Tribewanted: Vorovoro

So I have set the scene in my last blog. I am in paradise which, if you have never seen the TV series, didn’t go bust …in fact I’ve a very good feeling that this story might just be a happily ever after ending based on what I’ve seen s far.

I’m escaping from the madding crowd and general frenzy that is normal everyday life back home, which is starting to seem rather absurd in comparison to this haven for stress asylum seekers, those with wanderlust, and students taking time out in between studies.

I admit that when I arrived, I felt a little lost and overwhelmed. Jet-lag, a two day journey, overtirdness and the reality of what I had done, basically buggering off at short notice & leaving all responsibilities and work behind on the back of a TV programme, set in.

But this soon passed due to quickly making some amazing new friends, Jo and Pam, bezzy mates who had just embarked on a year long worlds tour (ad quickly adopted me into their fold) and Tim, who was visiting the island with his best mate Paul who had been the island before. We also met a couple of existing Island residents who had travelled to the mainland for the day.

The thing that has really made an impression on me in my first couple of weeks (has it been that long already?) are the people, both from the visiting tribe members and the local tribe. You immediately feel part of a community. The island is attracting people from all age groups and backgrounds so you always find someone to connect with or hang out with.

At home Im pretty much constantly occupied with something, lots of distraction. Work, the gym, friends etc… for me it takes time to switch off from the pace of your ‘normal’ routine and just chill out. I get fidgety. Very fidgety! |I arrived at a time that was fairly quiet in terms of projects so I’m sure that I drove (drive?!) others bonkers, not being able to sit still for more than five minutes.

Luckily there is a lot to do on the island in addition to the projects, and I soon found a fellow partner in crime in the form of To (Fiji name Tomu) , a pretty cool and vey energetic young man who was stopping off for the week on the way home after traveling to New Zealand.

Tomu soon become an expert in scaling coco-nut trees, and masking the art of removing the outer husks so we could drink the milk an eat fresh coco-nut. Although I haven’t attempted to scale a tree – yet ;) I’ve learnt how to crack open a nut with just one well aimed blow of a machete to drain off the milk (a pretty cool addition to a cv?!) …

Yesterday we took a walk to one of the Islands peaks, a twenty minute scramble up a pretty steep hill side, with a little climbing. The view at the top was amazing… you can see for miles and fully take in the beauty of the place, appreciating that Vorovoro is one tiny island surrounded by so many others. The climb was well worth the effort.

After the walk, it was time for me to hold the island’s 5pm island ‘Ab’s and Arms’ exercise class (‘Ab’s Assault’ as fellow tribe member Daniel calls it…or ‘Losers club’ according to March Chief Jim). We worked out for an hour on the grass using coconuts and rocks as weights. This has to be the coolest gym ever. It was a good laugh and fellow Tribemembers asked for it to become a regular daily thing. Gosh.