A visit on Monday to the local GP – an elderly Fijian doctor with a wealth of experience in the islands, and well-recommended – to make sure there is no foreign matter in the cavity made by the stick. Despite local anaesthetic the procedure was very painful as the doctor and his nurses opened up the cavity and swabbed at least an inch into the wound with gauze to clean it up right to the bone (David felt the scraping against it), and then packed it with triple antibiotic. At least we felt that it was safely cleaned out – the doc also advised to add Flucloxicillin to the Augmentin David was already taking, and of course rest and elevation until the wound heals. So we settled in for at least a week in Savusavu.
On Tuesday morning the doctor checked that the wound was till clean and progressing, and said come back in a week. The ICA had arranged a bus tour to Labasa (Lambasa) for the day, so I went on that; it proved to be along and interesting day. Our proposed leaving time of 7.30am turned into 8.50. The bus was the usual Fiji transport – with huge gaping open window-spaces with a flap of tarpaulin which could be lowered in the event of rain – which fortunately we did not get as the tarpaulin would have spoiled the view. Curly was our tour guide. Round from Savusavu was Nabalebale village, where the instigator of the 2000 coup (when two NZ pilots were seized from Savusavu airport) now lives, having served his jail sentence. We then travelled inland through quite mountainous country, covered in rainforest, but also unfortunately swamped by a large-leafed creeper which was introduced in WWII by the US to provide camouflage and has now infested much of the island. The island also has some beef farms, still mills kauri timber from its rainforest which is bought by New Zealand, and has some pine and mahogany plantations which are not well maintained (to the extent that the pine trees are largely useless). The land used to be leased by the government, who then paid the owners to work on the plantations, but the 2000 coup gave the land back to the owners and most work ceased at that stage. The same story applies to the sugar cane areas, where apparently now 60% of the sugar cane land is now reverting to jungle. The Fijian owners are now wanting to entice the Indian workers back to the plantations, but the Indians are understandably reticent with the unstable current political situation. There is still however a lucrative copra industry (extracting all parts of the coconut, and apparently although over a century old the mill still runs very cheaply and supplies an essential component of some high spec plastic used by Dupont!) and near Labasa a large sugar mill.
While our bus rattled and ground up and down the hills we at least had panoramic views (and good ventilation!), passing through a number of very small villages. It appeared that as we got closer to Labasa there was more Indian influence. There were also small dilapidated houses sporting TV aerials and sky dishes – DVD watching is also a popular and growing pastime here. Several very small villages had either Sikh or muslim temples and religious-run schools.
Somewhere short of Labasa our bus stopped and there was discussion between the driver and Curly about how far he was contracted to drive – apparently this was sorted out after several cell phone calls and threats – and we arrived in Labasa to discover that the bus had a puncture. We all used the hour available to visit the market and local shops. The market had a great array of vegetables, mats and baskets, grains and spices, but I’d say about half was devoted to kava sales. There must be a huge market for kava as there were literally scores of stalls in the market side by side all selling kava root or chopped kava root or powder, and presumably the competition would keep prices consistent. The shops were full of Indian clothes (beautiful saris and outfits) or pirated DVD (two for $1.50 or 4 for $3 !!). Road side stalls sold delicious Indian snack foods and sweets. But he town was generally dilapidated and dirty like Nuku’alofa. Curly’s description was “ town in agony” as the loss of income from the surrounding area along with the political turmoil cannot but affect the city itself.
On the bus again we went quickly to the sugar mill, trucks laden with the long shanks of sugar line up to transfer to small train bolsters and into the mill. Back through Labasa, and about 10km back we turned off on a side road to head to Palmlea Eco stay, a resort where ICA had arranged lunch for us. The road was not what you would normally take a bus on and we were all glad that at least it had not been raining, perhaps especially so for the driver who had not been down there
and had to calculate how fast we could descend one muddy side safely to keep enough momentum to ascend the next hill. He achieved this to cheers on more than one occasion, and negotiated severe earthmoving operations and very narrow bridges. I stayed ready to assume the “brace position” and try to stay inside the bus should we go over a bank (having a huge open window next to me), luckily that was not necessary.
The resort was like an oasis in the wilderness – top class, and we could see the mast of one visiting yacht, the anchorage seemed to be about half a mile walk through sugarcane and coconut palms. We had a delicious lunch but the events of the day had put us behind and it was five o’clock before we prised everyone away for the trip back.
Some consternation as we hurtled back towards Savusavu (I think the driver was not too happy about how late HE was going to get home) as we had noticed leaking transmission oil coming through on one of the wheels, and flames coming out the exhaust as we ascended the steep hills. Other local buses and various four wheel drives passed us on the narrow roads, and even after dark we saw groups of people seemingly in the middle of nowhere who all called “Bula” and got a resounding chorus of “Bula” back from our bus.
Savusavu seemed so clean and civilised when we arrived back at nearly 8 o’clock! We had managed to get a message through to David that we would be late, and luckily he had been able to rest his foot and have a good day, even borrowing a good pair of crutches from another cruising boat.
Wednesday night was the ICA dinner and prizegiving for the Tonga to Fiji leg, with “ etc. Given the injury to David’s head at Mariners Cove, and his foot here, it was no surprise that awards for the “Finest Cuisine on passage”, “Biggest fish caught on passage”, “Best Picture” and “Longest Passage and I guess that with his previous among the awards was a special “OSH” award for Runaway Bay for “Best Demonstration of Safety Practices whilst Cruising”….Ha ha ha ha. Two old safety hard hats came as the prize.
Settled in for a week of recuperation, and receiving visitors……..which included sharing advice on water maker installations, chart plotting, recipes, fixing zippers in boat rain gear etc, swapping DVD films and several dinners out. The curry night at the local Indian restaurant was deliciously memorable – a meal we shared with Dick and Barbara (“the oldest and wisest lady in the fleet”, at 77) from the huge steel sketch Barbarella and Doug and Sylvia from Windcastle. The next night we had a lovely meal at the marina restaurant with Reg (Force Six) from Tasmania and his partner Lois who had just flown in to sail with him for the next six months, and we
expect to sail with them from Musket Cove in Fiji to Tanna in Vanuatu in a months time. It was Reg’s 60th birthday, complete with chocolate cake. Saturday market is full of fresh veges and a crowd to buy them before it closes at midday, as no shops open on a Sunday. The local daily paper provides an interesting look at Fiji life with many items and letters regarding the current uncertain political situation and lack of an election, and also reporting many problems not unique to Fiji – health problems such as increasing diabetes, drug problems,rising food and fuel costs. Three yachts into Savusavu have had to pay a hefty fine of $1250 because they did not gain the required cleaance from Lautoka, their previous port, under strict new rules here. There is also a loy of disquiet about another new ruling which says that subsequent visits by a yacht may not be less than 9 months apart – effectively stopping a successive season’s cruising in Fiji – unless the yacht is “imported” with great amount of duty paid.
We moved to the Waitui Marina moorings, as they are in a better position for breeze and cleaner water to make water. With the antibiotic dosages and keeping the wound dry it soon healed and we were ready for the next stage – a trip round the bottom of Viti Levu through the Beqa Channel and around to to Vuda Point (near Lautoka) which will be our jumping off point for the Yasawas. We waited until not only was David given the “all clear” from the local doctor but also the wound had healed sufficiently that getting wet at any stage should not trouble it, so we ended up here over two weeks altogether. Meantime some of the other boats heading to Lautoka had taken a great weather window, but we should still have plenty of time.
David installed a second serial pump to the watermaker, reprogrammed our aging batteries to maximise their performance (they will need replacing when we get back to NZ as they are at the end of their 5 year life), installed new super-bright deck and anchor lights. We also watched several borrowed DVDs, including one on diving the USS President Coolidge which David hopes to do when we get to Vanuatu. I decided to do a basic dive course so that I could join him on some less adventurous and demanding dives – an opportunity to do the course on a one-to one basis by PADI instructor in a few days here seemed worth doing. A DVD and book to study started it off, and then sessions in the local pool and in open water. It proved another challenge for me, a naturally risk averse person – breathing underwater relying on a piece of equipment is a little scary, but having done the course I feel that I will be able to do easy dives with David confidently, although of course its still a lot easier to snorkel in areas where you can see heaps from very near the surface anyway. The exploration diving on the course was also very interesting with the different coral formations and larger fish found at the greater depths – most of our exploring was around 9-12 metres.
We spent Saturday evening at the home of Isei (the dive instuctor) and Kathy his wife, and some of their family and friends watching the All Blacks play South Africa, and David drank Kava and beer with the local men there.
Re-provisioned again, we were ready to set out for the pass south and round to Lautoka after clearing out on as soon as wind and sea are favourable……..