240120 Orchids And Mud

We were in no real hurry this morning and checked out a bit before 10:00. Chris bought a top to wear over togs for $F25.

The taxi driver, Joshua, said it would cost $F10 to get to Nena Apartments. He didn't know the Nena Apartments but we told it they were in Kennedy Road. We got there and couldn't find them. Where they should have been, according to Google maps, there were the Alice Apartments. We cruised up and down. The driver tried to communicate with someone in the Alice Apartments but that didn't seem to go anywhere. We Googled the apartments trying to find a phone number. The photo was of the Alice Apartment building and the address was confirmed as 49 Kennedy Road. We were beginning to wonder if Nena Apartments was a hoax.

We messaged the family asking for a phone number. Liam messaged back with the messages from the time of the booking that included a phone number but also a message that we were not staying here but in a villa somewhere else. The taxi driver rang the number and I talked to the man on the other end. I then handed it back to the driver who would understand the directions better than I. Off we set for this new location and it was a long way.

We had talked to the driver about going to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant and maybe the Sabeto Hot Springs and Mud Pools. He was wiling to take us and to wait for us, for $120. We dithered about what we wanted to do and in further conversation he lowered it to $F100. While we were still on our way to the villa (and not sure where it actually was and unable to tell the family where they were to go) we realised that, if Joshua was going to wait for us, we did not need to take out bags to the villa. They could stay in the taxi, so we turned around and headed to the garden. Clearly all this extra time and distance was going to cost more than $F10 even for the first part of this journey.

The Garden of the Sleeping Giant is about 13km from Kennedy Road let alone the extra distance given that we had now driven some way south. Joshua pointed out the Sleeping Giant - a hill range where the profile looks like a sleeping giant, with a face and a large belly.

It cost $F25 each to go in, plus $R5 for a large bottle of water. After our dithering we decided that we might as well do what we can despite the cost. It all helps the Fiji economy. We applied sunscreen and insect repellent was provided at the counter. The friendly lady explained the route and off we went, firstly through the "gallery" where there was a range of flowers (possibly all orchids, who would know). They certainly are very nice. The garden is a lovely. It is a walk through lush green vegetation with some clearings and little points of interest. Part of the pathway was roped off and it was apparent that the boardwalk was very rotten in places.

There is a side route up to a lookout. That meant leaving the forest and walking up a bit of a more exposed hill. Like every other day it was pretty hot and muggy. On one side the view included the coast with Denarau to the left. Straight out from us was a substantial island - probably Malolo Island. Another side looked towards the higher hills that made up the sleeping giant. The other views were inland with few features.

We walked back down and, at reception were given a lovely cold fruit juice.

We re-joined Joshua who had been watching a rugby 7's tournament in Sigatoka and confirmed that we would also go to the hot pools. On the way he explained that there are horses because many people live in the villages that are many hours walk from a road so horses are used to bring in any building supplies etc.

The Sabeto Hot Springs and Mud Pools cost $F30 each. A roughly 15 year old school girl, Sai, working through her holidays was assigned as our guide. She later said that she was enjoying it because she was getting some money. When I asked what she would do with the money, she said help her parents get her school supplies. She led us to the changing rooms and then to the buckets with mud in them. The mud comes from the bottom of the hot pools. There was one pool which was the sources of the water, I think, which was then channelled to the other pools which were of varying temperatures. We covered ourselves, and each other, as best we could in black mud. We then had to wait for it to dry. Part of the wating process was that Sai led us to some souvenir stalls. Chris selected some earrings for $10. The rest of the drying process involved standing around.

After a while, the time was apparently right and Sai led us to the first pool where we soaked and attempted to wash the mud off. Chris had left her hearing aids in so that was a little trickier. There was mud in our hair and ears and all over.

When we had had enough, Sai led us to the second pool which was considerably hotter. We just soaked there for a while then went to the third pool which was considerably colder. She then left us to help some other people. When we were ready, we took ourselves to the fourth pool which was hot again. Then it was case of changing, picking up the earrings and heading to Joshua's taxi. He then took us back towards Nadi.

On the way, he said that the apartment owner was going to meet us at the Kennedy Road site. As we got closer, we questioned whether the owner was taking us on from there. Joshua said apparently there was some other issue! He wouldn't say (or perhaps didn't know) what.

I asked Joshua how much now and he said $F100. I said "No, more", and gave him $F150. He seemed very appreciative. He grew up in Suva but has lived here since 2018. He went home again for Covid but then returned. His family (6 children) still live there - 2 hours out of Suva, inland, and he goes home every 2 weeks. We didn't mind supporting a Fijian driver with a family to provide for. He had picked us up about 10:00 a.m. and dropped us off 3:00'ish.

We met the apartment owner who was very apologetic and said (I think) that he had been talking to Nick. He understood the original booking to be for 3 bedroom for 7 adults. Then he thought that wasn't going to work. It was only later that he realised that there were also 7 children. It was a bit confused but I think he thought there would be more room at the villa but then there were some plumbing issues so he contacted his sister-in-law who owns some of the Alice Apartments (He owns some others) and told her he needed one of her apartments.

They showed us around. We have two apartments with 3 bedrooms in each. All room shave queen or kings-sized beds so that means 6 beds for 14 people! We'll make that work. The apartments are modern and clean with tiled floors. The lounge in each has a free-standing refrigerator-size air conditioning unit and the bedrooms all have heat pumps. There is a stove top and everything you need.

We showered, washed clothes walked to the dairy down the street and then to McDonalds in the other direction to suss it out. Security seems important here. It was emphasised that we lock our apartments and there is a security door in addition, plus a sliding steel gate that requires a remote. The houses down the street seem to be chained up. It might not be a good area. The road is pretty grubby.

At 6:18 we got the first message from the family. Trumans had made it through customs and were waiting for the others.

A while latter they all turned up at the gate having got a van taxi. It was all pretty exciting.

By now it was getting dark so some of us walked down the street to McDonalds to get tea while others stayed behind. There are only four McDonalds in Fiji and one was 100m down our street!

It was a case eating, settling in and getting to bed. There would be an early start tomorrow.

We had tried to work out with the owner how we would pay. We found his niece but she assured us she would set her alarm for 5:30 so as to check us out and we could pay then. We were due to leave at 6:00.