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Published: August 16th 2008
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Kids in Sulus
Wowee Ellie in a skirt! Leaving Fiji and heading for Australia
Another couple of restful days passed during which we sank further into a coma of relaxation - the kids got more brown, we read more and said ‘Bula’ a few thousand more times. The only things to note were both dive related - firstly, we finally persuaded Jack that it would be an excellent idea for Mark to take him snorkelling on the reef just off the beach. He really enjoyed it. They swam quite far from the shore and around the back of the reef, spotting colourful parrotfish, unicornfish, trumpetfish, needlefish, shoals of damselfish and a plethora of other reef fish. Jack loved it. He was so excited that he kept shouting through his snorkel, especially when Mark gave him a solid push in pursuit of a white barred triggerfish. Once out of the water he had to run to Annabel and Ellie to tell them what he’d seen, and then regretted not going before! The other thing was Mark’s night dive, which Mark had been quietly anxious about. However, floating about in the darkness with just a torch was quite a special experience, if just a little disorientating (which way is up?
Must check my depth again...) He saw brightly coloured shrimp, sleeping parrotfish (in their home-made cocoons) and a pretty little Moray Eel.
Anyhow, the day finally came around when it was time to leave Octopus. We passed the morning relaxing as usual and settling our affairs, ready packed and waiting for the boat to arrive. Time passed very slowly, but there was one final surprise in store. The game fishing boat came in and one of the guys came staggering up the beach carrying a thumping great big sailfish (a huge Marlin-type game fish with a massive, ribbed and ragged dorsal fin). It was certainly an eyeful. The kids were amazed.
Finally we boarded the boat and the goodbye song was sung. With mixed feelings we sped away on the ‘Amberli’, on a trip which was to prove both choppy and wet, back to Nadi. Once back on the main island, the bus dropped us back to the Raffles Gateway hotel where we settled into our room and spent a little time at the pool with Josh, Patty, Max and Emma, a friendly American family whose fate seemed increasingly intertwined with ours. As a final parting shot to Fiji, both families decided a traditional Fijian meal was in order for our last night. We commandeered a minibus-type taxi and headed into town, where we were dropped off at a Lova restaurant (remember we had that before? Food that has been cooked underground?) and were subjected to a rather bizarre combination of local food, slow service and contrastingly, extremely enthusiastic and friendly staff. In retrospect, it kind of summarised most of the Fiji experience. Back at the hotel, we settled down for the night, prepared and relaxed, unaware of what the next day had in store.
At (early) breakfast the next day, we were put on alert by a notice in the hotel foyer saying that our flight was delayed, but without any indication of timescales or alternatives. Spider senses tingling, I (Mark) left the rest of the family waiting in the hotel and went over to the airport (luckily a short walk) to try and understand the situation. Good job too - after passing between several information desks and queues of similarly confused travellers, it seems the previous flight had never come in from LA and so there was no onward flight to Sydney...erk! I managed to get Air Pacific to re-route us via Brisbane rather than Sydney so that we could get to Perth in time, but it meant mobilising the family to catch the next flight - 9:15. Soo... I ran back to the hotel, got everyone in a taxi in order to check in for the Brisbane flight. Things were a little touchy as we waited on standby for the legit Brisbane passengers, and got onto the flight as four of the last six. We were sat at the back of the plane, but on our way!
As we flew to Brisbane, it became clear that all was still not straightforward - at Brizzy we would only have an hour and a half to collect our luggage, go through security and check in again for the Perth flight. We would’ve normally allowed three hours for this, and tried to enlist the help of the air crew to get ground crew ready for us, but when we did land the summary of their help was to give us directions.
Luckily our bags came off the carousel first and we pretty much ran through security. Then we ran again, fully loaded with luggage, on to domestic departures for check-in. The lady at check-in was sceptical whether we’d make it, and said we needed to make sure we caught the next train to our terminal. So we ran on again, and arrived at the platform where the train was about to depart. Mark stuck his foot in the door so that everyone could get on, and we made it to our gate with just ten minutes to spare. Ironically this was extended by a quarter-hour delay, but we boarded the plane in grateful exhaustion, with a vague hope that our luggage had made it as well.
Perth for a half a day
We arrived at Perth airport, got our bags, got Taxi to Perth Mercure Hotel and booked in. Hotel looked nice. Collapsed in room, got Room Service, Slept. Woke up, packed and checked out. Got a taxi to the airport, spent some dollars, got on plane.
Still liked Australia, wished we could’ve seen more.
However we think Australia doesn't like us as first of all our flight from Perth to Jo-burg had been cancelled then our flight to Sydney was cancelled so we think someone didn't want the Parry's in the country for too long!
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Josh, Patty, Emma, Max
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Glad you made it!
When we saw you off toward customs we weren't sure you'd ever make off of Fiji time. :) Guessing you're now in S Africa, what a journey! We've been having Brisbane adventures mostly involving strange animals (no, not just our own children). Emma just posted some pix on our blog. Miss you!