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- Mar 9, 2023, 10:00pm
- ☁️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- AustraliaQueenslandBrisbane27°28’4” S 153°1’57” E
Sota tale Navini
March 9, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
Our final morning in Fiji saw us wake to a sunny and very hot day. We headed to our final breakfast before the morning activity: a visit to the local village.
We boarded the boat at 9:30am and made our way across the ocean to the village that sits directly across the water from Navini - it's quite a distance, on a clear day you can see the island, but you can't tell there's a village there. We arrived and Kooli took us through the village to the Chief's house, where he presented some kava and our donation to the village (FJ$20 for both of us) to the Chief. He welcomed us and then we headed to the school (not before I slipped on some mud and went a over t 😂) where the headmaster explained how the school works.
We briefly saw the classrooms and presented our gifts to a student (rugby ball, pump and some school supplies like coloured pencils, sharpeners and stickers for the teachers to use). A few of the classrooms didn't have a teacher and the kids were very well behaved. We explained to Kooli that in Australia you couldn't leave the students alone with no teacher. He said because the village is pretty small, the kids would get into too much trouble for playing up! We then headed to the small handicraft market by the beach, bought a few small things, then headed back to our boat, on a smaller boat as it was closer to low tide.
Back at Navini, B read inside next to the fan and I floated in the calm water of the beach for a while. It was so relaxing (though not so relaxing as I write this on the plane home, I got a little sunburnt).
We headed to lunch, then returned to our bure to pack our things. We then headed up to the main area to settle our bill with Losalini, say thank you to Joyce who was in the dining room all week. We saw Simo on our way - he arrived back on the island yesterday and was sad to realise it was us back at Navini and we were about to leave. We also got a goodbye from Harry the Labrador. We headed back to our bure to grab our bags, then walked the shady way to the beach for our pick up. Losalini said she would meet us on the beach, but she was coming with us! She was off for 5 days leave with her family. We boarded the boat and realised there was departure send off for us, with a number of the staff and Harry waving us goodbye from the shady part of the beach. They waved until we could hardly see them again. Bond and Kooli safely delivered us to Vuda Marina, and Losalini gave us each a massive hug before we parted ways. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare and waited a few minutes for check in to open, then made it through check in, security and immigration in about 10 minutes.
Breakfast: fruit, pancakes with bacon and eggs (B), french toast with caramelised bananas (A)
Lunch: vegetarian pizza (A), meat lovers pizza (B) and island made icecream (A).
Vinaka vakalevu (thank you very much) for following along on our spontaneous Fiji holiday via these posts. Once again, we leave Navini the most relaxed we have been since we last left Navini. Sota tale (see you soon).Read more