The boat that took us to the village trip a couple of days ago also serves as a kind of bus service between the two villages on the island of Wayasewa, this little girl was amusing herself while waiting for it to depart this afternoon. My last full day in Fiji, and only three more left in the Southern Hemisphere before I head for home.
The little island of Kuata is separated from Wayasewa by a few hundred yards of open water. It is uninhabited except for the basic resort which lies on the spit of land to the right. This shot was taken from the top of the huge crag of Vatuvula, which towers over the Wayalailai resort, and to which, each night, a bunch of tourists will be dragged by enthusiastic, barefoot and completely vertigo-resistant Fijian guides. It’s probably worth it, though.
Incidentally film buffs – and Tom Hanks fans – might be interested to know that the island on the horizon, just right of center (with the more visible peaks) was the location for the movie Cast Away.
A change of scene. Went on a guided trip today to the local village, having moved on from Waya Island yesterday but only to its neighbour, Wayasewa (a.k.a Wayalailai, or ‘Little Waya’). Both islands – which have no roads anywhere – have just one school, and the island’s children are taken here on foot or by boat at the beginning of each week and stay there in these dormitories. The island families take it in turns to look after them and cook their meals. All this is funded, in large part, by the resorts: on Wayasewa, indeed, the Wayalailai resort is 100% locally owned. This dormitory looks a little spartan but actually it was clean and colourful, and the school in an idyllic-looking setting with amazing views. Quite a place to grow up, I think.
Is there any point trying to convince any of you that I have actually been working while here on the Yasawas? Going through academic papers and taking notes for my book? No? Didn’t think so.
Almost all the sunsets on Fiji have been good, but seeing as I have a backlog of posts to work through I can pick the best depiction of one and not worry about repetition. Sometimes one is just in the right place at the right time to get a particular shot.
‘Bula’ means ‘Welcome’ or ‘Hello’ and you hear it a lot in Fiji – because they are very nice and welcoming people. Each 11am, when the Yasawa Flyer turns up at the resort, the staff gather on the beach to greet the new arrivals. It’s the major event of the morning.
We went on a hike up Mount Nulakaokao (or something like that) today, 10 of us of various nationalities, led by our Fijian guide Ameo, who astonishingly, climbed up and over the volcanic rocks in bare feet. Impossible to cover the whole trek in one picture, but this one wins just for being rather different: it would have been easy to pick one of the views from and of the mountain itself, which were spectacular, but I like the flare effect on this one. This is Uli, from Dortmund, Germany.
The Yasawa islands stretch in a more-or-less straight line into the Pacific ocean from a point somewhere to the north-west of the main Fijian islands, and are probably former volcanoes. They are also to be my home (and the home of this Californian girl, and everyone else who was on the Yasawa Flyer catamaran out of Port Denarau marina early this morning) for the next few days. The word ‘Paradise’ is often overused, but in this case I think it’s entirely appropriate. This is a good time.
So here I am on Fiji, another country to add to the blog, and here’s the show put on by rather fit Polynesian men for the benefit of the tourists. Nadi is just near the main airport, strictly a transit point, the main event begins tomorrow. And as you can see, I do appear to be online in Paradise, so you should still get some fairly regular updates.
Being 42 