Nakoroboya Village in the interior of Fiji.

More of our Adventurious Fijian Holiday.

Nakoroboya Village.

Jonathan asked us to get ready to visit his village, which meant putting on a Sulu wraparound skirt for both Erle and I, ours were borrowed from Josephine and the younger sister Theresa. It was explained that the village was at the base of the mountain we were on, and we could take a shortcut road, straight down and ‘not a very good track’! Or the long way ‘a much better road’ which was 75 km long, it didn’t take Erle more than a second to say we would go the long way! We had to go back half the way we had driven the night before over the same dreadful tracks but in day light it was easier, then we came back in a big circle from around the other side of the mountain and down into the deep valley.
Now we had thought the roads before were bad… haha …. These were in a class of there own, the poor van struggled in first gear all the way as Erle fought to keep it on the rocky rutted kind of road, thank goodness he was driving not me! Parts of the road were also under water just to make it even less pleasant, these pools could be any depth! There were wild goats everywhere dashing off the road as we were right in the wild interior of the island where hardly any one ever goes, though we did pass one four wheel drive vehicle on the way. Scenery was spectacular in parts we could see over almost the whole island. From the top of Mt Vistoria.
Finally we came to the village, the last part of the road was by far the steepest, as we slithered down, Erle really wondered whether it would be possible to climb back out, especially if it rained again, Jonathan said there were enough strong men in the village to push us out if need be!

Pretty waterfall in the distance.
In the distance I could see a beautiful waterfall tumbling down the mountainside but we had no time to visit it, the Headman of the village came and shook our hands in welcome, then almost the entire population lined up to shake our hands and kiss them! They also bowed to us – like we were Royalty! Part of the line of neat village houses. and the Church.
Name of the village is Nakoroboya; it contains about 30 corrugated iron, and wooden houses and several bura’s of different sizes made of reeds in the traditional way. The whole layout of the village is neat and orderly everything is very tidy, there is a Catholic Church in the centre of the village and the school is just over a rushing mountain stream to one side, the gardens well tended and the people appeared to be healthy and well besides happy and content.

One of the village horses with a homemade leather saddle.
There are no roads in the village, as no one owns a vehicle, however every man owns a horse to travel on, that’s why, the roads are so bad. We had to take off our shoes and paddle across a small stream past the village Catholic Church, then a quite fast flowing river to get to the village school we had come to visit. Village men had to assist us over these rivers or we would have been swimming! Poor Jonathan all loaded up as we walk passed the Catholic Church.
Jonathan carried all our gifts for us plus a lot more that he was also giving the children; he was weighed down like a packhorse!
The male teacher greeted us and ordered the children to assembly for us to inspect. All the boisterous eager kids were in front keen to show-off, just like kids worldwide, but I looked beyond them to the big eyed shy ones, and went all around picking them out to chat to, later the teacher said how did I managed to speak to all the shyest children in the school, but as a wee kid I was one of the shy ones so I easily recognized the shyness and longing to be noticed in their eyes. Teacher also said we were the first white people to visit the school beside of a missionary man. He was over whelmed with all the books pens pencils and musical instruments we had brought from New Zealand especially for his school children. There are actually 3 teachers for the 72 children of all ages, but two of the teachers had to attend a funeral that day, one of them was the music teacher who would get a great surprise when she returned and found she now had several flutes and other things to make a little band.
It was Fiji National Children’s Day apparently, we had no idea of this, and the teacher said God must have brought us especially on that day with so many gifts for the children. Jonathan brought along soft drinks and little buns for each child. Venarca (Thank you in Fijian) was said many, many times; it hadn’t cost us much but brought such joy to them all. We signed the visitor’s book looked at one of the three classrooms with its little wooden desks like there were when I first started school as a wee girl so long ago. The whole school was made of plaited bamboo with an iron roof; it was all designed and partly built by Jonathan nearly 2 years ago. A more solid concrete block building has been started to make a permanent school in time. I could have spent much more time here but we were worried about the threat of rain and the need to be out of the mountain roads by darkness.
We were then hurried back across the river, to the Headman’s large home to be initiated into the village! One of the smaller bures with the owner outside.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Normally women would not be allowed at the special ceremony, but Jonathan said I was special and would also be initiated into the village. When we entered the big house, without our shoes, it was to find that all the men of the village assembled sitting cross legged on the coconut matting, there were two soft pillows at the head of them for us to relax on – Jonathan also had to sit cross legged on the floor beside us. I was a trifle nervous about the ceremony not knowing what to expect – blood letting, a challenge like the Maoris do, singing or dancing, or what?
Very simple really it was just a much longer Kava ceremony; lots of prayers all in Fijian with our names mentioned frequently, many of the men spoke including Jonathan. As I sat there my mind drifted, several thoughts came to me; firstly, I became aware that ‘all things do work together for good’ we were definitely meant to have arrived in the village today and not yesterday as would have happened had Jonathan met us at the airport, I was becoming impressed by Jonathan’s Mana – the prestige and esteem he was held in by all these men, I worried about the fact that while I was enjoying myself, poor Erle was not, he was driving to the very edge of his ability for hours each day with more to come, would I end up being the proud owner of the van if Erle had a momentary lapse of concentration, as I heard the first rain drops on the roof, would we even be able to drive out of the village, also the fact that I had not taken a single photo of the village School we had come so far to visit! My first cup of Kava about to be handed to me. Note the rope pointing to me.
Finally it was Kava drinking time, Erle first, me second, Jonathan third, followed by every one of the men, had a half coconut shell full before it was time to have another round. I took the time to whisper to Jonathan my lack of photos and he said he would go all the way back across the river for me to get me a good photo, and he did.

Nakoroboya School with the Teacher and all the pupils

When the next round of Kava drinking was over and the headman had made another batch of Kava for further rounds, the speeches told us that we could now say Nakoroboya was our village, we were full members, anything we wished to do, we could, we could return and be welcome any time in the future. Now it was Erle’s turn to make a speech, he had been warned a speech would be called for so fortunately some thought had gone into what he was going to say, so Erle made a great speech that brought forth a noisy round of venarca’s, hand claps and cheers.
To test the ‘we could do anything words’ I said I would like to go inside the biggest bure in the village! A young girl was called in to take me, she took me in through the special door for ladies and we sat on the floor with a bunch of toddlers who joined us, and told me how this biggest bure (reed covered roof house, rather like a small hall, with vast tree trunks as beams to hold it all up, some of which were carved a little) had been built and what some of the parts meant, sorry I forget all these things as I was playing with the sweet wee kids.
I also mentioned the pigs the village owned and almost got taken to visit them too! Erle stayed and enjoyed the company of all the men.
The men of the village intended to present us with a bucket full of prawns to take back for our evening meal but the river was too flooded and dirty for them to catch any so we were presented with a big bag of large easy peel mandarins oranges, much better for us really as they lasted us for the whole time of our trip and we were very grateful for them often.
After a nice cup of tea without milk, because none of their cows or goats was in-milk, and thick slices of delicious native bread, we knew we just must leave as the rain was now really falling hard. After much hand shaking and hugs and kind words we made our goodbyes.
It took two of the strong men pushing and all the power of the van to inch our way up the steepest part of the road out, but after that Erle managed the drive back to Jonathan’s home without incident, where Mama was waiting to cook the prawns for dinner!
She rose to the challenge of what to have for dinner without prawns, we had cooked breadfruit, cassava, taro and taro leaves the she had rolled up with tiny pieces of fish inside and then cooked in coconut milk, these were so nice I could have eaten the whole pot full! Also there was an interesting noodle dish with small chunks of chicken in, masses of great ethnic food, which we had special coffee after and some strawberry cream biscuits that I had brought from home in case we couldn’t eat the food, the children especially enjoyed these sweet treats (don’t think biscuits figure much in their diet).
When Jonathan and his brothers suggested we could all go back to the village tomorrow to watch a football match, Erle took all of half a second to decide that regretfully we must return tomorrow, the very thought of driving back again was too much. Not the drive so much but the possibility of damaging the van and having to buy the thing, Erle recons our use of this van must of taken ten years of its life!

````````````````````````````````````````````

Our Adventous Fijian Holiday

More of Our Adventurious Fijian Holiday.

From Namuka Bay to Sigatoka and back to Nadi.

Oh the joy when we heard the throaty roar of the Carriers engine struggling along the track.
In drove the Carrier with the Priest in the front seat, he leaned out the window with a big smile, and said ‘surely you didn’t think I would forget you, did you!’ We all just laughed with relief then booked the Carrier to return the next morning for our fellow guests, shared big hugs all around and were off in back Cuvu. I will admit I looked back over my shoulder and thought; it was so nice here, we have excellent memories, it’s a pity we didn’t have an extra day, but it wouldn’t have been pleasant continuing to deal with Ari!

Sunsetting Namuka Bay

Looking back at the outdoor dining room area, Namuka Bay Lagoons hotel.
We both enjoyed having a chat with the driver and the priest; both said that Ari was well known around Cuvu as trouble! As we drove we talked of the political Coups that had plagued Fiji of late, every road we had travelled on had a Police Road block about every 20 km with road spikes that you had to drive very slowly through, we were never stopped but others were, and the Police had a good chance to get a good look at you as you past by. We never felt in any danger at all, but we did as advised and kept well away from Suva the centre of most of the trouble. The coup was definitely keeping tourist away and making things very hard for local traders and business houses of all kinds; ruining the economy.
We dropped the Priest at his Priestly house – manse, rectory or convent? Not sure what you call it. We were effusive with our thanks, and blessed him with all our thoughts for remembering us and also for helping the other 4 the next day, and we know he blessed us too.

Very beautiful red Frangipani flowers.
We asked the Carrier driver to take us on to Sigatoka, about 24 km away to find some nice place to stay for the next two nights.
(For all the taxi Drivers reading this; we were charged Fijian villagers prices not tourists prices, $8 for both trips to Namuka Bay even over those terrible roads, but we paid him $10, and he asked another $8 to go to 24 km to Sigatoka town we also paid him $10 because our taxi instinct told us he was charging far too little. None of the taxis use a meter or have an RT they get there jobs via a personal cell phone call or by hails from the street or hotels.)
The local Tourist Information centre once again helped us find a reasonably good hotel at prices we wanted to pay, made easier because of the coup; not many tourists were in the country.
We found ourselves at Casablanca Hotel on the Coral Coast, right on the beach again, such luck we have had in getting such good placements, it is some distances from the town but that didn’t matter as taxis are so cheap!

The Casablanca and the veiw from our balcony.
Once again we were out on the beach in our swimsuits swimming in the warm waters, but the coral and the fish were not nearly as good as at Namuka Bay so we headed back to the big swimming pool at the hotel.
The Carrier driver had told us of an Eco Wild life Park not far up the road at the Outrigger-on-Lagoon Resort, he said as we were white we would have no trouble just wandering in from the beach to visit the Park, so ofcause we were on for that! This is a carvrd totam pole in the forest at the Eco park.
The walk was very pleasant - if rather hot and muggy, but it wasn’t too far. An employee of the Outrigger-on-Lagoon quickly met us and offered to accompany us to the Park, a gesture of helpfulness accorded to all the guests rather than a suspicious what are you doing here one. Unfortunately as soon as we arrived it started to rain and the electric power went off (do we have this effect on things?) Didn’t stop us walking right through the park enjoying all the exhibitions of birds and reptiles along with the flora, the whole park was beautifully managed, nice and clean and the animals all looked healthy. As we were leaving the attendants came and offered for us to feed the giant Turtles, hungry old things! Then, because we had missed some stuff because of the power cut they decided to give us a little extra. A 2foot long giant Green Iguana was suddenly put into my hands! I nearly dropped it! Then before I could say that’s enough 2 more,
smaller green iguanas arrived on my shoulder and other hand; Erle quickly took photos of this event. They didn’t actually feel unpleasant or bite me but I would rather not hold Iguanas too often! Me holding 3 iguanas rather gingerly!
We were so wet by time we walked back to our hotel we just had another swim, easy really!
Next morning, we decided to try going into Sigatoka for a traditional Indian breakfast of Roti that we always eat while in Malaysia, jumped into a taxi and although he was kind of doubtful of us finding any roti in Sigatoka he took us to the local Curry House – who didn’t have any idea what we were talking about, all they could offer us was chapattis. So instead we made up a breakfast from the small takeaway stand, potato fritters small sausages and curried veggie balls! A strange and unusual breakfast but ok for once.
We believe; when in Rome do as the Roman’s do. During this holiday we have drunk the local water everywhere and eaten the local food, both Fijian and Indian drunk the Kava in two places, and have not once felt sick in any way. Not that I advise anyone else to do so, we do this with caution and years of travelling knowledge and strong stomachs! We heard there was typhoid raging in the North of the Island, just where we had been, people dropping like flies or at least two or three people, but it didn’t effect us. In Fiji it was said the typhoid was caught from badly prepared Kava, all we drank was very well and safely prepared.
Our next place to visit was the big local market, to buy lots of tropical fruit to last us for the remaining days in Fiji, bananas, pineapple, and pawpaws. Then ladies selling jewellery and trinkets surrounded us, all wishing to sell us heaps of stuff. Actually we thought why not get some wee things for the grandchildren, so we did buy a number of cheapish odds and ends that they will like, I hope.
Then we tried to buy some local loose tobacco, that Erle’s daughter, a smoker, would like. This turned into a real mission, what else would it be when we are involved? We asked in 3 different types of shop all said, they didn’t sell that stuff and directed us back to the back part of the local market where we had not been to previously. When we got to the tobacco seller, he flourished his machete and whipped off a cloth cover from this 2foot square heap of something black & sticky with a tarry substance oozing from it and rather nasty smell. We backed away from this mucky stuff; I think it might have been chewing tobacco; you could never have lit this and smoked it. We have watched the natives roll their cigarettes using a large local leaf as the paper and some other crumbly leaf as the tobacco; sometimes these cigarettes are more than a foot long! As we don’t see Leigh, Erle’s daughter chewing tobacco or smoking foot long leaves, we kept on looking, and finally found some local tobacco at very cheap price of $2.20 a packet, she said should of got more!

Carved totem poles along the shoreline of the Coral Coast
We had the last day at the Casablanca to just laze around reading and swimming, nothing strange or unusual happened, in the morning we caught a shuttle bus back to Nadi, the driver agreed to take us right to Traveller’s Beach Hotel at no extra cost. We booked in for the last night mainly because it’s quite close to the airport, quite cheap and comfortable besides being right on the beach. The only thing of note on our last night was the fact that as we sat out on the beach drinking cocktails that I had to point to when I ordered them; just how do you order Sex-on-the-beach cocktail out loud! Yummy though. Mosquitos had a field day nibbling out feet as we drank and ate and watched the sun setting for the last time. Traveller's Beach, one of the horses available to ride.
And below the veiw from the other directionTravellers Beach Newtown.

Fare well Fiji, we have enjoyed out time here, adventurous as it was, we will most likely return, but not for a few years, lots of other good places needing to be explored around the world. Now let us get at the Duty-free shops to buy as always our entire years supply of alcohol to take home.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````