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.