No Boats, No Water

When Tomasi asked us all to follow two rules during the R+R stage of the project everyone was very receptive,

“Guys please, after you’ve had a few drinks please stay away from boats and stay out of water.” “Sure! No problem!” we all said.

A simple enough request on the face of it but as it turns out it is literally impossible to stay out of swimming pools after a couple of mugs of Fiji Gold. Perhaps the heady flavour of this beverage brings people out in a sweat, but I doubt it. Of course the miscreant Emma Hay is at the forefront of most of these aquatic misdemeanours and whilst at Club Oceanus she took a major part in a late night water aerobics session. After moving to the Beachhouse she has been caught diving into the pool in the early hours of the morning. She also still hasn’t paid her KitKat Kasino bill.

Thankfully the Boat & Water Embargo didn’t extend to the rafting experience which was one of the stand-out days of the whole trip. In spite of the barbarically early start we arrived at the Upper Navua river in good spirits. After the briefest and most Fijian of ‘safety briefings’ we were ready for the off and all hopped into our respective boats. Jack, Gill, Anna and I we’re very pleased to discover that our guide for the day was Joe the man-mountain, who aside from having the biggest triceps anyone had ever seen was a top guy and regaled us with tales of cannibalism and the filming of Anaconda 2. As we travelled down through the gorgeous canyon we saw some truly beautiful scenery with a breathtaking waterfall round every corner and stunning views up at the dense jungle that the gorge winds its way through. The lunch provided on the bank halfway down the run was absolutely delicious and probably provided us with more vitamins in one meal than most of us got in the village in a week. My top tip to the Batiki team who go next week is try the Guacamole.

The last few days have been absolutely awesome. Club Oceanus and the Beachhouse are really great places to stay and the whole team have sunk into the holiday feeling with customary enthusiasm. Of course at the back of our minds there’s always that nagging feeling of missing the village and our families and personally I’m not sure that will ever go away completely. We might be sipping Pina Coladas in the sunshine or paddling the surf in a kayak but there’ll always be a piece of our hearts that longs to be back on that tiny island with terrible weather, hop-hopping into the night.

Tomo