Our last full day at Lomani begins at 8:30 with breakfast and then on to the beach to wait for the 9:00am snorkelling excursion to the reef. Of course, being on Fiji time this doesn't sset off until 10am. Another fantastic time feeding bread to the multitude of fish and having them peck at your hand for more. Back on shore and I have a well earned rest(?) in one of the beachside hammocks while Sarah went off with Grant and Rosie to visit a local crafts gallery in one of the golf buggies. We're given a call in the afternoon to tell us that this evening's meal will be cocktails on the lawn followed by a big meal all together. Part of the meal will be the fish and chicken cooked in an earth oven made by some of the guests and staff earlier.
Having got changed for dinner we wandered down to the beach to find Grant fishing and Rosie watching and generally taking the mickey out of him. He got fed up with fishing and asked us if we wanted a quick sail on the Hobie - "You'll just get your bum wet and you'll dry out in no time" he said as we climbed aboard. Famous last words. It was windier and rougher than any of us expected and Grant had drunk one or two gins in the afternoon so the result was everyone got absolutely drenched. Grant was very apologetic (he even lost his hat in the wind!) but after another quick shower and a change into dry clothes all was well. We just hope our clothes will dry before we have to pack them tomorrow.
To dry our clothes quicker, Grant and Rosie suggested we hang them in our back garden, where the outdoor shower is. We didn't know what they meant until we got back to our room and investigated what we thought was just a back door to the suite. Unknown to us for the past few days we have a small walled garden at the back of the building with a place for drying clothes and an outdoor shower (the garden is fully enclosed and not overlooked). It had never been shown to us when we were showed around the room and we'd hadn't thought to open the door. Oh well.
All the guests assemble for cocktails, there are only ten guests here at the moment and one couple ducked out after the drinks so there are eight of us for dinner. Just before dinner is served we're seated on the floor for some Kava drinking and a little of the history of the tradition and what it all means. Noah talks us through the preparation of the drink which involves infusing the powdered root in a hessian bag in cold water, occasionally wringing it out and stirring the mixture. A couple of generous cupfulls, or 'High Tides' later (we could choose low or high tide for a small or large cupful respectively, or if you were feeling particularly adventurous a tsunami for a very full cup!) and it's time for dinner.
We all sit at one long table, breaking between courses for more Kava and enjoying each others company - all the other guests are from Australia, three couples from Sydney alone. We're entertained by the usual collection of staff, affectionately known as 'The Kava Crew' with their guitars and ukelele. After the meal we sit around the Kava bowl drinking more and listening to the music and chatting. Rosie has been taughts some rude Fijian phrases and has a list on a piece of paper she refers to now and again before saying something which has all the Fijians rolling about in laughter and the rest of us looking a little confused.
We carry on until about 11:30, even persuading some of the non residents who were dining here tonight to join us on the floor for some Kava. A really nice atmosphere as usual, the staff enjoying themselves as much as the guests which goes some way to explaining why we feel so welcomed here, the staff enjoy working here too and it rubs off on the guests. We don't fly on to Los Angeles until tomorrow night so there's no need to get up early and we've already organised a late check out so we get to spend as much time here as possible.
