Mountain Livin'

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Air New Zealand no longer flies between the pacific islands so getting from the Cook Islands to Fiji was going to be long winded. We were subjected to a 4 hour flight from the Cook Islands to Auckland crossing the international date line making it no longer tuesday morning but wednesday morning. A 12 hour transit stop in Auckland then a 3 hour flight to Nadi. Tired and exhausted we finally made it to Fiji, our third stop.

Touching down late at night is always a daunting experience particularly when the taxi turns off the sealed road and drives down a bumpy dirt track for 20 minutes! As we got out of the taxi we were met with an unlit resort, lots of bonfire smoke and no one around except a 30 tooth ankle nipper guard dog that ended up chasing Caz around the pool table whilst excitedly barking to alert someone to our arrival. We had arrived in Stoney Creek...

We were shown to our private bure, a wooden hut with all the amenities we were expecting except there was a window that surrounded the entire bedroom and appeared to be open to all the elements outside. All we could hear was the wailing pitch of toads, crickets and bats. We were so tired we put all our clothes on ready for bed and any exposed skin was jungle juiced. Tucking the mozzi net in we both fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

At 3.56am Caz was awoken by Muslim prayer calling and then at 4.30am the dawn chorus commenced and the sun started to rise through the mountains and flooded into our bure. It was at that point we were able to look through the window and see that our bure was perched on the edge of a mountain!

Having been in Fiji for less than 12 hours it was time to experience the local wildlife. Caz was just about to take a shower, upon pulling the curtain back a massive grey furry spider came running out. I think the people in the bure next door must have heard the scream. It was the biggest spider either one of us had encountered without the saftey of a glass cage. I grabbed my trainer and tried to chase it out of the way, it was just so quick and the worse thing it was clever too. Waiting for me to make my move it darted up to the ceiling never to be seen again. God knows where it went but we felt its presence for the rest of our stay.

At this time of year the weather in Fiji is hot, fairly humid and on Viti Levu it thundered and rained in the afternoon most days. One night about 2am there was a huge thunder storm with rain to match. Being perched on the side of a mountain it felt as though our bure was going to go cascading down the edge on a rapid. Of course as we both like our sleep that thought didn't keep either one of us awake for long. The morning after the storm it was my turn to encounter the wildlife, again in the bathroom. There was not one, not two, but get this, fouteen giant cockroaches dotted around the bathroom. I wished I had taken a picture of them because it sounds unbelievable. Desperate to answer the call of nature it did cross my mind to run outside as there was probably fewer insects out there. Wacking and scooping up the roaches made me feel rather nauseous but manly I pressed on deleting them one by one until the coast was clear. What a nice start to the day.

Caz got talking to a local Fijian woman on the plane over. She told us that the bus system wasn't that great and rather slow so we decided that as we were on Viti Levu for only four days we would hire a car to get around and see it all. The car looked like it had seen better days with a huge dent in the bonnet, a really bad habit of veering left the whole time, bald tyres pumped up to 100psi and it smelt musty. The guy said to me can you drive a manual, I said yes so he gave me an automatic. Caz didn't like him instantly which later proved to be right when we handed the car back. They complained that the fuel tank was not full enough, the needle had to be over the full mark, an argument worth about a quid. They also tried to blame us for a scratch. Seeing as the car was peppered in scratches it was a bit of fruitless waste of time you know who you are bad car rental people.

On the east side of Viti Levu, there is a mountain range where from afar the outline of the peaks apparently resembles a sleeping giant. To my recollection there was about as many sleeping men as there are sleeping positions, it is quite hilly with a few too many noses to make it clear. At the foot of the mountain (by foot I mean base not the foot of the sleeping giant) was the garden of the sleeping giant. It was the home of hundreds of different types of orchids and tropical plants. It was very sweaty work walking around the garden but at least it offered some quiet time away from the hustle and bustle of the town.

Another of our days out in the banger saw us at Sigatoka Sand Dunes. Many years ago the Lapita people lived on the dunes using them as protection against the elements due to their sheer size. The remains of these people are still being found and it is considered to be one of the greatest archelogical sites in the region. Our walk around the dunes lasted about an hour, being the only ones there was a bit spoky. From the dunes the beach was littered with thousands of bits of driftwood it was a complete contrast to the other more scenic beaches in Fiji.

The population in Fiji is made up of roughly half Fijian and half Indians so at this time of year Nadi town was awash with Diwali celebrations and fireworks were being sold absolutely everywhere. One thing that struck us when we were walking around the town was seeing so few tourists. Apparently the recent military coup last year had kept tourists away in there droves. In the past Fiji has had lots of up's and down's with their government and the military all wanting a slice of control. Talking to a few locals the general census of opinion is that they are both dodgy and its the people who always lose out one way or another. That having been said we felt safe and would say to anyone thinking of going to Fiji to just go.

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Photos

Morning
Daylight Floods Into Our Bure

Dodgy Road Bridge
Oh My God Do We Drive Over This??

Orchids
Hundreds Of Orchids In The Sleeping Giant's Garden

Tree Roots
Huge Tree Roots

Sand Dunes
Lots Of Sand..

Tree Hugging
Found These In A Forest, Random...!