Holiday trip to Taveuni Island, Fiji

The Temple closed for cleaning on June 28th and will reopened on July 15th. We have had the opportunity to spend a little time getting to better know the Fiji Islands. On Monday June 30, we took an overnight ferry to the island of Taveuni which is to the northeast of Viti Levu island where we live. It was a very interesting trip to say the least. Our friends that dropped us off at the docks thought that they should say a special prayer after they saw the folks that were to board the ferry with us. It was just like Harry Potter when he went down the wrong alley. Quite an experience. I was more prepared for this than your mother was. As you enter the ferry, which was old and very rusty, it looked like the rusty Star War's transport. Your mother was quite surprised with the mode of travel and really stood out. It was a very multinational group with very few white folk. They were mostly native Fijians/Indians with a few Tongans, Samoans and other islanders. There was also a small group from New Zealand. There are various fares that you pay depending on the sleeping accommodations that you can afford-on the deck in the back with only benches and a covering on the top(it was rainy and cold with babies and little children and not much shelter- not a good place to be, it was interesting as they did not go inside as this was all they had paid for), inside on non-reclining padded chairs(which were like airline seats with a snack bar and televisions), upstairs on open sleeping bunks(which had very few people but was a lot more comfortable) or in cabins which could be afforded by only 3 groups. We fortunately were in a cabin, which was actually pretty nice for the 1920’s(really just OK) with a private bathroom and AC. We had to drag our luggage up there thru very small passageways. We had dinner in a lounge(fish which wasn't really too tasty-really tough and dry probably left over from Capt. Bligh’s first journey to Fiji) and then settled down for the night. The seas were very rough and the food jumped around our tables and we had to take seasick pills (my travel editor is assisting me with my descriptions and is making me crazy) we made it to the first stop-Savusavu(the southern port and the island of Vanua Levu), in good shape. The travel editor (ak devil woman, miss busy body, your mom, etc., etc., etc.)was awakened at 4:00am by the intercom to hear the announcements upon our arrival. I slept in to 4:45 while mom called the missionaries and we had to get off the ferry for a few minutes at 5:30am to deliver a package(powerful bug killer that couldn't be transported by air) to the missionaries on that island. There was only a faint light as we got off the ship and the missionaries were there with their white shirts, badges, and sulus and looked quite out of place on the dock with myriads of darker faces . The only light was from the ship as there was no moon. They looked like we felt the day before when we got on the ferry. Next to us was a large private yacht about 120 feet long- quite impressive. Yachties(super rich folks from New Zealand, Australia and US) tie up at the various ports in Fiji and spend months traveling to the various islands. The Fijian govt will charge them extra fees if they stay more than 9 months.
We said goodbye to the missionaries and the ferry left for the last 4 hours of our journey to Taveuni. It trip was rather uneventful and the breakfast was better than the dinner the night before. We finally sighted Taveuni and pulled in at about 10 am. The island is rather small-25 miles long-and like the rest of the islands had been volcanic and has the black sand and dark volcanic boulders. The waters were various shades of blue and green and reminded us of the Bahamas. Taveuni is called the Garden Island-and for a good reason. The flora is magnificent, there are many species of birds(because of the absence of the mongoose, a natural predator) lots of waterfalls and natural pools. A very small portion of the land is used for agriculture as it is mostly mountainous. When we got off the boat, we were met by a driver, who happened to be LDS and we used him to take us around whenever we needed transportation. As we were leaving the dock, we saw a woman out in the water fishing and asked the driver exactly what she was doing. Check the story in the blog about fish stories to find out more about her. The driver took us to our hotel which was only about 5 minutes away. The hotel was the first major hotel built on the island but is now not as exclusive as others that cost up to $2500 per day. A new resort is being constructed on one of their small northern islands owned by the major owner of the “Red Bull” energy drink. As soon as the golf course is finished along with the landing strip, it will be ready for the super rich and will command $10,000 per day with each suite having 5, yes 5 pools. A church member from Suva and the ward we attend is greatly involved in the project. Mom wants to talk to him so that we can go there and test it out, as inspectors, when it is completed. Back to our humble abode, as we would eat breakfast or lunch, we could watch the waves pound the seawall and the water would splash 12-15 ft into the trees. There is only one major road, which only went around about 60% of the island and was not well maintained. We would dodge potholes, small and large, as we traveled around the island. I’ll post some pictures after this narrative and describe some of the things we did while on the island. Our trip back was smooth and the food was much better.
Did you find the fish story? Kind of interesting that we were some of the last ones to see her alive. Will post pics on the ferry,golf, snorkeling and the resort. This is the golf course at Taveuni. The rock is volcanic black as is the beach.
Mom taking it easy. The little island that you see in the background is where we went to snorkle.
When we left the harbour at Suva, we encountered this 3-masted ship moored in the channel.
Looking from the back of the ferry as we were about to leave Suva on our little trip.

The international timeline runs thru Taveuni- my left foot is in yesterday and the right foot is in today. Time for the day starts exactly where I am standing.
Same for Mom. We hiked up here from our Hotel to find this secluded spot for foto op.
Flowers that fell from the trees outside of our room. Mom found the shell at the golfing beach, so we have 2 nice soap dishes in the apartment.
Hand-held self portrait- not too bad, great of Mom. Harder than you think to get things centered.

Fish painted on the dive shop wall. We saw fish like this off the little island that we went to for snorkeling
Momma pig and her brood right on the side of the road. One can see all kinds of animals along the way but have to be careful not to make them roadkill!
Small branch building in the town of Somosomo. They are going to tear it down sood to build a new chapel on the land. They have 3 branches on the island.
View out the back of the resort. The tide is out so you can see the sandy areas. There was no beach for us as the waves came crashing in at high tide and would hit the seawall and splash up to 15 feet high.

Showing my recovery abilities on the course. Ball stuck on top of lava rock.
This is our LDS cab driver who also played in the band at the resort. Quite a character!
View back to Taveuni from the island that we were dripped off on to do our snorkeling. We had the island all to ourselves. Snorkeling was great with all kinds of fish.
Getting ready to go out on the snorkeling boat. Had a great time. Only took about 10 minutes for the boat trip where they left us off and came back 2 hours later to pick us up. Quite an adventure.