Tribewanted: Vorovoro

V-Day: The first hours…

Well, it’s two weeks since I left the island, enough time to collect my experiences, shuffle them around like a game of Boggle and spout some half-coherent words.

Let’s start at the beginning. You arrive at Labasa. Not the world’s greatest town. It’s noisy, crowded. Ancient buses belch clouds of blue and black diesel smoke. Think a dwarfish Delhi on crystal meth, without any of the fun bits. You are probably tired, possibly jet-crazed after spending the last day flying around a significant portion of the globe. The ATMs have refused your card at Nadi International airport (phone your bank before you leave home, have reserve cash, and remember you can get money by showing your card and passport to the bank clerk- not that you need money on Vorovoro anyway…). You have just flown on the smallest plane you have ever seen in your life into Labasa airport. Maybe you chatted with the pilot. Thoughts such as What the hell have I got myself into are beginning to bubble in your head. Don’t worry. They’re natural. In a few hours your life is about to start getting better, and increase exponentially for the duration.
The taxi driver picks you up at Labasa airport and drops you at the Grand Eastern hotel. Someone from the island (one of the Tribewanted staff or an experienced member) takes you to get the requisites for your island stay: a sevusevu (ceremonial gift) of kava for Tui Mali, a sulu, and, I would strongly recommend, a thick foam mattress. If you are a lady remember that shoulders must be covered: t-shirts and long shorts are the order of the day. Lightweight trousers are good in the evenings, when the mosquitoes and sand-flies devour your feet. There is a useful charity shop, stocked with decade-old t-shirts. Retro chic is consequently very big on the island. You may have to spend several hours at the Grand Eastern while supplies for the island are collected, websites are updated and emails checked. Don’t worry. Relax. Have lunch. They do a nice burger.
Now the fun is beginning. The river lies just behind the hotel. You traipse with your bags and tribe supplies through the hotel, and out onto the simple wooden dock. Watch the missing plank. Fiji lesson Number One. You’re not at home any more. The local council isn’t going to fix missing planks or fill potholes. Perhaps you will be the one to repair it. You need to be both more relaxed and more alert. Or, to put it another way, more alive than at home. It’s refreshing.
The boat is loaded and pulls away from the dock. You crouch alongside your fellow travellers and bags, screwing your eyes against the glare, and exhilarating in the speed. After Labasa’s crowds and stifling heat, the wind and dashing spray are wonderful. The howl of the engine means that conversation is hard, almost impossible: you are left alone with your thoughts and expectations. The boat swings with the curves of the widening river, the shacks and lumber yards that line the banks segueing into the darkness of mangrove forests. And then the river opens up, the estuarine brown becoming the dark blue of the Pacific, and you catch your first sight of Vorovoro.
It lies directly opposite the mouth of the river, its distinctive four peaks clear against the sky. Like a film star you spot in the street, it takes a few minutes to reconcile reality with what you’ve seen from photos or TV. Though you stare and stare, no signs of life can be seen, and they will remain hidden for the twenty minutes or so it takes to clear the tip of the island and start approaching the seaward side. Even then indications of habitation are hard to spot. A pontoon and a boat tethered offshore. Some hammocks strung amongst the palms. The tops of a few structures, indistinct through the trees.
And then, as though from a dream, people are emerging from below the palms and walking on the white beach and into the water that can’t decide between being sapphire or emerald, and everyone is shouting “Bula sia!” as you approach. Ah man, you’re on Vorovoro now.

Part Two of this exciting serial, dealing with the first night and how giant spiders are our friends, will be released when I’ve written it.