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Pacific Islands Table of Contents
As it was supposed to be little more than an overnight jaunt, I had neglected to bring reading material aboard the 400-ton copra ship Komowai bound for Savusavu and Taveuni destined to depart Suva at twenty-three hundred hours. I decided to relax and take notes, but didn't have the chance to do either right away. I was awakened in the wee hours by a Fijian lass who asked me shyly if she might share my cabin, as the ship was wallowing in ten-foot seas, which I couldn't fail but notice. Deck passengers had been brought inside lest they be washed overboard. The first lass was soon joined by several others. In less than the time it takes to tell it, the cabin was chock-a-block. In the morning, we docked at the Savusavu wharf for about twenty minutes and then hied it to refuge in Vulangi Bay, just around the corner. For three days, I had little to do except eat, sleep and watch palm fronds sail over head. Once the cyclone blew itself out, we raised anchor and eventually reached Taveuni. I vowed never to be without reading material again and never broke my promise except once when I spent three weeks on Laucala Island, owned by Forbes Magazine. I may be the only person outside of the magazine who has read every single issue from 1955 to 1979, from cover to cover. On my present assignment, on a dot of an island, about two and a half hours southwest of Nadi International Airport, why then am I perusing the local telephone book when just down the street from Auntie Em's guesthouse, there is a well- stocked bookstore? It's not that I lack reading material. It has to do with history, as you shall soon see. There are more Christian surnames in the local directory than you can shake a stick at, which could lead to mass confusion, even among folks in this tightly-knit community of just over eighteen hundred souls. The authorities, in their wisdom, authorize nicknames. The directory is the only one that I know of that actually condones, nay encourages, the use of such sobriquets. Scattered throughout, they range from Aggie, through Doggy, Ett, Grin, Loppy, Micky, Morg, Pip,Toofy to my favorite, Truck Adams. The island is the highest point in a ridge running 1,100 miles from New Zealand to New Caledonia. The highest point on the island, Mount Bates, stands at 1,085 feet above sea level. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg, for the base lies so far beneath the sea that this seemingly minor mountain is in reality a taller geologic formation than Mount Everest is.
The copyright of the article Norfolk Island in South Pacific Islands is owned by Larry Low. Permission to republish Norfolk Island in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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