240113 Flying To Fiji

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.

Today they ran us to the airport. We arrive soon after 11:00. Our flight was at 2:20 and check-in opened 3 hours before. When we arrive, there was already a long queue. We wondered whether we could have joined the almost non-existent queue for the bag drop since we had already checked in online. We didn’t ask and reasoned that we probably needed to show passports etc and check in properly. We were about an hour in that queue and it transpired that we could have gone directly to bag drop. They would have had to do the same things – see our passport, print a boarding pass etc. – but the queue would have been a lot shorter.

We then wandered through the airport, past the duty free shops etc., bought some lunch and then to security. Chris had reasoned that, if we had all our food in one bag (which I was carrying), it would be easier to declare and show it. We had not remembered that fluids over 100ml were banned in the cabin luggage, and so “my” bag was taken aside and three boxes of Up N Go and a jar of peanut butter confiscated. We could have gone back to check in and checked them in but that seemed like a major hassle. We could also have drunk the Up N Go’s, and we were offered that opportunity but we didn’t think fast enough.

Eventually, we boarded and the flight was uneventful. Neither of us saw a movie that particularly appealed. We both chose a chicken curry meal and otherwise, messed around on our phones. I finished reading ”The History of Britain in 50 Events” (Hourly History) which I thought was not well-written.

We spotted the Fiji coastline, presumably the south west corned with a  line of breaking waves some distance from the shore. Presumably that was a reef. The water inside the reef was a very different colour from that outside. We then flew over hill country that looked to be largely farmland although we say no animals. There were scattered houses and settlements.

At Nadi airport we were greeted by a ukelele trio singing Fijian songs and saying ‘Bula’ between lines. I started to video them but Chris had spotted a sign saying no cameras were allowed in that area (customs) and urged me to stop. We were questioned about things in our bags but they were all packaged foods or powders (rather then fluids) and there was no more drama.

Our next task was to buy a SIM card. Vodafone and Digicell had shops in the airport. We studied the Vodafone options on the electronic displays and couldn’t quite work them out. Plans lasted for so many days but the cards were valid for longer. Presumably that means plans need to be renewed. The Digicell options seemed to suit us better. We paid $35 (Fiji dollars) for a 175GB, 15 day plan. The woman in the shop changed the SIM and set it all up very efficiently.

People everywhere greeted us with ‘Bula’.

We left the airport not knowing where to go for the Fiji Gateway Hotel but a policeman pointed us in the right direction.

The atmosphere was warm but moist. It was fairly grey with lots of cloud. We had been told it was 25 so it was not oppressively hot.

We checked in. The receptionist seemed quite confused that we were in a family room and spent a long time looking at her computer. Anyway, it was all good. Another receptionist showed us to our room and insisted on wheeling Chris’ bag.

The two air conditioning units were on and the room was quite cold. We settled in then had a brief walk around the hotel. There is lush grass and trees. The swimming pool looked great and there is a small hydro slide. The hotel is single and double story.

We decided to go for a walk to see what was handy. We asked if reception had a map of the area and they printed one from the computer. It wasn’t particularly helpful but showed that there was probably not much handy. We went walking anyway. It seems that there are only hotels and a handful of shops – mainly liquor shops or restaurants. The roads and footpaths were broken and muddy in places. It reminded me of Asia.

By this time (around 8:00 and a bit later) it was getting dark and Chris was getting nervous. We returned to our room and started to plan for tomorrow. We looked up churches. The nearest seem to be about 30 minutes walk away. Some had little information and no website. Others had photos that showed sparce congregations or no easy way to find the time of the service. The best option seemed to be Living Way Church. I had doubts because it is based at an American School (and the pastor looked very conservatively dressed) but we will have other opportunities to go to a more indigenous church.

We were both tired but Chris was falling asleep so we went to bed.