Fee-Jee part 1

Bula!

It's been a month since I last posted anything. Did you miss me? Did you notice? Does anyone read this?

Good news - I travelled. This past weekend, Rhiannon and I took a 4 day trip to Fiji. Yes, Fiji, the Pacific Island nation closest to New Zealand, obviously best known as the location Jim Carrey's Truman from The Truman Show spent so much effort trying to get to. I figured it would be a shame and a wasted opportunity if while on the other side of the world I didn't visit at least one of the many tropical island nations relatively closeby. 

Here are a few facts about Fiji to get us going, and for future pub trivia purposes:

• It's only a 3 hour flight from Auckland. 
• Population of about 900,000, half of which are native Fijian and the other half Fijian Indian.
• UK Commonwealth country, gained independence in 1970.
• Tourism is really important. In 2014, 33.4% of jobs in Fiji were supported by tourism, which garnered 35.1% of total investment.
• Here's their flag:

Commonwealth, but gotta love that tropical blue.

• Everyone says 'Bula!' to you, which is Fijian for 'hello.'

On that last point - I really want to emphasize that everyone on the island says 'Bula'. Rhiannon's sleuthing uncovered that locals only say it to those who are unquestionably not from Fiji (e.g. the white Kiwi and American). It also is a way to establish dominance or something. We speculated that this was a concerted push by the periodically tenuous Fijian government to increase the perception of local friendliness and bolster tourism, since the small island nation has very few other industries.

The holiday was short, too short, but as an escape from New Zealand winter and an unreservedly unique place to visit, I'll probably take a few stabs at writing about it. Here I'll discuss the native fauna we encountered.

Tropical birds:

Caw!

Don't eat all the frogs, please.

(mohawked) Chirp!

"Hey dude, whatcha up to? Just some early morning reading on your hotel room's balcony?
Nice, brah." -bird probably

The Fijian parrotfinch, which as the name suggests is a mix between a parrot and a finch, is adorable. I lamentably did not get a picture of it, probably because I was too preoccupied melting every time I saw one. At one point a giant Fijian walked by with a baby one of these on his shoulder. It then hopped majestically onto the crown of his head. From there he walked another 30 meters before setting it down among a small grazing flock. What juxtaposition! Might be the best thing we saw on the trip.

Beep. 
No idea how the photographer got one of these to stay still long enough for a photo.

And some creepy-crawlers:

Doesn't matter where you go, they're everywhere.

"Hey is that Jim Beam and ginger beer? Can I come in and have some?" -lizard probably

But the decided winner of most observed and hunted animal on our trip was the simple frog. Sometimes in a pond, often pasturing near the resort tree roots, we spent our inebriated evenings chasing and catching them:

The target.

Pure and unbridled sunburnt drunken joy. Frog is unimpressed. 

Apologies for the blurriness, but I get a lot of amusement from Rhiannon's face in this picture.

Of course we saw other wildlife:  giant fruit bats swooping over the spa pool at dusk, all sorts of roadside animals (horses, cows, dogs, cats, chickens) with no apparent owners, and a multitude of burrowing beach crabs. But nope, I didn't take any pictures of those; you'll have to take my word for it!

Cheers!

Next week:  our daring protagonists rent a car and escape the resort.