Onto Fiji

20 Onto Fiji (Sat. Feb. 21)

Today we end our regular portion of the New Zealand and Australian tour. We added on a few days in Fiji and today we fly there. The group of people we originally started with, split when we left New Zealand and again only seven (including me and Carmen ) of this group are going to Fiji.

Originally our flight was to leave at around 6:45 AM, meaning we had to leave the hotel around 3:00AM. However, that flight got canceled and our new time is around 2:30PM. So we do not leave the hotel until 11:00AM. Much better! While at the airport we change our Australian money for Fijian money, not much different. For $170.00 AUS we get $180.00 Fiji

We are flying on a 747 to Fiji and there is plenty of room in the jet so we are not cramped. It is only a 3 1/2 flight. We take off, fly and land with no problems. After landing we go through immigrations, again no problems. We grab our bags then onto the agriculture inspection, still no problems. We find the people who are suppose to be our contact here at the airport so we can get a ride to the resort. And guess what? We get a shell necklace. Almost very Hawaiian.

Knowing where to go, we check in with the transportation company and we head out with a gentleman that will drive us. I'm thinking that all of use on the tour (there are seven of us) would be going in one van or small bus, but I was wrong. The man drives up in a car and it will be only the two of us on this journey. As we head out the driver mentions the fact that Fiji has just dried up from flooding from just three weeks ago. The roads show it, they are bad and you can tell some of them were just quickly patched with gravel. The driver is weaving in and out of the road (they drive on the left side of the road here also) and slowly over pot wholes and mounds.

It takes us about one and 45 minutes to get to the resort. On the way we pass horses and cows in the road and right on the edge of the road. Scary since it is dark while we are driving to the resort. Carmen and I both remark about how riding in this car reminds us of several taxi rides we had in Cancun years ago. The car is not quite a rattle trap and we are happy to make it to the resort without incident.

Carmen and I were the first to leave the airport on our way to the resort, but we are the last ones to get there. We saw two white SUVs pass us when we were within a few of kilometers from the resort and they contained two of the couples that are with our group.

We checked in and decided to go down to one of the five restaurants and cafes on the property. We head over to the cafe that is next to the beach. While waiting to be seated, Frank, one of the people in our tour group, meets us at the entrance, so he sits with us. We order a 12" pizza (at $24.90) and two sodas ($4.00 each) and with taxes the total was around $39.00. Fijian dollars of course, but still, $25.00 for a 12 inch pizza, wow.

While we are eating, there is a private dinner on the lawn below the restaurant and there are three young kids in native dress. A couple of people are taking pictures of them and so do I.

During dinner, Frank mentions that he received information that the train tour we are suppose to take on Monday is now on Sunday. We see the other two couples eating at the same cafe and they also confirmed the day change for the train tour. So our plan is to be ready for the train tour tomorrow morning, at 9:30AM.

By the time we finish eating, it is late and we head for bed. Of course I take pictures on the way to the room and the pictures in this posting are from after we ate. The water lily, we find out later only bloom at night and close up around 10:00AM - they must have the night shift.

We are on floor 6, the ground floor is 5 and the reception area is floor 8. Backwards from what you would normally think, but we find our rooms okay. It is so dark out that we have no real idea of the grounds or beach area. We can not wait until the sun is up.

Tomorrow, if the information is correct, our Coral Coast Railroad tour ride. Boula! (Hello, goodbye, hey you look good, whatever, in Fijian!) See you later.