Goodbye...Hello... and the Cusp of Change

Goodbye Fiji...

Hello Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.

From the airport 

by coach

into the city.

The view from our room in the City Garden Hotel...

on the 25th Floor.

Dessert the first night in the hotel restaurant.

Too tired to write now...next instalment on Monday.

Today.

Under a duvet of grey clouds.......weak sun trying to break through...... along  the promenade and 

 Black Ven cliffs at East Beach in Lyme Regis......

 walking and talking and lunching with a dear friend.  

This is her very old Grey Parrot....called Grumpy.

I'm missing the vivid colours and clear clean light  of Fiji....but not the dripping humidity of Hong Kong.... feeling my way back into the coolness and condensation-inside-the-windows and the low light of the beginning of this English autumn.....feeling unanchored in the cusp of  change.

Coconuts,The Rainbow Reef and The Exact Moment ....

I was so thrilled to capture this Fijian kingfisher on a telegraph wire....like the one who graced us with his presence in Naituba.... sitting on the roof of the farm temple. It makes up for the fact that I've  never managed to take a decent photo of our speedy little British kingfishers.

We spent a lot of time under this coconut palm outside our chalet ...following the shade with our books.

Coconuts in the tree above us.

We asked in the restaurant if we could have fresh coconut milk at dinner and before we knew it the manager had cut down 3 coconuts from 'our' tree with his sele (panga),

and served them with straws that evening as our aperitif.  Much more delicious than Pina Colada...

I never tired of watching the sun

going down over the sea 

every night. A different sky every night.

The morning of our snorkelling trip on The Rainbow Reef - famous for its hundreds of varieties of living coral and tropical fish - a rainbow appeared  over our beach.

It didn't look like the weather was very good as we set off on the  boat....mostly with people who were experienced divers. We were the only three who had booked for snorkelling.

But when we got out to the reef - about forty five minutes from the shore -  the clouds cleared and the water was everything I'd hoped for - 

 crystal turquoise.

A cormorant or a shag (? ) watching us from his perch.

The lovely crew  - all experienced divers - who looked after us so well. Our guide is the one on the left who was wonderfully patient and humorous with us and all our faffing about with the gear and the wetsuits and putting up with our endless fits of giggles in the water practically drowning ourselves in our masks....

How on earth does this thing work?

I finally got it together - the pressure and weight of the flippers and the suction of the breathing apparatus and the tight squeeze of the wetsuit -   and overcame my fear of swallowing the whole sea and not being able to breathe and what if we disturbed a shark...

and discovered I was floating above a silent and magical underworld. Cliffs and forests of living corals in soft muted colours - lavender mauves, lime yellows, dusky pinks, pewter, bronze and rust - inhabited by darting shoals of tiny navy, and black and translucent cobalt blue fishes and bigger ones - striped like bees, iridescent turquoise, shimmering purple.

It really was like being in a David Attenborough underwater movie.

Thank you to my photographer sister who took some of these pictures .... and like me vowed it was the last time we would ever attempt to put on or take off a wet suit - wrestling with a giant octopus and being squeezed to death -  comes to mind....even if the price has to be going to the movies to visit the marvellous world of coral and fishes  under the sea.

Our last beautiful evening on the Garden Island of Taveuni.

Today.

Today I restrained myself in the farmers' market and I only bought Neroli cabbage and rocket, and green beans and sweetcorn and tomatoes  - enough for one person. But I have a feeling I may be making soup for the freezer with what I can't get through....

On  the other hand I did buy rather a lot in the Marks and Spencer 50 percent off sale. And a few items which weren't in the sale.....compensating for not buying too much spinach? Mad I know...

This afternoon I took bags of my red and ripe apples to the next door neighbours. And one of them returned the favour with two huge pears and a giant courgette from their allotment. I told them about Robin and how one year all of his ripe pears were stolen off the tree and so after that we always picked them before they were quite ready.... although it's notoriously difficult to gauge the exact moment of juicy ripeness of a pear.

I also find it  difficult to know exactly when it's the right moment to the a cake out of the oven.... in spite of the skewer in the middle test.

This afternoon I  baked a coffee and walnut cake for a family event at the weekend...knowing it wouldn't get a Paul Hollywood handshake for its rather dense texture and uneven rise. So it's lucky I'm not competing in the GBBO and my family love me and my cakes whatever they taste like.

 And anyway a good swirl of creamy frosting usually distracts from any major flaws.

A Feast Fit for the Gods and Apple Tart Alone

These are the sugar cane sticks.....a pink variety...very different from the cane we used to have in Zambia when I was child. We'd never have thought of pressing the juice out of them in those days. We just used to chew and suck out the sweet nectar and then spit out the mangled, dry bits of cane. I loved it  -  it was a a real treat.

This was an even more wonderful gourmet treat. You feed the cane sticks through the machine, winding the wheel to press out the juice - we all had a turn as it was very hard going...well it was for me....

The residue spurts out of the shoot 

and the juice remains ...on tap.

Served in a coconut shell with mint and lime, ice cubes and  drop of something alcoholic it was a delicious aperitif before our fabulous homemade lunch..... a feast fit for the gods.

Nineteen different leaves in the salad all picked that morning on the plantation...

felafel ....

plantain salad...

 chargrilled squash...

tomato and cream cheese frittata and hibiscus juice...

basil foccacia...

and two different green  dressings. - garlicky and chilli hot. 

It was a marvel of healthy freshness and flavour, yumminess and inspired creativity.

To help our meal go down, and to make room for dessert, we had another tour ...  of the vegetable garden.....

unfamiliar 

and 

familiar vegetables...

ferns and 

exotica...

and butterflies.

Matt led us down a steep hill to a ...

stream and 

a waterfall.....the pool  of which was a fascinating hunting ground for their dog.

Back at the ranch for more marvellous ice cold nectar...this one made from purple flowers from a vine the colour of gentian violets...

which changed colour when you squeezed in the juice of kumquats.

The dessert was a masterpiece of art and bananas, sorbets and flowers, berries and seeds and nuts all served in a fresh coconut...the prettiest thing I've ever tasted.

And then when I thought I couldn't eat another thing

Natasha brought out tea and coffee and these melt in the mouth ginger chocolate muffins with a passion fruit curd....to die for.

One member of our party- a young man-  expressed an interest in trying the local drink called Kava which is made from a root, pounded with water and which has soporific and numbing effects if drunk in large quantities. 

 It was originally only used on ceremonial occasions but now it widely used by both men and women and causes a lot of problems on all the islands. Domestic abuse is also rife and opportunities for girls and women to have meaningful work are minimal.  Which is why it was very inspiring to hear how Natasha and Matt are involved in all sorts of ways in the local community to provide alternatives but still within the Fijian culture....

I did have a sip of the Kava but it was mixed with alcohol and I wouldn't have wanted any more...even our young friend on the tour declined any more after a tiny glassful.

An utterly inspiring and memorable day.

You can find The Gaitree Sanctuary 

here at

Click on 'here at'!

Today

I was hoping I might see a robin on my way to the grave ....carrying my two red roses. And as I passed by the gardens in the cemetery suddenly there he was.... in the flower bed perched on a post.... 

as if he was waiting for me.

Although it would have been our 31st wedding anniversary today...and I thought it might be traumatic to remember this time last year....not the wonderful party we had for him... but the actual day when my sister and I went to see him in the home and he ate lots of chocolates...

but actually I just felt softly full of love and gratitude for all the years we did have.... all of it...the good and the bad times....but  today I just wanted to remember the good times. So I did. 

And when it started to rain...a light spattering....Grace rain they call it on the sacred island of Naituba......a blessing from the Divine.... I laid  my roses on the Budleigh pebbles at the base of his cross and came home.

And baked a big apple tart using all the misshapen and left over bits of the fallen apples from my tree. 

So although I couldn't make it look like a perfectly arranged in lines French apple tart, I layered it with ground almonds, and knobs of butter and a sprinkling of castor sugar and glazed it with marmalade. 

When it came out of the oven, I  cut myself a flakey, soggy, sweet appley corner. While it was still roof of the mouth burning hot I spooned my not quite yet frozen vanilla bean ice cream  over the top.....

And let myself feel the loneliness of eating hot apple tart and ice-cream at home without my husband.