Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Life in Fiji as  previously described albeit with a couple of rainstorms in the late afternoon. Kayaking, snorkelling, swimming, sunbathing, who could ask for more?
Last  night we went to the sea food restaurant at the end of a small promontory here and this time we were given a table overlooking the sea which was just by a floodlight. As we sat down, the waitress pointed out to us a shark car circling below. At first we had trouble seeing it, but as our eyes grew accustomed to the light we were able to see not one shark but three. These were reef sharks about  two metres long and circled for some time as we had our meal. It isn't everyone who can say they sat and had a meal above shark infested waters.

When we got back to our room we looked reef sharks up and apparently they have no history of attacking human beings, but there is still something quite chilling about seeing a shark's fin gliding noiselessly through the water. This after all is the lagoon we have been snorkelling in!!!

The expedition manager was very pleased with herself as she took a solo kayak for the first time and did really well. She exhibited a host of learnt skills, turned it nicely and parked it next to a diving platform so that she could have a long chat with the well muscled young man who was sat on it. So there you go, she will be taking up kayaking as long as both the air temperature and the water temperature are warm.

 On Wednesday we went for a two hour walk along the beach heading East, in those tow hors we saw eight other people all but two of which were Fijians. The two were tourists having their hair braided just out side the hotel. We passed a small village and saw some people there, but coming back we came across a family of four walking on the beach. Other tourists in the hotel don't seem to want to leave its confines. This was exactly the same as when we walked the other direction last week. So who says Australians are get up and go explorers. OK we did do it in the late morning when only mad dogs and Englaihmen are about but you might have expected to see a few more fellow tourists exploring what is, after all, a beautiful coastline.

Our journey is coming to an end and there is an inevitable sense of sadness in the air, this has been a journey, on which we have seen so much, learnt so much and enjoyed the company of so many different people. It is not the time to look back now, but all the same the days seem to be slipping away.