Feb 13 – Here we are in Suva, Fiji. Diana and I were here in 1991 and it the town hasn’t changed that much in the last 14 years. Suva is the capital of the Fijian islands. It’s hot and humid, although not as hot as 1991. Suva is pretty much a regular town although since it’s Sunday things are pretty slow today. The population is almost 50/50 native Fijian and Indian (from India that is). There are a mixture of Oriental and Caucasian types as well but they make up a very small percentage.
The history is interesting. When the British came here and established sugar plantations the native Fijians were not interested in working on them. As a result the British imported indentured Indians to work the sugar fields. When their indentures were up most of the Indians stayed here, as conditions were terrible in India. They some continued to work on the plantations but many established the islands first merchant class. They started shops and service businesses and through hard work became very successful.
When Fiji gained its independence from Britain, the constitution only allowed native Fijians to own land. It did however call for open elections and a parliamentary form of government, like Canada and England. The Indians continued to be merchants living and operating their businesses on leased land. The Fijian’s mostly continued to live off the land but they also formed 100% of the Police and Army.
In time the Indian population grew larger than the native Fijian population and finally in a fair election in the late 80s the Indians won a majority of the seats in parliament and selected the Prime Minister. One of the first things they did was pass a law that Indians could own land. This upset the native Fijians and since the Police and Army were 100% Fijian they disbanded parliament in a bloodless coup and installed a Fijian military government who immediately overturned the law allowing Indian ownership of land. This occurred just before Diana and I were here the first time. Since then they have had another coup and the Fijians are still in total control. They have the British system of gun control (no one outside the government can have guns), thus the Indians are helpless in the face of Fijian control of the Police and Army no matter what the elections may say.
Author’s Note: This is a clear demonstration of the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in adding the Second Amendment to our constitution in the Bill of Rights. They knew, having just fought a war of revolution largely with privately owned weapons, that a disarmed populace lives at the whim of the government. This wisdom is somehow lost on most of the current generation who seem to think it is totally acceptable for only the government to be armed. Without privately owned weapons we would still be British, don’t you know!
Autos are very expensive to own and operate here so practically everyone who owns a vehicle runs it part time as a taxi. Consequently there are 8,000 taxis in this small place. Cars cost about 50-70,000 Fijian dollars. That’s about $30-40,000 US and that’s for a Honda Civic sized car. Diesel and gas are both very expensive as well. Our guide estimated that 80-90% of the people do not own a vehicle. Small, school bus sized busses run everywhere and they are all 20 by 50 air-conditioned. Open all 20 windows and do 50 mph, that is.
Today we are headed to Pacific Harbour and the Fijian Art and Culture Center. It’s about a 45-minute drive out there and we passed through 2 heavy rain showers on the way. Of course, since I didn’t want to close the bus window because of the heat, I got pretty wet. It was refreshing in the hot humid air.
At the center we were greeted by traditional drumming used to call a meeting of the village. Then a 5-member singing group performed accompanying themselves on stringed instruments. Four guitar like instruments in various sized and one Tahitian style ukulele. They were very good. They led the procession back to the show area.
The show area (above) is completely outdoors with the gymnasium-style seating arc shaped and under a thatched roof. Seating is separated from the open grassy hillside that acts as a stage by a small stream. Directly across from the seating is a flat area for dancing. To the right of that is the fire walking pit and to the left and a little up is the area where they have the drummers. Uphill and directly center stage is a thatched temple. On the left side the stream curves back to a waterfall and across that area of the stream is a thatched hut village. All in all a very natural setting.
The first part of the show was men’s and ladies’ dancing. They always danced separately with the other gender providing the drumming and chanting. The men performed a spear dance first. Very warlike. Then the women performed seated and then standing dances. The clothing was great. The most unique part was the women’s headdress (right). It consisted of 10-inch wooden sticks with colored loops of what appeared to be ribbons attached. The whirling colors emphasized the women’s head movements, a very interesting effect.
After the dancing came the fire walking. They have various ceremonies that they perform on the fire pit. Essentially they had piled up large stones and covered them with wood that was set on fire and allowed to burn down to very hot coals. When the ceremony begins the priest comes out of the temple and blesses the pit. He then sits down on a rock uphill from the fire pit and observes the rest of the action until the fire walking begins. Another troop of men (four workers and one supervisor) arrives from the direction of the village and uses vine ropes attached to long poles to drag the remaining burning logs off the rocks. Each time a log is pulled off the rocks a great commotion of yells and high-pitched screams erupts from the men. After the wood is removed a long thick vine is used in conjunction with some long poles to flatten out the pile of hot rocks. After that a broom of branches is used to sweep the rocks clear of any hot embers. The symbolic meaning of this part of the process is that the fire gods are being invited to sit on the rocks and this is what prevents the men from being burned.
Next a log with leafy garlands looped over it is carried to the pit. They believe that the fire gods ride on these garlands like swings out to the fire. They pass this log over the hot rocks to allow the gods to get off onto the rocks. After the gods are seated on the rocks the priest come (left) down hill from his comfortable rock and says another blessing. Just before the walking begins a piece of paper is placed on the rocks. Of course, it bursts into flame immediately to show that the rocks are actually hot. After this the priest walks on the rocks first. After that the men in the troop take turns walking on the rocks. The supervisor puts on a special show by stopping at one point on his walk and posing in weight lifter like positions.
After the fire walking they staged a mock battle between two tribes. The weapons were clubs and spears. After several bodies were carried off the arena the battle and the show were over and it was back on the bus for our return to Suva.
Diana and I dropped off our purchases on the ship and headed for downtown. We were going to ride the shuttle but found out that it was not running anymore so Diana decided to go by taxi with a Korean couple she met at watercolor lessons and I decided to walk. I just wanted to take some pictures and mix it up a little with the locals. I walked along the sea wall to get a good picture of the ship and on the way passed a water front park. Many couples were enjoying the park and a few families with kids running around like kids do all over the world. It was a nice walk and a good breeze kept me from getting totally overheated. As you can see from the picture at the right, Fiji has some very attractive policepersons.
After that it was back to the ship and off for two days at sea heading for New Zealand. They had steak and kidney pie for an appetizer (left) and I ordered it because I’m always looking for something different. When it came out I couldn’t believe it. They had encased it in pastry dough, hockey puck shaped pie about 3 inches across with four mint leaf shaped appendages at the points of the compass. The crust was fantastic as was the pie inside. When we arrived back in our cabin we found roses from the captain, a Valentine’s card from our travel consultant and a box of See’s candies from our travel agent. Very thoughtful.
Feb 14 – Today’s our 24th anniversary. Both Diana and I brought cards on board for each other. We each snuck them out of our suitcases and hid them in the room. When Diana gave me mine, I reached behind the sofa cushion and gave her hers. We had dinner in the fancy restaurant on board, the Pinnacle Grill. The food there is really good. Usually is costs extra but we got 8 vouchers for dinner there as part of our cruise package. They had a special Valentine’s Day party in the afternoon and a Valentine’s Ball in the evening. I have a red tie for my tux so I was in great shape. It was a very nice day. When we returned to our room we found a large heart shaped, chocolate box about 5 inches across and 3 inches deep filled with pralines. Yikes!! It’s been two days of chocolate and we’re having trouble finding a place to store it in the room.
Feb 15 – Another Day at sea and it’s a good thing. We had to set the clocks AHEAD one hour last night. Apparently New Zealand is on daylight savings time. Spent the day pretty much just loafing around, listening to lectures and reading. Tomorrow we’re in Tauranga, New Zealand. It’s a small harbor that usually doesn’t see cruise ships so the locals will probably turn out for us.
The history is interesting. When the British came here and established sugar plantations the native Fijians were not interested in working on them. As a result the British imported indentured Indians to work the sugar fields. When their indentures were up most of the Indians stayed here, as conditions were terrible in India. They some continued to work on the plantations but many established the islands first merchant class. They started shops and service businesses and through hard work became very successful.
When Fiji gained its independence from Britain, the constitution only allowed native Fijians to own land. It did however call for open elections and a parliamentary form of government, like Canada and England. The Indians continued to be merchants living and operating their businesses on leased land. The Fijian’s mostly continued to live off the land but they also formed 100% of the Police and Army.
In time the Indian population grew larger than the native Fijian population and finally in a fair election in the late 80s the Indians won a majority of the seats in parliament and selected the Prime Minister. One of the first things they did was pass a law that Indians could own land. This upset the native Fijians and since the Police and Army were 100% Fijian they disbanded parliament in a bloodless coup and installed a Fijian military government who immediately overturned the law allowing Indian ownership of land. This occurred just before Diana and I were here the first time. Since then they have had another coup and the Fijians are still in total control. They have the British system of gun control (no one outside the government can have guns), thus the Indians are helpless in the face of Fijian control of the Police and Army no matter what the elections may say.
Author’s Note: This is a clear demonstration of the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in adding the Second Amendment to our constitution in the Bill of Rights. They knew, having just fought a war of revolution largely with privately owned weapons, that a disarmed populace lives at the whim of the government. This wisdom is somehow lost on most of the current generation who seem to think it is totally acceptable for only the government to be armed. Without privately owned weapons we would still be British, don’t you know!
Autos are very expensive to own and operate here so practically everyone who owns a vehicle runs it part time as a taxi. Consequently there are 8,000 taxis in this small place. Cars cost about 50-70,000 Fijian dollars. That’s about $30-40,000 US and that’s for a Honda Civic sized car. Diesel and gas are both very expensive as well. Our guide estimated that 80-90% of the people do not own a vehicle. Small, school bus sized busses run everywhere and they are all 20 by 50 air-conditioned. Open all 20 windows and do 50 mph, that is.
Today we are headed to Pacific Harbour and the Fijian Art and Culture Center. It’s about a 45-minute drive out there and we passed through 2 heavy rain showers on the way. Of course, since I didn’t want to close the bus window because of the heat, I got pretty wet. It was refreshing in the hot humid air.At the center we were greeted by traditional drumming used to call a meeting of the village. Then a 5-member singing group performed accompanying themselves on stringed instruments. Four guitar like instruments in various sized and one Tahitian style ukulele. They were very good. They led the procession back to the show area.
The show area (above) is completely outdoors with the gymnasium-style seating arc shaped and under a thatched roof. Seating is separated from the open grassy hillside that acts as a stage by a small stream. Directly across from the seating is a flat area for dancing. To the right of that is the fire walking pit and to the left and a little up is the area where they have the drummers. Uphill and directly center stage is a thatched temple. On the left side the stream curves back to a waterfall and across that area of the stream is a thatched hut village. All in all a very natural setting.
The first part of the show was men’s and ladies’ dancing. They always danced separately with the other gender providing the drumming and chanting. The men performed a spear dance first. Very warlike. Then the women performed seated and then standing dances. The clothing was great. The most unique part was the women’s headdress (right). It consisted of 10-inch wooden sticks with colored loops of what appeared to be ribbons attached. The whirling colors emphasized the women’s head movements, a very interesting effect.
After the dancing came the fire walking. They have various ceremonies that they perform on the fire pit. Essentially they had piled up large stones and covered them with wood that was set on fire and allowed to burn down to very hot coals. When the ceremony begins the priest comes out of the temple and blesses the pit. He then sits down on a rock uphill from the fire pit and observes the rest of the action until the fire walking begins. Another troop of men (four workers and one supervisor) arrives from the direction of the village and uses vine ropes attached to long poles to drag the remaining burning logs off the rocks. Each time a log is pulled off the rocks a great commotion of yells and high-pitched screams erupts from the men. After the wood is removed a long thick vine is used in conjunction with some long poles to flatten out the pile of hot rocks. After that a broom of branches is used to sweep the rocks clear of any hot embers. The symbolic meaning of this part of the process is that the fire gods are being invited to sit on the rocks and this is what prevents the men from being burned.
Next a log with leafy garlands looped over it is carried to the pit. They believe that the fire gods ride on these garlands like swings out to the fire. They pass this log over the hot rocks to allow the gods to get off onto the rocks. After the gods are seated on the rocks the priest come (left) down hill from his comfortable rock and says another blessing. Just before the walking begins a piece of paper is placed on the rocks. Of course, it bursts into flame immediately to show that the rocks are actually hot. After this the priest walks on the rocks first. After that the men in the troop take turns walking on the rocks. The supervisor puts on a special show by stopping at one point on his walk and posing in weight lifter like positions.After the fire walking they staged a mock battle between two tribes. The weapons were clubs and spears. After several bodies were carried off the arena the battle and the show were over and it was back on the bus for our return to Suva.
Diana and I dropped off our purchases on the ship and headed for downtown. We were going to ride the shuttle but found out that it was not running anymore so Diana decided to go by taxi with a Korean couple she met at watercolor lessons and I decided to walk. I just wanted to take some pictures and mix it up a little with the locals. I walked along the sea wall to get a good picture of the ship and on the way passed a water front park. Many couples were enjoying the park and a few families with kids running around like kids do all over the world. It was a nice walk and a good breeze kept me from getting totally overheated. As you can see from the picture at the right, Fiji has some very attractive policepersons.
After that it was back to the ship and off for two days at sea heading for New Zealand. They had steak and kidney pie for an appetizer (left) and I ordered it because I’m always looking for something different. When it came out I couldn’t believe it. They had encased it in pastry dough, hockey puck shaped pie about 3 inches across with four mint leaf shaped appendages at the points of the compass. The crust was fantastic as was the pie inside. When we arrived back in our cabin we found roses from the captain, a Valentine’s card from our travel consultant and a box of See’s candies from our travel agent. Very thoughtful.
Feb 14 – Today’s our 24th anniversary. Both Diana and I brought cards on board for each other. We each snuck them out of our suitcases and hid them in the room. When Diana gave me mine, I reached behind the sofa cushion and gave her hers. We had dinner in the fancy restaurant on board, the Pinnacle Grill. The food there is really good. Usually is costs extra but we got 8 vouchers for dinner there as part of our cruise package. They had a special Valentine’s Day party in the afternoon and a Valentine’s Ball in the evening. I have a red tie for my tux so I was in great shape. It was a very nice day. When we returned to our room we found a large heart shaped, chocolate box about 5 inches across and 3 inches deep filled with pralines. Yikes!! It’s been two days of chocolate and we’re having trouble finding a place to store it in the room.Feb 15 – Another Day at sea and it’s a good thing. We had to set the clocks AHEAD one hour last night. Apparently New Zealand is on daylight savings time. Spent the day pretty much just loafing around, listening to lectures and reading. Tomorrow we’re in Tauranga, New Zealand. It’s a small harbor that usually doesn’t see cruise ships so the locals will probably turn out for us.
Feb 16 – We have an early tour this AM so I’m up and about for the sail-in to Tauranga. It’s a small harbor and the channel required us to make several turns to get to the pier. We are actually docking in the city of Mount Maunganui, which takes it’s name from the 2,000-foot granite outcropping at the end of the peninsula. It’s a holiday town in much the same fashion as the Balboa Peninsula, narrow with ocean on one side and a bay on the other. On the ocean side you are at the northern end of a 14-mile long beach that draws the vacationers to this spot. The mountain is ringed by a park and has walking trails all around and up to the summit. It’s a very pretty place. Directly across from Mount Maunganui is the city of Tauranga.
Our tour is heading down to Rotorua, a large geothermal area and the most sacred place of the Maori. On the way down we stopped at Rainbow Springs Wildlife Park. They have streams of the clearest water and large schools of the biggest rainbow trout I’ve ever seen. It was hard to tell how deep the pools in the stream were because the water was so transparent it sometimes seemed like the fish were floating in the air. Photographing water is tough without special equipment and I don’t have a polarizing lens for the digital camera. I did manage to get a few decent shots.
They also have a Kiwi exhibit where it is kept very dark. Kiwi are nocturnal birds and if you want to see them active they need to think it’s night. The one kiwi I could find was busily picking at a large tree limb looking for something to eat. They are pretty comical with the long thin beak and large body. They always make me think of the Schmoos in the Lil’ Abner comic strip. Couldn’t get a picture, as flash is not allowed at all and there is very little light.
Next stop was the Agrodome. An area dedicated to the farm traditions of New Zealand. The Agrodome is a large auditorium with a stage at one end. The stage (left) has 19 platforms set up like stairs in two rows in pyramid form. Each platform has the name of a type of sheep raised in NZ. The sheep start out on both sides of the auditorium and are led one at a time to the proper platform while the ranch hand explains the characteristics of the breed, the uses for its wool or meat as the case may be. The sheep in the back row are raised mainly or exclusively for their wool because the wool is so fine that it brings a very high in price and it’s economically unsound to butcher the sheep. The sheep in the front row are gown for their wool and their meat because their wool is coarser and not as valuable.
For example, the first sheep at the top of the back row is a Merino. When the MC spread the wool it looked like it was about 6-7 inches long and very soft and white. This sheep’s wool is the most valuable and is used in fine clothing. The Romney sheep directly to the left has good wool as well but it is coarse in texture but very strong and is used in making wool carpets. In general, the dual-purpose sheep in the front row have shorter much coarser wool but are larger animals more suited to butchering.
Next they had a sheep shearing demonstration and then a sheep dog show. They use two types of sheep dogs in NZ. One type is used for herding the sheep on the ranch. These dogs are of several breeds but are mainly the size and temperament of Boarder Collies. They work silently and operate by running from place to place in large arcs to keep the sheep in a pack. The other type of dog is usually of a larger breed, like German Shepherd. They are used to gather the sheep when they have been out to pasture and need to be gathered for shearing and brought to the ranch. These dogs bark all the time. They can’t run without barking.
They had three of them in the auditorium and it was quite a racket. The display sheep did not seem overly concerned by all this but then they do three shows a day. After having the dogs do their normal work functions the handler had the dogs run in circles, one clockwise and two counterclockwise first across the stage and then up around the back one running on the top row of sheep the other two on the front row. Not behind the sheep but on the sheep, jumping from one to the next as they ran. This also did not seem to bother the sheep at all.
The next stop was at a very nice hotel for lunch and a Maori folkloric presentation. They chanted, danced and sang. They were good. I took lots of video. Lunch was great!! Lots of strange vegetables, seafood, pork, chicken and salads. For desert they had big selection of items including a Pavlova (I don’t understand the fuss over this desert. It’s essentially some sort of cool whip like fluff with fruit in it. Everyone goes gaga over it but I think it’s very bland. Must be the name.), their version of pecan pie, several types of cakes and pies, and my selection, bowls of berries (raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, and strawberries with an excellent strawberry ice cream to put them on. Yum!!
Our tour is heading down to Rotorua, a large geothermal area and the most sacred place of the Maori. On the way down we stopped at Rainbow Springs Wildlife Park. They have streams of the clearest water and large schools of the biggest rainbow trout I’ve ever seen. It was hard to tell how deep the pools in the stream were because the water was so transparent it sometimes seemed like the fish were floating in the air. Photographing water is tough without special equipment and I don’t have a polarizing lens for the digital camera. I did manage to get a few decent shots.
They also have a Kiwi exhibit where it is kept very dark. Kiwi are nocturnal birds and if you want to see them active they need to think it’s night. The one kiwi I could find was busily picking at a large tree limb looking for something to eat. They are pretty comical with the long thin beak and large body. They always make me think of the Schmoos in the Lil’ Abner comic strip. Couldn’t get a picture, as flash is not allowed at all and there is very little light.
Next stop was the Agrodome. An area dedicated to the farm traditions of New Zealand. The Agrodome is a large auditorium with a stage at one end. The stage (left) has 19 platforms set up like stairs in two rows in pyramid form. Each platform has the name of a type of sheep raised in NZ. The sheep start out on both sides of the auditorium and are led one at a time to the proper platform while the ranch hand explains the characteristics of the breed, the uses for its wool or meat as the case may be. The sheep in the back row are raised mainly or exclusively for their wool because the wool is so fine that it brings a very high in price and it’s economically unsound to butcher the sheep. The sheep in the front row are gown for their wool and their meat because their wool is coarser and not as valuable.For example, the first sheep at the top of the back row is a Merino. When the MC spread the wool it looked like it was about 6-7 inches long and very soft and white. This sheep’s wool is the most valuable and is used in fine clothing. The Romney sheep directly to the left has good wool as well but it is coarse in texture but very strong and is used in making wool carpets. In general, the dual-purpose sheep in the front row have shorter much coarser wool but are larger animals more suited to butchering.
Next they had a sheep shearing demonstration and then a sheep dog show. They use two types of sheep dogs in NZ. One type is used for herding the sheep on the ranch. These dogs are of several breeds but are mainly the size and temperament of Boarder Collies. They work silently and operate by running from place to place in large arcs to keep the sheep in a pack. The other type of dog is usually of a larger breed, like German Shepherd. They are used to gather the sheep when they have been out to pasture and need to be gathered for shearing and brought to the ranch. These dogs bark all the time. They can’t run without barking.
They had three of them in the auditorium and it was quite a racket. The display sheep did not seem overly concerned by all this but then they do three shows a day. After having the dogs do their normal work functions the handler had the dogs run in circles, one clockwise and two counterclockwise first across the stage and then up around the back one running on the top row of sheep the other two on the front row. Not behind the sheep but on the sheep, jumping from one to the next as they ran. This also did not seem to bother the sheep at all.
The next stop was at a very nice hotel for lunch and a Maori folkloric presentation. They chanted, danced and sang. They were good. I took lots of video. Lunch was great!! Lots of strange vegetables, seafood, pork, chicken and salads. For desert they had big selection of items including a Pavlova (I don’t understand the fuss over this desert. It’s essentially some sort of cool whip like fluff with fruit in it. Everyone goes gaga over it but I think it’s very bland. Must be the name.), their version of pecan pie, several types of cakes and pies, and my selection, bowls of berries (raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, and strawberries with an excellent strawberry ice cream to put them on. Yum!!After lunch it was on to the Maori Arts & Crafts Center. Here we saw Maori carvers that are attending school there carving their projects. They stay for 3 years and must produce 40 major works during that time to graduate. They have a large display of work done by students (right).
They also have an area set up like a Maori seat of government with a Wharenui (Meeting House – left), Pataka (Storage House – below right) and a weaver’s house. They also teach traditional Maori weaving here. The Pataka is used to store the village’s valuables and religious articles. Every surface of it is covered with elaborate carving. This particular one was painted red and looked for all the world as if it were made of cinnabar. The Wharenui is also ornately carved but only on its posts and eaves. These areas are also painted red. The rest of the building is natural wood or white.
After looking around this area and a reproduction of a Maori village we went down to the thermally active area. There were large bubbling mud pools, mostly gray in color, not at all like the bubbling paint pots of mud in the USA. The pools were very active. Everything from little spurts to giant bubbles of mud danced across the surface. Of course, the smell of sulfur was everywhere. There were hot pools of water that reflected a vivid blue and steam vents with intricate deposits of minerals surrounding them.
They also have an area set up like a Maori seat of government with a Wharenui (Meeting House – left), Pataka (Storage House – below right) and a weaver’s house. They also teach traditional Maori weaving here. The Pataka is used to store the village’s valuables and religious articles. Every surface of it is covered with elaborate carving. This particular one was painted red and looked for all the world as if it were made of cinnabar. The Wharenui is also ornately carved but only on its posts and eaves. These areas are also painted red. The rest of the building is natural wood or white.
After looking around this area and a reproduction of a Maori village we went down to the thermally active area. There were large bubbling mud pools, mostly gray in color, not at all like the bubbling paint pots of mud in the USA. The pools were very active. Everything from little spurts to giant bubbles of mud danced across the surface. Of course, the smell of sulfur was everywhere. There were hot pools of water that reflected a vivid blue and steam vents with intricate deposits of minerals surrounding them.
The main attraction is Pohutu geyser (left) and it did not fail to perform. In fact, it erupted continuously for the entire time I watched it. It is known to be a regular performer but the guide said that this level of activity was very unusual. It usually rests for some time period between eruptions. She speculated that the increased activity might be related to the earthquake that caused the tsunami. It was going for at least 45 minutes and it was still going when we left.After that it was back to the ship in time to sail away at 5:30PM. Sure enough, as we sailed out of the harbor there was a band of 6 pipers on the beach at the foot of Mount Maunganui, piping us out into the Bay of Plenty. There were hosts of people on the beach, waving goodbye to us. The trail that goes to the top of the mountain was lined with people waiving. We were also accompanied by a small flotilla of wave runners. A pretty grand send off to be sure. Tomorrow we are in Auckland. Our first stop in a big city since Honolulu.
(c) Rod Longenberger- 2005
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