Safely to Christchurch

We did not have internet yesterday, as it was a day of travel. We had breakfast, took pictures of some of the flowers around the resort, packed and came to the lobby to leave at about 11:30 am. There all the staff were gathered, one with a guitar, and sang us a farewell song in Fijiian. It was very beautiful and moving. They made a little speech asking our forgiveness if they did not serve us well. So, with a tear in our eye, we left for the boat to the main island. As we had a few hours before our flight, we asked to be dropped off in town to do a little shopping. Our service from the port to the airport dropped us off and took all of our bags to the tour operator’s office at the airport, so we could wander around a little and then take a cab to the airport. Bought a couple of little things.

By the way, did we mention the kava?  The manager made kava our last two nights and invited people to join him in the bar for some.  It was made by soaking the root powder through a fine linen in water, or something like that, but it looked like he was washing his clothes in it.  And the color was that of dirty dish water.  It tasted like mud, but it really had a relaxing effect.  You no longer noticed any aches or pains and I slept really well.  Even Irith tasted it.  You are supposed to do a little ceremony with your first cup, as the natives take kava ceremony very seriously.  You clap your hands once, then drink the entire cup down, and then clap three times.  Irith made it through about one swallow, gagged, said thank you very much and clapped three times.  I don’t think she will be invited back.

Kava

The flight to Aukland was quite nice.  We had business class and, on Sunday nights when many Kiwis are returning home from Fiji, they put on a big 777.  They have seats that recline to full beds and have a table, etc.  It was extremely comfortable.  The three hours went by like nothing.  In Auckland we were picked up and taken to our hotel at the airport (which did not have free internet) and in the morning we caught a flight to Christchurch (we arrived to late Sunday night to get the last flight to Christchurch).

Today we had lots of fun at the Buskers Festival.  But more on that in the next post.

Roger