I moved planning to Code Red, and swung the taxi via The Best Cake Shop In Suva on my way home to stockpile some treats. The first was presented on the Thursday night – baked cheesecake. A sure fire winner we polished it off and started the celebrations in style.
Friday morning came and Natalie’ surprise location for the celebrations was given away by Mike the taxi driver who turned up an hour early - whilst I was ‘indisposed’ – to inform us his friend would drive us to Natovi jetty. We’d been to Natovi before and pennies dropped for Natalie that we were heading to the island of Naigani. Plenty more surprises to come, so no worries.
I’d have kept Mike’s driving any day. His friend modelled himself on Michael Shumaker; hurtling us towards the jetty for 90 minutes of white knuckle action. Somehow we survived. Good news as we’d just read in the paper Fiji’s ambulance was in for a service.
The rest went to plan. The boat was waiting and we floated over in full sun to be met by our new friends Yoshi and Chika on the beach. Pennies dropped slower this time, and Natalie thought it was a huge coincidence they were there too.
We spent the afternoon snorkelling on the reef whilst very politely asking Yoshi not to stand on coral. He managed this for ten minutes at a time until – rather like a fish in memory terms – he started clunking the reef accidently again. In the evening we had a relaxing meal as a group which was finished by Cake Two – Coconut Cake covered in condensed milk icing. Textbook material for the Anglo Fijian Pudding-off.
We woke early on the big day. Tea in bed was drunk whilst watching the special birthday video, and Natalie’s three-course breakfast (which included Cakes 3 & 4 – Banana muffins and Pancakes) was full of chatter about the special messages from family and friends.
Password bula
The two dives were punctuated by a rest for Cakes 5 & 6 (Banana muffins and Pancakes again) on the beach. Around us a very Fijian scene played out. A large friendly family arrived on a boat and unloaded their cargo onto the sand. Most entertaining of which was a small piglet which squealed violently when it was picked up, and went back instantly to rooting around the moment it was put down. The whole family seemed to know what to do without communication; like a crack commando team they set to work. Mother and eldest daughter collected fire wood and started cooking. A younger daughter of about 6 years old grabbed some coconuts and opened them with amazing skill using her machete. I’ve tried this myself and nearly lost some fingers. The youngest children played in the waves whilst dad cast a line from the shore and swiftly delivered a Barracuda for the pot. In the meantime piggy had been forgotten and he sniffed around the cooking pots happily. They really showed how their rich land and sea provides from them in abundance. No wonder they’re so happy.
The second dive was better than the first and Natalie’s thirst for her saltwater friends was sated temporarily.
Back ashore we had lunch as a group and went back to our Bure for a rest and some present action. Cake 7 (coconut biscuits) was deployed with a cup of tea (Nat) and beer (Nick). The mighty present mountain took some time to summit and much excitement was had whilst carefully unfurling the precious wrapping paper.
Afterwards, we wondered down the beach to see our dinner being cooked in a traditional Fijian Lovo. A large fire pit was roaring away with stones piled on top getting white hot. When the time was right, food wrapped in woven palm leaves was placed gently on top and covered with earth to bake slowly for three hours.
We decided to play golf with Yoshi and Chika whilst the vegetables steamed away. The three-hole course was great fun, and spotting the official hole amongst the hundreds of crab holes- which were exactly the same proportions - kept us amused.
Cake 8 was a triumph. Delivered with a four-piece band singing all three verses of Happy Birthday (yup news to me too) the icing clad behemoth finished off a perfect day. Realising we had too much cake for four people we cut it up and handed it out to the band during a vigorous bout of singing. Moments later there was silence - all we could hear was the smacking of lips coming from the corner.
Before we turned in for the night, we taught Yoshi and Chika a complicated card game called Bidding Game. The rules took 20 minutes to explain and I could see Yoshi processing the information quicker than the matrix. Fortunately, Natalie and I had played many times before so we capitalized on our advantage by winning convincingly. Scrub that – we lost by a very wide margin. Amazing.
Sunday brought heavy winds, and the planned two dives on the outer reefs were redirected to more sheltered spots closer to the shore. Despite this it was still a struggle timing the jump off a boat - wearing full SCUBA kit – with a floor which was bouncing up and down by several meters. Once in the deep blue all was calm, and the diving was good. We saw more sharks (nothing Jaws worthy thankfully!) and enjoyed watching tiny shrimps hiding below some Nemo fish.
After lunch we said our goodbyes to Yoshi and Chika, and played another game of golf. This elucidated my favourite quote of the weekend from Natalie. “What do you call the golf sticks that look like they have a potato on the end?”
“Potato sticks”, I answered.
Cake 9 made its appearance after dinner back in the Bure, and what a cake it was. Two – what can only be described as – slabs of ginger cake drizzled in caramel source were wolfed down eagerly. We slept very well on very full stomachs.
On Monday we caught our boat back to the mainland in rough seas, and bussed our way slowly back to Suva. Nat’s birthday celebrations ended two days later.
No comments:
Post a Comment