Around Savusavu, Fiji Islands

[fiji jim]

The strip ends on the reef.

Most of the flying around here is spectacular with great views of coral reefs and aqua lagoons.

But some of the landings are a bit nervy when the trade winds are pumping.

[fiji jim]

A ferry was docked and unloading when I passed through town.

This is how most products arrive here and most of these boats are third hand after being retired from service in Europe.

Freight is also expensive as. It will cost me the same amount to ship something from Suva to here as from Sydney to Suva. Suva is 12 hours away in this rust-bucket.

I will post some of the last few days soon but I still have not downloaded yet.

[amazondk]

Jim,

It looks like the folks from Montana have the best of both worlds.  Where in Montana do they live?  Your pictures bring back old memories of my trip to Fiji in 1972.  I even won an award at the State Fair in Great Falls, Montana for a picture of a little Fijian girl I took.  In several occaisions the Fijians took me in while I was travelling.  It was a great experience.  Who knows maybe I will manage to get back there sometime.  At least I hope to get some Buriti seeds to you.

dk

[fiji jim]

Bula Don,

I don't know where in Montana those folk live but they are farmers. They visit regularly and hope to sell one of the two spec homes that they had built here. Nice people.

Yes it is easy to receive the Fijian hospitality and have a village stay but they don't want you to leave. Also one cannot be seen around at meal times without being beckoned to eat with them and they make it feel like you must do so.

I spent quiet a while in a village on Koro Island many years ago when I was diving for beche de mer and had my fill of the lifestyle as there is absolutely no  privacy in that communal village life.

If you do travel here again we must meet.

Now I will post some pics of this long weekend events.

It started for us with a rush job to get palms out the door to a development on Laucala Island.

We only had a few days notice and it was a big panic to find equipment and people that would even do  the job but we managed fiji style. A bit messy and sometimes hard to believe but it happened.

Check out the state of this excavator machine that the first contractor sent to do the job. Here they call these 'diggers' for obvious reasons but this one could not move along without pushing itself with the bucket and hydraulic arm.

[fiji jim]

The fumes were outrageous and it spewed three kinds of oil over our place as it struggled on.

[fiji jim]

We managed to excavate 2 frangipani trees before it died after a tedious 1+ 1/2 hours of constant pollution

[fiji jim]

Not so healthy.

[fiji jim]

Then we were able to get another machine from another job at a premium of course. That was only possible because all the Indian guys working on that building site finished at noon so they could shop for Deepawali which was the next day.

[fiji jim]

Then we were able to get another machine from another job at a premium of course. That was only possible because all the Indian guys working on that building site finished at noon so they could shop for Deepawali which was the next day.

[fiji jim]

The next morning we drove the stock to the ferry wharf. these dump trucks are hell to load nicely as the sides are in the way and they are narrow but that is all we could get at short notice.

I will blame the client for not getting it together earlier.

The development is to be visited by the owners this week and they had to finish one of the villas for showing.

All last minute panic stuff with 'experts' from overseas organising things without a real clew to the local scene.

[bgl]

Jim,

Thanks for the additional pictures! Great! Abd you even got a Twin Otter landing at Savusavu - I'm impressed!  That fruit bat - is it semi tame, or what?

Bo-Göran

[fiji jim]

A real jigsaw puzzle with the foxies, rhapis and lippies below the manila and the golden canes.

I think that I would hate unloading this more than I was frustrated by the loading.

I have demanded enough time to order some flat bed trucks for the next shipments. I hate these last minute rush and panic deals but can't say no to the dollars.

[fiji jim]

While we were waiting this cruise ship pulled into the bay.

Those tourists will do a tour of the pearl farm, visit a village, perhaps a resort and have some leisure time to stroll the empty town street as all is closed for Deepawali. Not that there is anything worth buying unless you want a sari (Indian dress) or sulu (sarong).

[fiji jim]

Now here comes the SOFI. Spirit of the Fiji Islands.

She was retired from Greece some years ago.

The trip will take about 6 hours to reach Taveuni Island and then depart for Laucala Is. and arrive in another 6 hours. About midnight.

I am not going this time.

[fiji jim]

Action at the wharf

[fiji jim]

A load of milled Mahogany

[fiji jim]

I just arrived home to see the SOFI sailing out of the bay and with the dollars in the bank and part one of the job complete it is beer-o'clock.

[fiji jim]

Then off to a friends place to get in the deepawali mood.

[fiji jim]

Our Indian friends were with their families today but we helped them celebrate anyway

[fiji jim]

This is a great view of the anchorage from their house which is located above the Hot Springs Hotel above the town.

[fiji jim]

After heading down the coast for a meal with other friends we came back through the town and I tried some drive-by shots of the celebrations but I was not so successful by that stage of the day as I was in the back of a pick-up and only getting the departing views between rounds.

[fiji jim]

Then the next night, or last night I checked out the closing of the local annual music festival.

This group was from the USP (University of the South Pacific) and a very mixed lot but some great talent and harmonizing with different cultural slants to make it a real fruit-salad act.

[fiji jim]

More of Melanesia

[fiji jim]

The camera is not doing so well. Or maybe it was me but I will blame the poor lighting.

Now this is more the Polynesian side with the extreme hip shaking. Polynesian dance seems to be a lot more sensual than the Melanesians who are often more expressive of power.

I have seen Turkish belly dancing but nothing beats this for fast hip movement.

[fiji jim]

This group was putting out the Tina Turner tunes

[fiji jim]

Here's the bad girls down the back yahooing and having fun, with of course the lippy on the left.

[fiji jim]

Some traditional dress from Micronesia.

The wrap-around is made from pandanas leaf.

[fiji jim]

And lastly for now at the same venue this yellow fin tuna mosaic was made from mother of pearl by a local artist.

[amazondk]

Jim,

I like the people and work pictures a lot.  I think that these kind of posts are good for the travel threads because they show the human environment along with nature.  Is the mahoganny wood on the truck in strapped bundles or is it loose loaded on the truck.  I really could not tell by looking at the picture.  Is the wood milled into a finished product in Fiji or is it exported as sawn timber?  Mahoganny still can not be exported from Brazil because of all the controversy around the species here.  Not that there is no mahoganny, there is plenty in some areas.  But, it sort of became the symbol for poor predatory logging practices and illegal documentation.

Here is one of the trucks with wood going to Holland that we shipped on a barge down the Amazon yesterday to meet a vessel that will go to Holland.  Most everything that could go wrong with the loading did, at least almost everything, because the barge did get loaded and left.  Tomorrow I have to fly down to receive the shipment.  The port is 40 hours by barge down the Amazon, a 1 hour jet flight from here.  We shipped equivalent to 13 trucks of this size on the barge.   It was around 40C this weekend and working on the barge was like being on a frying pan.

dk

[fiji jim]

Hi Bo,

Thanks for the info on the plane. I have not been very interested in planes but always happy to land safely.

I know much more about helicopters as I worked with them a lot years back for gold prospecting.

That was a baby bat and was still with the mother when found and they are very common here and live in large colonies on close by islands and come out around dusk. They often wake us at night in nearby pawpaw and mango trees fighting over the fruit.

Don,

That sure sounded like hard work in that heat.

I'm glad that it is never that hot here and it reminds me of the times I spent working in central Australia and the west.

The mahogany here is said to be only third grade but most is milled here. On that truck were milled and stacked various widths of 1 inch thickness and was bound for Suva to be used for furniture construction.

Mahogany here is also a big controversy and has been a large part of the reasons for political power struggles and coups as everyone wants to get some of the divies in their back pockets.

From your story of things going wrong; it sounds so much like making progress here as it always takes so much more effort than other places where progress is normal.

‘If it can go wrong, it will definitely go wrong. If it can’t go wrong it probably will still go wrong.’

Something like Murphy’s Law.

We see a many foreigners come here and try to rush things or think that their money will make it so much better for them and they always end up frustrated and in the same situation as those who have been around a long time and have survived by learning the essential 3P’s. Politeness, perseverance and patients. Basically if you think you have patients don’t believe that you will not learn more patients. If you are not focused and totally perseverant you will fail as nothing is straight forward in these places and most others do not really want to see an outsider succeed. And the politeness is so hard when you should really hit the stupid mo fo that just cost you thousands through their stupidity or laziness; but you can’t or noone will work with you again.

Just like the machine operator that broke one of my large Manila palms in half last Friday.

You may find this site interesting-www.fijimahogany.com

Loloma from Fiji

Jim

[amazondk]

Jim,

What you say is true I guess most anywhere.   When you want to get something done some place you first need to understand what it takes to get things done where you are.  Not, the way you think they should be done.  I have worked most of my life in the transportation business and a few years ago decided to change things and get involved in the lumber business.  Well, I am now in the lumber business, but I have returned to the transportation business all the same.  In order to get paid you have to get the stuff shipped.  And, anwhere that can be a challange, even more so with the challanges we have here.  No one has ever put together a shipping system for lumber products of the type I am doing for our suppliers.  Your 3 Ps are road rules to live by to survive and flourish where not eveyone can.  On top of the problems of shipping our stuff is the hurdles to go through due to all the environmental controls now in place for forest products.  They are definately needed, but could be made a bit more sensible and efficient.  But, then again public servants get job security from such things and really have no interest in changing them.  I guess that is the same around the world.

dk

[Al in Kona]

Very very interesting thread Jim.  I've always been interested in Fiji as well as other islands in the Pacific - always curious to learn more and your descriptions and photos are doing just that.  You don't have a map of your island to post and show us here do you?  That would be so helpful to oriente myself and pinpoint the areas you talk about.

[Pivi]

great tour!

[Walter John]

There's no deepawali than me.

Thanks for a great pictorial tour, loved it.

[redant]

(fiji jim @ Oct. 22 2007,03:07)

QUOTE

As we leave town to exit the bay we pass our property.

Wow, that looks like a great location & obviously you have water views!

[DoomsDave]

Jim:

Keep the pictures coming.  Especially the ones of the people and ordinary things.

dave

[fiji jim]

Glad you are enjoying our little world here.

For those who want to see a chart to orientate these locations; try these links.

http://www.fiji-island.com/northern-fiji.html

http://graphicmaps.com/webimage/countrys/oceania/fj.htm

When the rain stops, (it's been continual lately, some dry season) I will make more stills.

Jim

[amazondk]

Jim,

What are the normal months of dry and wet season there?  I would imagine that it would be similar to southern hemisphere Brazil.  We are just starting into the rainy season here at 3 degrees S.

dk

[fiji jim]

Don,

I imagine it is much the same as for you but as close to the equator as you are there should be less chance of a bad cyclone. In our region they may develop closer to the equator but always truck away from it and reach their intensity further south like nearer our latitudes.

Our wet season should be starting now also and going through to April with the hottest most humid times being from February to April.

However this year our average annual rainfall had fallen before the end of March and to date we have had about 3 times more. Muddy and messy. But  it only takes a few days of clear skies and it will be dry in most places. After 2 weeks of no rain and sunshine the ground is cracking in places and if it stays dry for 3 weeks it is a drought and we are watering.

But like everywhere our weather is rather unpredictable except that we never fear low temperatures.

Jim

[SubTropicRay]

Phenomenal photos Jim!!  Please keep them coming.