Kadavu, Matava Resort - The Astrolabe Hideaway.

Bula!

Back in cyberspace! We are writing from an Internet café in Suva, capital of Fiji, among 60 other kids that play games on a very NOISY level!! Such a contrast! We prefer the calm atmosphere at Matava Resort! Fiji is absolutely amazing and yes, we have extended our stay with 12 days. We will leave for Sydney May 1!

We have now been here for over two weeks. Arriving in Nadi the March 15 and traveling along the Coral coast, Queens Rd for three days. Halfway to Suva we jumped of the bus and stayed for two nights in a very relaxing place, Beachfront Resort. Spending these days doing absolutely nothing……. Just swimming, sunbathing and reading in the hammock. A big contrast to New Zealand and of course our life in Stockholm.

With Air Fiji we took the plane from Suva to Kadavu (almost on time!) where Joje met us by car and a boat trip for one hour. So, finally we are at the Matava Resort! We had booked one week “scuba package” already in August but since Eva got the Fijian “pink eye” disease and couldn’t dive we had (he-he!) to extend our stay for an extra week. The virus gives You unbelievable red and hurting eyes and the sunglasses are well used. It last for about five days. Anders got the virus as well. Bad luck! And we had to wait another seven days for the diving, but waiting for something good that’s ok........

During our first week we just relaxed except from some deepwater fishing. Sorry, we missed that Blue Marlin but Eva was really struggling with a big bronze whaler shark. She nearly went out in the water with the shark!! We cached five other fishes, a Wahoo, a Mahi Mahi one Spanish macarille and two kinds of barracudas. They have been served for dinner the last week. Yummie!!

When we weren’t fishing we just enjoyed the calmness, imaging living without electricity, just fantastic! Not even our phone worked. And we didn’t know anything what was happening in the rest of the world. We were kayaking to some fairy islands, reading good books, doing Sudoku, swimming in 30 degrees water, cooled down in cold showers, enjoying the company of very nice staff and guests. Could it be more relaxing? We believe that all of our stressed friends would (and should/need) enjoy changing a day with us!

But, You have to be able to; try to sleep in 30 degrees without AC our a fan, not be able to do some jogging (jungle everywhere), mosquito’s all over Your body (itching like hell), don’t know if the ferry will arrive today with the goods You have ordered or maybe tomorrow or some other day??, sit in a Cava circle in a house in the village having Cava (a Fijian “beer” made from a root, mixed with water) even if it don’t taste that good and you almost don’t feel Your tongue, and don’t care about if Air Fiji is on time or not, simple just TO BE.

We have tried and YES we can do it!!

Two days before leaving Matava we waved goodbye to some friends that were going to catch the 1 PM plane to Suva. But what?? They didn’t leave! Hmmm why? Air Fiji had suddenly and as usual without forewarning decided to leave five hours early!! The plane left at 8 am instead of 1 pm! Maybe we can be employed taking care of the logistics? *smile* what can You say? Just laugh. And yes we had another day and evening with our friends. They managed to get to Suva the following day, only three hours late. Ces’t la vie!

One afternoon we went to the village and the waterfall. All the schoolchildren were following us and helped us to climb up and into the waterfall and we had a swim in the cold, fresh water. Wonderful! Sikeli, Joes 12 year old son, filled a small bottle of water and he has also been writing a letter explaining how important this waterfall (and spring) is to him and to the children in the village. We have sent the water, letter and some photos to Stockholm to be used in an event (31 of May) about our world’s water importance. They will take water from all over the world and blend it in a big “bowl” outside the Castle of Stockholm.
All the kids were jumping HIGH from the cliffs above the waterfall. It really looks scary…..they wanted us to look all the time. Crazy, nice kids. The kids laughed at Barracuda (Anders new nickname). Anders is very tall and with one nearly broken rib (He tried to jump in to the diving boat) he really looks funny, could hardly move. - "Look Barracuda, look!! We can help You up, step here and give me your hand". Such strong little hands and arms!

On our way back to were “kidnapped” in to a “bure’ (house) in the village. We sat in a ring and the chief were telling stories and we had some more Cava. Before you drink you have to clap your hands and say Bula, drink the whole bowl (sometimes it is really “high tide”) and everyone clap their hands and say Mothe. The women are making flower necklace to us. So very beautiful. “Maggie” is joining us and he tells us that we have to take Cava at least twice. So we did. What a lovely way to spend a Friday afternoon. Unbelievable!

It is like being on the other side of the earth….and….yes we are, it is for real!!

Barracuda, yes, except that Anders did cache a stripped barracuda during our fishing tour, he always says Good morning, trying to sound Fijian: Hula Bula Barracuda! Everyone laughs and says Good morning Barracuda! And it is much easier to say than Anders!!
We have a really good time in Matava. The food is delicious and “Maggie” our “guest responsible” is absolutely the BEST!!! He, or She as she prefer, has a big sense of humor. She is polling our legs all the time. And all the courses have funny names. At breakfast the day we left we had "farewell pancakes”, "flight cancelled bread" and coffee with complements from Air Fiji....*big smile*

We made it on timetable. Well, there was no car to pick us up from the boat to the airport after the boat ride. We had to walk in the heat with all our belongings and Eva was bleeding from her toe from a scratch of a shell. But that was ok, we had all the time in the world and we were invited for lunch at “Temas” (a friend of the Matavas owner) house. They are so very friendly these Fijians!!

Joe, our lovely dive master is also a real funny guy. During one of the dives he puts a sea cucumber into Anders pocket on his BCV. Eva laughs so much under water that she almost looses her mask – it was totally filled with water!! Crazy Joe!

Joe and Eva has always air left when the dives are finished and during one dive they stay longer to have a last close encounter with the Mantas when the rest of the divers, including Anders, was on the surface. Joe calls Eva “manta queen” but it is so easy to say Eva so everyone calls Eva – Eva!!

During our eight dives we see a lot of sharks (at one occasion we had 11 sharks around us!!), manta rays, eagle rays, turtles, napoleon wrasse, moray eel, nudibranches, zillions of fish and nice hard coral. Eva makes a night dive (Anders has pain in his ribs after jumping into the diving boat as he was 20 years old and Tarzan after a dive!) and they see a very rare fish – a harlequin ghost pipefish. There was a male and a female – see the picture on that fish that we downloaded from the net. COOOL!!

Just when we are entering the water for the last dive one day Eva looses the camera into the sea so we don’t have a camera at the moment! However, we managed to save the memory stick and Michael (Eva’s brother) is helping us to get a new camera which our friends Stefan and Daniel will bring to Fiji next week when they come and visit us. As Joe said – Well, it’s only a camera! He is really right – it’s only a camera!!!!

But, you will see more pictures from Fiji and Matava Resort later as Bryan and Jill (Kiwis) will burn a CD with their picture and send them to Martin and Melinda in Sydney so we can pick them up there and download more pictures into the website.

Tomorrow (if Air Fiji wants to fly!?) we leave for Taveuni and Dolphin Bay Divers Resort. This is where we will meet Daniel and Stefan next weekend. We are so glad that they have chosen to come and see us on their vacation. WELCOME TO FIJI!!!!

Dolphin Bay Divers Resort is also under the radar and outside cyberspace so it might take some time before we enter into cyberspace again. But please, we love to hear from you either on the mail or as comments to the website so please keep in touch.

Vinaka Vakalevu

Barracuda och Mantaqueen