Fiji Day Celebrations!

Everyone from all around the world is talking about how they celebrated Fiji's birthday yesterday with lovos, music and dancing. We here in Hong Kong, however, did nothing; just raised a glass to our beloved nation and wished it happiness for a thousand years, plus.

But Keith did remind me of a very funny day which must have been 21 years ago.

We had just moved to Townsville, in North Queensland, and, early evening, were sitting on the veranda of our newly purchased house, when guitars started up about five doors down from us, and the street started to fill up with cars.  It was a big, big party so, quickly, those cars started parking around our house and that's when I noticed the people who were getting out of them.

Everyone looked like someone I thought I knew but, just as I was about to call out, on each occasion on second glance I realised it wasn't who I thought it was.  But then it happened over and over again.  Very odd.

Anyway, the party went on late into the night and it seemed like a lot of fun ... and it wasn't until the next day I noticed the date:  11th October!

That's when it all made sense.  Five doors down from us, there'd been a Fiji Day party and that's why everyone looked ALMOST familiar.  Anyway, to check it out, I took the dog for a walk - dogs are useful that way - past the house, and there, in the garden, were the remains of a lovo ... so I walked up to the house and knocked on the door.

Clara Bennet from Sigatoka.  And wasn't she cross she hadn't known I was there. "You should have just dropped by. You should have come." she kept saying.

I hadn't known that Townsville had a large Fijian population, but after that I did, and, from then on, there was never a Fiji Day celebration that we didn't attend.  Mmmmm, lovo!  Always wonderful food and, yes, fabulous music too.

Mmmm! What a pity HK doesn't have a similiar Fiji Community and yesterday, our 40th birthday, had to go by without our usual wonderful mouth-wateringly yummy party and that makes me sad.