Fiji Time

Bula!  Before leaving for NZ, friends of ours were already telling us that as long as we were getting to NZ and the South Pacific, we would absolutely have to do our best to get to Fiji.  Only a three hour flight from NZ, at about the same longitude, Fiji is stereotypically South Pacific - atolls and islands covered in coconut trees, bush, and white sand beaches, all of which is surrounded by warm, aqua blue water and pristine coral reef.  So, during the kids Fall break from school, we made this our one really "flash" trip while here - seven nights in Fiji, five of those on a small island an hour's catamaran ride off of the main island.  Those six days truly brought us onto "Fiji time".  The pace at our resort - Musket Cove - was so slow that it was impossible not to relax and enjoy the tranquility of the place.

Here are, in no particular order, our favorite things about the trip and about Fiji...

"Bula!" You have to love a place with a national saying - "Hello" said in a sing-song kind of calming way to anyone and everyone and at all times.  No matter where we went, we would hear "Bula" in this calming and friendly way, from people who just seem pre-disposed to being outgoing. We could get used to that!  It just brings a smile to your face and is so relational.

Guitar strumming - The Fijian people just seem to naturally have these melodious, deep voices, and we heard a lot of singing.  Every dinner, lunch, welcome ceremonies, restaurants there would be a few guys with acoustic guitars, and accompanying percussion, singing Johnny Cash or new pop songs or 1970s hits.  Here was our welcome party at the resort...

Beaches and Coconut trees - There is something so calming and scenic about coconut trees on the beach, until something would fall from one and almost knock you out!  We learned to be careful what you sit under!  Also, it was a little eery (but obviously non-threatening) to see these giant (foot wing spans!) fruit bats swooping in and out of the coconut trees at dusk. Anyway, when you think of Fiji, you think of beaches and coconut trees, and our island did not disappoint.  Here are some of our favorite scenic pics...

Barefoot or sandals - How nice to go a week without shoes!  Even Pete got in on this action and worked on his tan lines.

Crystal clear water and colorful reefs and fish - we snorkeled once or twice a day on trips to local reefs arranged by our resort, and we even went scuba diving one day!  We will do a separate post on that later, with videos, but what a treat to do that every day for a week.

The village trip - mid-week we took a trip from our resort to a local village on a different island.  It was a very real experience, as we saw how a typical village lives.  Here is a picture from the little market on the beach at the village.

Here's a picture from our welcome ceremony, done in a small house in the center of the village.  We drank the traditional kava juice and paid our respects to the village elders.

Finally, here is their school and grounds.  It was fun to see our kids wrap their minds around growing up and going to school on a small island in the South Pacific.

Medicine walk - on our penultimate day, one of the local guides at the resort who had some training in local medicine toured us around the property and showed us the different trees, plants, and leaves that local healers use for various ailments.  It was fascinating and educational!

Our barbecue experience - we took the week off cooking and allowed others to cook for us, except for one night, and even that was cheating.  We picked up some marinated meat and seafood and grilled it on the beach using their gas grills situated under the coconut trees by their island bar.  That was a relaxing and tasty dinner.

Pig on a spit - we had a traditional pig on a spit dinner one night.  Our favorite part of this was that the spit the resort used was right outside our villa, so all day we saw the smoke and fire and smelled the roasting of pig, so the anticipation just kind of built throughout the day for it.

Wind-Surfing - the girls spent a little chunk of each day learning to wind surf, and getting some nice complimentary lessons from the male staff (who seemed all to happy to help out all four of our blondies : )  It was pretty windy most days, making it more difficult, but the girls persevered and by the last day were turning and staying upright most of the time!  Here is a shot of Lauryn and Jen upright and riding with the wind.

And we were also able to take out the paddle board - looking good, Jen!

Chilling...but mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company, and got some terrific family pictures.  Here are our favorites...

In a subsequent entry we will post some pics and video of our time spent in the water, scuba and snorkeling.  It was awesome and worthy of a separate entry!

Undoubtedly it is a bit exotic to get to Fiji from the Western Hemisphere, but....if you can, you will not be disappointed!