30/12/2025 Basket making, Fish finding and Panic tanning

Today I was treated to the most beautiful Fijian sunrise, I'd hoped for a week of incredible sunsets and sunrises but sadly we weren't fortunate enough for that. Today it was beautiful shades of orange yellow and gold, highlighting the clouds, and Si would have been sitting out there, his face wreathed in that gentle smile, his glasses off, dangling from his fingers as the rays danced over his face. It truly was his favourite time of day. He would have been in his element. 

We went and claimed our beach hut and chairs early, and sat there for a while watching the waves roll over the sand before breakfast.  When we went for brekkie we left our towels and flip flops there so we could go straight back after we'd eaten. There was tinned fruit, toast, cereal and fried up veggies, omelets and pancakes  today, but no sausage bacon beans. Morg was most put out! 

Nicely full I waddled to my sun lounger and assumed my position for the day. I remembered to take my phone case to take pics of the fish, it as still a bit cloudy due to the high winds but i did manage to get some good photos, i flipped the red filter off on a few of the pics and what a difference it made to the image quality, every image came out bright blue! Even bright blue, they were ok, but so much better for having that filter. The case was well worth the investment!  The sun was really hot on my back so I put on Si’s rash top to provide a bit of protection and allow me to stay in longer. 

At 11 I had to get out because I wanted to go to the basket weaving lesson. It was on a woven mat under the Oh My God it's really hard!!! Micah, who was leading the demonstration, made it look so easy!  It's amazing what you can do with coconut tree leaves.

The lesson was well supported and Sue and Tara were there so I was able to whats app them the photos from the sandbar snorkelling trip which Tara was delighted with. In all there were 7 of us trying to follow what Micah was instructing. We started off with the left side and folded the first leaf straight down , the second one across the third straight down and the fourth one across and under the second one . it carried on til the one side was done, then we had to take two of the leaves and fold them through the weaving. Confused yet? Good because so was I! I would like to say I managed to follow the directions to the letter but we all know that would be an outright lie because I don't follow directions well at all! In my defence the directions for the basket were tricky. On the upside i dont have any coconut tree leaves at home so the chances of me making one again are practically zero. I couldn't work out how it was going to be a basket which didn't help at all. I was plaiting two halves of a coconut frond and there was nowhere to put stuff in. It looked more like a viking helmet than any basket ive ever seen. It would be fair to say Micah assisted greatly with all of the ones created! The magic really happened when he took a massive machete and cut the centre of the frond out which then opened up the basket. This is where some fell apart and the looser weaves came apart. Mine has held but it looks like the dog's dinner. Micah’s on the other hand was perfect. He gave it to Tara. Unfortunately due to all the laws regarding bringing in plant products all our perfectly imperfect baskets will have to stay here. Fortunately for you however I have millions of photos to bore you with ! 

The two hours passed really quickly, and although it was a mess I was quite pleased with my little basket, if I had paid a little more attention I may have been able to recreate one for Morgan in NZ….

Swinging my basket that now held my phone, I went back to join Morg on the beach. Today we are panic tanning. It's our last day on Thursday but tomorrow torrential rain is forecast, and again on Thursday. So tanning in panic is what we did. Interspersed with dips in the ocean to cool off and speed up the tanning frequency we did well.

A little too well really, Morg has burnt parts of him that has not seen the light of day for a long time but he is chuffed to have finally got rid of his boot and ankle sock line. I have a lovely “glow” and my nose is like a homing beacon. Oh my days it's burnt to  a crisp. There is no amount of arnica and aloe vera that's going to put that right any time soon. It will have peeled off by the time we get through customs anyway.   

On our first wedding anniversary. Because of Covid we couldn’t actually go out for a meal to celebrate so Si drove us to Macsonalds on Abergavenny and we had a drive through breakfast and sat in the truck to eat it. We put in the CD of his dad singing in the first song that came on was Stuck on you. I took a photo of our McMuffin and coffee on the dash and the song displayed on the car stereo.  When we left the beach like a pair of lobsters, I went on ahead and when I reached the bar that very song was playing.  I sat to wait for Morg and for whatever reason it kept glitching(probably the WiFi) and going back to the beginning never Getting to the end of the song. It was bittersweet but amused me that it kept glitching back and playing the same bit over and over. 

We were really hungry today,  it must have been all that hard work sunbathing. Snorkelling and basket making so we orders some light bites from the bar. Coconut shrimp and nachos. We decided to eat in the room because you know, people!  So a bedroom picnic was very much enjoyed.

Unfortunately the shrimp were just battered because there was no coconut left on the island ironic given the number of coconut trees!  But there we are. However, they were still really tasty as were the nachos and filled a gap!  

The storm had started to blow in and the sky was black so no sunset tonight either, however I need to remember it is the rainy season!! So we showered covered ourselves in mosquito repellent like it was going out of fashion and got our lobster like bodies into bed.  I’m hoping it will have gone brown by the morning, although I think I’m going to have some tender bits. Morg put Surfs Up on the tv which was nice easy watching as we poured water down our neck in an effort to rehydrate! We did have to crank the volume up over the sound of the thunder but that wasn’t too much of a hardship !  And that was another day over and I’m another day closer to joining Si.  

Much Love 

Mrs Leonard 

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