Originally appeared in The Sun-Herald Travel section, January 20, 2008
Crisis, what crisis? Justin Wastnage finds new trends and an optimistic outlook in post-coup Fiji.
Kini looked crestfallen. This man mountain, a former national rugby representative, had just been rebuffed. He'd offered me a ticket to the grand final of the national rugby championship, where his side was defending the cup, and I had turned him down because I was having a spa treatment.
I'm not usually the spa treatment kind of bloke, something Kini may have picked up on as he drove me around Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, so that I could get a sense of post-coup Fiji. Kini and I had chatted about the World Cup and Fiji's prospects and had stopped to take photos of the handmade sugarcane rugby posts the local children use to practise penalty kicks.
We had even been in a minor James Bond-esque scrape, when we were found by sinister French heavies after having breached the fence around the country's $34million wind farm, days before its official opening by coup leader Commodore Voreque "Frank" Bainimarama.
Kini was understandably confused at my priorities as I explained to him that I had booked myself a Fijian body polish and facial at 4pm, the exact time of kick-off at the Lawaqa Park stadium. We drove back to the hotel in silence.
Read the full article here at SMH.com.au
Sunday, January 20, 2008
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