Last week Elena Parashko lead a group of artists at Daku Resort. Karen (attending her second art and painting retreat at Daku) writes below:

“This is my second time to Daku Resort to combine some learning with pleasure. I left with some concern as to whether the memories I had retained so vividly from last visit in September 2009 would actually set me up for a disappointment as my benchmark was already set so high.

Painting on the beach

Keni and Raj greeted me back to the ‘family’ as if I had returned home. And part of the Tadulala family we were, from the minute we arrived until it was time to leave. Mereoni made sure that we were well fed and combined Western, Asian and traditional Fijian food to ensure that we did not go hungry. It was delicious and healthy. Who’d of thought that seaweed could taste so good – really! The entertainment provided by the Tadulala children was presented with genuine warmth and an eagerness to please. The accommodation was very clean with bucketfuls of charm.

Despite my initial concerns, I was all the more pleasantly surprised when this trip was even better than the last.

Another day hard at work

Elena Parashko was our art teacher for this course and her teaching skills and ability transformed us all (she had 10 eager students of differing abilities) into artists with greater skills and far more confidence than when we arrived. It surely helped that the pick of locations would be the envy of anyone – paintbrush in hand or not. If the weather chose to spring a tropical storm upon us we also had the new purpose built Yoga Shala to set up our easels and paint away.

In the beautiful Yoga Shala

While there we had the pleasure of meeting another group who were there to appreciate classical music under the guidance of Mike Smith. Mike so very clearly loved his subject matter that he has inspired me to explore this music genre further.

So now it seems that I have presented myself with a real problem now that I have set my benchmark even higher. A challenge I shall gladly rise up to and return again in 2011.

Thank you Daku for being a little piece of paradise.

Karen McAllister

Tony and Demo with my painting

Patti Miller’s memoir writing course happened in May – I’ve been slow in getting it up but here it is. Melissa, one of the course participants, wrote this account of the week:

A wave at breakfast

In May I participated in a Writing in Paradise workshop (Memoir Finding the Story). The course ran for six days and the presenter was Patti Miller. The workshop was enjoyable and I gained new insight into my life by joining in.

Each morning we sat in a circle and shared our written memoirs with our new friends by reading them aloud. I found this exercise to be invaluable to my writing as it gave me positive feedback about my work and also further knowledge on how to improve the skills I already had. Some of the exercises in the workshop were challenging but I felt Patti helped us work through these emotions by allowing us, her students to see our lives through our own eye’s and gave permission to tell it, as we saw it.

As the individuals members read their stories aloud about their mother’s, fathers, their favorite songs and relationships it conjured up memories that I hadn’t thought about for a long time. Memories about everyday life, like having my photo taken on my first day of school, or the roast chicken my Mum cooked up for dinner. Sad memories as well, the family dog passing away, illness of a Grandparent.

As the memoirs spilled out I started to develop feelings of compassion and joy, for what these people were saying. I may have known them for less then a week but I felt behind every person was a story, and a story that was well worth hearing.

Once we asked to draw a picture of our house and place ourselves inside the house and remember an event from the past. This assignment conjured up not only emotions but evoked our senses so we could all smell touch, see, hear and feel as well. Another exercise we were asked to write how we felt by using words that showed certain emotions. Instead of writing,’ I feel anxious’ we might write ‘my nerves were jumpy’ or ‘my skin felt prickly.’ This was difficult but we all managed to pull it off.

Patti was caring and empathetic to all our needs and recognised the emotional commitment that writing often brings and encouraged all of her students to look after one another. As a group I felt we all responded with understanding and compassion. The structure of the course was presented professionally, I found in particular the information on how to put the memoir together insightful.

Sometimes you need an extra pair of eye’s to make the connections in your body of work fit together, this is easier to do when you have support from an experienced writer.

I had a terrific time doing the memoir workshop in Fiji. It was great to get away from the hustle and bustle of life and sit back in an idealistic environment and write to my hearts content in a beautiful location such as Daku Resort.

Rachel's choir getting off the bus at the village

In June, Rachel Hore – who has taught many singing weeks at Daku – brought out her own choir. This is a choir she teaches regularly in the Blue Mountains, so they all knew each other already. That, and her own close ties with the community around Daku, made for a very special week and I received some truly heart warming comments from the people who came.

Hi Delia,
I had such a wonderful time in Fiji and I just wanted to let you know about the highlights for my sisters and I.
We caught a taxi out to Ba to see where our Dad was born and lived and worked. The taxi driver took our pilgrimage very seriously and went out of his way to help us find the places we wanted to see.
Arriving at Daku was wonderful. We loved staying in the Villa and enjoyed the beautiful views from the verandah. The staff are absolutely wonderful – Raj, Kenni, Mereoni and their beautiful children and Temu, Demari and Carlos ( excuse my spelling!) and the others we didn’t see so much of but who made our rooms so beautiful each day. The food was fantastic.
The absolute highlight was going out to Kenni and Mereoni’s village. The bus trip gave us an opportunity to see so much more of the island and we felt so welcome and singing with the community there was very special.
I feel so lucky to be in Rachel’s choir – the relationships she has developed with the choirs there gave us opportunities we would never have had as ‘ordinary’ tourists.
Thanks for your part in organising the week. I hope we are able to go back to your beautiful resort.
Warm regards,
Jeanette

Trip was fantastic, Staff at Daku are extraordinary, Singing was Divine and Rachel Rocs
Peter and Caroline

It was the most amazing trip I have ever had. Fabulous! Daku is delightful, and Keni, Merioni, Raj and all the staff are extraordinarily gracious, extremely though discreetly hard-working, faultlessly hospitable and very competent. The setting is exquisite, the accommodation is both charming and comfortable, and the meals are delicious.

Rachel’s respectful and lovingly nurtured relationships with both the Daku family and the village choirs facilitated a cultural and emotional experience that went far deeper than I could have imagined.
Sheridan

It was one of the best weeks of my life! Keni, his family and the staff welcomed us and treated us like we were family – not just tourists. The trip to Keni’s village was a unique and always to be remembered experience – including the enjoyment of the bus ride!
Dianne

Relaxing by the pool

The group in the yoga shala

Through the Good Morning Show on TVNZ (New Zealand) we offered two places on DeidreLee Allen’s PureBalance YogaPilates course in the first week of June. The winner was Dannette who brought along her sister – and subsequently wrote this lovely letter of appreciation for the week:

I was the winner of the 7-night Yoga Pilates retreat at Daku Resort, Fiji, with Deidre-Lee Allen. I returned home from Fiji on Sunday night, what can I say…thank you SO much, what an absolutely amazing life changing week it was, both for myself and for my sister who I took with me.

The staff at Daku Resort are so wonderful, they welcomed us with open arms as part of their family. Our bure was beautiful, looking straight out onto the ocean, surrounded by gorgeous tropical gardens. The food..wow…from the fresh tropical fruit to the outstanding kokoda, our tastebuds were fully sated.

Purebalance Yoga Pilates with Deidre-Lee Allen… each morning we would be in the yoga shala by 7am, set up on a hill, surrounded by coconut palms and looking out to the ocean, a beautiful tranquil space to start our day. Deidre-Lee is a wonderful teacher and was such an inspiration, her passion for Yoga Pilates shines and somehow she managed to make all of us stretch or bend just that little bit further, or hold that pose for just a few more seconds… magical! We walked away from each session feeling refreshed, relaxed & oh so happy & fortunate to be there, living in the moment.

Our days were filled with snorkelling, visiting local villages, a boat trip, beach picnic, swimming… or just lazing around the pool drinking pina coladas, ahh, bliss! It was fabulous to have a week with my sister Linda, she & the others doing the course are all amazing strong women whom I feel very lucky to have shared a week in paradise with.

Daku Resort now has a small piece of my heart, magical memories made.

Thank you Good Morning, if I could’ve taken you all with me I would’ve!

Arohanui

Dannette

Anemone Clown Fish at Split Rock

Who cares? you might say…..but in this day of search-engine driven marketing, it matters. When we put up details of our snorkeling weeks, the Americans will find it – but if we want the Australians and English to come along, it has to be snorkelling. Well, I’m probably exaggerating a bit because people trawl around and have a look. And once the quibbling is over, the snorkel(l)ing is fantastic. I’ve already blogged about it, but there’s always more.

Our recent group of singers had a lot of keen snorkellllllers amongst them and we ran trips out to the reef on a daily basis. Here’s what one of them said:

We came to attend a singing course. The opportunity to combine two of our favourite activities (singing and snorkelling) on a daily basis was incomparable. Easy access to posh resort (Cousteau) for diving, Savusavu for trinkets and Indian tailors, reefs for snorkelling and even a local scooter hire place. Who could complain!

Catching the early morning reef activity is always great – when I’m at Daku I often take people out to Split Rock at 7.00am, which is when there’s an abundance of fish feeding around the rock and the nearby coral gardens.

And in July and October we’ve got snorkelling weeks with lectures, so people can learn more about what they’re seeing.

Delia on the boat (oh!! the hair!!!)

The runners are off.....

On April 10th Savusavu held its second ever Fun Run and we were hosts for the event.

Organised by Sharon Wild, it raised over $400 for the PTA of Khemendra Primary School.

We had a beautiful (and very hot) morning and with 80 participants and a fair amount of noise and chaos early on, but things soon got sorted out and the runners were off.

The first run was just 1km and a pretty easy foray; I (Delia) ran it myself accompanied some of the way by Sharon’s 5 year old son Dylan. Like many little kids, Dylan’s method of running is to sprint as fast as he can for as long as he can; he then stops completely and wanders along red-faced and exhausted; then picks up his energy and darts off again. Anyhow, he still got back over the finish line in a respectable time and I was close on his heels.

The 5 km event was more serious, with older kids and several adults. The runners all disappeared off down the road and seemed to take a long time coming back which was a surprise because there was a top runner from Australia amongst them (my daughter’s boyfriend so I can say that!). His normal time would have been well under 20 minutes so when it was 25 minutes we all got a bit concerned. It turned out that the policeman marking the turning point had wandered off and the runners had to guess for themselves. Still, they made it back safely.

Afterwards we had a big BBQ and prize presentation of prizes that local sponsors had given: a fabulous trophy by local metalwork sculptor Shane Bower, resort dives with Jean-Michel Cousteau Dive Shop and dinner at Surf and Turf.

Sharon presents the Esava with the winner's trophy made by Shane Bower

Winners:

1KM Race BOYS:
1st place: Esava Ikanidevo, 13yrs old.
2nd place: Mosese Tuidama 13yrs
3rd place: Rashneel

Elliot and Christol

1KM Race GIRLS:
1st place: Ashna Lata
2nd place: Joy Qalita
3rd place: Tepola Fonohea

5KM Event
1st place: Elliot Wise
2nd place: Christol Dheggdd
3rd place: Armani Drake

Cyclone Tomas hit Fiji on March 15, and the northern islands were particularly badly damaged. It’s being described as one of the worst cyclones in the area for 20 years. All things considered, we got away fairly lightly – no-one injured, no buildings damaged.

We were very touched by all the messages of concern and support we received from previous guests and visitors – thank you.

Now it’s a matter of clearing up the debris – fallen trees, a battered sea wall and half the beach on our front lawn! But that’s just about done; power was restored within the week, the road has been cleared of all the rocks, and the airport is fully functional.

And, as so often happens after a cyclone, the weather has been glorious.

The last two months have been fantastic for snorkelling – great visibility and lots of fish. Split Rock continues to astound me – and everyone I take there. Last time I swam out from the beach with a family staying at Daku, and we saw a striped sea snake in the shallows. Although venomous, they are shy creatures and won’t bite unless you really annoy them. We hung back and it swam off lazily. The shoals of black and white soldier fish which are always at Split Rock seem to multiply – and they’re cheeky little things and often give you a nip. I also saw a line of small cuttlefish. I tried to get closer but they just disappeared leaving only a small squirt of black ink.

Damsel fish at Charlie's Point

There are at least three big clams on the rock – and the anemone at the end of the split is still there, along with the clown fish that lives inside it. These fish have an extraordinary biology: they are hermaphrodites, so they develop as males first, and when they reach maturity, they become females and can mate and reproduce.

We also went out a couple of times to Charlie’s Point out towards the lighthouse. It’s only accessible by boat, but is one of my favourite spots. The coral is spectacular – a range of coral heads with all sorts of plate coral, and clouds of fish of every shape and size. There are also some Christmas tree worms – those pretty little red and blue and yellow creatures that look like tiny Christmas trees, and which flick back into their tubes if you disturb them. They actually build these tubes by secreting a calcerous substance – the tube is both home and protection to the worm.

I saw a couple of trumpet fish at Charlie’s Point, drifting along quietly, almost translucent in colouring. It’s hard to tell which is its head and which its tail – and that, of course, is part of its feeding strategy. it hangs about in the water, going with the current, and then ambushs its prey when the other fish swim unedrneath it, sucking them up. It’s a method called “pipette feeding.” Its mouth creates a vacuum and sucks up small animals by expanding to a size equal to its body diameter.

People often ask if there are any sharks around, and of course the answer is yes. They are reef sharks and well fed so they never show any interest is snorkelers. I haven’t seen any there for some time, but once we saw a group of 6 chasing each other in a circle just like they do in the cartoons! Normally, though, the biggest fish we see are the groupers and sweet lips.

It’s one thing to renovate rooms ‘cos you can do them one at a time, but when you’re ripping out the entire roof of the main reception/dining/bar area, it’s a big ask! So we had 10 days of disruption but our guests were very relaxed about it – we moved the restaurant up to the poolhouse deck on a temporary basis, and got on with it.

We were taking out all the thatching from the big bure – and really not before time. Traditional thatching is lovely to look at – but it takes a lot of maintenance, houses all sorts of beetles and other creatures, and is a potential fire hazard in kitchens.

We’d already put up corrugated iron roofs some years ago (nowadays a rather more traditional Fijian roofing style than thatching!) so the thatching was all on the inside. Arun Prasad and his team arrived early on a Monday morning and thanks to daylight saving, worked right through the day and pretty well completed the first part of the job in a day.

The whole place was a swirling mass of dust and straw and sawdust; the big bure was quite literally knee deep in the leaves. The team gathered it all up in big tarps and burned it out the back. The men strolled cat-like around the rafters on planks of wood – it looked precarious to me but the only accident was when one poor bloke who dropped his wallet into the piles of discarded thatch and never found it!

The next 9 days were spent in nailing up the ceiling boards and painting them; the roof is white, the rafters are deep brown – and we’ve carefully painted around the magimagi weaving on the central pillars (magimagi is a traditional form of Fijian decorative weaving in a thick string).

So less than 2 weeks later, it’s all done, we’re back in the big bure and the whole place is lighter, brighter and cleaner.