A Travellerspoint blog

Fiji

Auckland to Rotorua

Two French Men, a Dutch Man, and an Irish Girl get into a car....sounds like the start of some kind of bad joke...

sunny 18 °C
View South Pacific Paradise!!! on LadyCroft's travel map.

but actually its the beginning of lots of good times!

Martyn and I are getting along great! He was in Auckland a few weeks ago, and knows all the cheapest super markets to shop at and the least expensive places to eat. After my long internet session last night, we met up with the french boys, Theo and GB, who he had been in touch with for some time. We met up with a brother sister couple Matthew and Lindsey and we went for dollar sushi. It was pretty yummy and it was everyone else's first time eating sushi! but not mine!! yum!

Then we went to the Globe Bar, just downstairs from Central City Backpackers. It was a pretty good dance club, and I was suprised to see so many people dancing, playing pool, and doing all the usual antics reserved for the weekend, all on a Tuesday night. We raised a few glasses and soon some of us were dancing to the crazy loud music. It was fun seeing people from so many places bring all their own style to the club. It was dizzying trying to keep up with all the accents and styles and I emmensly enjoyed it!

Around 1:30 I went upstairs to bed, and still I could hear the thudding beat of the music coming from the guts of the building...as if it has a ferocious heartbeat into the wee hours of morning. But this didn't stop me from collapsing into the most comfortable bed I've slept in in 6 weeks, and sleeping so hard that I didn't ruffle any of the sheets by morning. It was if I was made INTO the bed!

I got up early, before Martyn, and showered, dressed and went in search of yogurt and berries, tea, and i even got a dunkin donaut, which I could NOT resist. (Chocolate frosted with rainbow sprinkles, if you have to know). Martyn and I joined Theo and GB at 8:30 and well all squeezed into a small silver sadan with all our bags and headed South to Lake Tapou.

A little backround here. I was planning on going north from Auckland, but the offer to share a rented car was too good to pass up. The car is only $15/ day. Thats it. Not per person. Per DAY! So the four of us are splitting gas, which isn't too bad.

I was mostly interested in going, however, because Martyn told me about this amazing walk between two volcanos that took 8 hours. I really wanted to do it. I mean WOAH! The broshours looked amazing. Martyn, Theo, and GB also want to go sky diving, which I'm definatly not interested in doing, but thats here in Lake Tapeo too.

Anyhow, driving 3 hours from Auckland we arrived at Lake Tapaou and we all split a large pizza and walked along the wake. The air was brisk and cool, but the sun just warm enough to be really pleasureable on the back. I got some great pictures here, but I've reached my limit for the month so I'm going to request that they up my limit, until then, those of you with face book, go there, I'll try to update my photo album there.

We got back in the car and drove another hour. THe hills became rather rugged and the green rolling pastures gave way to pine tree forests and rocky mountainous stuff. We arrived at Rotorua just now and checked into the YHA, also known as Kiwi Packers. Now all four of us are on the internet...heh.

Sadly, the weather is going to turn crap for the next few days, and there is a strong advisory out that doing the 8-hour walk is a BAD idea. So I think, sadly, that I will not be able to do it. But there is lots to do around here. Rotorua smells like sulfer because the entire ground and bedrock is laced with geothermal activity. There is a hot pool right here in the YHA which I will be getting into as soon as i'm done typing. There are gysers to go see, and some short walks that shouldn't be too bad even in the rain tommrrrow. Furthermore, there are hot mud baths that should be really nice to relax in!

So I've got 2 full days here to chill and then I've got to return to Auckland, probably by bus, as I doubt these guys will be ready to go yet. I'm not sure what else is in store, but I'll keep the updates coming.

I'm in really good company, the guys are really nice. GB and Theo are trying very hard to speak english and we all end up laughing most of the time at all the miscommunications that go on...but since I speak pretty good french we always work out what we're trying to say. They they yell at me not to speak french because they want to learn english, which is good, but I WANT TO PRACTICE FRENCH! hahaha.

Scenery is amazing. Air is sooooo fresh and clean. NZ is so enviornmentally conscious its ming-boggling. At the ATM the scean that asks if you want a recept says "Please consider the enviornment before answering this question: do you want a recept". Signs along the road read "Know when you are tired". I havn't seen one speck of trash ANYWHERE. Not in the city, not in the suburubs, or along the roadway. I've never seen a country so desirious to remain clean and so dedicated to enviornmentalism. Its truely awe inspiring.

I love you all much! kisses and hugs

Posted by LadyCroft 21.10.2008 8:50 PM Archived in Backpacking | Fiji Comments (0)

Taveuni-Suva-Nananu-i-ra

Leaving is so hard to do...

sunny 26 °C
View South Pacific Paradise!!! on LadyCroft's travel map.

Hey everyone

Sorry for the terrible long interlude. I was in Nananu-i-ra, and as i will explain later, i couldn't leave (it was TOO awsome) and I had no internet there....so here's what I've been doing.

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here's me at the Beach at Beverlies just before Sunset.

Taveuni was just outstanding. I hiked in Bouma National Forest to two amazingly beautiful waterfalls. At their base were deep blue pools that begged a hot sweaty hiker to delve in, and delve in I did. You could swim right up to the thundering water and swim underneith. The suction wasn't too great (the locals were doing it) and then it would push you out the other side. The wind blew forociously my heart raced with excitement feeling the stinging water against my face, and being so close to a torrent of water that fell from almost 100 feet into the a most beautiful natural swiming hole. One could also climb up on the rocks behind the waterfall, and jump in: about a 15 foot drop. The water was deep: not sure how deep, but i never touched bottom.

I spent 4 of the days with Charlie and Helen, and I'll never forget all they're amazing stories of crewing on boats and sailing the world. They left a few days before me. I was sad to see them go!
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helen and charlie

Here's me at the International Dateline.
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I also built a MONUMENTAL SAND CASTLE, which I might have mentioned earlier: here are the photos
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I was sad to leave Beverlies Campground in Taveuni. Bill, the owner, became like family, and Suk-my taxi driver, took such good care of me. The ferry from Taveuni to Suva was pretty rough.

The Sofe used to be an old Russion Cargo ship- its primary occupents were cockroaches, and it rolled back and forth incessently in the rough seas, and menuvering with a 35 pound pack on your back, isn't easy. I'll tell you. The indoor area might have been a nice place to chill, only the TV remained on all day playing loud and I mean LOUD jesus preach-festing programmes. I stayed on deck the entire time. and slept. Nearly all day. We stopped in Savu Savu on the way and i dashed to the Copra Shed hoping to see some of my friends there, but Leto, Lop to, Wyora, and Morning Light had all left already. Rebording the Ferry I had to find somewhere suitable to sleep. It got too chillly to sleep on deck, so I found a spot off to the side inside where the kung foo movie-volume still blasting- was now playing. I laid my sheet on the ground, and lay upon it, wrapping myself around my back like a huge body pillow, and slept: or tried to sleep. I mostly slept anyways, waking up periodically. But THEN THERE WAS LIGHT! AND LO! WE HAD FINALLY ARRIVED IN SUVA!

Suva was a city. The big Smoke. ew. I had no desire to linger. I deplaned (do you deplane off boats?) and walked to the bus station. I was 40 minutes early for the bus to Raki Raki, so i drank some tea, ate a scone (both delicious and both coming to a whopping 1.30-cheap!) and then did some shopping. I planned on staying in Nananu for 3 days. THREE days....just three days....yeah. right.

The bus ride to Ellington Wharf, outside Raki Raki was splendid. The scenery was dramatic, the land rising on either side of the bus into dramatic rock formations, mountains, splashing streams, and villages full of waving children and friendly smiling villagers. It was a 3 hour bus ride on the King's Road and most of the way was unpaved and pretty rough. but it didn't matter. It all added to the charm and adventure that IS fiji! I walked from the Bus stop to the wharf (forgoing a 2$ taxi ride) passing goats tied up to the side of the road chewing grass and saying "baa" at me as I passed.

At the wharf I summoned (via the phone there) a boat ride to Nananu-i-ra island. It was a 15 minute boat ride, which I enjoyed emmencely, feeling the wind in my face clipping across the choppy waters to the beautiful Island of Nananu.

I would soon fall in love with this place. But not for a few days exactly.

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[/b]at low tide you can walk between Nananu-i-ra and Dolphan Island, which is what I'm doing here, the day before I left. Guido took the picture! THANKS GUIDZ!

McDonalds Cottages were really nice. Apparently lots of people had left that weekend and the place was mostly empty. My 6 bed dorm only had me and a nice guy named Thor, who was taking Kite-Surfing lessons on the other side of the island during the day. I enjoyed the quite vibe for a few days. I took a kyack out and paddled around a bit, read my book, and watched the sun set every night. I cooked my food and drank lots of water and tea.

Then on the last "planned" day, I was really in the mood for some society. I walked to the other side of the island (a long arduous 10 minutes) and meandered up to Safari Lodge.

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Tim, Sake, Rebecca, Me, Guido, Ima, and Roger- I miss you!

THIS PLACE WAS AWSOME. It was full of amazing people from all over: Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, Americans, Japanese, Argentians, Brits and more! They were all young and spunky. The bar was open all day and music played loudly and everyone gathered around the dinner table each evening and chatted and played games and watched movies. OH SAFARI LODGE! Where have you BEEN my whole life?!?

For a measly 4 dollars more, i was moved in. My dorm was way up at the top of the hill behind the lodge, and it was BEAUTIFUL! It was newly built, only opened a few months ago. The kitchen was lined with windows the entire wall faced the eastern sun and the ocean stetching into the distance. I kept telling myself I'd probably just stay one more day. But I was enjoying myself so much, i stayed, and stayed again, and then stayed until just the day before I flew out.

On my first day in Safari Lodge I splurged on my last fiji adventure and signed up for a day kyacking trip with 5 others. We were bused south and dropped with our kyacks into a river. We paddled the river into the mouth of Viti Levu Bay. The river was beautiful, as we paddled in dappled sunlight underneith a canopy of thick green foliage. Eitherside became a dense mangrove forest full of birdsong and the droning of insects. The brackish water gave way to the slightly wavey bay water, and soon we were paddling hard against the wind, large swells washing over the bows. (they were 2 man kyacks, i was in front). it was thrilling, and not -at-all scary. I just sang songs in my head and got a good rhythem going. Soon me and the old man (my paddling buddy) were far ahead of anyone else! WE ROCK!
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[b]me and captain dick in Undine, our aptly named little boat...big boat actually: it weighed like a billion pounds.

Soon we turned the corner of the bay, the hard part behind us. Our guide, a local gal named Bola, led us towards her village. It was a bit scary traversing the coral, and one had to paddle in at just the right angle and time, so avoid hitting the coral wrong. But once we cleared it, it was smooth riding to the white sandy beach. A small bevy of children met us and squeeled with delight, looking with big eyes at our paddles and boats. We then picniced upon sandwhiches, somosas, pasta salad, chips, and oreos. We drank tang, and finished with coffee. It was stuffed!

Despite the protest in my arms, I was eager to keep going and soon we were paddling again, the wind mercyfully behind us. We were making really good time, skirting the coral reefs, seeing manta rays and fish gliding by beneith the water below us. The land was a dramatic mix of greens, terraced gardens, forests, grassy vallys, and scrub dotted peaks. Pecular knobs of rock jutted unexpected upwards from the already vaulted earth and nestled between these outcroppings and the auqa-marine water lay tiny villages full of thatched dwellings. The sun began its slow decent towards the west, and soon we could see Ellington Wharf in the distance. I wondered to myself if my fellow paddlers would be willing to kyack all the way to the island, as we were given the option to get out here. Luckily, everyone wanted to paddle on. So we pushed our burning shoulders and arms the last 6 kms out to Nananu.

We arrived feeling triumphant as well as utterly releived to have made it. We went for a nice swim and then I trekked, arms and shoulders screaming, up to my dorm and had my first hot shower in weeks and weeks. It felt amazing. that 4 extra bucks were worth it. I thought.

The next few days at Nananu were some of my best in Fiji. I will never forget th friends I made. Guido, Roger, Sole, Warren, Rebecca, Devin, and many others. I snorckled, and walked the entire way around the island. Once, I was really thirsty, and happened upon a mango tree, gathered the fallen fruit, and had the most satisfying snack of my life.

Speak of food. How did I do? The meal plan there was pretty pricey, as were the individual meals. So I went to a tiny store on the other side of the island and bought potatoes and pasta. I ate A LOT of potatos and pasta for a few days. Fried potatoes, boiled potatoes, backed Patatos, hashbrowns, etc etc. I had butter, salt, pepper, and olive oil to spruce things up. but it was boring: let me tell you. I also had some peanut butter and crackers, and there were enough papayas on the trees around the place for me to eat fruit each morning. I also drank a lot of tea. So i survived!

We had an awsome grog session Saturday night, our friend Sake coming from a village in the mainland, and bringing Kava with him. We all sat around the traditional Kava bowl and passed around the grog in coconut halves, clapping as we did so. A lovely feeling of numbness starts in your face and begins to spead as one drinks the grog. Later that night I would go out with some of the others for a midnight walk to the pier, where we sat on the boardwalk watching the vivid stars and the expansive milky way spead out above us and twinkling with the light of ages.
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Soli clearly ENJOYING the Kava, with her poor bandaged stingray afflicted leg in bandages, and Warren, the charming and handsome Aussie owner of Safari Lodge.

I dreaded leaving. I really did. My last day i was up with the sunrise, its light flooding my dorm room-the sun was just this massive orange ball, its heat already apparent at 5:50 in the morning. I swam in the ocean for the last time. I relished the drones of the insects in the trees. I said goodbye to my new friends. but i'll tell you, i was looking forward emmensly to a delicious meaty curry in Nadi!!

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Here's Guido and I having fun while watching my last Fiji Sunset! There are more pics of Guido creating "liquid fire" but its too much to post them all here-but they're all so amazing.

I was given a private (and free) ride back to nadi, since it was already going there to pick up some new arrivals bound for Safari Lodge that afternoon. I mailed back my tent, skyped with my mum and went to my dorm to read.

I opted for a 2 man dorm, 3$ more, but would garuntee a quieter nights sleep in this busy hostel. I finished reading "A Woman of Substance" which was hard since I cried hard during the last 50 pages. This 800 page behemoth of literary greatness brought me to tears again and again, and sometimes I just put the book down and cried hard. It was SOOO good, and I havn't read a book that engulfing in a long time.

So then, as i'm red eyed and still snotty, 3 pages from the end, there is a knock at my door.

Martyn introduces himself: he is dutch, and the receptionist told me i was bound for Auckland in the early morning. He asks if we might share a taxi ride. I agree readily, explain my pityful state to him, and also my need to finish out the last 3 pages, and then a few minutes later, book finished, join him and another solo traveller named Vinet downstairs. We drink hotchocolates and orange fantas and talk about travelling. Vinet is a really cool guy born in China but raised in Australia, whose claim to fame is killing Zena, warrior princess in the finale episode, which is pretty dam cool. He spent the last four months meditating and eating raw food in the Lao Group. As for Martyn, turns out we're on the same plane the next day.

We switch seats so we're next to eachother. And then take the bus together into the city and then stay in the same room. He has plans to meet 2 french boys who are renting a van and heading south to Rotorua and Lake Tompo (or something like that) and doing a long day hike. I think I'm going to join them.

Right now we have yet to meet up with them. We've left a note at their hostel up the road. The hiking down south will probably be outstanding, and I'm hoping to get an 8 hour hike in between 2 volcanos in a landscape that looks somthing like mars.

I might still go north as planned, but things are up in the air until I meet and approve of the French boys. I'll return early to Auckland this weekend (where I might see ROGER from Safari lodge again, if I"m lucky) and then I'll be taking my milaria medication and planning on going to bangkok next Tuesday! WOW

Auckland is beautiful. Its fresh, sunny, and 60 degrees, a glorious early spring day. Downtown is full , i mean, packed full of young people, backpackers, and college students. Everyone here is beautiful, trendy, hip, unique, etc it seems. Everyone's got somewhere to go, or nowhere, because here is awsome. I found a good place up the street (actually Martyn showed it to me, he was here 2 weeks ago) that serves up massive oriental dishes for under 7 bucks. The hostel is 8 stories tall, and brimming with more flavors of people than baskin robbins has icecream. It's 26 bucks a night, and i'm in an 8 man dorm. Under the bunks are huge lockers where one can store their bag and lock it tight while away, which is cool. The internet is pretty decent too.

I'm off to post much of this to the travel blog. Much love to everyone and i miss you all so much.

Posted by LadyCroft 20.10.2008 10:39 PM Archived in Backpacking | Fiji Comments (1)

Almost done in Savu Savu

but at least I made it out of town for a day

sunny 23 °C
View South Pacific Paradise!!! on LadyCroft's travel map.

Hey everyone!

On the 2nd I hopped on a local bus and headed for Mumu's. The resort in a place to picturesque for words to do any true justice. I felt like it was situated at a volcano that was once on the bottom of the sea for sharp rocks were everywhere, from the size of pebbles to huge boulders that reached high over the head. Set amongst them were nice little dwellings for one to sleep in. The dorm was full, so mumu gave me a good deal on my very own place.

The building wasn't much more than a shack but I can't complain one bit! It had a shower (brrrr cold!), toilet, and lots of windows open to the sea and crashing surf.

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My room was a insectophiles heaven. I had all sorts of company in there, ants, cochroaches, big ickky spiders, moths, but nooooooo mosquitos!! so again, NOTHING to complain about. The sheets were clean, the room was really cute, and the staff were soooo friendly and sweet. Rosie is a phillipino lady who runs the place and Lo is her local helper. Lo is 22 and single (rare here) and she seems to have a really good head on her shoulders (doesn't drink grog-go figure). SHe was more than happy to take me on walks over the rocks by the sea.

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At one point we walked a narrow ledge by the crashing surf and made our way up through a cave which narrowed and slanted upwards til we found ourselves on the other side back in the gardens above the resort. Here are some pictures of me walking about:

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as i said, i had great views of the sea from my room, and spent many hours at the "pool house" watching the surf break on the reef, which at one point was really impressive. Sea foam sprayed high high in the air, birds reels and swooped after fish, and little crabbies scuttled everywhere....

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I returned to town for a fabulous BBQ dinner at the Copra Shed (my new home away from home) and went dancing with a new friend I made here. The place played pretty horrible music, but I didn't let that stop me from getting my groove on. My Dutch friend was quite the dancer too, and soon we had all the locals up and dancing. It was actually only our fellow Europians who wouldn't dance because they "couldn't get into the music"...didn't let it hold ME back!!

Its off to Taveuni tommrrow, so who knows when I'll update next. Lots of lub to everyone!

Croftee

Posted by LadyCroft 03.10.2008 2:59 PM Archived in Backpacking | Fiji Comments (2)

SS is too nice to leave!

just a wee update

I'M going to be online tommrrow 9am my time so I'm hoping SOMEONE will be online and ready to skype. Email me if your me friend and want to know my skype name and stuff. I just had a WONDERFUL skype session with DURKA my roomie and it waas SOOOO nice seeing him!!! yey!

Here's a little piece of email that I thought would be a nice little update:
In response to the following questions my aunt asked me via email:

is there great fish? What’s the local liquor like? What about the fruits?? Have you had new exotic fruits?

yes, fish is amazing. Eating more now than ever in my THe locals have been pouring fish on our heads. Fish in lolo is my favorite (lolo is coconut milk, its absoulatly AMAZING), I've caught a snapper and grouper and we've eaten Walu and sure tons of other fish i don't even know the name of. We even had the village of Daliconi give us aa HUUUUGE lobster...photos can be seen at the travel blog http://ladycroft.travellerspoint.com I haven't had any local liquor, its expensive here, so is wine because its all imported. But the beer (Fiji Bitter) is cheap, and after one gets used to it, fairly delicious... I'm trying to wrap up this email (eerrr travel blog-its already 5:10!), because Happy Hour in in 45 minutes (err, 15 minutes ago) at the copra shed, where Beer is only $2.50 (thats about US 1.75!) Can't beat that!

Fruit is just falling off the trees here. I eat local Papaya, Pineapple, and bananas every morning (with my Wheet-bix!) I tried a star fruit (or is it lechie?) anyways its this green fruit with all these little spines and you can cut it and squeeze it and drink its sour citrusy juice (yum!) I had a local lad named Yandua in MBavutu scale a tall palm tree in 2.3 seconds and throw down some coconuts, then cracked them open with his machete so we could drink after a long walk. It was aqua vite, just delicious and amazing.

Tomorrow, after a successful skype i hope (though no one's gotten back to me) I'm going to have lunch then catch a bus to Mumu's resort about 17 km E of SavuSavu. I'll spend Thurs night there and be back here on Friday in time for perhaps another successful skype in the afternoon and then check out the Friday-night scene here in town. Then I'm going to catch the ferry to Taveuni Saturday morning and hang out there for 5 days or so.

Funny enough, I modeled today for Windward Apparel, owned by the lovely Sean and Sharon from Canada, who now live in Savusavu. They're friends with Cathy and Peter and asked me to pose for a resort who wants to have their logo's put on teeshirts and applied to the walls of their boutique shop! FUN! SO naturally being the attention whore I am, I readily agreed to help em out, and got a nice teeshirt out of it!! In the meantime I was introduced to their helper Gama, whose very kindly helped to me to make sure I catch the correct bus tomorrow and also the ferry on Saturday.

THe people here are awesome and everyone wants to help. A girl can't even be alone if she wants to. Everyone's always offering to take me here or take me there, or for me to come visit them and if i need a place to stay etc etc....Of course I wouldn't go home with anyone or anything, but i'm sure most offers are truly out of the abundant generosity that lies in the heart of nearly every Fijian I've met.

Gotta go, the internet place is closing! BYE!

Posted by LadyCroft 10:07 PM Archived in Backpacking | Fiji Comments (1)

First Day of the Rainy Season in SAVU SAVU

and properly, clouds are beginning to form! And changes of plans too!

rain 24 °C

My dearest friends, family and fans (and random people too i guess)

I am still in Savu Savu, i just can't seem to get away. But i LOVE it here, and after havn't only spent a week or so, I know so many names and faces, that I just can't get anywhere without getting into idol conversations about this our that! But whose complaining?!?? It awsome here and I love the people! THe accents are from ALL OVER THE WORLD, england, Austrailia, NZ, Japan, Germany, France, Holland, and even Ireland too!! DId I forget the US? Dammit, no I didn't, but here comes the story of the Americans.

Quite a few Peace Corps (henseforth PC) volunteers are stationed here in fiji, and they all live alone in their villages. (Americans, of course). I was meeting them here and there in SS and saying hello and such. And a few days ago Bret and Garret invited me to share pizza and beer one afternoon at the Copra shed. Turns out Garret grew up in Sandy Springs, and we went to Rival highschools and know many of the same people growing up! What luck! So naturally we had tons and tons to talk about, and boy did he like it when i said "y'all"!!!

Apparently all the PC people on Vanua Levu were meeting in SS to take the ferry to Lautoka the following day. These boys were here a bit early and hadn't much to do but hang out at the watering hole all day. So i met with them after dinner and we closed down the Hotsprings Hotel, and then had to sneak around a bit to find some afterhours black market Fiji Bitter Longnecks. But these boys know the town very well, and speak enough fijiian to get by pretty well. We had such a great time (others joined us to, a very outragious 19 year old Aussie, and two pretty british gals) and we drank our longnecks fiji style (shared one glass among us) and just whiled away the hours.

Around 3 am I excused myself and got in my dingy, but before going back to the boat I took time to enjoy the harbor. All was quiet save for the lapping of my oars in the water, and the bay was as smooth as glass. The ample stars over head reflected in the water so that it seemed I had stars above and below and was floating in a sea of tranquil space. The ghostly quiet dark boats rested like stoney sentinals on the waters surface, and i floated among them silently, just enjoying a very very holy moment.

I was sad when they had to leave the next day. At Happy Hour at the copra shed we drank a few more Fiji Bitters before they left. (only 2.50 F dollars-soooo cheap!) By then, several other PCs had arrived, 6 in all, and yet another one, Pete grew up in Decatur (golly the coinkydinks!!) We all had a few more good laughs and then it was time for dinner so I had to go.

Cathy, Peter and I met up with our dear friends Helmut and Kirstin on Lop-to, and we had yet another outstanding dinner at Bula Re. We also joined tables with our new friend Wolfgang, off the boat Galatia. I dare say Wolfgang fufilled many of the requirements for Sailorman under my reqirements for marriage (looking for sailormen, cheifs, princes, chefs, prominent landowners and millionaires etc etc)...and although Sailormen are lower on the pole than the rest, i must say I'd think I'd really enjoy a life at sea. He was witty to no end and even Lop-to and Leto's crew seemed to say that he'd make a good sailing partner. Alas, he was much MUCH older than me, had a crew aboard that required him sailing out the next day, and anyways, seemed oblivious to my batting eyelashes...hahaha!

but great things. Bret one of the PCs, has a brother travelling in Vietnam--so one might make a connection there possibly, after Taveuni I might head to Nadi and meet up with Garret again (slight possibility there) and Wolfgang will be in the Yasawa's too, which is not a far reach from Nadi...so possibilties people!!!

But to be rather more realistic...I think Cathy and Peter are leaving tommrrow at first light, and i havn't even decided if I'll spent my first night on land or with them. Everything just happens as it happens here! But I'm preparing to embark on my own. I'm quite sure that I'm going to take the next ferry To Taveuni and spend 5 days or so there, and then take a flight to Nadi. From there I'll hit Raki Raki, Nananu-i-Ra, Lautoka, the Nausori Highlands, and then Nadi to be ready to leave by the 21st! (only 21 days away!! eek!)

I'm really excited to be setting off on my own. Though travelling with Leto has been one of the most enriching and wonderful experiences of my life, where every moment was savored like a long awaited last meal before a fast, I am eagar to set of alone. I will enjoy more privacy, which i miss very much, as well as alone time (which, try as i might, is hard to find! even while travelling alone, so far whenever i'm by myself, i seem to find company in less than 5 minutes) All my adventures are only at the beginning and there is much much to come!

So I'll keep you updated. Love to everyone!
rev. croftee

Posted by LadyCroft 2:59 PM Archived in Backpacking | Fiji Comments (0)

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