Christmas Escape to Fiji

I made a last minute decision to escape to Fiji for a few days during Christmas. I left on Christmas day wondering if I hadn’t just been a little too impulsive but when the air hostess arrived with real, unprocessed cheese, a little mince meat pie and wine I knew I had made the right decision.

After arriving in Nadi, I took a shuttle to my destination—the Beachhouse-- on the Coral Coast. It was nice to drive for hours on a paved dust free road. What a luxury that turns out to be. 

My trip took a bit a dive though when I was told by the resort’s reception that they did not receive my booking from the online website I used and there were no more rooms available. It was late and I was tired and disappointed and not sure where I was going to go. The kind ladies finally took pity on me and kicked out their friend who as it turns out was actually staying in the room I reserved. He was told that he would have to return to his own house down the road for the night. What a relief. Even though the room was not clean it was nice to have a place to sleep at the end of a long day.

Beachhouse aerial shot



The Beachhouse is a very cute place that has been built to look like traditional bure style homes and is filled with hand carved furniture and funky, colorful totem paintings and other artwork that captures the spirit of Fiji culture.
When I complimented the choice of décor, I was told that actually the resort was built by an American movie house for two of reality TV shows—Love Island and Beauty and the Geek.





The beach on the other hand isn’t white as advertised and I couldn’t resist saying that the beaches of Tarawa are more beautiful, which probably made me a little unpopular.

There were a lot of activities to choose from including snorkeling with the sharks, which I passed up.

Instead, I went on a horse ride to a waterfall and took a shopping trip to Suva, the capital.

When I came back my room had been given to another friend of the staff and I was told I could stay in the mixed dormitory. I got my room back in the end and was treated to a cup of kava and  meal of boiled bones by way of apology.

Making kava

Returning to Tarawa was as exciting as ever. My transport did not arrive and there were no buses as the road was in an almost impossible condition due to all the recent rain fall.  I got lucky when a van full of nuns offered to give me a lift home.

Fuel Crisis in Tarawa

On November 29th the island literally ran out of fuel. A boat arrives each month to replenish Tarawa’s fuel supply but this time it did not arrive in time.

Service stations started rationing petrol a few days before in anticipation of the crisis and by Friday evening there was no petrol to be had anywhere in South Tarawa--the home of 50,000 people and half the population of this archipelago nation.



Moel General Store

I didn’t really feel the full consequences of the situation until I was in Moel, the largest supermarket, and the power went out. I had already been to another supermarket without power where a young boy tried to help me find products by shadowing me with a lantern. I was in the check-out line at Moel when their power went out which meant we could not purchase anything as they use an electronic scanning system. Luckily I had enough petrol to get home to a house without water, electricity or Internet as all services are powered by fuel.

Empty Road

On the bright side, stores that still add up your purchases with pencil and paper were overcrowded, frozen foods were already defrosted, the streets were empty of buses and cars creating a more dust free, peaceful environment.

Some people I spoke to attribute the crisis to the recent increase in the number of personal vehicles. Now that the road is being converted from pothole ridden coral powder to a smooth tarred road, more and more people are investing in cars.  I just wonder if it might be a good idea for government to start investing more in solar energy. Otherwise the mighty Hercules may need to bring along a friend to help meet the growing demand for fuel here.

Fuel God