Low Pressure Zone, Low Spirits







 

We arrived in Nadi (pronounced "Naan-dee," I learned just today), Fiji early morning January 8, clearing customs before sunrise. After a two hour, extremely choppy jetboat ride to Waya Island, we arrived at the Octopus Resort in time for lunch. Unfortunately, some serious storms followed just behind, the ominous view of which you can see above. The rain never quite left: the mornings were generally overcast and dry, and heavy rains came in in the afternoon, often lasting until the next morning. But if you thought you could not get sunburned through clouds, or in my case rain storms, you did not attend the Susan Walton school of sunblock. Christina was also sick and without a voice for much of our time on Waya. She has recovered her voice now, and while that deep, raspy whisper had its charm, I continue to be thankful she is not a lifetime cigarette smoker. The real sadness might have been all the trips that were cancelled due to unsafe or wet conditions. I think we both left regretting the things on the island we were unable to do.

Woe is me I was in Fiji. We did go on a guided hike across a mountain ridge, which was incredible. And a Sunday boatride to a local Methodist service conducted in Fijian was a major highlight (beautiful music). The Octopus was wonderful. We ate very well, swam lots in the ocean, and made a few friends (mostly lizards). For every night except the last we stayed in a dorm, which need not be photographed, and then on our final night Christina surprise upgraded us to a Bure, which was out-of-this-world cool.

We are back in Nadi tonight and we fly to Auckland tomorrow. Fiji has a significant ethnic Indian population, mostly brought over as indentured servants from Britannia, I think, and we enjoyed a fabulous Indian lunch today. Our brief time in Nadi taught us some about Fiji's national history and character, which I'm thankful for. I've run out of time on this computer so the rest is left to your imagination. I basically just wanted to try setting this blog up. Expect the next post to be either more or less interesting.