When Kimberley Nutbey left her home in the Hague, Netherlands, for a dream job in Fiji, she had thoughts of enjoying a brief South Sea Island adventure.
Little did she realise, a global pandemic would result in her not being able to return home.
In fact, it meant she could remain in Fiji for some time. Her three months stint at the iconic Turtle Island Resort, which began in March this year, could turn into a six-month or more forced ‘holiday’ due to travel restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was scheduled to begin work as a volunteer yoga instructor at the Yasawa resort in April. But the Coronavirus and Tropical Cyclone Harold crisis turned her job plans into a cultural awakening.
“I came in on the very last flight from New Zealand on March 23,” the 29-year-old said.
“I went into quarantine and right after that the cyclone came, so I was stuck in Nadi.”
Ms Nutbey said her journey through three continents before landing at Nadi International Airport “was not easy”.
“No one expected the virus to spread that fast.
“When I left Europe in February, there were no cases reported in the Netherlands.
“Then I went to Singapore and stayed there for a few weeks and that’s when I started to see it spreading through Asia.
“But somehow I managed to leave those places just in time.
“If I had stayed longer in the Netherlands, it (COVID-19) would have been in Europe and it would have been impossible for me to leave.
“Somehow my travel was planned in such a way that every country I visited, I left just in time, before things got worse.
“In New Zealand I beat the mandatory quarantine implementation and I also entered Fiji before the borders closed.
“I spent three weeks in New Zealand and if I had stayed longer, it would have been impossible for me to enter Fiji.”
She said from the moment she set foot on Nanuya Levu in Yasawa, her life began a metamorphosis.
“I’m in paradise. “When the world was adapting to doing things online and staying connected in the virtual world, I was doing the exact opposite.
“I couldn’t be more disconnected from the rest of the world because I am in a very happy place surrounded by people who have become my family. ” Ms Nutbey described the experience as life-changing.
“I’ve really learned how to slow down, this was my biggest challenge.
“Something I have realised on the island is that it’s inevitable, you have to slow down the moment you realise that you are the only one running.”
Four months into her stay, she is looking forward to celebrating her 30th birthday on the island.
“I feel very blessed and lucky to have arrived here within these circumstances and I know that is a weird thing to say but this is such a unique and rare experience.
“And to be here in Turtle Island, which has been without guests, and to be only surrounded by the locals and their culture and traditions, it has been such an incredible and rare opportunity.
“I am really grateful for that,” she said.
