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2C Update #141
- To Tonga via Fiji (May 18-23, 2006)
We made much better choices on our return
journey to the boat than the ones we made coming to the
US, although the routing was identical. You may ask why
we traveled again through Fiji, why we didn’t just route
ourselves straight to Vava’u? The answer, of course, is
“$”. Since we intend to come back from Fiji this year,
booking a round trip flight to Nadi with a one-way
connector to Tonga was cheaper than the three-point
option with the missing leg we’d do by boat. Of course,
it is never cheap to fly this far ad stay this long,
especially these days with the escalating price of fuel.
But with that perspective, having a return ticket locked
in may actually save us money.
The better choices had to do with how we spent our
layovers. In LA, for example, instead of passing the
layover hanging around the airport like we did in
December, this time we rented a car and drove to nearby
Marina de Rey for a nice meal, some last minute shopping
and a matinee showing of Mission Impossible III, our
heavy carry-ons safely stowed in the trunk!
On the principle of what was good for LA would be good
for Fiji, we had also booked a rental car for our time
there. Even though our flight landed at 3:00AM and we
appeared to be the only customer, the Avis gal was there
to give us our keys. We had also made an Internet
reservation back at Stoney Creek, and, thanks to our
stopover last year, we knew our way there well enough to
find it in the dark. The night watchman had the key to
our bure (cottage), and we fell into the cool white
sheets feeling almost as though we’d come home!
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Stoney Creek |
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We were only in Fiji three days last December, but it’s
amazing how that ounce of familiarity changes the whole
picture. The staff at Stoney Creek either remembered us
or acted like they did, and we remembered them (although
I still don’t have the petite Indian gal’s name!). The
faces of the other guests had changed, of course, but
just as before they were interesting travelers: a single
girl from Israel, a Welsh couple now living in New
Zealand.
Having the car proved a major convenience. Where last
year we had to finagle with taxis, this time we just
popped in our own vehicle and followed the Queens Road
north to the turnoff for Vuda Point, drawn like lemmings
back to this node of the cruising world. We expected our
friend Denis of Bobulona to be there as we’d been
in touch with him by email and had brought him boat
parts, so we were pretty surprised to find him gone!
However another couple we were hoping to see – Dave and
Kathy of Sunflower – were there, and they happily
broke off whatever they were doing to visit, which in
the way of cruisers, started with coffee, ran on into
lunch, and continued through the afternoon into supper
at the “yacht club” after Denis and Bobulona came
motoring back in.
We had first met Dave and Kathy last August in
Niuatoputapu, one of those fleeting cruising encounters
that leave you thinking, “oh, well, these are simpatico
folks, but they’re going the other direction.” After our
whale encounter there (See
Update #131), Dave had made us a copy of some great
photographs he’d had taken in Vava’u when whales had
swum in among boats in an anchorage. Since we were both
intending to end up at Vuda Point, they had also pressed
on us their Sailingbird Guide to Tonga, which is
by far the best guidebook to Tongan waters, but which at
$50 we had avoided buying. This kindness we had totally
abused, not only by using the book until it had begun to
fall apart, but by NOT getting to Fiji in the fall to
return it to them. My solution was to buy two new copies
from Amazon (save about 30%!) and replace theirs.
Over the course of day, our sense of connecting with
simpatico people strengthened, and by nightfall we had
concocted a plan to go in our car to Suva the next day.
We knew it would be a long drive – at 120 miles, we
figured at least three hours each way, but Dave and
Kathy had not stopped there with the boat, and we did
not plan to. It seemed a shame to miss the capital,
where there was said to be interesting architecture and
a great museum, plus I figured, ever mindful of
provisioning, that while we were there, we could at
least scout the Fiji Cost-U-Less.
So much for rest and relaxation in our nice little
mountain resort! Back at Stoney Creek, however, over a
few Fiji Bitters around the nightly firepit with
Michelle the owner, we were persuaded that we wouldn’t
likely manage the trip in one day, especially, since,
she pointed out, that the next day was Sunday! She
recommended that we drive over, stay the night in a nice
little resort above the city, pursue our missions Monday
morning, and then make our way back. Since our flight to
Tonga was early Tuesday morning, there was not much
wiggle room in the plan!
We got a bit of a slow start out of Vuda
Point the next morning while I helped Dave with his
satellite phone, and then we immediately started with a
detour out to Denereau Marina, where Dave hoped to track
down some boat parts. Although it was interesting to see
this resort development, it did not produce any useful
stores, so by about noon we were finally on our way.
Within a short time we’d passed through downtown Nadi
and were spewed forth into the countryside. The drive
led through cane fields before crossing through piney
foothills, before settling down along Viti Levu’s south
coast., where, of course, there seemed to be no roadside
restaurants.
We finally pulled off in a coastal village at something
that looks like a resort, only there was no sign of
life. We were about to leave having concluded it was
deserted when a man came out to beckon us in. With
little expectation of a fast turnaround on a meal, we
ordered the regional standard : fish and chips. To our
surprise the meal came quickly and was good, and the
trickling of the water garden relaxed us enough that we
even took a few minutes to check out their little museum
of Fijian crafts.
We arrived in the outskirts of Suva
around 4pm. Our first stop was the Royal Suva Yacht club
where our friends Bud and Nita were due in a matter of
days. We’d brought along a watermaker part they’d
requested and left it in care of the doorman. The place
was cavernous and busy with some kind of member picnic,
but no one paid us any attention. Just as well, we had
an agenda. Dave and Kathy were hoping to locate the
Papua New Guinea embassy to stop at the next morning to
apply for their PNG visas (their plan at that point was
to bypass Australia!). We never could locate it in
Suva’s snarl of streets, even though the streets were
devoid of traffic on Sunday.
Even with a map, it was not so easy to find our way out
of town to Prince’s Road which would take us up into the
hills to the Rain Tree Lodge, billed as being in the
rainforest. Until the last minute we weren’t sure we
were going the right way, as we climbed the unsigned
road through rustic “suburbs”. Then we saw the sign for
the Colo-i-Suva Park which we knew to be across the
street. The lodge and its sign were tucked away in
roadside greenery, and sure enough, when we made the
turn, it was like instant rainforest!
The Rain Tree Lodge, like many resorts in this part of
the world, offers several grades of accommodations, from
backpacker dormitories to up-market bure. The Lodge is
built on the site of an old round quarry, around which
the forest presses close. A main lodge building has a
bar and dining room, while the dormitory and bure are
scattered about. Had we known both the Lodge and Dave
and Kathy better, the four of us could easily have made
do with one bure. Unlike Stoney Creek, where things were
snug, the Rain Tree’s bure had a queen-sized bed under a
mosquito net plus two single beds doing double duty as
couches. There was a coffee table with chairs plus a
deck which was wasted on us as night settled abruptly.
Dave and Kathy had brought wine and we had a bottle of
duty free rum, so we enjoyed a nice little happy hour
before descending to the Lodge for dinner. The Lonely
Planet positively gushes about both the Lodge’s cuisine
and its service, but I fear none of us experienced
anything out of the ordinary.
Only three days out of Florida time (a time change of
seven hours!), Don and I found ourselves wide awake at
4am! We got up and read until sunrise, whereupon we
discovered that any view from our deck was utterly
obstructed by foliage. Too hungry to wait for our pals,
we walked down to the lodge for breakfast. The sun was
out, and a few intrepid souls were swimming in the dark,
leaf-strewn waters of the quarry which came right to the
breakfast deck. Dave and Kathy joined us, and then Kathy
set to calling around about the visas, only to learn it
can all be done by Internet!
Now free of that obligation, we decided
to head directly to the museum. Well, relatively
directly. Downtown Suva had been completely transformed
by choking traffic! Now, a wrong turn meant at least
fifteen minutes wasted trying to work back los ground,
and we made more than one. By the time we reached the
museum, we weren’t liking Suva so much anymore!
The museum, however, was good. The collections were
arranged to delineate the similarities and differences
between the Fijian, Samoan and Tongan cultures, and
answered a questions I’d had about why, when the three
cultures had basically grown out of the same eastward
expansion of the Lapita people from SE Asia, only the
Fijians were Melanesian in physique while the other two
were Polynesian. The answer is that the group settling
in Fiji had had a second migration follow them in from
the Solomons, darkening the essentially Polynesian
culture, a migration that apparently did not carry
farther eastward. Another interesting fact we absorbed
was that the tattooing we had seen in Samoa – of the
region between the thigh and the waist – had in Fiji
traditionally only been applied only to women! Fijian
men instead spent copious time on elaborate hairdos and
daily body paint! As expected there were long displays
of nasty looking Fijian war clubs, kava bowls, and
cannibal forks! These cultural artifacts, coupled with
Fiji’s tricky reefs, delayed the arrival of western
influence here until the early 19th century, far later
than in other Pacific island groups. The museum’s next
three rooms focused on those influences, first European,
then the European-introduced Indian migration, and
lastly the Chinese.
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Fijian Traditional life as captured in the
Museum |
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From the museum we went in search of Fiji’s Cost-U-Less,
which given the confusing road network and lack of
signage took us some while. We found it outside of my
Lonely Planet’s coverage area near the University of the
South Pacific. Fresh from the US, and not yet desperate
perhaps, I felt the Suva Cost-U-Less compared poorly
with the one in American Samoa, with Don being
particularly disappointed by the lack of the hot dog
vendor. Kathy, however, managed to completely fill the
trunk of the car, impressive since shopping hadn’t been
something she’d planned on.
Meanwhile, Dave had a small list of items that he was
hoping to find in Suva, and at every stop we made on his
behalf, he would emerge with directions to two other
places that might have what he looked for. In Suva’s
maze of streets, this proved to be a recipe for
nightmarish wandering, especially as we soon deduced
that Fijians, like many islanders, never want to tell
you they don’t know. We finally gave up, filled the car
with gas and headed out of town…only to stumble over a
real chandlery near the Yacht Club. After the hour spent
there, Don and I felt the day was really starting to
slip away from us. Not only did we have the four hour
drive back to Vuda point to drop these guys off, but we
had the 20 minute drive back to Stoney Creek, from where
we would be departing at four in the morning!
For this reason we rushed out of Suva, failing to
remember that there were no roadside restaurants outside
the cities! It was 3:30 before we finally pulled of the
road at an inauspicious-looking roadside block painted
Coca-Cola red. With low expectations we all ordered the
stirfry listed for F$3.50 (about US$2). It was terrific!
With moods much improved we climbed back in the car for
the last leg of the drive.
Michelle had warned us about the afternoon sun, that is
that driving westbound into it on the two-lane highway
with local traffic and domestic animals wandering across
could become obnoxious, but we had little choice but to
squint and bear it. Dark had already fallen as we found
ourselves on an unfamiliar roadway inland from the one
we’d taken outbound. Who knew they had another road! We
stopped at a big service station, permeated by smoke
from burning cane fields, and topped up the rental car’s
tank, and then popped out with relief at a rotary near
the Nadi airport! It took us about another hour to drop
Dave and Kathy off at Vuda Point and backtrack to Stoney
Creek’s dirt road. When Don finally shut off the car
engine in the quiet of the mountain, we both felt we’d
had enough of driving for a long while. We had a few
more beers around the bonfire, a bowl of tomato-basil
soup with garlic bread, and descended to our cool little
bure where all our luggage awaited us.
Where just yesterday we were wide awake at 4:00am, this
morning it was a struggle to get our eyes open. I don’t
know what it is about Stoney Creek, but we sure do sleep
well there. A half hour later, we were on the road to
the airport, and by 5am the car was turned in and we
were standing at the check-in counters where there
wasn’t a soul in sight! It turned out our flight was at
eight not seven, and the counters didn’t open until
5:30!
Once they did open, we managed to get all
our bags checked to Tongatapu. At security, Don had to
turn back and check his carry-on thanks to the cutlass
bearing we’d stashed there in Tampa when the agent
wanted to lighten a suitcase!
Thanks to the clear skies, we had a great view of the
route we’d driven to Suva and back. Southern Viti Levu’s
huge expanse of folded hills and valleys is served
primarily by the one two-lane highway we’d driven known
as the Queens Road (with the King’s Road, said to be in
less good condition, closing the circle around the
islands north coast). There were surprisingly few
turn-offs into the interior . It would have been fun to
go all the way around. Maybe next time without the
constraints of a tight schedule.
Unlike our flight out last December, inbound we were not
forced to spend a night on Tongatapu, but we did have a
several hour layover. Somehow, we managed to walk
through customs unscathed, but then we got scalped by
the taxi driver we needed to get the mile from the
“International Airport” to the domestic one. I am quite
sure I have never been anywhere with less frills in
their airport….either one! No posters, not even any
signs! Not even any identifiable ticket counters.
However, we managed to get checked in, paying US$70 for
the 70 kilos we were overweight, and that AFTER Don
persuaded them to up our allowances from the normal 10
kilos per person to 20 kilos.
Tonga’s airlines are its Achilles heel in the tourism
business. The Prince, who owns the main one, doesn’t
always pay his bills, and planes come and go as they are
repo’d. The pilot in Don was all excited when a DC3
landed, because he’d never actually flown on one, but
then we learned it was out of commission because the
paperwork hadn’t yet cleared on its last airworthiness
certification. Instead we flew north, about two hours
late, on a 16-pax Otter-type plane, on which,
fortunately for our luggage, there were only six
passengers.
Upon arriving around 5:00pm at Vava’u’s airport, which
you may recall lies about 12 kilometers from town, we
were dismayed to find no taxis and no working pay phone
to call one. The six other passengers disappeared into
their rides, and the meager staff required to land the
plane was doing the same! With visions of being
marooned, we waylaid the last airport worker we saw and
begged him to give us a ride into town. We squashed our
luggage (probably more stuff than he had in his whole
house) into his rickety sedan, and he kindly took us
past his own village and into Neiafu to the
Backpacker’s, a hostel for budget travelers. With the
sun heading toward the western horizon, we debated just
crashing there a night, especially when the gal at the
desk could not find a driver willing to take us out to
the Tapana anchorage! However on a whim, we called
Aquarium, where our friend Ben jumped in his van to
collect us! He and Lisa carried us the 20 minute ride to
Ano Beach, where Larry and Sherry, the couple who had
been watching Tackless collected us by dinghy.
The sun set as we climbed aboard and rain spit. Dinner
was a 6-month old package of ramen noodles cooked in one
of the two small bottles of water Don had had the
presence of mind to grab in town (the other, being
earmarked for morning coffee) and we slept on sheets
that had been clean the night before we left. six months
before.
But, by golly, we were home!.
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