Fiji 8-15 to 8-19

Flying to Australia it just makes sense to stop in Fiji - right? Well, maybe not but in Touzel logic if you can stop somewhere in the world for 5 days for less than $500, and it happens to be a tropical paradise, you do it. So we did. Four days of nothing but relaxation, reading, sunning, eating and enjoying each other’s company. Is this heaven? Well, maybe not; but it's close! We spent all but one day at the Beautiful Vacations' bungalow called Aquarius. That one day we chartered a boat (? ) with 25 others to Mala Mala island, off the harbor of Nadi. Now this is one of 1,300 odd islands that make-up Fiji. It was less than a 1,000 yards in diameter and was surrounded by a beautiful coral reef, although endangered, probably by this gorgeous, deep blue starfish that seemed to be eating everything alive it could reach. Marion and I circumnavigated the island, played and sunned in the sand, ate a great meal fixed by the Fijian Co. that took us, and snorkeled throughout the reef. The rest of the time we lazed out at Aquarius or the swank Hotel next to it or went into to Nadi for the native market. It was delicious, but more excitedly, as we walked down the street near the market, we were approached by a nice, little Fijian guy who volunteered to take us round back to see the "real Fiji." Following him off the street, up the stairs, and into a loft and work area, I wondered. Dangerous you might say. I would reply, "I laugh in the face of danger!" We were advised to stay there while this man asked his people to join us. Three other young men entered with him and asked us if we wanted an original Fijian Kava ceremony? Marion and I looked at each other and said O. K. After all, what did we have to lose? Kava is a rather potent Fijian drink, but the leader of this tribe (?) made us feel like we were experiencing a native rite. He started by drinking first which relieved my thoughts. Now those of you reading this might be yelling at us to get out of there, that we were going to be mugged, and to be truthful, Marion and I simultaneously thought that this could be a drug from which we'd never see the light of day again, but when the leader started drinking I had a feeling that all was right in this place. He then gave me a drink, followed by Marion, all the while telling us how this has been done in the villages of Fiji for centuries, and telling us about local legends about husbands, wives, and sharks. It was quaint, the drink got us a little woozy, we got up tried to pay him for 20 minutes of interesting stories. When he refused and this is Fijian hospitality but if we wanted we could look in his work area and chose a picture or carving. We found just what we were looking for, at a good price, and we left.
This I thought would be the end of the excitement for this trip, but I was wrong. When we got to the airport, luckily three hours before our flight was to leave for Australia, the Airlines told us that we weren't allowed to go to Australia b/c we didn't have visas. Ahhh!!!! Fortunately, he said that we could get visas for the land of Oz in about 20 minutes on -line. We did and easily left on time.