A pod of hammerheads

Out on a dive last week with Koro Sun Dive and we saw a HUGE pod of hammerheads. Colin, the owner and Dive Master, took us to Dreamhouse where the pod is often to be found. We dropped down to about 50 feet and swam out across the reef and into the blue, finning our way through the vastness of the ocean. I was dreaming happily of life and relaxation and nothing much in particular when suddenly Colin was grabbing my arm and gesticulating wildly: he was throwing an underwater wobbly which amounted to: “For goodness sake, keep your eyes on where I’m pointing because we can see lots of them!!” And sure enough, ahead of us were faint silvery shapes which resolved into dozens of gleaming bodies as we swam nearer. It was a pod of fifty or more hammerhead sharks. We were behind them but every so often one would turn and look at us, and we’d see its strange head with the eyes out on each end of the square hammer-shaped skull. They were cruising along gently, not too bothered by us. We were all transfixed, treasuring each moment, waiting for them to disappear – and eventually, with a lazy surge of power, they did. A magic memory.

Hammerhead sharks

A barefoot Santa comes up the drive

Christmas Day is never complete without Santa, and sure enough, he arrived at lunch with a sack of presents. There were 20 guests, and everyone received a small gift. Santa ho-ho-ho’d around and then disappeared off again whilst we went through to a fairly traditional lunch of chicken, ham, roast potatoes, pumpkin and carrot followed by Xmas pud.

Santa and the kids

Santa handing out the gifts

The writers on the Manuscript Mentoring week with Rosie Scott had a great week – productive, friendly, stimulating, full of laughs and stories – and Rosie enjoyed it every bit as much as they did.

Rosie Scott:
MAGIC! I loved it. Small but fabulous group very committed, worked hard but also lots of fun, the staff were as usual wonderful – great food and kindness to us.  They put on a memorable farewell night with kava, a lovo and singing and dancing by Keni’s children (Keni and Mereone sang with them) and a rendition of Gilbert and Sullivan by one student – the extraordinary Kevin who is a professional singer among many other things. And loved the outdoor shower I had this time, not to mention the snorkelling. The group all went away in high spirits, inspired to write.

As I said in my last article on Daku, it’s a great place for people  to get to a deeper  level with their manuscripts. It really is the best teaching experience for me too- to see the way people’s work improves over the week is a joy. I believe this is partly because they become so relaxed and open in this lovely place.
I hope this is will become an annual event.

(Yes, Rosie – it will. The 2012 manuscript mentoring week is up on the website – 22- 29 September.)

Helen Grenfell
Writers can be very defensive about their work, treasuring it as one does a newborn baby and very reluctant to expose it to the discerning eye of others. But Rosie’s generous nature and the relaxed and friendly group members put an end to such fears. She is friendly, perceptive, a skilful mentor and, importantly, for this course, she is a successful novelist and teacher of creative writing, with a string of academic qualifications that bring added authority to her task of mentoring.

She made the week good fun, yet it was also rigorous, and both the workshops and exercises revealed skills in my writing that I didn’t know I possessed. I came home realising I really could write, but also with a clear understanding of the areas of the craft I need to develop. Amidst the humdrum silliness of daily life, I am still writing everyday, a sure sign that Rosie and the group members had a positive, lasting effect on me.

Rosie had a sensible timetable of activities. We had all previously read by email the work of each of us in the group. The mornings were spent in writing exercises and a thorough workshopping of a group member’s piece; in the afternoon that person had a private mentoring session with Rosie. Nobody felt unduly stressed, and happy conversations bubbled along about books, films, and life experiences. A sense of humour, a good yarn, a well-told joke are essential pieces of equipment to bring to Rosie’s classes.

It is hard to explain just how suitable Daku Resort is for such activities as writing. It is small, very beautiful, and authentically Fijian. Colours are powerful – the red and orange of flowers, the deep shiny green of foliage, the stark white of a ship out on the blue bay waters. Laughter from children on the beach or guests in the pool drift up to our verandah where we always worked, but nothing distracts us; we are far from the rush and bother of our daily lives. A guest at Daku, in a conversation about travel, reminded me that ‘there are diamonds in one’s own backyard.’ ; it’s the moral of a story of African origin. That’s very true, but I would like to have Daku Resort as my own backyard, and Rosie Scott can have a cabin for free to advise me on my writing.

Cooling off after a hard day's writing...

AnneMarie Bennett
Rosie Scott is a terrific teacher – probably the best I’ve encountered.  And I’ve studied a lot.  In fact I never felt like I was being ‘taught’, but instead, her methods helped to peel back layers.  Rosie has a wonderful personality and a knack at understanding exactly what each person in the group needs to take their writing to the next level.

Kevin McGrath
The outstanding feature of the course was its flexibility. Rosie Scott concentrated
on the individual writer, drawing out his or her talent and helping the ideas to flow freely. Simultaneously there was plenty of time to get on with personal writing. Rosie is not only an accomplished author but a professional counsellor as well – a great help in getting an author
to sort out aims and ambitions.

You would go a long way to find more good humoured and friendly staff then those at Daku. You are always greeted with big Fijian smiles. The travel arrangements worked extremely well, especially as Fiji is so easy to reach. It was a great pleasure to take the domestic flight from Nadi to Savusavu, to experience the beautiful views of  mountain and sea from the aircraft window.

Stephen Price
No, I’m not a published author, merely someone who loves to dabble in both writing and traveling.  And when I discovered the writing course at the Daku Resort, I knew that I had to be a part of it!  Our writing instructor, published author Rosie Scott, was absolutely fantastic, helpful and very inspiring.  And the group of other budding authors that I met also led to a fantastic writing holiday. Rosie, thank you for everything!  I look forward to working with you once more!

Details of the 2012 course can be found at Paradise Courses – Manuscript Mentoring.

Rosie’s webpage can be found here.

Fran and Dave from Christchurch, New Zealand – our intrepid explorers of the month.

Climbing the 137 steps to the top

Many of our guests at Daku enjoy strenuous hikes, and I knew these two were up for a challenge by the way they skipped up and down the steep muddy slopes of our waterfall path (which we have subsequently re-cut with their advice).

So it’s Fran’s picture that now graces the description of the trip to the Nakabolou hot springs, and the photos on this blog of the Bagata hydro-electric system are taken by Dave.

The hydro system is up a very lovely valley outside the village of Bagata, about a 25 minute drive from Savusavu. The main plant is fed by a water reservoir that you climb 137 steps to reach. Dave actually ran ahead of us to get the photo. Intrepid or mad? Whichever, they are great photos.

One pipe goes up, one pipe goes down.

The reservoir is fed by a huge pipe that runs back up the valley for about 3 km to a small dam. Dave explained how it worked and my physics lessons of so many years ago seeped back into my understanding: water always flows from a high point to a lower point, even if it has to go up for part of the way. Thus the pipe started high up the valley, ran down and finally shot back up the 137 steps to the reservoir – but that point was still lower than the source. (Hope I’ve got that right!)

The source of the water for the hydro-electric scheme

The Bagata hydro makes a very pleasant part of the trip to Nakabolou. The drive takes in stunning scenery and great views on a dirt road which runs alongside a stream. You’ll pass villagers walking to their farm plots and horses wandering into the water and you’ll see profusion of vegetation and lushness of landscape found only in the tropics.

Dam at the top of the valley

Weaving voivoi mats is a traditional craft in Fiji and should you ever buy one, consider the many, many hours spent in their making. The actual weaving is the shortest part of the process.

Catriona learns voivoi weaving watched by Ella's family

Cutting the voivoi into strips

First the women gather the pandanus leaves, going out into the countryside to gather these long, sharp blade-like leaves. Then they boil them. Then they lay them out to dry in the sun (and quickly take them back inside if there’s a rain storm). Then they smooth out the long wrinkled leaves by pulling them back and forth over a metal rod or file. Now they are ready to cut them into thin strips and finally they can begin weaving.

Catriona and I worked out that it must take approximately 30 – 40 hours to make a 3m x 2m mat. She and I spent a fascinating 2 hours with 3 local women – Killara, Ella and Kata – watching and learning how to weave the mats.

Straightening the voivoi

Catriona had a particular interest in the voivoi mats as she is herself a fibre sculptor. Used to the art and craft of weaving, she was able to pick up the technique quickly – the rigorous sequence of bending one back, folding one forward, slipping one through….over and over. The intricacies of starting and finishing were something we never quite mastered, but Catriona managed to just about complete a small mat during our time with Ella finishing it off for her. I say ‘we’ but in actual fact I never tried: I just took the photos and chatted!

It’s very much women’s business, sitting around sociably and weaving together. Ella recounted tales of her mother teaching her the craft when she was about 16 – and unpicking an afternoon’s efforts because they weren’t good enough.

Starting the mat

Voivoi mats are used extensively in Fiji – enter just about any Fijian village house and you’ll find the floor covered with three or four mats. They sell in the market in Savusavu for anything from F$80 to F$200 depending on size – and when you appreciate the time and skill involved you realise that they are very good value.

The mat progresses

Catriona was at Daku for Lotus Sanderson’s yoga retreat; her work can be viewed at fibresculptures.posterous.comHer day job is running her own PR consultancy: www.cpcommunications.com.au

As cameras get better and better, lots of people now come armed with digital cameras that can be used underwater; others have small waterproof casings that they can load their camera into. As a result, we all have much better photos. But when you go out with a pro with all the gear – well!! It’s a quantum leap in quality. Normally they concentrate on the dive sites, but this time we went snorkelling to Charlie’s Point with Daniel Schwartz and he came back with some stunning shots.

Charlie’s Point is one of the shallower sites along Lesciaceva Reef just past the point where the Jean-Michel Cousteau resort is situated. We had great visibility that day and there was lots of both coral and fish life to be seen. And a special bonus was a huge spiral triton shell sitting on one of the coral pinnacles. Have a look at these great shots.

Daniel will be back to run a marine photography course in June 2012.

A trip to see dolphins with a couple of guests – and we could not have been more blessed. The weather was beautiful – warm sun, blue skies with a scattering of clouds, a light breeze. Our boatman Joe was a warm, confident young man who had spent his life growing up around the waters of the bay. He took us out along the eastern coast line of Natewa Bay (the largest bay in the South Pacific) to a spot he obviously knew, and cut the engine. Then he stood up in the back of the boat and whistled – long shrill whistles, four or five. Story book fables, I thought – but how wrong that was.

Within moments the water 400 metres away rippled and gleamed black; a few shapes broke the surface and then there were five, ten, twenty dolphins leaping and racing. Joe turned the engine on again and powered the boat through the water; some of the dolphins stayed about 150 metres away but many others came streaking in, diving under the hull, weaving in front of the prow, showing off their magnificent speed and graceful movements. They are quite small , perhaps one and a half to two metres in length, and they seemed to love playing, happily staying alongside us, speeding up when we did and cruising forward when we slowed down. Off the starboard there was one who decided to give us a display of leaping and spinning, and we cried out our admiration.

When we finally stopped and turned back towards the reef, we came across two things. First, a floating plastic bottle. Giselle, who is deeply committed to the health of the seas, saw it and got Joe to turn back so we could pick it up. And as we did so we spotted a small turtle very close to the surface, swimming along in apparent exhaustion. We circled again and Jo leaned over the side of the boat, grabbed it and brought it on board. When we got to the reef he delivered it back into the ocean near the food supply it needed.

The reefs in Natewa Bay are spectacular, with vast beds of hard coral and a rich fish life. We spent a happy half hour snorkelling there, returning to the beach where the tide had now dropped a long way.

It was the perfect trip. There’s a more than even chance of seeing dolphins – Joe says it depends on weather, tides and chance, but reckons he finds them 3 times in 5. My own experience is that I’ve been out 3 times and seen them twice. Even if you don’t find them, it’s still a lovely drive to Natewa Bay and the boat trip and snorkelling are wonderful. But this day, we had the dream trip – it doesn’t get any better.

Savusavu is known for its geothermal hot springs, and many more are to be found scattered around the island of Vanua Levu. There’s a particularly notable outcrop in the remote village of Nakabolou, where a series of specially constructed stone pools were once built for the use of the village’s chiefly rulers. Much of the complex is now overgrown and inaccessible, but we’ve been encouraging one of the local landowners to cut back the vegetation and open up the area. He’s been working hard and has created a very pleasant setting: bamboo chairs and a table, and small garden around the two hot pools.

Sailosi and Fran at Nakabolou Hot Springs

They are VERY hot; you can just about get your feet into the top one but it would be a painful submersion; the lower one is a little less hot but probably a bit too muddy to want to actually lie in. You can also walk up to the shed where the landowner is drying out the copra. He’s laid a corrugated iron sheet over the hot spring and the steam heats it to a high temperature which acts as a hot plate to dry the coconut flesh. All around he’s been cutting back the bush: we know that there are the remains of an ancient village somewhere, so we are waiting to see what emerges with interest. It’s still a work in progress but well worth the trip.

Fording the river

The magic of the outing lies as much in the drive there as anything else. The road is tar sealed to Vunavesi, and then it’s a dirt track up the valley. You need a four-wheel drive vehicle as the road crosses a couple of rivers and goes up and down some sharp and rough hills. It follows the river, dipping up and down. The hills rise steeply on either side; down in the valley there are bamboo groves and occasional cleared spaces for growing cassava and dalo, but higher up its covered with thick vegetation in many shades of glorious green.

Journey through the Jungle

We always arrange the trip with Sailosi Qomate, who has been a friend for many years. Sailosi has quite exceptional knowledge of the area and knows just about everyone. He comes along as our mata ni vanua – spokesman – to ensure that we observe the correct protocols with the local villages, and make introductions along the way. He’s also a font of information on Fijian life. So ask us to pack up a picnic and we’ll take you off for a fascinating half day trip. And – here’s a fun extra – take along your bathing costume (actually, it’s best to wear it as there’s not much privacy for changing) and on the way back we’ll stop by the river and you can have a plunge in the fast flowing fresh stream.

Nakabolou Hot Springs picnic area

Sailosi and Koko the landowner

The June beading workshop had an extra community dimension to it. Teacher, Annlee Butler is a well established Australian beader who is the technical advisor for Creative Beading, one of Australia’s main magazines in this area. She set one afternoon aside to invite 9 local women – and one man – up to Daku to learn some new approaches.

Rosa Sui and others beading around the big table at Daku

All the women sell handicrafts for a living, with stalls at Savusavu market, the Copra Shed and the airport. They were delighted to learn a new skill relevant to their business – and they were fast learners.

“I was stunned at how fast they learnt everything,” said Annlee. “I didn’t know what to expect, how quick or slow they’d be – and they got it immediately – the right tension in the stitch so the beads snug up together, and the stitch itself.”

Lauren Byvank and Mira Wati

The stitch she taught them was the Dutch spiral, a fairly simple stitch based on two movements: pick up / go though / pick up / go through. She showed them how to use it with a bigger bead and a seed bead, creating a lovely tube-like effect of beads wound together in a soft rope. She wanted to show them something they could use with their local resources – and this stitch is ideal for using with pearls.

Annlee shows Lauren and Angela a stitch

Getting new ideas is an important business asset for the women, who are always eager to add to their wares and have different items to sell. It was also very rewarding for the other beaders who were in Annlee’s workshops. Annlee had taught them the stitch in the morning so they could help help with demonstrating the stitches. They really enjoyed the afternoon, sitting chatting with the women as they worked. Later that week they went to the market to see the women and were delighted to find that they were already selling necklaces using the new stitch!

Annlee and Koletta Tukana

When you get off the plane in Fiji the first thing you notice is the way people walk. It’s the slow relaxed gait of people from a tropical clime. There’s no point in hurrying and besides it’s just too darned hot. The rush, rush of our city-folk ways seems suddenly ludicrous and as you begin slowing it down, you remember this is the pace human beings are supposed amble along at.

It is just the kind of advice writers need. We think we have to push, push, push, to get our work out there, but first we need to slow it down to below the beat of our heart. Daku Resort in Savusavu Bay on Fiji’s second island Vanua Levu, is just the place to do it. This sleepy little backwater with only one main street doesn’t know the meaning of traffic jam or deadline. It’s all ‘rubber time’ here and so it should be in a writer’s world. That doesn’t mean we slack off or don’t turn up to the morning workshop, but in a week of breakthrough writing, we let time stretch out so there’s room for everything.

If you begin the day with yoga stretching high up in the open air yoga shala, with a million dollar view over a palm frond framed, tranquil bay, somehow you know it’s going to be a good writing day. Replacing the yoga mats with a big table and a bunch of determined writers who need a little bit of help, is always rewarding for me. I’ve come armed with a bagful of tricks, devious methods for helping them get ‘doubting mind’ out of the way and let the writing do its thing. I’m taking them into sense memory via guided meditations, getting out the butchers paper and coloured pens, making them plan the cover of their book, the blurb on the back, quotes by famous people, foreword, dedication, publisher’s name and date of publication. ‘Just pretend’ I tell them when they give me the ‘but I can’t possibly do that’ look. ‘Make it up – that’s what writing is, isn’t it?’ In no time all the ‘is it worth it, can I do it, will anyone want to read this crap’ self talk dissolves into the frangipani air and we are into our first mapping exercise and ‘show and tell’ to the group. Immediately we are all taken with the potential of one another’s work, offering constructive feedback, advice, ideas and applause.

There is great power in the group process, for as every day our contribution to our fellow writers grows so does their confidence. As the days wear on the breakthroughs begin to happen. One writer after nine years finally gets her opening paragraph and a brilliant one it is too. Another (after lunch) strips a twenty thousand word prologue down to one thousand. A third finds her narrator voice, a fourth starts out with a ‘maybe short story’ and realises she has enough material for a novel. A fifth is encouraged to include an important strand another writing group disapproved of. And so it goes until by the end of the week these writers who have achieved so much marvel are feeling so relaxed all they want to do now is write.

Jan returns to Fiji in 2012 for another week of Breakthrough Writing from 17 – 24 March, 2011.
Read more here »

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