Fulaga Photos Part 3
Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Thu 26 Sep 2013 00:46
 Our 20th wedding anniversary.....a romantic night in.
I am sure that on her wedding day Lucy never imagined that 20 years later
she would have sailed nearly 50,000 nautical miles to find this special spot so
far from any restaurants or jewellery stores!
 At the end of term the school held a fundraising and
sports day. We were able to donate two suitcases of our old clothes
and stuff gathered together by friends in NZ that we had carried up to
the islands for exactly this purpose. With items selling for only 1
or 2 Fiji dollars the stall proved very popular and within half an hour we
had sold every single article on the table with all the money going towards the
half of the nursery teacher's salary that the locals have to fund themselves
which isn't easy in an economy that hardly uses cash and relies more on farming,
fishing and sharing.
 We were co-opted into teams with the kids and
here we are setting off at the start of the sack-race. In the background you can
see the government supplied sat dish and solar panels of the single phone line
that is the only permanent link to the outside world. It needs it's own
solar power supply as there is no other electricity on the
island.
 Lucy bouncing ahead while a fat white-man
struggles to keep up!
 A well deserved lie down with some fresh coconut
milk to recover from the rigours of the day!
 After the sports came the dancing. Here are some
of the kids following the head teacher out to perform in front of all the
parents and us visitors.
 The kids are great dancers and clearly love
performing.
 The onlookers certainly enjoyed the show
too.
 More visitors on Bamboozle for lunch and while
the girls were preparing......
 ....the boys went off hunting for crabs and
clams. They are great hunter/gatherers and if you go off for a picnic with
them they don't bring any food but just rely on what they can hunt,
find and pick!
 A happy hunter with his supper. As you can
see from the size of this claw you have to be fairly careful about how you pick
these beasts up as they will give you more than a friendly
nip!
 A final view of Bamboozle in
the lagoon taken by our friends on Kailani, our next-door neighbours, taken from
the top of their mast. After six weeks we had to drag ourselves
away. We have never been anywhere where the locals have had such an
impact on us and it was a most emotional farewell with tears on both
sides. The memories of these special people and this extraordinary place
will stay with us for ever.
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