Nananu-i-Ra

So I finally got a taste of the postcard touristic Fiji last week-end. I was starting to get very disheartened by the lack of sun here in Suva.... Anywayz a group of about 15 AYADS headed north from Suva straight after work on Friday. I think when someone else takes on the responsibility of organising a trip everyone wants to jump on board, hence the large no. of people. So we all ended up squeezed into a couple of mini-vans and headed north in the direction of RakiRaki. The ride was a long, bumpy and scary one with a good portion of the road on dirt track. The other AYADs who had already made the trip were telling me to be thankful it was too dark to see the excessively dodgy bridges we were crossing through the rugged rainforest. We arrived at the wharf at about eight o'clock and caught a transfer boat for a half hour ride to the island. It already felt so good to get some fresh air, see some clean ocean and finally catch a glimpse of the stars after two months in Suva. The rest of Friday night was spent in the usual fashion with everyone sinking a few beers and getting acquainted with our new surrounds. Saturday morning, although most were nursing hangovers and too many mosquito bites, was an early rise and a trek through the island to get to the beach on the other side of the island. It was my first real tropical island experience and I was blown away by everything. It was my very first time snorkeling and actually seeing something else apart from the nothing in Port Phillip Bay. The diversity and colors of the coral and the fish was amazing and I have never seen anything like it before.

The rest of Saturday was spent alternating b/w sleeping in hammocks underneath coconut trees and snorkeling for hours around the reef which was just outside our clubhouse/shack. I think it was about 16.00 o'clock when most rejoined the group for some kava and beer in the afternoon sun. Well relaxed, those not watching the footy match D's Vs. ?? on the TV which ended in a draw, made the short trek up to the top of the island to watch the sun set over the Pacific. It was an idyllic sunset and my thoughts kept going back to what the first European travelers must have experienced sailing these waters for the first time.

After dinner, the night was spent around a beachfire chatshing with other guests/backpackers staying on the island and general shenanigans that backpackers and AYADs get up to on Saturday nights. Sunday was much the same as Saturday with lots of snorkeling, frisbee, volleyball and consolidating my relationship with the hammocks. A couple of hours of the afternoon were also spent trying successfully to crack open a coconut that very nearly busted my noggin open the night before. It gave me a huge shock just dropping out of the tree with a huge thud as it did, but still tasted delicious.

Apart from me and two others by 17.00 on Sunday, all the AYADS had left the island for the return trip to Suva for work on Monday morning. Not me though I just had to stay another day considering it would was my first real week-end away in two months. It was definitely worth it, the extra day/night there was worth its weight in gold. Monday was time to go back to Suva and we caught a local bus. This was such an interesting experience in itself and I think I will have to devote a posting at some stage of the funky reggae 1970's Fijian buses. But we finally made it back to Suva after approximately five hours of bumps, near misses and beautifully scenic mountainous rainforest.

So there it is for the moment, my first touristic experience in Fiji. Its tough going back to work when I've had such a taste of paradise but I now have a new found motivation to visit as many of these places as possible.

So back at work which is going along ok. The station has embarked upon its first ever radio documentary on guess what??? KAVA of course. We are also holding another fundraising activity around the University campus in a couple of weeks which will hopefully raise some funds and raise the stations profile. I have also, alongside my regular french show, have started an environment show with another Australian on Thursdays for an hour. Its pretty interesting as we are inviting different professionals from all sectors (Government and NGO's) to come for an interview. The show is good for the station as well because its really closely tied to what a community radio station should be addressing and informing the general public with.

Gunusende (the g is silent)

So here is that photo of the rafting trip last week end.

Friday was 'bula Friday', this meant we all had to get dressed up in our best 'bula shirts', if you don't you have to pay a penalty fee. Bula shirts are basically a fashion faux-pas everywhere in the world except here. Think of really bad Hawaiian shirts and you get the idea. Friday was also gunusende which was held after work. This is a kava drinking fund raising session. Firstly kava is a concoction that looks like muddy water made from the root of a pepper plant. I guess its a herbal medicine. Kava has been used throughout the pacific for over 3000 and still has a very strong presence here in Fiji. Its drunk to calm the nerves, promote sociability and also to numb muscle aches. So you basically have three differently sized coconut bowls, one worth 20 cents, 50 cents and 1$. You pay to have someone to drink whatever size you pay for. If you can't drink anymore you have to double the pay and send it back. This gunusende idea doesn't necessarily therefore have to be done with kava. As you can imagine I was a popular target as being my first kava session everyone was really keen see me on the floor. I managed about 2.5 hours of solid drinking and was pretty 'relaxed' with a fairly bloated stomach by the time I left the party, which had shifted into second gear by that time. Its not uncommon for Fijians to drink 'grog' (what they call it over here) till all hours in the morning. In fact I am pretty sure the only 24 hour shops in Fiji are grog shops. So ended up going to an AYAD house party and everyone took note of my very relaxed and laid back demeanour. All in all close to $400 was raised for only $50 worth of kava and it was good to socialise outside of work with some of the staff here. I am also getting much better at sitting on the floor for extended periods of time, I won't, however, go so far to say its comfortatable.


Next is a photo of me and my counter-part Shirley, she has been working at radio pasifik for about six months and has already accomplished a great deal here. She used to work at Radio Fiji for 12 years and amongst other things was the host of the romantic love song request show.
Saturday was an early wake up again as Radio Pasifik was doing an outside broadcast in Sukuna Park (the main park in the middle of Suva). It was for the closing ceremony of the National Youth Week Celebrations and was organised by various NGO's and charitable organisations. The radio volunteers did a great job of mc-ing and held various fun-day competitions and handed out prizes. It was a bit of a small turn-out but it didn't rain which was the lucky.

At work, lovo time and 139 Domain rd

This is a photo of me hard at work doing my French program. I have a show every Tuesday for an hour where I play some of my favorite French music and talk about French news around the world. I have had no complaints so far, not sure whether that's because of a lack of people listening who can speak French or if they like what I have playin (I personally think its the former). No matter, its still good to get some different music on the airwaves anyway. I have had about enough of the usual UB40 and top of the pop mixes that are usually played around the station. The station is about to embark on its first ever radio documentary productions. I am working on writing grants and fundraising activities to get some new equipment. Its pretty dry and I have never really done much grantwriting before but if all goes well we should get some free equipment. The first documentary is going to be on the issues regarding 'kava' drinking (this Fijian tradition is going to need a new posting all by itself), the social, economic, health aspects etc....
















A couple of photos of my housing so kindly supplied by the Fijian government. I am pretty sure it hasn't been renovated since it was built some time last century but it keeps the rain off my head and serves its purpose well. We have some pretty cool geckos living there which I find pretty cool but its the fatty centipedes that really freak me out. Carolyn (my flatmate pictured below) was bitten by one in her sleep and had to go to hospital and on a course of anti-biotics. I found one of those bad boys in the shower with me the other day. Domain is situated about 2.5 kms from the University called Domain and about the same distance to town. The suburb is definitely one of the richer ones in Suva and interspersed with the government housing are some really beautiful ones. Its still not really safe to walk around at night though as its very dark and scary at night.


Sunday lovo. I have had the pleasure to have already had two of these since I have been here and am looking forward to many more. Its a great cure for the night before. Its basically an earth oven where you can put in everything from lambs shanks, excellent fresh fish called 'walu', whole chickens and all the traditional Fijian root vegetables such as dalo and cassava that have absolutely no taste but have an insane amount of carbohydrates and is therefore excellent at feeding hungry people. You wrap everything up and then cover it with leaves and let it cook for about 3 -4 hours and it comes out cooked to perfection.






















I was abruptly awoken at 5.15 in the morning last week-end after having held a house party in the guise of my house warming and only getting to bed around four o'clock (wise planning on my behalf). The reason for the unsavoury hour get-up-and-go was that we had organised some white water rafting down the navua river. It was a 28 km stroll down stream. I was kind of expecting some serious grade 5 rapids but in the end we only got grade two which to be completely honest felt like what I imagine a ride at wobbies world would be like. It was no matter though, there was some beautiful scenery and some excellent swims were had. It was really nice to see some of the Fijian countryside although I must admit a little concerning and sad to see how much logging was going and the effects it was having on the environment. All in all an excellent day was had. I have some photos from this wild ride but seem to be having trouble uploading them, so maybe on another posting.