Fiji - Kadavu Island

Wednesday 3^rd December

Last night we were young, wild and free, whereas this morning was almost the complete opposite. The words would be old, injured, knackered and tired but at least we still felt free as the birds. 

The cab was waiting for us right outside the hostel doorstep, so we just had to get out of bed and walk down the stairs. 

There was around 90km to the airport near Suva, and if it hadn’t been for the very friendly and chatty driver we would have slept all the way, but he kept talking and telling stories, we continued being polite (believe it or not) and listened until our eye lids literally fell down and closed our eyes. We probably slept for 30min, but it wasn’t enough to be complete unconscious. 

Anyway we got dropped off outside the small airport. It was the same size as two houses and still provided all the necessary things. The check-in counter to Kadavu Island wasn’t open before another hour, so we were ahead of schedule, but rather that than being late. 

We tried some chicken and fries in the small attached “restaurant”. You should think the food would be fresh at this time of the day (8am), but the fries were uneatable, Erik ate them anyway, and the chicken was as dry as a desert. It was awful, but he also ate that! 

All though we found a corner to steal a nab in, the waiting time seemed long. Eventually we could check in and slowly go through the security check. 

The airplane was the smallest we have tried so far. It could fit 20 passengers, but we were only eight. While flying the pilots kept the cockpit door open, so we could keep an eye on what they were doing. We thought a lot about my younger brother Søren, and remembered how lively he had told us the small planes can be. We definitely got to experience that, particularly the landing was exciting. The run way were between two mountains, so the wind came from all directions, it was raining and the plane was tossed from side to side. Out the cockpit window we realized how crazy we moved in the air – either we saw the clouds, the run way or the mountains. The pilots seemed calm so there was no need to be concerned, all though I did hold on tight to my chair (as if that would help if something really happened).  

Kadavu’s (pronounced Kan-da-vu) airport was even smaller than Suva’s. I mean there wasn’t even a luggage claim area. We just waited outside the little airport house and took our own luggage from the carriage. Our airport pick-up was late = Fiji time!! The lady who eventually picked us up is Australian, and the manager of the resort we were going to spend the next 5 days on, called Matana Beach resort. 

As there are very few roads on the island, transport within Kadavu is mainly by boat. The ocean around the island is the highway. It started raining again as we sat on the boat, it was nearly a 15 min ride to the resort. It appeared as a beautiful place and definitely provided the nature and peace we had aimed for. 

Erik had looked into the weather forecast and, unfortunately it predicted a lot of rain while we were here, but it was all right. We just needed to relax and adapt all the impression from the last couple of days. We had arranged some diving three of the days, so we were going to get wet anyway. 

We got our OWN bungalow with view over the ocean and the boat highway. We were on an all- inclusive deal, which in our opinion wasn’t all inclusive, as it didn’t include beverages. 

They served us lunch at 1pm and after the awful breakfast we were starving and couldn’t wait to get some decent food. It was surprisingly good. I think they could have served us canned corned beef at this time and we still would not be fussy about it. We were that hungry!! 

The rest of the day the rain poured down, and we spend most of the time in bed, recovering from the night before. Around 7pm we heard the drum sound, which meant it was eating time. We went up to the restaurant straight away but the dinner was about 45 minutes later than scheduled.. Damn you Fiji time. Every night we would get a 3 course dinner and at every meal the guests would eat together. 

In this case we ate with three Indian Fijians (who’s working on maintaining the few roads on the island), their manager and Diane, the manager of the resort. We found it a bit strange that we had to socialize at every meal. I mean we don’t necessarily want to talk to strangers all the time. By the way we had nothing in common with these guys. We jumped straight to bed afterwards. The rain continued pouring down through most of the night.

We had a nice view over the coral reef on our way to Kadavu

Kadavu's airport pick-up area...

The airport

Not the worst place to spend some time inside

Thursday 4^th December

Breakfast was tame and filled with carbohydrates – such as white bread, jam, juice and fruit. Cereals were also available but only together with full cream milk – none of us can drink or eat that. After we filled ourselves with all this sugar food, the kitchen staff came out and served us scrambled eggs (and pancakes) – it was about time and almost too late. We were disappointed about the service, and forced the eggs down just to get something we could live out of. 

We met up with our dive master Saula, got our dive equipment and went for a dive, just 10min away from the beach. It was just the two of us, Saula and Captain Sam. The dive was a soft coral dive and Saula took us through a few swim troughs which were beautiful. We saw a turtle feeding on the corals, a big garden of anemone (nemo) fish – they are so interesting particular the soft corals they live in, but frankly there wasn’t much marine life to explore. 

Our surface interval was spend in a hot shower back at the resort, and at the beach bar drinking tea and eating biscuits.. Hurrah for carbohydrates! The weather was unpredictable all morning, most of the times we had light rain. 

Our second dive was very alike the first one, only this time it was more choppy waves. We saw popcorn shrimps which jumped in the water like popcorn, obviously. Saula was good at pointing out the few things for us. At the end of the dive he showed us a magical coral that changed color when we touched it. Interesting and new for us! 

The rest of this day was spent inside, writing this, relaxing and watching movies. The weather didn’t allow us to do more outside activities. 

Family Denmark

Friday 5^th December

I didn’t feel like diving at all. Saula tried to arrange some manta dives on the other side of the island for the following day. Regrettably the waves would probably be too rough for the boat to leave the island. We decided to skip the normal dives this day, as the ocean seemed cold and uninviting. 

We were lazy most of the day and actually started to feel bored, so we arranged to visit the two small villages next to the resort, Navuatu and Drue. 

Kadavu is a very traditional island, so we both had to dress properly in a sarong to show respect to the village people. The local director (Cava) of the resort took us for a short walk through it. The villages economy is based on agriculture and the export of produce to the mainland. They have countless mango trees, papayas, pineapples, bananas and coconut palms. It’s mango and papaya season now. We hear the fruits hitting the thin timber roofs in the resort all the time. It’s quite noisy and the first few times we were sure it was coconuts, because of the loud sound. In the village it was hard not to step on mangos – they were literally everywhere. The people get so tired of eating them and at the end of the season everyone have had enough, both the people and the animals. 

When we asked Cava about the time, he told us the definition of Fiji time. The time is half past quarter too from. That sounded just about right. 

Back at the resort a PADI worker, named Jen had come to visit. PADI is the world’s leading scuba diver organization, and she had come to check out the dive center, the equipment and some dive sites. What a good job!! Erik had a thousand of questions to ask her about diving, and while they shared dive stories over a few beers, I took a short time off and got my pictures edited. 

I joined them later again, and we both found this woman interesting to be around. She had done a lot of travelling and made us speechless with her stories and adventures. We got our theory about amazing Galapagos confirmed, and put on the bucket list once and for all!! The Coco Islands also deserves a spot on the list. Those two destinations and two diving live aboard tours will cost us the same amount of money, as travelling 9 months in South East Asia. So it’s not gonna happen on this trip though!! 

For once it was okay to eat dinner together, because Jen kept the conversations going, so it wasn’t as awkward as most of our other meals, where there has been an awkward silence most of the time. 

This woman is selling homemade mats

Village boys with a handfull of mango

What is there NOT to like about this place

I admire how these kids play and have fun together.. Notice the little guy hanging in the branch in the back.. 

My turn to drum the guests to dinner

Saturday 6^th December

The manta dive was off the schedule for sure, the weather on the south side was too rough. Instead we went diving on the north side where the wind wasn’t that strong. We were impressed by how the captain, without a gps could direct his way to the dive sites, without them having buoy's in the water. He really knew what he was doing! It was comfortable to know. 

Jen came with us on the first dive, and it was a great dive, with a few swim through channels and soft corals. The second dive was slightly boring, plus that I got really cold, so I had a hard time to fully enjoy the dive. It was raining and windy when we came back to the boat, and the hot shower was much appreciated. I must say it’s the perfect place to be in such bad weather conditions, because there’s nothing to see around, so we really didn’t needed to get out of our bungalow, only to consume our meals and diving, but that was all optional of cause.

Lunch together.. We hated the old 'stand in' manager next to me 

Our bungalow

Sunday 7^th December

We have definitely slept way too much since we got here. We have napped every day, and not just 30min. We have done it wholehearted as we like everything to be done, so we have at least slept two hours each afternoon. It makes us constantly tired and lazy. 

This Sunday we had to enjoy the laid back environment completely, since it was out last full day on the resort. Well, breakfast is said to be around 7.30am every day, so we haven’t slept in any of the days. This morning I had enough of the kitchen staff, because they drummed as if the breakfast was ready, but when we got to the restaurant we waited another 25min for our food to be ready. 

It annoyed me, and it really hurts inside me, the way they waste our precious time like that. I mean we could have slept another half an hour then. I know I shouldn’t complain, but I do what I’m best at!! 

Today was also the last day of diving with our local friends Saula and Sam. It seemed like it was gonna be a great day, at least we could see some blue skies and feel the sun burning every now and then. We left the beach and Sam ensured we got to our first dive site of the day, called the yellow wall, due to all the yellow corals. I’m not sure what happened with my air consumption on this dive, but I must have taken deep breaths without noticing it, because all of a sudden I had a decent amount less air than Erik. Usually we use about the same. I hand signaled Saula about it and he navigated us back to the boat, by then I lost a lot more air, much more than usual. I must have gotten nervous on the way. We did our 5 meters safety stop and I surfaced with just 20bar left, whereas Erik surfaced with 70bar. It was strange! 

The little beach where they took us for the surface interval was full of eremite crabs. As we sat on an old bamboo trunk we realized that almost every shell on the beach was alive. It gave me goose bumps, but not enough to leave them by themselves. We picked them up and whistled for them – then they usually come out of their shell. We also had a smaller crab race against each other. Erik deserved to win, since he never caught any fish the other day! 

The second dive I would consider as the best we have done in this area. It’s called crazy maze, and the name speak for itself. We went through a lot of small and bigger caves the so-called swim through tunnels it was unique to swim in between the big pinnacles. Actually it was like a canyon under water. A very enjoyable dive. We played with the magical corals again, on the video you can see how it lights up when we touch it. I fancied it was like lighting up Christmas lights. We also played with a anemone (nemo) fish. Erik and I had tried switching regulators to see if there was something wrong with my regulator, or if my breathing had been the issue on the last dive. Erik was fine with his air, which proved it must have been my breathing. 

Because it was our last night, the local director invited us to a kava session in the afternoon. He convinced us that his kava mix was much stronger and better than the once we had before. The taste of it was the same, but the fatigue and how our bodies relaxed afterwards, was nothing we had tried before. We were comfortably tired for the rest of the night. Luckily the power shout off every night at 9.30 so it was our excuse to go to bed. 

 Finally we could get a good picture of our view

Kava time

Diving Kadavu

Monday 8^th December

Our great captain Sam made sure we got to the airport in time. We were only three passengers on the plane to Nadi, so the boarding went pretty smooth. The flight back was a very scenic one, as there weren’t as many clouds as on our way out, so we had the most beautiful views of the turquoise waters with small bounty islands, surrounded by healthy reefs. 

In Nadi, which felt 10 degrees warmer than Kadavu, we took a taxi back to the same hostel, as we stayed at when we arrived in Fiji. Again we choose the cheapest option (15 dollars each), two beds in one of their 16 bed dorms. We didn’t do anything else than hang around the bar, and taking advantage of the free wifi, as we had now been without internet for a week.. I went for a siesta in the afternoon, meanwhile Erik was drinking beers in the bar area. He was a tipsy when I came back, and after another two beers and a heart-attack burger he went to bed. I spend my night online, catching up with friends and family, and letting them know we were still alive.  

 We felt like V.I.P's in the little aircraft

 Nadi run way

Tuesday 9^th December

Erik got up early to skype with his family. I woke up because of my itchy body. To begin with I was sure that all the red and itchy spots on my arms was mosquito bites, but after a shower I noticed they were all located in a very small area. Soon I realized it was bites from bedbugs. 

As the staff was already in the room, changing all beddings, I was suspicious about their knowledge about the bedbugs. Either way I told them and showed them my bites, and if they weren’t aware of the problem before, they sure were by now. A girl across from my bed woke up. She told me she got bedbugs the night before, from the room upstairs. So this was apparently an issue around the hostel, and unfortunately those bastards spread like crazy. The staff cleaned out the whole dorm, took all mattresses and bedframes out and cleaned them. Even though I did NOT want to stay there for another night. 

I went to tell Erik, and we are actually amazed that it didn’t happen before, after all the dirty places we've stayed. You can’t do much about the bites, except for avoiding the temptation to scratch the hell out of them. At the front desk I asked for our money back. The lady asked if I wanted money back from one or two nights (we had already paid for 2 nights there)... It was a strange question - I mean off course I wanted money back from both nights if it was possible. She ran on Fiji time so it took me a while to get the money back, but I got all the money back. 

Just around the corner, at Horizon Hotel I arranged another room for us. It was $50 (150kr) for a night, including breakfast. I got the $60 back (180kr), from the other hostel, which meant that we actually saved money as well. Plus we got a private room. 

As yesterday most of this day was spend together with our laptops. Before another kava session took place in the outside dining area, we enjoyed the last bit of sun and the last Fiji beers at the pool area. For dinner we went back to the bedbug hostels restaurant, which made some delicious food. We both ordered a heart-attack burger and were ready for bed straight after. 

 Some of the first christmas decoration we saw on Fiji

Wednesday 10^th December

Even though we, the night before, had agreed not to eat the included breakfast, because of the fact that it just consisted of white toast bread and jam, we still found ourselves in the breakfast area just before they closed and we didn’t realize before we had consumed it, that we actually didn’t mean to eat it. We had so much white bread the last week, and it was about to get disgusting. 

This day the weather had improved, and every now and then we had a clear blue sky. It was ridiculous hot – and we were looking forward to get to some colder temperatures in New Zealand. We always want what we can't just have. If it’s too hot we wish it would be cooler, and when it's cold, it’s too cold. When we can’t go snowboarding, then it’s what we’re dreaming of. If we can’t have Thai-food, we want that damn Thai-food. When we’re in the civilized world, we wish to go back to third world countries and the other way around. Humans are rarely satisfied and there’s always something to complain about, and always something that can get better. That’s just how we are screwed together. We have talked to a lot of travelers about this and they totally agree. Even though you might be in the most beautiful place on Earth, you can always think about something better and something impossible, that you wish you could do at that very moment. We work against these feelings all the times, and we have gotten better, but not perfect yet. 

Anyway in the airport we were counting our money and acted like two kids, who only have a certain amount to spend, and it took us ages to figure out what we were gonna use our last Fiji dollars on. We ended with two chocolate bars and a key ring. 

The flight to Auckland went smooth, until we were about to land. The captain announced that there was something wrong with one of the wing flabs, and they needed to go through a safety procedure before landing, it would take 10-15 min. Calmly he said there was no need to be concerned. We were curious about what happened in the cockpit the next 10-15 min., we would like to know what’s going on when something like this happens and which precautions they need to take. I guess younger brother Søren, can help us with that when we come home. We flew around for the amount of time the captain had said and then he announced that we were ready for the landing and that it was going to be a normal landing. That was a relief to hear and it felt good to be back on solid ground. 

It took us ages to get out of Auckland Airport. There were a lot of security checks and a lot of people. In the departure hall Lisa and Sam was waiting for us. They had offered us a bed in their house, which was perfect. We know them through Erik’s mate Buller, who worked with Sam in Fredericia, when they lived there. Sam is Kiwi and Lisa is original from Fredericia, but they moved here two years ago. They share a beautiful house with another couple, in Mission Bay which is located 4 km out of the center of Auckland. They made a room for us in their living room, by using their table tennis table as a room divider, so we got a little privacy. The night went by fast and we had a good time. It’s funny to meet someone from home so far away, and Erik, Lisa and I know a lot of the same people at home, so the conversation quickly turned into gossip, which is always entertaining. Both Lisa and Sam has travelled quite a bit as well, so in that way we also have a lot in common with them. 

 Fiji Dollars