Fiji2024

 We slept badly again. Chris read some of her book in the middle of the night which might be a first for her. Lini cooked an omelette again and we had that along with fresh fruit. Two other couples had arrived later last night - a Fijian couple who live in Australia and a Dutch couple. We chatted with them as they ate. Otherwise it was simply a case of packing up. Robert had gone to Suva to buy coffee for their coffee machine (which he complained about) and to get his licence renewed. Lini talked more about his drinking but it seems that she has set down some rule and they have improved the situation. He was violent once but she threatened to leave and that has been the only time. She also talked about buy furniture and appliances in German and having them packed in a contained. It was much cheaper than buying in Fiji. She also had furniture that had been imported from Bali. She had grown up on Taveuni island, off Venus Levu. Because he had the car, Lini could not run us to the bus...

Photos still to come. Breakfast was sent chatting to Lini, Patrick and Maren. Today Patrick is going swimming with the sharks. We are going on a tour up the Navua River. The river is 67km long but we would not be going that far. We were picked up at 9:45 and taken to the base. From there on it was a lot of fun. It has been very wet recently and we do not know how the day will pan out. Patrick and Maren advised taking a change of clothes. They got very wet but they were tubing; we are rafting. But, if it rains, we will still get very wet. We determined to be better prepared that yesterday so had our togs on under our clothes.  We arrived in the village on Ratu William Danford Drive, were fitted with lifejackets and given a briefing of our day. Our guide was Nem and he was brilliant - informative, funny and keen to pass on wise advice. He said he was from a long line of preachers. Apparently, we were to go directly to the waterfall in the longboats, then cruise down river, for part o...

Photos still to come. Ok. Big day today: EcoTrax and then moving on. We were to be picked up at 8:15 a.m. so that might have been on our minds. We had a longish period in the night awake and decided to plan today and a bit further ahead: where we might fit the soccer outfits Kim had got, how we might get to our next accommodation, what we might do with the two days we deliberately left spare to give us flexibility, etc.. We set an alarm for 6:30 and were woken by that. It was a case of packing a bit differently so that we have the stuff we need, including our swimming/snorkelling gear. Our destination today is a beach. We got organised, had our normal breakfast of weetbix and muesli and checked out. At EcoTrax we were met by Britney, a talkative, enthusiastic 37-year old who seemed a bit of a party-girl and was certainly entertaining and knowledgeable. Alongside her was Lela. They were to be our guides. When we paid, Britney called me Peter Pan and she later referred to us both as Pete...

We both slept quite well. We had thought that we would go to the Kula Wild Adventure Park today but... it is 14km away and it could be expensive getting there, the reviews online were not wildly enthusiastic, Chris emailed EcoTrax yesterday and we got a reply saying we could go on their tour on Wednesday morning. She had really wanted to do that but the website said they were sold out until the end of January and their reply to our earlier enquiry said that they were very busy. Everybody who had thought about coming to Fiji but couldn't because of COVID seemed to be coming now. We were put on a waiting list and would be advised. We had heard nothing. Wednesday morning suits us before we move on so it was exciting being accepted. However, it is expensive. We are also keen to have dinner here tonight because of the Pacific culture show that goes with it. Last night we had about the cheapest meals on the menu. Tonight we will go for something more indigenous. But that too will be expe...

Today was moving day. I woke at 2:22 and didn't sleep again for ages. I think I got some before getting up. Chris slept well. We had Weetbix and muesli for breakfast again, moistened by half a small box of UHT milk i.e. pretty dry. We had saved a section of banana from last night's fruit platter to add to it. On checking out, we were charged $F71.50 for last night's meal. Chris had signed for it and we hadn't tallied it but were a bit surprised that it came to that. Maybe it was all above board. We walked to the airport which is close by and were told at the information desk to wait for a Suva Express bus. It would drop us at the Geckos Resort bus stop and should cost about $F8. While waiting an (official, we assumed) man asked where we were going. He said the bus would be there at 10:00 and the cost would be $F7.89. On the bas we handed over $F16 and got no change. We hadn't really expected it. The trip took us via the Nadi bus hub and then south. Much of what we s...

We woke about 4:00; didn’t get back to sleep so got up. We had Weetbix and muesli for breakfast with the provided UHT milk. We had initially booked for only one night but later made another booking. We packed up, rearranging things so that we had what we might need in one backpack, food in the other, and our two suitcases. Google said it would take 36 minutes to walk to the church (2.6km). We were ready to go by about 7:45. We checked out, putting our bags into storage. It was 28 degrees and only got hotter. My phone says if is 31 degrees now, at 2:40. The church was on the Nadi Back Road. Some of the way there were no footpaths and again it reminded me of Asia. Fiji is a third world country. There were crops planted in the fields but not many signs of life. We did pass people setting up a watermelon stall. The people we met were very friendly and willing to help. We mentioned to two people that we were going to the Living Way Church. Neither, including a taxi driver, knew it. There ar...

We have planned for a long time to go with all of our family to Fiji. The catalyst was Kayla and Vinny deciding to get married there. All of our family agreed to take the opportunity for a special family trip. Chris and I leave today and have a week by ourselves; the rest of the family join us next Saturday. The wedding is the following Saturday. To say we have been planning for a long time is a vit of an exaggeration. The reality is that we have done insufficient planning. Life has bene pretty busy with working up until Christmas, then having family staying, then having a week in Cromwell thinking about the future of our house there, having decided to stop renting it. We travelled up to Ashburton on Thursday, saw Marion a couple of times and stayed with Jeff. On Friday we continued to Christchurch, did some last shopping and got $2,000 (Fiji dollars) at No 1 Currency. It cost $1580.10 NZD. We stayed with Angela and Greg Brown. That was a nice opportunity to catch up with them. T...