We've gone on a roadtrip to Labasa. It's only 85 km, but almost three hours by bus over the misty hills of Vanua Levu. Labasa is very much Indofijian, in fact I'm shopping a sari here. I'm not quite sure where or when to wear a sari back home in Denmark, but it's very pretty.
Other than that we've visited the local temple and faffed about in town (there's no beach) and had a beer and sorted photos. There's not so much to do here really, and we're both starting to feel that we've seen what there is to see in Fiji,at least for the time being with our monetary resources.

Don't get me wrong, it is really really nice here, but after a while you realize that the guidebooks are using up every possible ressource to come up with things to do. And much of those things are rather much the same in most islands and places. Closing in on three months of hanging out by the beach or being in rather smallish towns that close down at 7.30 sharp, whereafter you have to entertain yourself is enough for me. I miss my bike and more space and changing weather and, well, ordinary stuff like my kitchen and having things to do in the day and less ordinary stuff like my friends and family and husband.

Tomorrow we're going out to a hindu temple with a growing rock that's shaped like a cobra where they do tricks with milk and popcorn we've been told. And then I guess I'm picking up my sari and we return to Savusavu to have dinner at Joseph's and listen to live music and sunday we go sailing an monday we're heading back to Viti Levu. And all that is not so bad.

It's pretty unreliable here in Fiji. We're reaching Taveuni today, and I'm planning to run away with the ship chef to a beach with warm water and cold drinks. We're tired of sailing. Here's the proejct newsletter. Read between the lines - it's prettified.

Honour Fiji Journey Newsletter

Suva to Moon Reef

In Suva Harbour

Alvei is anchored in Suva Harbour where the crew have been hard at work to clean up ship, get provisions and make repairs so the ship is all set for our two month long Honour Fiji Journey. Our already delayed sail date is Wednesday the 13^th of June, so we’re in a hurry to get things ready. After 43 days of sailing from Nelson in New Zealand to Suva there’s much work to be done, and unfortunately a lot of it is on deck, rust busting, painting and so forth, which can only be done in sunshine – and we have mainly had rain during our month in Suva.

Our sail date keeps being delayed, due to weather systems in the wrong compass corner, meetings to go to and so forth. There are always a million things to do before setting out on a tour like this. We’re a mix of old and new crew, palagi (white or westerners) and Fijians, and in particular the crew members who have taken part in the six week long strenuous Nelson-Suva passage and been aboard ship since March are eager to get going and there are some frustrations aboard due to the constant delays.

We have meetings to clear the air and the communication channels. The proverb "being in the same boat" never makes as much sense as when you actually are on a ship and need to cooperate and maintain a congenial atmosphere to keep the ship in shape. The Honour Fiji Journey isn’t just learning about environment, but also learning to cooperate across cultures and expectations – in particular since the crew is very international and culturally differentiated with the only national majority being four Fijians out of a crew of twelve - so much we realize before even leaving harbour. In the end we have several good bye parties, last drinks and showers and three newly tattooed sailors before we go anywhere.

At last both weather and itineraries come together, and with a total of 10 crew members, Captain Evan and project manager Carrie we finally get going on Wednesday the 20^th of June, expecting to pick up our remaining crew members at Moon Reef.

Makogai Island

Our first stop is Makogai Island where we pick up young Giant Clams to be seeded by Moon Reef.

The clams are spawned in 500 liter tanks, and the baby clams are assorted in large concrete pools with flowing seawater according to age and size. We get over a hundred clams to place out on Moon Reef. Three of us don snorkel gear to see some the big ones out in their natural habitat only few meters from the beach and the huge clams are an impressive sight.

We also get the tour and history of the village; Makogai used to be a leprosy colony and was the largest in the South Pacific. It was run by a French catholic nunnery, and closed down in 1969. Today there's a hospital ruin, with large concretely slabs erected abruptly in what is now bush and farm land, as well as a cemetery with approximately 1500 graves. In total 4000 people lived on the island during the leprosy days.

Moon Reef and Nataleira village

Moon Reef is our first official stop on the Honour Fiji Journey on Friday the 22^nd of June, where we have a week long itinerary, involving both marine ecology and cultural exchange.

The passage from Makogai to Moon Reef

We get up at break of dawn at Makogai to hoist anchor. The passage between Makogai and Moon Reef/Nataleira village is approximately nine hours and we don't want to arrive in dark. The sailing is demanding among the reefs, and the crew who has taken part in the NZ to Suva passage is also the navigation team, since we still are the experienced. We arrive safely at Nataleira near Moon Reef, where we anchor a few hundred meters off the village beach, snugly protected in the bay.

All crew have a swim and don their best land clothes, and we're received with a sevusevu ceremony by the elders of the village, being welcomed to the village. We introduce ourselves and the purpose of the Honour Fiji Journey. The evening continues with Fijian language lessons, and the last sailors are on back board around 10 in the evening.

Sevusevu ceremonies

For those who aren't acquainted with Fijian customs, kava or yaqona is a drink with mildly narcotic effect produced from the grounded roots of the Macropiper methysticum pepper plant. It is mixed with water to something which could be described as mixture in between used dish water and mud, and it pretty much tastes the same. The drink is tranquilizing and numbs lips and mouth of those who imbibe it. Kava is an important part of sevusevu rituals which are performed on events such as births, deaths, marriages, peacemaking or formal reception of visitors. Our sevusevu experiences are of course receptions of visitors, either held on board boat, where we welcome the local village elders, or on land, where the village welcomes us.

For ceremonial sevusevu there's a strict protocol of how the kava is mixed, who drinks first as well as clapping once with cupped hands before and thrice after emptying the cup in one go. Traditionally it is the elder men of the village on of the visitors who are offered kava, while women and youngsters don’t have kava until the official sevusevu is over. Foreigners are usually given instruction on how it is done, what is appropriate and also given a bit of leeway if they accidentally blunder a bit. It can also be drunk in a more informal way between friends, but there is almost always a ceremony master, who prepares the kava, and you always say Bula before drinking in one go. Even the most formal sevusevu usually continues in this way. If the kava isn’t much to your liking it’s ok to ask for a low tide, and politely decline after imbibing the first cup. If you’re fond of it (or its effect) then asking for a high tide or even tsunami should do the trick.

The Moon Reef Myth

Makalati or Moon reef is the spirit home of the ancestors of the local village Silana which is owned by the yavusa (clan) Lau. The reef is protected by two baby sharks, one named Bera A Ua and the other Bera A Lolo - faster than the waves and faster than the tide - hence no one may kill or harm baby sharks at the reef. The babale (spinner dolphins) that live by the reef are said to entertain the ancestral spirits. The myth has that the reef used to be a village site, occupied by the ancestors of the modern village Silana and hence the villagers must now protect the reef. The layout of the spirit village is known, with a playground, the rubbish dump, and a sandy stretch where the ancestors play veitiqa (javelin throwing). The reef is sacred and it is forbidden to throw rubbish at the site, make loud noises and in general behave in ways that doesn't honour the sacredness of the site.

Before fishing on the reef, one must ask permission of the Silana village which is protector of the reef, bringing a sevusevu, offering of kava. A story is told of a wedding during hard times in the neighbouring village Nataleira; with scarce food to celebrate the wedding. A sevusevu of kava was offered to the Lau clan and permission obtained to go fishing and food gathering on the reef. Much food was caught, both shell fish and fish and even a turtle so large it took six men to carry it back to the village where the wedding fiest could now be celebrated.

Although it is nowadays seen as witchcraft it used to be the custom to bring food offerings in clay pots to the reef for the ancestors. Pot shards have later been found on the reef, possibly from these offerings. Fishermen tell tales of catching strips of grass skirts (liku vau), hearing voices and seeing fires on the reef during nightly fishing trips. The ancient belief is that spirits travel to their ancestor at Moon Reef via the Udukula point where the spirit of the dead dive to the Moon Reef. Another sacred point is Ucuna i waka ni ivi (the point which resembles Tahitian chestnuts roots), where the villagers can see a fire lit when someone dies in the village. The Ivi tree (Tahitian chestnut) is the totem tree of the Lau clan.

Clam seeding

Early in the morning on Saturday the 23^rd our chef Lou and project manager Carrie make it into Korovou town, to do some very necessary food shopping and project planning.

The rest of the crew is sailed out to a nearby reef to seed some of the clams from Makogai. They’re young giant clams which are endangered due to their shells being very attractive, but nowadays export has been banned. Unfortunately a case of Fiji time has struck, and we end up going in during low tide, and don’t get a proper instruction of how to seed the clams. The reef is circle-shaped, with no channels entering it, which means that there's no other way into the central deeper parts but over the reef in ankle deep water. Walking on reefs is a big no-no, and by each step you easily crush several years of growth. It also turns out that we’ve put the clams out wrongly; the clams have to be seeded in couples, one male (reddish) and one female (orange) clam together in order to make new baby clams. We’ve just put them out in random order and they have to be rearranged. We're not too happy feeling we’re wasting resources from the village, and agree to discuss the issue on our Monday morning meeting later.

Rest day

We keep Sundays resting days, sleep in and attend church in the village. Even for those who aren't of a great religious inclination it is a good way to get acquainted with the daily life on land and nice to meet locals. We're invited for lunch and more and more dishes keeps being sent over to the porch for us to try. The village youth has apparently been quite impressed with the ship and we're being put forward as a good example - if you work hard, it is possible to go out to see the world and learn a lot. In particular the fact that we're a mainly female crew has proven a novelty; "That big ship and they're all young girls sailing it!"

The evening is intended to be our quiet time off and just about as the majority of the crew is below decks for a bit of rest or quietly cooking in the galley (kitchen), we get boatload after boatload of sightseers. While it's great that people are interested, and we're happy to able to give tours the ship, it can be overwhelming with that many unplanned visitors, in particular after dark when it is difficult to do tours, since we do not have much light aboard. We make an agreement to have people coming out during the day time in order for us to have bit off time too and be able to give better tours.

The Foreigner Complex

We start Monday 25^th of June with a morning meeting, having a talk about the purpose of the project and what we wish to do and learn from the project. The concept of Fiji time (two o'clock might as well be four o'clock, depending on when people are ready) combined with ship time (6th of June might as well be 9th of June depending on weather, engine faults etc.) have been more or less annoying at points, both concerning the project itinerary and cooperation with land based partners as well as crew satisfaction. This year’s project being the first is to a great extinct a trial, error and learning experience to see what is actually possible to do.

We have a long discussion aboard concerning how and whether it is possible to come as foreigners and palagis to "change the world", and how to avoid just being another tourist believing that we're making a difference, while we might end up using more resources than we contribute. The conclusion comes to be that as foreigners visiting only shortly, it will to a large extent be us learning from the Fijians. What we can try to accomplish is getting attention to the issues that need addressing, to show that we have genuine wish of learning and exchanging knowledge and in particular to ensure that the Fijian crew members are put in front of the project, since they are staying and working with the Econesian Society and hence are those that really can make a difference in the future, while the palagi crew at some point will be leaving Fiji for their homes.

Moon Reef Diving

During Tuesday forenoon we're going to Moon Reef per outboard and are welcomed by the spinner dolphins who visit the reef on a regular basis, playing around in the bow wave. The weather is rather rough, but we still don snorkel gear and jump in with the clams. We're also taking pictures of the reef, to see which state it is in, and are happy to see a living colourful reef with lots of fish and shellfish and very few crown of thorn starfish. There are a few places where there’s some damage, and it is very obvious to see how much harm a single misplaced anchor can do to a reef.

After lunch and a change to dry clothes we go on shore for some mangrove tree planting, with Isoa, our main helper, instructor and contact, showing us the cigar shaped seeds of the mangrove trees as well as the desirable size of sprouted seedlings. We collect a big bunch and replant the seedlings at the edge of the mangroves and start a nursery for the seeds. They're placed in plastic cups filled with sands to protect the roots and dug into the moist, sandy ground with about half the seed sticking up. Once they've sprouted, they'll be planted out to cover a larger area with mangrove. The plastic cups can be reused for future nurseries and won't pollute the ground. The mangroves are very important to the local ecosystem, protecting against coastal erosion which is a big problem and can cause entire villages to have to relocate further inland. Furthermore, the mangroves also act as a filter, cleaning off excess silt from rivers going into the sea, and hence protecting reefs further out. If there's too much silt and erosion coming from land to sea, the reefs can be smothered in eroded material which simply put suffocates the reef polyps, keeps out the sun and causes the reef to die. The mangrove can also filter spill water from villages without a sewage cleaning system, which is hard to incorporate and maintain in most small island villages.

School and health clinic visits

Tuesday we're visiting the local secondary school, which serve two districts and 15 villages with only three class rooms and a handful of teachers. The school is quite new, built in 2006, and the vice principal tells of how he painted a piece of plywood with black paint and hammered it to a tree to give the first lessons outside while the school was being built.

The teachers live in the compound, while students take a bus from their village. Secondary school is not compulsory, but is encouraged by the state paying school fees and transport to the school and approximately 75% of Fijian youth attend secondary school. We talk with the students during their break, telling of the ship Alvei and the Honour Fiji Journey. Once the students have warmed up a bit there's lots of questions about the ship and our project, quite a few of them having seen the ship for anchor by Nataleira village.

Our ship nurse Kanuk is visiting the local clinic and nurse. Working conditions are tough in the countryside, with only one nurse to the clinic, and she is on watch 24/7 all year round. She is responsible for the health care of 2722 people. During the past two years, the nurse has only been granted holidays once. Nurses and doctors are stationed where they are needed, which can be far away from family and friends, and there's usually no other transport than the nurses own feet for home visits in the local villages. Luckily health personnel in the area don't face too many grave health issues; the major problems being intestinal worms, skin infections, respiratory infections, diabetes and high blood pressure which can be treated in the clinic and on home visits. One of the bigger concerns is the appearance of dengue fever in the area. Health education concerning nutrition, hygiene and the major local health issues are also an important part of the nurse’s job to prevent further health problems.

By bilibili down the river

After our school and clinic visit we go by bilibili (bamboo raft) down the river, where Isoa treats us to some papaya and tells about the importance of the forests. Fiji's landscape is volcanic and full of steep hill- and mountainsides, and rain can pour down in heavy quantities, making bare areas prone to landslides and heavy erosion. The forest acts as sponge, ensuring that this doesn't happen. Around the district where we are there's not much forestry and the high mountains are carpeted in indigenous trees. On lower lands there are fast growing spruces, an imported money crop used for building material. The river suffers some bank erosion, but is in general in good shape, with fish and bird life. The birdlife in Fiji is endangered, as on many other pacific islands, due to imported pests. In Fiji it's cats, rats and mongoose who take eggs and chickens. Luckily several islands are mongoose and rat free and have an abundant indigenous bird life; among those Taveuni, which is our next leg of the journey.

The raft tour is absolutely stunning and ends by the black sand beach where we can walk back to the village among drift wood and yellow beach hibiscus. The hibiscus flower adorns many ears and hairdos in Fiji, and if you're married the flower goes behind the left ear, while singles keep it behind the right ear.

In the village we have fish for lunch with dalo (taro) and moli (lemon) and rokete (chili) for dipping. The dessert is of course lolo - coconut. We’re thrilled to get some variation to our tins and beans and keep the scurvy at bay. Without a fridge nothing fresh keeps for very long and we need to replenish stocks of fresh food every second or third day or go without – hence one of our great pleasures is to share meals in the village.

There are still some days to go by Moon Reef with further school visits, a lovo (traditional earth oven meal) party, storytelling evening and a visit from Fiji1 TV before we continue to Taveuni. The visit to Moon Reef and Nataleira village has taught us much and we’re happy to have made new friends and had such wonderful experiences.

Nina bikes NZ

Sider

Sunday 29 July 2012

West Coast

Saturday 28 July 2012

Last ride

Thursday 26 July 2012

Practicalities

Wednesday 25 July 2012

NZ

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Moce Fiji!

Thursday 19 July 2012

Hello Wolrd!

Friday 13 July 2012

Savusavu & Labasa

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Jumping ship - still here

Sunday 1 July 2012

Internet's back