It was a week of work – interrupted by periodic texts an
d emails from Scott and Ann extoling us with the wonders of The Royal Davui. It was enough to make us a bit jealous. And then they wrote that if we wanted to we had permission to come over on the 9:45 am boat on Friday to spend the morning with them, have lunch with them and then ride back with them as they left at 2:30pm in the afternoon.
Of course we jumped at the chance and so on Friday we were found at the Club Oceanius waiting for our lift over to “paradise” island. And when we arrived we discovered that it was indeed a small bit of paradise.
We cool off with our cool scented washcloths, drank o
ur fruit punch and headed out try some of Scott and Ann’s favorite toys. We sailed on the catamaran, not much wind, but fun. Then snorkeled, then Dew and Ann took the sea kayaks around the island and Scott and I lounged by the pool.
Their villa was amazing, with wonderful views of the water and of Bega
Island, and gave you the impression you were the only people there. Lunch was served on a deck next to a huge Banyan tree. We all had burgers, which had to have been at least a pound each. We took the buns from the burgers and the rolls they served and fed the fish down on the pier, and among them was a shark.
Then all too soon it was time to head back to the mainland, leaving their little island quietly in the middle of the lagoon.
We drove towards Sigatoka and stayed at the Outrigger Resort that night.
We stayed down next to the beach in our own little Bures, complete with painted ceilings. The complementary champagne was quickly exchanged for Diet Cokes, and we were all still too full for dinner.
We watched the evening lighting of the torches, and the blowing of the Conch shells around the pool and then just lounged the evening away. Breakfast in the morning was yummy and we loaded up the car and headed towards Navua and our highland river trip.
At Navua we were loaded into a van and off we went for the hour and one
half drive up into the highlands. We were accompanied by a young man named Matt from Australia, and our driver was William. The road up into the highlands was being “worked” on. This meant that they were pouring loads of rocks and dirt into the low spots and waiting for the traffic to tamp them down and smooth them out.
The roads are steep, narrow and somewhat scary in places. We hit one area where the van bogged down and the guys got out to push. They definitely weren’t enough to get it up the incline so with Ann and I in the van, William backed down the road about a half mile. He started up again and it was apparent we weren’t even going to make it back to where they guys waited, along with a small station wagon full of gear that was our support vehicle.
So we rolled back down hill again. This time William gave it all the juice it had and we fish tailed up the hill, lurching from side to side. As we came close to the men and the other car I thought, “we are going to swing around and hit them all”, but William managed to keep control and we made it to the paved part just above all the rocks and dirt. We cheered and told William he should be a race car driver, and he just grinned and loved every minute of it.
The highlands are amazing and both Scott and Ann said it was worth the
price of the trip just for the ride up.
We lugged (okay, the men) the gear down to the river and we blew up the raft and kayak for Scott. Moses was our guide and he gave us a good safety lecture. This is higher water than the first time we went, but it didn’t seem to make much difference. We proceeded through rocky, narrow places that we were sure the raft couldn’t get through.
We stopped at a waterfall and hiked up to it. It made up 
for the waterfall that they missed last week because of the rain. Speaking of which, it started to rain as we left the gorge. At the gorge Moses took the raft over close to the waterfall for a picture and made sure Ann and I were drenched, so a little rain didn’t bother us much.
It rained all the rest of the way down, but nothing like last week. And when the air is that warm who cares if it rains. At the confluence we met the long boat, loaded the gear aboard and decided we could wait for lunch until we got back. We were all drowned rats by the time we got there, but had had a wonderful time.
Back home where we actually cooked. Then Scott and Ann ran over to
visit with a missionary who was friends with Sam and we did their laundry and by 9pm we were all ready to hit the hay.
Next morning it was time to load them up and take them to the airport for their return trip. They left at 10:45am and will get home around 7pm tomorrow, still on Sunday. It was wonderful to have them, so good to see their smiley faces and to have a bit of home with us if only for this brief time.
And now we are patiently waiting for the next group from home who will
appear on our doorstep the end of March. And Scott and Ann have stories to tell them before they get here.
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