Mainland Fiji

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Fiji - Mainland 30th Oct - 12th Nov

After returning to the mainland from the Yasawas we stayed at the travellers beach resort near Nadi for three nights in a backpackers room that looked more like a hospital ward. Here we planned our remaining time in Fiji. we decided to travel around the bottom of the island to Suva, the capital, stopping at a few backpacker resorts on the way. Our first stop was a resort called Tubakula (beautiful). We purchased our tickets at the Nadi bus station and two hours later were abandoned on the side of the road. Here we stayed in a four bed dorm room which we had to ourselves. After spending ages trying to rescue a crab from the swimming pool we set off on a walk which led us to the bula bar which had a great happy hour. In the morning we went to the eco park opposite the resort. Here we got to feed fish to turtles and hold branded and crested iguanas and a baby boa constrictor. Walking around the rest of the park we saw fruitbats and a parrot who was supposed to say 'Hello Charlie', he just listened to us saying it a lot! The next day we were abandoned on the roadside near the Uprising resort, this was a rather nice resort. It was the Melbourne cup horse race and the bar was busy and had a bookies set up in the corner, we both had a flutter but ended up no richer. After the Gold cup race, there was a local version where the staff raced horses down the beach. This time of the year in Fiji is the begining of the rainy season, that evening there was a massive thunder and lightning storm with really heavy rain which we watched from our treehouse dorm. The rainy season was begining. We spent the next couple of days at the Uprising relaxing by the pool when it wasn't raining and sitting in the bar when it was. We also did a bit of sea kayaking and watched some people attempt to "horse board" where a horse drags you along the surf while you try and balance on a sort of small surf board. The American election results were announced while we were there and we watched Obama's speech with some Peace Corps volunteers who seemed very pleased with their new President.
We left the Uprising resort and caught the bus to Suva, the Fijian capital. The city has a much bigger Indian population than the rest of the country which was evident in the amount of Indian restaurants which pleased us greatly. There was also a huge market which was great to look around trying to work out what some of the produce on offer was. The weather was pretty miserable so we visited the local cinema each evening to keep out the rain and also to escape our drab hotel room. Another indoor activity was a visit to the Fijian museum where we saw a replica of the boats used by the people who first settled Fiji as well as a cool hat made out of a spiny pufferfish. We left the capital and caught a bus up into the hills to the Raintree Lodge near the rainforest park. We were upgraded to a nice double room as the hotel was quite quiet. There was a balcony outside the bedroom which overlooked a lake but we had to share this with some giant millipedes. Unsurprisingly, it rained a lot at the Raintree lodge so we didn't get to do much other than play Scrabble and watch the rain. At least the beer was cheap and we did get the chance to start planning our New Zealand leg of the trip.
We took the local bus back to Suva and then bought tickets for the next bus back to Nadi where we were to spend our last night in Fiji back at the Skylodge where we first stayed. We had another curry in Nadi before heading out to the hotel on a bus that was full of school kids, some of whom were keen to talk to us. At the hotel we had a quiet night before catching a taxi to the airport at 6:30 in the morning for our flight to New Zealand.

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Photos

The Kula Eco Park
Here we are with the iguanas, they were very friendly.

Hello Charlie!
He seemed to like hearing us say this but wasn't in the mood for speaking himself.

Pretty coral
This was in a tank but we've seen loads whilst snorkelling but do not have an underwater camera.

Living the dream
At Uprising resort. The green coconuts were not as nice as the brown ones, I didn't finish this one!

Waiting for the bus.
Where's the timetable??

At the fruit market in Suva.
Get that finger out of there!

Nice hat!
Ex puffer fish

Massive millipede
Our neighbours on the balcony who luckily for us were happy to stay outside.

Rain at the Raintree Lodge
Anyone for scrabble.

Fire dancers.
A hot evening's entertainment at the travellers beach resort.

Comments

[The Boltons]

999
OMG - did the crab survive????