Fiji Time

OMG - it is Thursday already and there has been no blog update since we arrived.  It seems I have officially adopted Fiji time.

And why wouldn't you when the temperature does not drop below 24 degrees - at night.  Yes, the climate is truly tropical, hot and humid.  Because, guess what, we are here in the wet season, and while it does not rain much, when it does, it pours.  In February, it rains on an average of 22 days for an average total of 288 mm - that is half what Melbourne receives in a whole year!

Ahh Fiji, beautiful one day...

So it is lush and green, and there are lots, and lots of frogs. Platymanis Vitianus is the rather grand Latin name for the Fijian ground frog and they come out at night in great numbers, especially when it rains.  And rain it did on Tuesday night, our first evening.  Torrential rain, so torrential that we had to keep moving our table on the restaurant terrace further inside as the rain got stronger and penetrated further under the terrace roof.  We abandonded all plans of walking back to our room until the rain had eased, so about 90 minutes later it had slowed to just a heavy shower and we decided to brave the trip back.  And in that time we experienced a relaxed Fiji-time dinner.  The pace here is slow, and why would you move any faster when it is so hot and humid ? OK, the drinks could have come a bit quicker, I was really hanging out for a refreshing ale, but you just appreciate it so much more after a wait. So after our languidly served, and equally languidly enjoyed, dinner we trudged through the flooding puddles, avoiding the numerous bounding frogs, back to our bure. Drenched, so drenched I had to get the hairdryer out to my hair before I could go to bed.

Tim has taken to Fiji time

The pace of life is something the locals are grapling with in the context of their place in international trade and affairs.  Fiji time is all very well in the village, and on holiday resorts, but many Fijian businessmen are questioning the viability of the relaxed culture when it comes to international trade. In addition to a casual approach to deadlines, the Fijian business model is laisse faire about quality and reliability, resulting in missed opportunites.  Apparently there are ample development incentives and government programs seek to increase growth in tourism, transport, power production and agriculture.  But these industries are competing with Australia, New Zealand and other free market economies and struggling to do so. Conflicting with this are messages from the Fijian chiefs exhorting Fijians to embrace their traditional cultural ways.  Just this week President Bainimarama made a strong public statement endorsing the importance of preserving i-Taukei, indigenous Fijian culture. But in the same week he announced an expected increase in tourism from China, a group I understand to be notorious for high expectations when they travel.

I can't help but think that Fiji-time, and all the asociated calming serenity, are under threat.