The Fiji Life: Lost Reference No. 1 "Hey Guys, Where Are We?"

Bonus points if you can tell me the Lost character that uttered those words.

Bula! Back for more? Okay...off we go

Saturday June 11th - The Arrival (or Welcome To The Jungle)

So far this trip has had the feel of The Amazing Race, next to come would be Survivor and Lost all rolled into one.

When we exited the big boat into a smaller motorboat we then finally reached shore, or close to it (really, we got out in ankle deep water). The staff of the resort were there playing a lilting melody we would hear throughout the week, singing and clapping. Greeting us with island leis and cheerful rounds of, "Bula!"

Walking across the sand to the walk-way to the main hall it was nice to take in the natural beauty and pure absence of most things civilized. At the end of the walk-way there was a large bucket of water to clean your sandy feet in before entering the dinner area. The pavilion was all open air and the breeze was quite cooling even though it was just high noon. The smells were as clean and fragrant as you could imagine.

The host (I believe he was the only non-native on the staff) whose name was Nigel was originally from New Zealand by way of Australia. He had been in charge of the place for about four months. His briefing included giving us the meal times (6AM, 1PM, 7PM), the approximate amount of time out in the sun before starting to burn (12 minutes), and a few other ground rules (do not give any alcohol to the staff was one). All this lasted about 15 minutes giving the staff time to get our bags to our bures (rooms).

A quick trip to our beachside bure to get a little freshened up and acclimated to the distance from bure to dining hall, and we settled down to a nice lasagna lunch. The afternoon was all ours to discover, set up dive partners, explore, hit the bar and pool, you name it.

My wife, being the leader of the dive group had to coordinate that activity so I was left on my own for a while. I hooked up with a couple guys in our group (Walt and Dan) who had a keen interest in rugby. This is THE national sport of Fiji. Dan brought a rugby ball from home with him (which he ended up gifting to the kids in the village) and after we received a guided hike from one of the staff we showed up at the nearest village in time to watch their Saturday afternoon game of rubgy. The competing village had to walk almost an hour to get to the field of play. The entire village surrounded the rugby field.

We arrived at the village and as you might imagine 3 white-skinned men attracted a lot of attention. I could not get over the two satellite dishes in the village. They seemed very out of place. The goal posts for the rugby field were made of bamboo. The match last for an hour (longest I have sat on the ground in a while) and then we hiked back to the resort...amidst the sound of pigs snorting in the brush (never saw them) and the sounds of birds and lapping water on the shore. It was quite the first day venture.

Back at the pool I ordered a couple beers (Fiji Gold Premium, very good) and my wife and I got complimentary foot and calf massages looking out over the ocean. Several of the group took advantage of this activity. Soon the sun would be setting (took some getting used to sunset at 5:45PM). The massage of coconut milk, honey, coconut meat, and a couple other things made me forget about the hike and sitting on the ground. It was greater than I can possibly describe. Good beer, a massage, ocean breeze, and unbelieveable view made for a good arrival day. The sunset shots were pretty good this night, some of the best there. A couple are below for your viewing pleasure.

We went back to the bure to change clothes and get ready for dinner. I got all the electrical equipment (computer, chargers, converters) all set up. Just a side note: those who brought their Mac laptops were screwed. First warning Nigel gave was do not plug in and turn on a Mac or you will have a useless piece of plastic to take home. Score one for PC's! On the down side...I never needed my converter I bought for the trip.

Dinner was served at 7 and we had ordered the curry chicken. After all of this whirlwind activity I finally realized I had pretty much been up for over 36 hours. Those couple of beers earlier were like liquid tranqualizers that were now starting to take effect. My wife was exhausted as was most of the group. While waiting for dinner I almost nodded off 3 or four times and came close to just getting up and heading for bed. When the food arrived we only ate the chicken and holding each other up, made our way to the bure for the night.

Some more pictures for your enjoyment...click to enlarge

One of two boats that brought us to the smaller motor boats for our beach landing

Nigel giving us the instructions de jour. And the Bula Bar!

Lilly pad ponds were in front of many of the garden bures

The rugby match between the blue team and the red team...I think red was home team. The village school in the two-story building in the distance. All grades.