Maysie's Travels

Culture shock!

Cars everywhere, shiny and new. People on phones, rushing here and there. They sound irritable.

Luckily the hostel I booked is lovely, a great introduction into being back on the road. Homey, a little higgledy and run by an elderly man who has lots of great quotes all over the place (I'll have to write some down).

As soon as I arrived I dumped my bags in my room and headed straight back out again on a mission to find food - things I'd been dreaming about on the island.

Dinner consisted of:

Toasted rye bread, avocado, tomato, goats cheese, olives and beetroot dip.

Heaven.

Getting an early night now as it was a late 3am grog session in Nadi last night, another one!

I have left Fiji.

It was hard to say goodbye to a place where I have met so many fantastic, inspiring and wonderful people.

Vorovoro, the gentle nature of the place. Think about today and enjoy it. Laugh. Make others laugh. Run around in the rain and get wet. Pick a mango, passion fruit or paw paw. Stop, talk to people, share some grog. There is no hurry. Sit in a hammock. Relax.

Jenny you are a sister to my now, thank you for your wise words and strengthening my 'ness'. I'm going to miss you a lot!

Jone, Kini, Nemani, Tale, Pupu Epeli, Api, Penny, Bear, Erya, Tonya, the Family and so many more. Thank you for all the late night grog sessions, music, stories and good times.

From now on I have Pupu's wise words ringing in my ears, 'nothing is hard in this life'. Once you understand this you can let go of little frustrations and niggles, there might be a solution, an answer. Sometimes we try and force a decision before it is ready to be made.

Even though I felt sad about leaving I have come to understand that everything is OK. As Poasa said to me on the island, 'don't cry, you still have life. Fiji will always be here'.

It isn't the end, it's only the beginning. Exciting.

So what has been happening on sunny, rainy, sunny Vorovoro?

Monday we were excited to welcome 6 new tribe members onto the island, bringing much laughter, camp fires and a fancy dress party with a sustainable theme – costumes had to be made from natural materials found on the island. There were banana leaf butterflies, woven leaf crowns and coconut bras. An island party wouldn’t be an island party without these coconut accompaniments.

Tuesdays Sevusevu passed without a hitch and the village was looking beautiful after all the hard work the tribe put in raking and clearing the dead leaves from the borders and walkways.
On Wednesday our seventh tribe member arrived, getting stuck into island life from the start and he’s been fishing every day since.

It was also Tui Mali’s birthday on Wednesday so Jim and I went to visit him in Vuo taking some presents, a card made from a banana leaf and of course grog. I was taken aback with the beautiful location, stunning grounds and the caves under the escarpment which the house sits on. Tui Mali was really chuffed with the presents he received, signaling this by punching one hand into the other with a big grin and a loud ‘vinaka’.

Friday’s school trip was joyous creating much laughter, games and bright eyed excitement, and that was just the tribe members. The children had been looking forward to the visit as we hadn’t been able to go the previous week.

Saturday saw us celebrate with ‘Bula night’, a party where we all wore our sulu juba and bula shirts. The location was past the volleyball court, along the path and into a clearing looking out to sea. We had candles, marsh mellows, chocolate, stories and a great deal of laughter.
My time here as chief is drawing to a close and I feel privileged to have had this month on the island and unsurprisingly I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to leave any time soon.