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Day 176, 177, 178 - Suva, Viti Levu - Monday 9th, Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th April 2012
Our flight arrived in Nadi at 4pm and after landing we did the usual of standing and waiting on the plane trying to jostle for a position in the aisle so we could get off ASAP. I don't know why we all do this because we all have to queue 200 yards later at passport control!! Anyway as we left the place we were greeted by rain first, then four guys in bright blue and green shirts playing Fijian welcome songs - what an awesome welcome! Once through passport control we were on our way out of the airport when we just simply asked where the bus stop was. With that we were whisked off to the travel office where they tried to sell us everything from cruises to desert island getaways! After saying "sorry" and "we can't afford that" several times we eventually escaped and headed for the bus stop. Now, I know I'm not the tallest bloke in the world, or the biggest, but when we entered the bus I actually felt like a twelve year old. Fijian blokes are massive, all over six foot and all weigh about eighteen stone minimum - they remind me of a bloke I used to work with (SP)!! All the seats on the bus were taken except two, one by the aisle next to a small Indian man and the other, right at the back of the bus, in the middle between two giant Fijian weight lifters!! Guess which seat I got...… I felt like I was in the middle of a rugby scrum! Plus the bus journey was four hours! Luckily after an hour I moved back next to Soph as the Indian man (he was 5 foot 8 so I towered over him!!) got off. We finally arrived at our destination of Lami Town, which is about six km outside of Suva, the capital of Fiji; our place for the night was Vale Ti Nadra homestay. As the bus pulled away we looked at the house and couldn't find a doorbell or button of any other device to tell them we were there. The walls were all over six foot high and the only door was the double gate for cars - plus it was now after 10pm. So Soph decided that I should wave down a car and ask them to beep (I get all the good jobs hey!). So when the next taxi drove past and I flagged him down and asked him if he could beep his horn; he looked at me as if I was crazy, so I asked again and a further three times trying to convince him I wasn't mad! It obviously worked as he eventually beeped the horn for me, in the sound of a tune I should add, and promptly drove off!! Ten seconds later the door electronically opened and we were in, it actually worked! We were quickly shown around then headed to the shower and then bed.
We woke this morning to a beautiful breakfast on the terrace attached to the rear of the house. We had various fresh fruits from watermelon to pawpaw, cereals and loads of freshly toasted bread; not only was it a lovely breakfast, it was also ten yards from the sea and under beautiful blue skies!! After breakfast we had a shower and then asked how long it took to get to Suva by walking. I don't think she heard the WALKING part of the question as she said "Oh not a problem, maybe 30 minutes". So we started walking and nearly 2 hours and 6kms later we arrived in town, hot, sweaty and with burnt little noses (not my nose of course, that was huge and burnt!). Suva is the Fiji's capital and reminded me of a busy Indian town. 37% of the Fijian population are Indian's who have been here since the 1800's and they seem to be in all the shops and local stores while the indigenous Fijians seemed to run the markets and restaurants. The city centre is reasonably clean and very busy but it also had small green areas where people chill under palm trees just in front of the sea. We had a walk around and found the Palm Court café where we stopped for a much needed drink, I had the Mango and pineapple juice and Soph went for the Tropical punch (I thought that was when a Fijian hit you in the face but apparently it's a cool, refreshing drink!!). After a cool down we walked further into town and found the Cooks cottage. This was recommended to us and it didn't let us down. We had a dinner of traditional Fijian food, palusami and fish in coconut cream wrapped in leaves with and drinks and the bill came to $20 - which is about £7! After stuffing our faces we actually decided to walk the 6km home… Tired, full up and slightly burnt we hit the sack.
Next day we had a very lazy morning which consisted of huge breakfast which was pawpaw, pineapple, banana and avocado, strange, but Soph has taken to speading avocado on her toast, she loves it! Then seeing as we were feeling lazy we caught the local bus into town instead of the6km walk. After perusing the shops and eating more food we booked of boat tickets, these would take us to Savusavu and the island of Vanua Leva the next day. Soph wanted to see the Fiji museam but by the time we got there it was closed so we had dinner at the MHCC then headed home for bed as we had to be up the next day at 3.45am!!
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