Saturday night we had a Kava ceremony...it is the most putrid and vile stuff I have ever drunk, and it is deceptively intoxicating. The weirdest bit is that your tongue almost immediately goes numb, the more Kava you drink the more of your face goes numb. I managed to stagger to bed quite late, but didn't feel sick the next day :o

Yesterday I had a really cruisy day....I am not used to it at all...it felt weird but also kinda nice.

I had tropical fruit and yoghurt for breakfa

st, with toast and Fiji coffee. After breakfast I went and watched the local village church service. It is just amazing listening to how beautiful they sing....it was lovely and they achieve amazing volume for such a few people.

The children were interested in all the "whities" in their church and kept turning around grinning at us.I went back to the resort for lunch.

After lunch I went back to the local Village

Namaqumaquaby, and hung out with Sena and her family. We sat on the grass right near the beach on this massive grass/leaf type mat that her mother had made. I was given a Milo and milk...which is a great honour as Milo is ridiculously expensive in Fiji. We spent the afternoon doind what Fijians do...just sitting around talking, laughing and sharing stories. Phillip, Sena's brother in law got me a coconut out of the tree and cut it open for me....they prefer to eat the coconuts green. He used a giant machete to cut open the coconut and then I drank the coconut juice, once the juice was finished then they cut open the coconut and eat the flesh. It is NOTHING like the coconuts I have had back home. This was soft and fleshy and VERY filling.

We talked for ages about Fijian life. They are extremely poor...only one person in every house has a job and they get paid about $20-40FJ a day. When you consider that a litre of milk cost $2.50 it puts it into perspective. They have no social security and so they don't starve they grow their own pigs, fruit and vegetables and fish from the ocean.

The bell was rung for church again (they go 3 times on Sunday) I decided to head back to the resort. One church attendance per decade is enough for me! I spent the afternoon just relaxing by the pool, reading and knitting LOL.

After dinner Sena came and got me and took me to get "prawns" turns out that they were actually Yabbies! LOL but there were a surprising number of them in such shallow water. I met her two cousins, one of them plays Rugby for Fiji :o he has just come back from Australia where he was playing rugby. I don't think he is first grade...I couldn't quite understand, I think it is equivalent to our reserve grade rugby? Anyway he was BIG I felt like a dwarf!

Today I am off to Kula eco park with Sena it is her day off today so we are going to hang out together. We will be also going to Sigatoka (a nearby main town) so that will be cool....

I will be back tonight with photos. I was invited to have dinner with Sena's family...still trying to decide...not too sure about Yabbies in coconut milk ???