking, swimming, New Years parties, cards, lovo, kava and drinking. All in all, a great catch up for people who don't see much of each other.
The final good-bye
Whether it was due to some strange political motives by Australia, we will never know, but for some reason the volunteer program Bella was on has been pulled from Fiji. We are pretty sure it's is not a safety issue as the program operates in developing nations and with likes of Solomons, Tonga, PNG and the rest all being re-instated, it seems strange that Fiji is not. Oh well, the decision has been made. We had pre-planned this and stayed on in Fiji for a few weeks after FiX. During this time, we did a few things that we had wanted to do but hadn't quite got around too. This included a trip to Levuka and Caqali (Thanga-li). Levuka is the old capital of Fiji and use to be a popular sea port. An amazing setting of a strip of buildings against a 'beach', with mountainous jungles behind it and a fringing reef out the front. A debaucherous town full of drinking, women and some excuse of trade for its existence. With all of that well gone with the invention of the internet (just checking you are still reading), the town has an amazing history, yet is again a little out of the traditional tourist path. Well i guess people don't come to Fiji for history lessons.
A couple of days here and a couple of dives later and we were off to Caqali. A tiny island resort, very basic, but beautiful and exactly what we expected/wanted. We had heard good things all year but never made it here. Some quality beach time, snorkelling and a good chance to catch up on my volleyball that i had been missing since leaving Nananu. But with no volleyball on Sunday, we decided to leave for our last week in Suva.
This is just a funny fijian moment. A sunset boat cruise complete with a Bula Band and drinks, including a bucket of Kava.
Our last week in Suva was one of mixed emotions. Saying good-bye to friends, whether they were from work, other volunteers, people we had met, our favourite restaurants and eateries, the markets, our little house that we set-up, our lovely house-girl Ali, the taxi drivers, O'reileys on a Friday night and so many more things. Eventually we did manage to cram our lives into around 70kgs of luggage that we had to take on the plane. Luckily it was Fiji and we didn't pay a cent.
We are now about to start work for a couple of months before we head off travelling again. We are working in Mackay and are in Super Saver mode to ensure we don't have to work again for the longest possible amount of time. It will be a shock to work again in Australia and i'm not sure how Bella and I will handle it. But it will all be worth it with our plans to spend about 5 months in South America before heading up to Whistler/Vancouver for a snow season.
I'll let you know when we have something more interesting to up date you all on. Until then....
