Stop For A Bloody Mary
Sun Herald
Sunday October 31, 2004
An invitation to a passing boat brought Hollywood to a Fijian resort, writes James Shrimpton.
ON the canal-side forecourt of the elegant Lagoon Resort in Fiji sits a battered old wooden boat looking as if it had been dumped there by a king tide.The incongruity extends to the craft's interior, with ramshackle furnishings old wicker chairs and a stained round table that contrast starkly with the modern appointments of the resort.Yet the 15-metre boat, named the Bloody Mary, cost more than $200,000.In the tradition of Humphrey Bogart's African Queen and Gilligan's Minnow, it was custom-built last year for screen stardom, powered by an engine from an old Bedford truck.Bloody Mary features in the new Hollywood film Anacondas: The Hunt For The Blood Orchid, a sequel to 1997's Anaconda in which a film crew tangles with a mad hunter and a deadly 12-metre snake.Although set in Borneo, the new movie was shot in Fiji with the production team based at the Lagoon Resort at Deuba, 50 kilometres west of Suva.Afterwards, the Lagoon's New Zealand owner Jim Sherlock bought the Bloody Mary for $2000.In recent weeks he's been refurbishing it as a bar for his guests while retaining many of its tacky features, including a primitive toilet, for the sake of "atmosphere".The Lagoon's other main claim to fame is that in 2002 it hosted 16 regional prime ministers, including Australia's John Howard and New Zealand's Helen Clark, for the traditional private "retreat" of the South Pacific Forum.Sherlock's wife, Heather, showed us Room 204, where Howard stayed.The Sherlocks, from Waikato in New Zealand's North Island, had invested in the Fiji Palms beach resort at Deuba in 1988 the year after the two Fiji coups led by Sitiveni Rabuka.They bought the Lagoon in 1999 the year before another coup, led by George Speight, which resulted in a slump to less than 1 per cent in the occupancy rate, which had been 35 per cent and rising.Since many travel wholesalers viewed the Deuba/Pacific Harbour area as unsafe because of the coup 50 kilometres away a view backed by Australian Government warnings the Sherlocks concentrated on the conference market.The Lagoon also hosts weddings, company and family gatherings and events such as the annual Melbourne Cup party. Lagoon guests can also use beach facilities at the locally managed Fiji Palms.It was in February last year that Jim Sherlock saw a boat passing the resort on the canal and called out: "Come and have a drink it's too hot today."The visitors turned out to be from Hollywood, scouting locations for the new Anacondas film.Following conversations over a cold drink or two, the crew returned in April and talks led to the production company taking over the resort for 24 weeks. Exceptions were the public bar and the penthouse where the Sherlocks live.The film stars Johnny Messner, KaDee Strickland, Salli Richardson and Morris Chestnut. A website review outlines the plot: "A scientific expedition sets out for Borneo to seek a flower called the blood orchid, which could grant longer life. Meanwhile, they run afoul of snakes and each other."The picture has had a mixed reception. One critic in the US summarised: "Incredibly silly, but fun."The Lagoon Resort rooms cost from $F140 ($112) a night. Taxis from Nadi International Airport, a drive of about 21/2 hours, cost $F121 for up to four people, and $F66 from Nausori Airport near Suva.See www.lagoonresort.com.For full information on Fiji holidays, phone the Fiji Visitors Bureau on 9264 3399 or see www.bulafiji.com.? The writer was a guest of the Fiji Visitors Bureau and Air Pacific.
© 2004 Sun Herald