And away to Kadavu...

And away to Kadavu...

There were still no golden doves to be found in the forest the next morning, or much else (but I'd pretty much got most of what I was after the day before anyway so that was alright). When we got back to Raintree, Robyn went fishing. There was a sign at the counter saying that if you could catch a fish in the lake then they would cook it for you for free. If it sounds like there might be a catch you'd be right. The fishing line was just a length of cord tied to an empty coke bottle, there was no sinker, the bait was an old piece of bread, the double-hulled wooden canoe provided was leaking so badly that there were actually small fish living inside it, and finally Tilapia don't really take hooks anyway, they just nibble the bait away (especially if it's soggy bread!). Nevertheless, Robyn was determined. So determined, in fact, that she stole the inflatable dinghy and went out in that in preference to the canoe.

She caught no fish.

The next day we bused off to Nausori airport to catch a plane to Kadavu, a smallish island to the southeast of Viti Levu. We were wondering how many people were going to be on the flight. The lounge was full (that is, there were about twenty people in it) but most turned out to be waiting on passengers from other flights. In the end there were only three people on the Kadavu plane, and two of them were me and Robyn. The plane itself only had eight seats. It looked like a matchbox toy. I discovered that I prefer tiny local planes to big international ones. Either way you're going to die if they crash, so better in a fun plane then a crowded commercial one.

Kadavu is a regular destination for birders, divers, and probably nobody else. There are four endemic birds on the island: the Kadavu shining parrot, Kadavu fantail, Kadavu honeyeater, and the whistling dove. The birders generally stay at either Biana's Accommodation or Reece's Place (apparently now called Nakuita Resort, but nobody on Kadavu knew it by that name). We tried Biana's first but they were fully booked by a group from the University of the South Pacific (the USP) in Suva. Biana helpfully put a call through to Reece's Place and organised a room there, but we would have to wait for high-tide because Reece's Place was situated on an offshore island called Galoa. Robyn put the wait to good use by going to sleep. I put it to better use by going birding.

Read thye whole blog here... And away to Kadavu...

Best Day Ever

Best Day Ever

A few people commented on the morose tone of my last entry, so I’m following it up with a cheery blog.

Just to add another twist to the story, I got the call a week ago saying my assignment was given the all-clear to return, so I’ve decided to spend another three months in Fiji to finish it off. But more on that later - first, a rundown on one of the most amazing days I’ve ever had. Ed and I hopped on an aeroplane down to Kadavu, an island half an hour’s flight to the south of Suva, to join Kellie, Cassie and Simo who were visiting from Australia for a few days relaxing Fiji-style. We reached Kadavu and after some miscommunication we found ourselves in the wrong boat heading the wrong way around the island, so a 40 minute trip became two and a half hours in a tinny. Instead of appreciating the gorgeous coastline we spent the whole trip kicking ourselves for the mix-up, and arrived slightly grumpy and crumpled.

With the sight of our friends though and the beautiful place we were in, we shook off the frustration, settled down to a cup of tea and began to soak up the surroundings. Matava is a small collection of bures nestled on the side of a hill, squeezed between coconut palms and looking out over turquoise waters. There’s no electricity so at dusk everyone is handed a kerosene lamp to carry around, and the food is some of the best I’ve had in Fiji.

Now to the amazing day. Kadavu is known for its diving, particularly the Astrolabe reef near Matava. We had plans of doing some diving while there, but woke up on our third day a bit tired and decided against it. Then at breakfast we discovered the site for the day was the Manta Reef, and immediately changed our minds. This is the spot where manta rays are often seen, and we tried desperately not to get our hopes up on the 45 min boat ride to the site - Joe, our dive master, said they see mantas on about 70% of dives there. We kitted up and splashed into the water, and less than five minutes in, what looked like a UFO glided past. We all watched in awe, the ray was about 3 m across and circled back a fewtimes inquisitively to

By jayscoh
February 16th 2007

Read the ful blog here... Best Day Ever

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