Fijian People, Schools and Paradise

Tyla gave out her presents to her two favourite taxi drivers yesterday and they were both really glad to see her. Here is a picture of Tyla with Inoke (who drives the orange taxi).

She gave him a kangaroo holding a boomerang. Sake (who drives the aqua taxi) got a koala with an Aussie bandana... When we saw him later in the day he had his kangaroo hanging from the mirror in the taxi so Tyla was very happy with herself :)
On the way bag to the landing at Matei we passed the natural spring where we went swimming last time, and a couple of ladies from the village were washing their clothes there. They remembered Tyla so they were more than happy to pose for the photo she wanted to take of them. Ty's become quite the photographer! Very different ways of doing washing than back in Oz!

After grabbing an ice block at Bhula Bai, we sat at the landing waiting for the boat. Some people from a village in Qamea called Vuanicau (pronunced voo-ah-ni-tha-oo) arrived to go shopping. I got talking to them and it turns out they run a school of about 100 students over there. The principal has invited Tyla and I to come and watch their dress rehearsals next week - can't wait! It'll be great to experience the culture of another school on an even more remote island. Their school holds the licence held by Malcolm Forbes from when he built a school on Laucala back in the days when he owned the island. From all reports he was a god-like figure over here and did everything he could to help the local people (unlike the current owner). In the 2000 coup, the military invaded Laucala and the school was closed down. I'm pretty sure Mr Forbes had died before then but Im going to ask some people today to find out more about it. So anyways, Vuanicau Public School holds the old Forbes-Laucala school licence and relies on donations from the Fijian government to provide for their kids. I hope they're not holding their breath for funds because I'm pretty sure they'll be waiting a while for their current government to help them out?? I wish I could find out more about the current regime, but it's kind of like an unspoken topic over here. Apparently he has the Fijian's best interests at heart. I'd actually love to meet him and have a chat about it!
Apart from that, tomorrow morning we're heading down to the south end of Taveuni for a holiday at 'Paradise'. Can't wait!