{"id":916,"date":"2010-08-15T21:01:06","date_gmt":"2010-08-15T13:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayl.id.au\/?page_id=916"},"modified":"2017-08-17T00:44:19","modified_gmt":"2017-08-16T16:44:19","slug":"fiji-pg-6","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=916","title":{"rendered":"Fiji Pg 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fri 17th<\/sup>
\nBreakfast with the family and then, all too soon, it was time to check out.\u00a0 We showered and packed everything and then went along to the office to pay our bar tab.\u00a0 We were asked to check through the dockets attached to our bill and there were a whole wad that were not ours but when the chap checked the total after removing them it had been right all along anyway.\u00a0 It looks as if they\u2019d just been gathered up in error after the sums had been done.\u00a0 Our boat was to leave at 1:30 but we\u2019d had to check out by 10am so we opted to pay extra to have lunch as we\u2019d have been very hungry by the time we got back to our mainland hotel otherwise.<\/p>\n

I haven’t mentioned the library, which was in the office.\u00a0 There were books all around on every ledge or shelf and you could just help yourself.\u00a0 They just asked that if you had a book you could replace it with, please do, so you could leave the island with a different book you arrived with if you wished.<\/p>\n

Anyway, back to checking out, we took a staff member back to our bure to collect our cases and found the maid there already preparing for the next people.\u00a0 Once he\u2019d got our bags we took the key back to the office to find the chap from there was on his way to find us to get it anyway.\u00a0 We laughed at his relief to have the key in his hands.\u00a0 It looks as if he didn\u2019t expect us to keep it to get our bags.<\/p>\n

Then we climbed the stairs one last time and just hung around feeling homeless.\u00a0 For the most part we sat on the chairs in front of the dining hall chatting to people who came past.\u00a0 There were about 90 people at the resort in total and despite the daily comings and goings we were on recognition and smiling terms with almost everyone.<\/p>\n

Eventually lunchtime arrived and we chose a fish and chips and a Caesar salad and whichever arrived first was to be mine as I\u2019m such a slow eater and I was starting to fret about eating it in time to get on the boat.\u00a0 I\u2019d dosed up with travel medication and could not tell you which one I ate but I do remember that our German family joined us and we chatted and exchanged email addresses.\u00a0 Matthias stayed back after the meal was over and we talked to him more.\u00a0 Well, I did, David was always happy just to sit quietly while I talked with Matthias as we often discussed things he didn\u2019t have an interest in.\u00a0 And all too soon the drum announced that our boat was ready to leave.<\/p>\n

We walked down the beach and sadly hugged Matthias, Stella and Opa goodbye before<\/p>\n

\"Rocky

Rocky Ride<\/p><\/div>\n

stepping onto the transfer boat.\u00a0 The sky was dark but the ocean looked smooth enough.\u00a0 Appearances can be deceptive LOL\u00a0 Here\u2019s the view out of the back of the boat as we sailed away from the island.\u00a0 The channel between the 2 islands had a really large swell and we rocked and rolled over those.<\/p>\n

It was a pretty small boat \u2013 12 people on the way out had been a full load.\u00a0 On this journey back there were 8 adults, 2 children and the captain.\u00a0 From time to time the captain slowed to a crawl to negotiate a wave and it was a pretty rough trip.\u00a0 I was really grateful for my tablets.\u00a0 I never take medication of any form.\u00a0 Except for travel sickness prevention.<\/p>\n

As we were just a little distance further away from the island than this photo I suddenly heard my phone announce that I had a text message arriving.\u00a0 There were 3 and David laughed at me as I tried to type a response while lurching up, down and sideways on the waves.\u00a0 You can tell in this video that we go airborne at one point, and how hard we smack down again by how hard the camera bounces.\u00a0 Believe me, I was trying my best to hold it steady!<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

After about 90 minutes we finally reached the still waters of the harbour on the mainland and then tied up ready for transfer to the minivan and then our respective hotels.\u00a0 We dropped off the young Finnish couple at the airport as they were catching a flight straight away, and then on to the Novotel to check in once more.<\/p>\n

We got settled and then checked the restaurant to see what was for dinner that night.\u00a0 It was a Mongolian BBQ at $42 a head which we very much doubted we would like to partake of.\u00a0 The only other option was to order room service, as eating in the restaurant meant you wanted the BBQ.\u00a0 We asked if we could look at the BBQ to see what vegetables were there and the lady assured us that there were vegetables.\u00a0 There were indeed, but it was just a couple of bowls and I truly doubted a share would be worth $5, much less $42 and was sure we\u2019d be hungry straight away so we stayed in our room and watched some stuff on David\u2019s DVD player and got room service.\u00a0 I had a personal sized pizza and David had \u2018catch of the day\u2019 which came on top of some mashed potato and we were happy enough to go to bed soon after that.<\/p>\n

Sat 18th<\/sup>
\nWe decided to have the \u2018full breakfast\u2019 this morning and soon found out why the extra items that constituted the additional expense were covered with silver lids.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t because they were special it was because they were hiding in shame!!!\u00a0 The scrambled eggs were really bland looking and watery, the bacon (for those who wished) was hard, dark and dried up looking and there were only 1\u00bd hash browns in their container.\u00a0 I love hash browns and I had to share these with David!?!?!\u00a0 There was a thing of tinned spaghetti that looked fine but the serving spoon was shaped so that all the strands fell off and you only got a spoonful of sauce.\u00a0 Gotta laugh!\u00a0 We were very bad \u2013 or maybe not, considering \u2013 and wrapped up some pastries in a serviette and took them back to our room to have later.<\/p>\n

We decided that for this, our only full day in Nadi, we would walk to the local shops or village centre, or whatever it was that they had, and have an explore.\u00a0 We\u2019d heard something about the second military coup when we were on the island but new folk had arrived each day so we knew it wasn\u2019t bad enough that the airport was shut off or anything like that so we determined that we would ask at reception if such a venture would be safe before setting out.\u00a0 We went to reception, asked for a map and set off walking with never a thought to ask anything hehehe.<\/p>\n

The town centre was just past the one roundabout with 5 roads coming out from it.\u00a0 This seemed the centre of civilisation here.\u00a0 One branch went to the airport and then on to the harbour we\u2019d used, one went to our hotel and beyond, another to Suva (where all the trouble was) and one to Nadi town centre.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know where the other one went.\u00a0 There was a man standing on the footpath around the edge of the roundabout and he told us that he was waiting for a \u2018carrier\u2019 to pick him up and we were fascinated that he would expect a vehicle to stop half way around a roundabout to pick up a passenger.\u00a0 Watching the roundabout on the few times we saw it we found that it was true.\u00a0 Even the bus would stop there to let people on and off.\u00a0 There were no lanes marked but if someone was going around and another car wanted to only travel one exit it just skirted around and out, no care at all to the vehicle already on it, just a total free-for-all, yet no harm or fuss was made by anyone.<\/p>\n

It was very pleasant walking in the warmth of the Fijian air and we marvelled at everything we saw.\u00a0 Most of the houses were similar in size to Australian homes but still made with, what shall I say\u2026 \u2018older style materials\u2019.\u00a0 The gardens were lush but for the most part did not look as if they were well tended.\u00a0 And that\u2019s fine, I\u2019m just reporting what we saw, not criticising it.<\/p>\n

After perhaps 1 km we saw the beginning of what turned out to be the shopping strip which linedone side of the road.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t quite Pacific Fair!\u00a0 I did like that the shops were fronted by their own road separate from the main thoroughfare.\u00a0 The shop road had angle parking all the way along it and the shops covered a distance of probably 1.5 kms so that was a nice lot of parking spaces and it seemed a very sensible idea.\u00a0 There were a few new, concrete buildings, mostly 3 stories tall, but for the most part the shops were rather dilapidated and most had metal grilles which shut over their windows and doors and big padlocks to hold the door grilles at night.<\/p>\n

\"Part

Part of the Nadi Shopping Strip<\/p><\/div>\n

I took this picture for a number of reasons; the first was the size of the L plate on the burgundy coloured car on the right, it was huge<\/span>; the second was the little girl standing in the passenger seat of the blue car as it drove away; the third was just to show the shops and the new building still being built.\u00a0 The L plate doesn\u2019t show well in the pic and the shops look nicer than they were.\u00a0 Oh well, the thought was there.<\/p>\n

As we walked along we became aware that we needed to watch where we put our feet.\u00a0 The footpath was uneven and had its share of potholes to match the road alongside us.\u00a0 Most of the shops seemed to be owned by Indian people who are apparently the second most populous nationals living here.\u00a0 The languages spoken in Fiji according to a brochure in our hotel are English, Hindi (Indian), Fijian and Chinese (can\u2019t remember the dialect), in that order.\u00a0 A trend became apparent in that any Fijians approaching us would call a cheery \u2018Bula!\u2019 but the Indians tried to pretend we weren\u2019t there.\u00a0 This surprised me a great deal as all of the Indian people I\u2019ve met in Perth have been really gorgeous; friendly, kind and gentle, whereas 90% of these wouldn\u2019t have cared if they\u2019d pushed us off the footpath into the road.<\/p>\n

We looked in the shop windows and walked along wondering if we\u2019d be able to buy any more gifts for our family today and eventually found one store that had all sorts of things in it. \u00a0There were some really nice rolls of cotton fabric in the back of the store and I bought several metres of two of them plus we saw a shirt that called out to us both that our house\/dog\/cat sitter would love, but nothing else for Nat, Dan or the grandchildren.\u00a0 When we went to pay, David gave them a little over the amount required and they made absolutely no move at all to give him change.\u00a0 I considered asking for it just on the principle but then decided against it.\u00a0 It was $1.70 so not<\/p>\n

\"ANZ

ANZ Bank Nadi<\/p><\/div>\n

worth bothering and I wasn\u2019t upset, just curious.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s their ANZ bank and hopefully an idea of how the shops were all in a row.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the Liquorland which was in a little wooden alcove at the front of one of the supermarkets.<\/p>\n

\"Liquorland

Liquorland Nadi<\/p><\/div>\n

Soon after this was a shop with some really beautiful clothing in the window.\u00a0 It was Indian clothing with beaded saris and the Indian ladies\u2019 trousers and tops (I don\u2019t know the proper name) so I asked David if we could go in.\u00a0 We were the only customers in there and an absolutely stunningly beautiful girl attached herself to us and gave me \u2018advice\u2019 on every garment my eyes passed.\u00a0 She was very pleasant but the style of help was far too pushy for me and I wasn\u2019t totally sure, despite her pleasant enough manner, whether we were quite welcome so we made our way towards the door, politely admiring stuff on the way so we didn\u2019t look as if we were rushing out (why do we do these foolish acts of pretence for people we will never see again?).<\/p>\n

There were quite a few restaurants along this strip but I\u2019d have to have been mighty desperate for food to have eaten in any of them.\u00a0 They really did not look clean at all.<\/p>\n

Wherever there were a few young men gathered we began to be able to predict what would happen as we passed by.\u00a0 They\u2019d call out \u201cTaxi!?!\u201d and we\u2019d shake our heads.\u00a0 It became obvious that not all taxis here are licensed as such.<\/p>\n

There was a steady stream of buses going along the road.\u00a0 At least a quarter of the vehicles would have been buses, perhaps even more.\u00a0 Now these fascinated us completely as they were in various states of disrepair and one had black smoke bellowing out the back of it.\u00a0 The other most noticeable feature was the number of people on board, they were literally at times hanging out of the windows and door.\u00a0 And it was easy to hang out of the windows as these were nothing but holes!\u00a0 Along the top of the window holes was a long tarp gathered up so I guess that when it rains they let the tarps down.<\/p>\n

\"Fijian

Fijian Windowless Bus<\/p><\/div>\n

David was stunned and intrigued and jumping up and down with excitement that Perth could use this method to stop vandals hurling rocks at buses to break the windows.\u00a0 Somehow I don\u2019t think the idea would go down well.<\/p>\n

Eventually we reached the end of the shopping strip, surprised that they had held so firmly to the one side of the road.\u00a0 There was a petrol garage that did not display the price of fuel.\u00a0 As far as we could tell it was the only garage anyway so I guess the price didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 You either buy, or you don\u2019t!<\/p>\n

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Fri 17th Breakfast with the family and then, all too soon, it was time to check out.\u00a0 We showered and packed everything and then went along to the office to pay our bar tab.\u00a0 We were asked to check through … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":569,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-916","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3851,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/916\/revisions\/3851"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}