Doing goodness out west

It's amazing how sometimes a plan works exceedingly well. Set it up, go with flow whilst executing and it all just falls into place...For the first time the sun was out when we woke, the wind had dropped and the crystal clear waters of the warm tropical coral reef beckoned like a siren from the rocks.

Tempted as we were, we had to forgo the pristine delights that lapped at our doorstep and instead climbed into our tiered old jalopy and headed into the gloom of the west.
Our genius hosts had managed to secure a hire car for the day at incredibly cheap rates and no paper to fill out. The poor old thing has done over 250,000 km and struggled a bit up the hills. However with a maximum allowable speed of 80kph this did not really concern us. We were by no means the slowest on the road.
Loaded with goodies we caught up with our rendezvous at the Hindu temple in Nandi.

Slight embarrassment mistaking the car park attendant for a beggar, we followed to the temporary home of the Ratu family. They normally live on the island Koro. This was directly in the path of the cyclone. Consequently displaced to the outskirts of Nadi whilst Yogen works for a nephew of a work colleague of Ro's. They have a 3 month old baby and live in a ...humpy? constructed of old corrugated iron sheets. Two rooms, grass mats covering the dirt floor. Of course - no services, no fly screens, nothing...just a will to live and a strong family bond.
Due to the close proximity of the concrete factory the baby goes elsewhere during the day. So we met Mum, Dad, Cousin, Niece and Nephew members of the family from all over.
No photo's - felt it would have been bit rude.
It was nice they cleaned up the place and offered Kava whilst were sitting cross legged on the floor in a circle however they seemed to appreciate the declination based on the need to drive. They were very happy with our two suitcases full of essentials (well what we think they may have needed anyway). Maybe next time it may be a little less awkward. So we headed off and onto a highly recommended Chinese restaurant for lunch (LC's - we were originally looking for Elsie's...).
This was followed by a quick poke around the shops of Nadi looking for obscure audio cables before we headed back south, out of the overcast gloom and back to the glistening coast. Just by the time we managed to hit the water the sun disappeared again. urrrgghhh. However the water was warm and the fish glowing brightly against the bleached coral. Dinner in the dining room with one other couple (the other one must've got room service) and a DVD before blogging saw the day to an end.