So there were many of the good parts…so now on to the less fairytale aspects…the full story was more of a ‘what could go wrong did go wrong’ affair. Firstly, I got eaten by mosquitoes and sandflies and looked permanently diseased. It was an enlightening experience to feel like a leper for the week with people CONSTANTLY asking …’What is WRONG with you?’ …’Are you sick?’ etc etc. I have since been to the doctor here in New Zealand who cannot determine exactly what it is that likes the taste of my blood so much, and said that despite having made a bit of a mess of my skin it was nothing to be overly concerned about. Secondly, my digital camera went ‘missing’. The short version is that it was stolen and upon pressing the management that a police report simply wouldn’t be sufficient, it was miraculously recovered with a ‘no questions asked’ kind of sentiment. Unreserved apologies were abounding for the ‘misunderstanding’ that someone had lifted the camera from the safe spot behind the bar mistakenly while under the influence. Of course the fact that they wiped all my photos to cover their tracks kind of blew the cover on this story, but no-matter, at least we got the camera back. Next thing to be stolen was my flip flops…such a minor item it hardly seems worth mentioning and I figured that seeing as we were heading back to the main island the next day I could manage without them and whoever had stolen them probably needed them more than me in the longterm and good luck to them. Shame that didn’t cover me in the short-term and cliché of all clichés I managed to wedge my foot right into a rusty nail sticking out of the jetty (it was night-time so I didn’t see it). Cue lots of blood and sand in the wound walking back along the beach with no shoes. Nice. So that has been sorted out by the nurse back here and she stuck a sharp piece of metal in me to ensure the tetanus was up-to-date. Nice sore arm now. All these things were manageable until we got into Nadi for our last night before flying back to NZ the next day. One of Hannahs bags was stolen from inside the youth hostel. You just cant be careful enough. Dirty thieving gypsies. So gone were her mobile phone, camera, house and car keys, diary, studynotes (students will sympathise) and my travel diary – not such a big thing but still quite annoying. Plus personal items, books, shells we collected etc. So off the the police station to report that and get the details for insurance. Not the most professional operation I’ve seen to be honest. Firstly, the main office would compare to a condemned/derelict classroom at home. The chalkboard with all the essential information on it (in faded chalk writing) had as its primary and leading statement, Not Nadi Police Station, or Duty Officer, or Hospital contacts…but rather: ‘Manners Maketh Man’. Nice philosophy but just now we need to get the job done but everything is just plodding along at ‘Fiji Time’. That pace is fine out on the islands when you are relaxing but when you want things done you start to realise the drawbacks. After the station we went to Jone’s (John) home and enjoyed the company of his family for a few hours round the kava bowl and some lovely Fijian food. That was a highlight of the whole trip. The ‘sugar cane train’ passes right outside Jone’s house so the boys grabbed us a couple of canes to get a taste…lovely – just like honey on the comb. You see a picture of John and me dancing on Mana Island. We got to meet his wife-to-be (the next day!!) Sava and 10 month old daughter Salome, mother Rosanna, father Richard, sister Stella and cousin Simon. So there’s another positive. The final difficulty came the following morning when we went to the airport (in good time to allow for ‘Fiji time’). The check-in supervisors would not let me board the plane as if I was an Al Qaeda terrorist or something. Apparently I should have brought my NZ – UK ticket with me to prove I was going to leave the country and immigration would not budge. Fun guys. I left the ticket in NZ for safe keeping and ironically if I had brought it with me it would have been with the other documents in the stolen bag and I wouldn’t be able to show it anyway! Flip me! So poor Mummy had to get the SOS call and like the angel she is did the drive in the middle of the night to get to a fax machine and sent through my intinery to Nadi airport. Shame that once it arrived it was not adequate proof for me to check in. At this point a lady appeared from nowhere, turned out to be NZ immigration and said that while what I had was not acceptable she would sign it for me and take personal responsibility for the access. Pretty cool…perfect timing and likely the answer to many prayers largely due to mother’s frantic text-prayer-network.
So thankyou if that included you. So we made the mad dash through the security stations to get to our gate in time (and with just enough tome to grab a bottle of baileys and port in the duty free en route…so that will see us through the next cold weeks with hot port/baileys hot chocolate as a bedtime warmer :o) Sad to leave the lovely sunshine but happy to be back in the more steady and reliable NZ. Quite a trip.