Paradise's Revenge!

We were both awakened at 3.00am by very heavy rain on the roof and we never really slept well after that.Will rose at 7.45 am with an upset tummy and the World began to fall out of his bottom.He thought it might be the fishcakes ha had had at lunch yesterday. It was not good at any time least of all the day you are travelling by plane.We packed our bags and took them over to Reception and went for breakfast. Will did not have anything to eat. We were served by a woman from the village that had helped look for Mary yesterday for me. She did not introduce herself but laid her hand on my shoulder and said,“You like massage?”“Yes, very good,” I said.Will watched me eat hotcakes with maple syrup and bananas.“You leave today?” She was back with her hand on my shoulder.I nodded.“Awww,” she said, squeezing my shoulder.“She likes you” said Will.“Well,” I said, “I would not be surprised if Mary has spread word of my fine body.” I stuffed some more pancake in my mouth.We went to the office to hand in our key and the receptionist said our car was waiting.We trundled down with our bags. The same car we had arrived in was waiting for us but no one was in it. So we waited for the driver to appear.He did eventually....from the back seat. He was lying down, having a nap. He had been up since 3.00 am. (We knew how he felt.) He was called Raj.We set off.“Ask me any questions, I am yours. Your driver,” he said, “only yours.”We had no questions. It was a quiet journey compared to the one down with Kasim.The air-con was freezing and eventually when he saw me shivering, he turned it down a bit.We got to Nadi just before lunch time.We thanked Raj...with a tip...I know....but he had his own sob stories and three children to provide for.Will went straight off to find the ‘facilities’ for awhile. There were lots of Fijian children riding around and pushing each other on luggage trolleys. I wondered if they were actually travelling or had just come in for the fun of it.We checked in fairly easily and knew that as she handed me my boarding pass that I was officially, finally entitled to stay in Australia indefinitely. There was no fanfare but there were three tuneless Fijian singers playing ukuleles in the departure lounge. Thankfully it was not permanently...it was only when a flight was boarding.Will got some water and we sat and waited. He went off to change our Fijian money into Australian dollars and to use the’ facilities’again. I looked up from my book and saw him standing at the currency exchange counter across the hall and went back to reading. Time passed and he didn’t return. I looked up and he was not at the currency exchange anymore. I couldn’t see him anywhere so just assumed he would be at toilets.“Excuse me,” said a man. “Are you Nick?”“Yes, “ I said.“Will is over there, he says can you come? He is not feeling very well.”I picked up our hand luggage and walked over with the man. Will was white and shaking and sat on a chair.“I think I need a doctor,” he said.I went all around the departure lounge looking for the information desk but could not find it. I went back to Will.“Ask at the shop then,” he said. I asked a girl in the cafe and she pointed out a security man.I told him Will was ill and if there was a doctor around. He asked which flight we were on and I showed him where we were sat and went back to Will. He did look awful.“I feel sick and my hands are numb, “ he said.A Virgin Australia steward came over. (He was definitely on our plane...if you catch my drift).He asked Will how long he had felt bad and what he had eaten. He said it was common for people to get sick from fish in Fiji. He suggested a sugary drink so I went and bought one. When I got back there were two stewardesses there as well.“We will have to decide if you are fit enough to travel,” said one. “You might have to go on a later flight. Have you been sick?”He hadn’t.“If you are sick on the plane,” she said, “we have to call quarantine when we get to Australia.” It sounded ominous and not the triumphant entry I had hoped for.Will had had some of the Gatorade I’d bought and was feeling a little better.She asked for our boarding cards and went off to see what she could do.Will lay down and had a rest and after awhile had perked up a bit but he still looked pretty dreadful. The stewardess came back to see how he was. He said he was a bit better. She said the flight was not full so she had changed our seats to the back where Will could lie down across the row if he wanted.We were allowed to go...it was a relief.They were so lovely on the plane. They brought him water and lemonade before we took off. He was given a cushion and a pillow and a dry bread roll...which had more chance of staying down. The stewardess who had been helping us was the leading stewardess on the flight and she also gave us express passes to get through immigration and customs in Brisbane. She offered to call ahead for a wheel chair...but he declined.“Oh,” I said, “That would have been so good for “Possum!”The flight was supposed to 3 hours and 25 minutes but we did it in only 3 hours.We flew in over the Aldi where I take Dulcie shopping. I took a photo for her.At immigration the woman officer looked at my card and passport.“You are moving here now are you?” she asked.“Yes,” I said.She stamped my passport and handed it back.‘Hmmpff’ I thought, ‘ you could have said ‘Welcome to Australia’.’We are back in Brisbane. Will is feeling a little better...he has even said he is feeling a bit hungry.Dulcie was glad to see us back.She is still outraged over the kiwi fruit from Italy.“Have you tried them,” I asked.“Nah, I’ll not!” she said.

The Gift from the Sea.

To say we both had naps yesterday we slept very well. Perhaps it is because it is so exhausting when you are doing nothing.We met Kimy at breakfast. She is also from the village just down the beach. All the staff here have been so friendly.After breakfast we got a $10 internet voucher and I was able to upload the previous day’s posts onto Possum. It was very frustrating because the connection was so slow and at one point my computer just switched itself off. $10 gave you an hour’s internet and I finished putting everything up with just 19 seconds of time left.After that we picked up some snorkelling equipment and went down to the beach. Again it was just idyllic. We were slathered in sun block and were wearing t-shirts.We waded into the sea and put our flippers on rather than make a fool of our selves walking down the beach in them. The sea was beautifully warm...in fact at one point today I wished it was just a little cooler to feel that bit more refreshing when trying to escape the heat of the day.I find it quite easy breathing into a snorkel. Will hates it. He tried as best he could but after a while gave up and took his gear back to the loungers on the deck.I flippered on. I bravely carried on out over the sea grass and saw a few larger fish but then the memory of ‘Jaws’ swam into my head and I thought...hmmm, this water looks deep enough for a shark.I headed back to the sandy shore feeling a bit anxious but found Will had come back in with just the mask, no snorkel and no flippers. So I turned round again and we headed out into deeper water. We found a patch of coral amongst the sea grass and here there were lots of small brightly coloured fish swimming around. Further on we found more patches and saw large spiky sea urchins and bright blue starfish. We were making for the sandy strip beyond the sea grass. I saw Will had stopped and was treading water so I went up to see what the matter was.“I can feel it pulling us out,” he said, “I’m going back.”It didn’t sound good and I wasn’t going to stay out there on my own so I turned back too.Will was getting quite tired swimming back against the pull of the water and he did not have flippers on. I got some water in my snorkel and could not blow it out and in taking it out of my mouth swallowed some sea water and started to cough...I started to panic a bit...and for a brief moment I thought I was going to drown but then something in my head said ‘stay calm.’ I ripped off my mask and lay on my back, closed my eyes and kicked my feet. When I opened them again I was back over the sand and could stand up. Will was close behind but we were both exhausted as we waded out.It was quite sobering to think how quickly it had all turned a bit frantic. I dumped my snorkelling gear on the deck and went back in just to float in the shallows. I called to Will to take a picture but he could not find my camera.“I must have left it in the room,” I said. He took some pictures with his camera instead.I had a quick go on the sea kayaks but found that exhausting too so came back in.“That was quick,” said the ‘whale’ lady. She had been down on the beach with her husband. I noticed she had developed a limp...it must be evolution...soon she would probably lose all leg mobility and have to ‘flubber’ about like a seal.It was time for lunch so we headed back to the room to shower and change. I looked for my camera but could not find it. It was not packed in the bag we took to the beach but it was also nowhere in our room. I couldn’t remember using it at all that morning but vaguely remembered seeing it on the bed before we went down to the sea.Perhaps I had left it by the couches where we were ‘internet-ing’ earlier that morning.We walked over to the restaurant and I asked Lantana if anyone had found a camera and handed it in. No one had. I was coming to the dreadful realisation of where it might actually be now...surely I would not go snorkelling with my camera in my pocket would I?We both walked down to the sun loungers again and looked around there but it was nowhere to be seen.We went back for lunch.Lanika said she was going on her break soon and she would go down and have a look on the beach for me. It was very kind of her.Lunch was good. Will had fish and chips and I had the Kahuna Burger. Kini came to chat and said there had been two ‘male friends’ who stayed in September and they went to the village every night and said they were going to come back and get married there....and there was me thinking we were hiding it so well.We went back down to the beach after lunch with snorkelling gear again and went out to search for the camera. It was the only place it could be now...in the sea. It would surely be easy to spot, black against the white sand. There was no guarantee that it had fallen out on the sand...perhaps it fell out over the sea grass. I was thinking it most likely fell out when I flipped on my back to swim to shore and that had been over the sea grass. I went snorkelling back over the sea grass but it was impossible to know where we had actually been that morning and I realised it was an impossible task and was resigned to never seeing it again.Will had been looking too but had gone wandering down the beach to see if it had been washed down there by the waves. I was combing aimlessly over the sand again.I spotted a beautiful sea urchin shell lying in the sand and picked it up and slipped it into my pocket thinking I would keep it.I carried on looking but was wading back to the shore. I took the sea urchin out of my pocket and looked at it and thought to myself, this is a gift from the sea in return for my camera. It was a beautiful shell...but suddenly I decided I didn’t want it and I threw the shell back into the sea and said aloud “Thank you, but I don’t want it. I just want my camera back!”In that moment I had a weird feeling I would find it and I looked down and saw something black against the white sand under the water a few steps away. I reached down and it WAS the flippin’ camera!No word of a lie...that is how it happened!I told Lantika who was lying on a lounger and walking back to the room bumped into Kimy and told her.“I think I might be a sea-witch,”I said. She looked alarmed.“You didn’t say that did you?” asked Will, when I told him. “They are very superstitious about things like that!” He had gone and got a bowl of rice to put the camera in for me.I rinsed it under clean water and then we placed it in the rice. The rice will draw all the moisture out of it hopefully. If it works again it will be a real miracle after it had lain on the sea bed for over 2 hours. The good news is the memory card still works so I did not lose all the pictures I had not saved to my computer.We had another wander down to the beach this evening. We had just missed the sun going down. The lads from the village were playing rugby again but the sky and the sea looked wonderful in the fading light.Everyone was at dinner when we went to the restaurant. The Hootenpoopen’s are actually not in the room next door...next door are the young couple that appeared late yesterday. We think they might be on Honeymoon as tonight they had a candlelit table away on their own down by the pool.The beardy shark film crew were back with all their limbs intact but poor Mrs Hootepoopen’s face was bright red with sunburn. I smiled at her and she said,“I know! I put factor 50 on!”“ Have you been on a boat?” I asked.“Yes, we was been rafting,” she said“I can feel the heat from your face from here, “ I said, to rub it in.The ‘whale’ lady, hubby and the chavs were all sat together...again. I think they might be related.I noticed one of the film crew trying to pick up a tiny baby gecko that had apparently fallen on him from the ceiling.Torlani came over and then got all embarrassed and laughed.“I was just going to say ‘What can I get you ladies?” she said. How very dare she!She said “ I am on the early shift tomorrow and I finish at 2.00, we can go to the village then. Will you come?”“Did you hear that Nick lost his camera?” asked Will.She hadn’t.We were relieved...at least it meant that Kimy had not run back to the village telling everyone there was a sea- witch staying at the resort!“ We will come then,” we said.

Paradise Ascending.

The phone call I got at 3.00 am telling me I was entitled to a free boiler under the British Government’s new initiative ruined a good night’s sleep. I did drop off again after about 90 minutes and we woke at about 9.00 am. The air conditioning was going all night...well, it has been on non-stop since we arrived...but it did not disturb us.When it came to setting off for breakfast I was a little alarmed by the number of long-legged wasps hovering about outside the door. It was not quite a swarm but pretty close. I envisioned us trapped in the room all day, slowly weakening and slumping to the floor and with barely any strength left to bang on the glass door and call for help...but we bit the bullet and ducked out.“What are you going to do today?” asked our waitress as she came to take our order for breakfast.“Oh, I think we might go for a swim,” I said, “But we don’t want to meet your friend.” I laughed.I thought our waitress was Torika but it turned out to be Lani and she had no clue what I was talking about.Raj the chef came out and introduced himself and said we could look forward to ‘chicken curry’ tonight. He was Indian and quite difficult to understand but it was nice he came to chat to us.“What you have last night? It good?”The starters were poor, the steak was tough, the mashed potato was lumpy and the fruity chicken curry tasted odd.“It was lovely,” we lied.Ada came along and introduced herself too.“Bula!” I suspect she is the manager.Breakfast was good. There was a good choice. We had pancakes with maple syrup.“There are a lot of wasps about,” we said.“Ah, yes,” said Torani/Lanika, “but they will not bite you.”We wandered down to the beach. It was pretty stunning. The tide was nearly in. The water was ultra-marine over the sand and then black where the sea grass was turning turquoise further out just before the reef.We waded in.“It’s warmer than our shower” said Will. It was lovely.I didn’t go past the sand into the sea grass bit...mainly because if Taluni’s friend decided to come I would not be able to see him/her.After a lovely dip we went and lay the sun loungers on the deck beneath a beautiful shady tree and read. There was quite a breeze blowing but it was lovely.At lunchtime we wandered back and showered and then went for lunch.There were some new people there...a mother and daughter, who are dutch.The lunch menu was again great. Such a lot of choice and I was beginning to change my view of this Paradise. It was definitely on the up. Will had a Kahuna Burger and I chose the Fisherman’s Basket. It was huge, 3 pieces of battered fish, calamari rings, prawns and a pile of chips. I couldn’t eat it all and Will had to help me.We went for a walk down the beach after lunch. Not far along the beach to the west is the village where Mary lives.She was standing by the “Welcome to the shop” sign talking to Mrs and Miss Van der Hootenpoopen. She gave us a big friendly wave.“Come to the shop!” she called.We told her we would but we were just going to wander further down the beach to look at the resort further down and then come back.The resort further on was called ‘Crusoe’s Retreat’. There were some lovely rustic looking beach huts but as we wandered through it looked deserted.We are still in summer...where is everyone?Back at the village I removed my sunglasses and hat as Kasim had told us that wearing them in villages was considered rude. Mary was there again.“Here is the shop!”A young mother was sat under a rickety wooden shelter with her baby daughter. We waved.“Bula!”“She like the men, that one,” said Mary, “She not bothered about women, but the men she like.”I thought she was talking about the mother but she meant the baby.We went into the shop. It was just a shed with shelves. It seemed to have everything that you would need...there were even a pair of bike tyres hanging from the roof. It didn’t have Pepsi Max though I noted.“The souvenir shop is next door,” said the shop keeper. She had a big smile and a large gap form a missing tooth.“Do you have any hats?” asked Will.“In the souvenir shop next door.”It was another shed. Will tried the hats but they were all too small.We bought milk, crisps, biscuits and an ice cream.Mary had gone to set up her massage table in the little beach shack further down for Miss Hootenpoopen.We waved goodbye to the mother and smiley daughter and wandered back to Wellesley.We sat in the cool of our room and Will had a snooze. I lay down to read and then I fell asleep too.The next thing I knew it was 6.30 pm.We went back down to the beach. The tide had been out and was just coming back in. The Hootenpoopen’s were sat in the water at the edge watching the sun set. A group of young men from the village were playing rugby, noisily, on the sand.We waded out in the shallow water, watching the sun set and out into the sea grass which turned out not to be as alarming as it had looked earlier. It was just idyllic.We went for dinner after a quick change. The toads were out and the mosquitoes were biting.More people had arrived.Yesterday there was only Will and I, the ‘whale’ woman and her be-hatted wrinkled husband and a young chavvy Australian couple who all hang about together and hog the pool!Today another young couple appeared, the Hootenpoopen’s and a trio of Americans, two of which are half man/half bear and would look at home playing with ZZ Top. We think they are a film crew and from what I heard from eavesdropping over dinner, it appears they are interested in the reef and were talking about diving and sharks. There was also another young couple at dinner tonight. So I guess there are 15 guests at the moment.Toranka was back. I could tell she was a bit shocked by the beardy men by her reaction when they walked in. She was also whispering to Laluna about them behind the bar.The Hootenpoopen’s did not do themselves any favours by causing a mix-up after wanting a starter as a main. Ada had to come and sort it out. Later, Miss Hootenpoopen asked for another menu from Talinka.“You only gave us one.” She said incredulously.Torunki rolled her eyes as she walked by us.Dinner was good. Will and I both had the same thing, the spring roll starter and the chicken curry, recommended earlier by Raj.Back in the room, a new floral arrangement had spookily appeared on the bed and a large spider ran across the floor. Had it been left at the same time? It took some catching...in a glass...but I got it in the end and threw it in the direction of the Hootenpoopen’s room next door. I think that is where it was supposed to be.

The Bumpy Road to Paradise.

After having booked the Fiji trip a few weeks ago I had done nothing since...until yesterday when I arranged the travel insurance and booked the airport parking. Looking at the Expedia booking confirmation form I had been sent I noticed a link for vouchers that needed to be printed out. I clicked it and was met by “This website is currently undergoing essential maintenance. Please try again later.” I was not unduly concerned. This was a major company and probably had lots of traffic and I was sure it would be back up soon. I emailed all the insurance, car park and the voucher link to Will to print out at work as we have no printer at home.When I went to collect him he had all the papers, except the vouchers... as the website was still down.No matter, we were going to see Ros later. I needed a Justice of the Peace to sign and certify the copies of all the documents I have to send to register with the Queensland College of Teachers. It just so happened that Ros was a Justice of the Peace! While we were there we could hopefully get her to print out the vouchers for us.All went well with the document signing but it turned out that Ros did not have a working printer at home....still no vouchers...and now I was worried. We now had no means of printing them off even if we could download them.Back in the man-cave I phoned Expedia...I listened to the number of options from the automated service and selected the right one for me...’enquiries about existing bookings’...I was met with “Everything you need to know is in your itinerary, if you would like this emailed to you press 1. No more options. I didn’t want it emailed to me. I already had it. I had to listen to the message repeated three times and was almost at screaming point...when it changed and I moved on. I was on hold waiting for the next available consultant. The ‘hold’ music was excruciating....all distorted and kept fading out...I suspected I would end up in India...I did.My consultant came on...”Thank you for holding, your patience is greatly appreciated. How may I help?”I told him about being unable to print off the vouchers....He needed to consult with someone and he put me on ‘hold’.He came back.”Thank you for holding, your patience is greatly appreciated.”He asked if I just needed the transportation vouchers. I said yes. He was going to send them to me and could I hold?“Yes.” The ‘hold’ music was all travel related...Coldplay – ‘Paradise,’ Oleta Adams- ‘Get here.’”Thank you for holding, your patience is greatly appreciated. Can you just confirm your email address?”I did.“Please hold.”All Saints – ‘The Beach’”Thank you for holding, your patience is greatly appreciated. I have sent you the vouchers. Can I assist you with anything else?”He couldn’t. I just wanted to get off the phone.Ten minutes later the email arrived...’Your transportation vouchers....Please find.’ I couldn’t. They were not attached to the email!Luckily while I had been on ‘hold’ Will had managed to download an Expedia app found the vouchers and made screenshot copies of them. It would have to do. I noticed on them it said we had to notify ‘Rosie Holidays’ 48 hours before departure of our arrival time. Heck! I sent an email off quick and hoped it would get there before us.We went to bed and no sooner had I fallen asleep than it was time to get up. I was going to be calm. I always get a bit stressed when travelling but today I was going to be calm.All went well, there was more traffic than I expected heading into Brisbane at 6.00am but we found the airport car park place easily and got on the shuttle bus and were quickly at the airport. We did not have to queue long at the check-in desk and check-in went smoothly. We passed easily through immigration and had a coffee in the lounge. I spotted a printer at a bank of internet consoles...’$2 for 20 mins’. We managed to print off the transportation vouchers.I was calmer.We were flying Virgin Australia. We were not expecting a meal the plane so bought a six inch Subway roll and packed it in our hand luggage. We went straight to the gate and boarded. My window seat was right over the wing which was a bit disappointing.We took off on time and once at cruising altitude had a complimentary breakfast!We had to fill in Fijian landing cards that said that no food could be brought into the country so we had to stuff our six inch subs down us too before we landed.The flight took 3 hours and 25 minutes. There was a period of about 45 minutes where we had to remain seated as we passed by the cyclone forming over the Coral Sea. The plane was not full so I was able to move to a window seat further back to see better as we landed in Fiji.It was 32 degrees and humid. It looked like the airport was still being built. There was a four piece band singing Fijian songs as we entered the slightly air-conditioned terminal building. We sailed through immigration and our baggage was almost first off. All our luggage was x-rayed before we headed out to find ‘Rosie Holidays’ and our transport to the resort.We withdrew some Fijian dollars from an ANZ auto-teller and handed our printed vouchers in at ‘Rosie Holidays’. The lady who dealt with us was lovely. In fact everyone was so friendly. People kept smiling and saying ‘Bula!’ to us which is hello in Fijian.We were introduced to our driver, Kasim and he took us to the transport. We were expecting a mini-bus but we were taken to a lovely white four-wheeled drive Toyota, clean and air-conditioned.Kasim said the drive would take about 2 hours...it was slightly shorter. He said the lady who we had spoken to was ‘Rosie’ herself. He talked all the way, pointing things out, telling us about the trees and the mountains and the buildings we were passing. He told us there were very few snakes after the Indians brought in the mongoose. He told us local legends, the provinces we were passing through and all about each village. He stopped at a supermarket for us to get a few things and then needed another toilet stop a bit further on...at what turned out to be his brother-in-law’s craft shop. We are not green and knew what was going on...we were offered coffee but declined and we headed on without even going inside.It was all a bit of a culture shock to me...the people looked poorer than I had expected. There had been a lot of flooding recently and things were still getting back to normal. We passed rickety houses, people herding cows down the road, roadside stalls with 6 mangoes for sale, a small boy held up his catch of fish as we drove past, hoping we would buy them, two small school girls sat on a rock by the road under the spreading branches of a beautiful tree reading a book together. We passed sugar cane, banana trees, cassava plants, breadfruit trees, the beach where they made the ‘Survivor’ series and where they filmed ‘The Blue Lagoon’. They all passed by before I could capture them with my camera.Finally we arrived at the Wellesley Resort which was off the main road and down a winding and very bumpy dirt track. It was certainly remote but the countryside we passed was beautiful.We thanked Kasim. He had been great.‘Don’t tip the taxi drivers’ said the online advice I had read.We ignored it.Ok, so Kasim had spent all his retirement fund on his eldest sons education who now wanted to go to medical school in Suva and that was very expensive...Kasim was angling for a tip...we knew that.“Will you take this?” said Will holding out $20 Fijian dollars (£7).“It would be my pleasure,” said Kasim, beaming.“Bula! Bula!” We were greeted by Lani at reception. She led us through the lush, tropical grounds to Room 18 and left us to settle in.The room looked fine. The air-conditioning was good and it was quiet. It looked clean and tidy but the first cupboard I opened revealed a carton of rat killer. It was not a good start.We left our things and went for a wander around the resort. It was hot and sticky outside. The pool looked inviting and a lady, who was evolving back into a whale, was just dropping her towel and stepping cautiously down the steps into it. We hurried on past just in case there was overspill as she fully immersed herself. The beach was very close and sandy. The beach was beautiful and looking down it to the west I almost had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. The view and the late afternoon light were like something out of a film...but we were actually there. We wandered down the beach to the east and were soon hailed “Bula!” by a large lady fishing. She introduced herself as ‘Mary’. She lived in the nearby village and gave massages.“I am on the internet all over the World,” she said.“You are,” I said. I had read a review that said don’t have a massage at the resort go to Mary in the village along the beach. She is much better.“You come for massage?” she asked.“We might,” I said.She turned me round and started massaging my shoulders to show me how good she was. Yes, it was firm. She invited us to the village tomorrow at 10 for dancing.“10 at night?” I asked.“No, 10 in the morning. You come?” We did not commit. We thought we might still be in bed.We wandered back to the resort.“It has an air of decay about it doesn’t it?” said Will.It did.It is as if the better days are over and now it is slowly crumbling.Back in the room I found tiny ants by the kettle and we heard something big, cackle and rustle in the roof.“Bats,” said Will.As it went dark a toad hopped past the door outside, then another. Will discovered they were cane toads.We went for dinner at 8.00. I almost stepped on a hermit crab on the steps outside and the path through the trees to the restaurant was covered with toads...some hopped off, some were brazen and stood their ground and we had to step over them.“Bula” said Torika and handed us menus as we sat down. The whale lady was seated with three other people...she was still in her bulging and damp swimming costume, barely wrapped in a towel.There were four geckos lurking on the ceiling...occasionally ‘tutting’.Whale lady and friends were having pizza. We were handed the A’la Carte menu!It said A’la Carte at the top of the menu but it was hardly that.Will chose Bruschetta for starter and I chose Herb Bread. It was moist toast with herbs on.Torika was lovely and Mary turned out to be her auntie. We asked her about the sea kayaks and the snorkelling equipment but ended up still none the wiser as to whether we had to pay for them. She said “Don’t go beyond the reef...or you meet my friend...the shark!” Oh, how we laughed.For his main Will had Tropical Steak (marinated in pawpaw) with salad and I ordered a fruity chicken curry with potatoes, that turned out to be lumpy.It was ok at best.“What are you looking at?” said Will as I was distracted by events behind him mid meal.“Oh, Torika is just chasing a toad out of the kitchen.” I said.Will had Deep Fried Ice Cream for dessert and I had the Chocolate Paradise. It was chocolate but not paradise.We wondered what delights we could choose tomorrow from the A’la Carte menu as we dodged the toads back to our room.“Goodnight!” shouted someone in a bush nearby.“Goodnight,” we called back a bit startled.Back in the room...something was different. The cushion on the bed had gone and had been replaced with an arrangement of a fern leaf and tropical flowers and the corners of the sheet had been turned.“That’s nice, “ I said.“Yes, but a bit creepy,” said Will.Paradise seems not all it’s cracked up to be.

Interlude.

There now (probably) follows a short interval while we head off to Fiji.We leave early in the morning and shall return on Saturday evening.I doubt very much we will have internet access...that is not to denigrate Fiji in anyway, or suggest it is lacking in technology. It is simply that I doubt our phones will work there...on our Australian plans...but who knows.There is a possible cyclone developing in the Coral Sea and I suspect I have the makings of a chest infection...Ho Hum!To be continued............N xx