Fiji

Fiji

Day One:

Left here with a killer hangover. Why? Because I am a fucking idiot. I don’t even have a reason I got hammered the night before. I did it because I could. I’m an idiot.

The flight was delayed leaving and I slept most of the way to Fiji.

When I arrived, I waited 40+ minutes for the hostel people from Mama’s Tropic of Capricorn to come collect me. How. Annoying.

Once I got there, I lugged my bags up 4 flights of stairs to my room. The room had a great view of the beach but was very very basic. I had a single and a double bed, complete with sheets and pillows. That’s it. No duvet. No cover. Just a sheet on each bed. No TV, no tiny fridge, nothing other than the very basics. That’s fine in ways, considering the room was only $30AUD a night, but I know that other very basic rooms had those mod cons, so I was annoyed. The room was good in that I did not share a wall with anyone so I was not annoyed very often by noise.

I had dinner at the hostel, which was ok and reasonably priced but over cooked. I tried the fish dish that appeared to be a local Fijian dish. The fish was REALLY tough, and that annoyed me.

I crashed pretty early, due to the flight and being hungover for most of the day.

Day Two:

I woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. Toast and tea/coffee is all that they offered by way of the ‘free’ breakfasts.

I booked a trip to an island for Saturday, which was hella expensive. I wish I had done more research into how expensive Fiji is. Yeah, it’s an island and a Commonwealth country, but WOW, it was hella expensive, compared with Thailand, which I was regretting not going to.

I took a taxi into town, which cost $10FJD, or about $6 AUD. It’s a very short trip into down and not a single ‘taxi’ has a meter. They just give you a price and you can accept it or not.

I went to a place that had ‘free’ Wifi and I had something to eat and drink. Their free Wifi was spotty and dropped out frequently. It was also not free, as you needed to buy something. While I can get behind that idea, I would also prefer that free mean free.

After that, I wandered around the town a bit. It was stinking hot hot hot and I wished I had been more prepared for the heat. Not much to see in the main town. I made it to the end of the street and found a temple. It was about 1130am and sweltering hot. I debated going into the temple, but taking off your shoes and walking on the scorching pavement barefoot was required. No. Thanks.

After that, I wandered back to town and talked to the girl who was operating the visitor’s info booth. She convinced me to sign up for a timeshare talk in order to get a free day cruise. Why not? I can listen to salesmen and not buy anything, so all good.

As I was talking to her, a guy walked up and asked how to get back to New Town beach area, where I am staying. The girl at the booth suggested that we share a taxi rather than waiting for the bus. After I ran into the supermarket to get water, we hopped in a taxi. That trip was only $7 to the hostel, whereas my trip into town was $10. Sigh. I hate feeling ripped off.

I ate dinner at the hostel again and ended up talking to a nice couple from Melbourne and the owner of the hostel most of the night. Sadly, I might have had a bit too much to drink and said things that I shouldn’t have. Oops.

Day Three:

I went on the day cruise I had booked, feeling a little worse for wear. Why do I do this?

Once at the terminal, it was pretty easy to get checked in and then just wait for the boat. At Port Denarau, it’s very American and it’s rather annoying and expensive.

I got on the boat and grabbed a decent seat near a window, downstairs, out of the sun at a small table. Sadly, I was joined by a rather loud, obnoxious Italian family. Thanks, guys. UGH.

We finally made it to Beachcomber Island, which is very pretty. Somewhere along the way, my camera button got hit/turned and ended up on Shutter Speed Priority rather than Auto/Daylight, so I lost about 50+ pics. Thankfully, most of them were while I was at the island, so I was able to re-take them. @!&*#!*^@*!!!!!!!

I went snorkelling, which is always good. I think my underwater camera shit itself though, which really annoys me. I don’t want to buy a new one but I will. I like having a shock resistant/underwater camera. Not that I go underwater all that often, but they are good to have. I wish Canon made one.

Lunch was yummy. Some dickface decided I was invisible and cut in queue right in front of me. I coughed and shot him massive dirty looks but he was being a total cunt and ignored me. I fucking hate people.

After lunch, I wandered around the island, taking pics. I went swimming for a bit but it was stinking hot, so I could not be outside too long.

It started to rain halfway through the afternoon. I sat inside reading. The boat was meant to come at 430-5ish and didn’t show til almost 6pm. At one point, they announced that we might be staying overnight on the island!!! O_O No thanks.

After a fairly quick ride back to the mainland, I went back to Smugglers Cove for dinner. Fish and chips followed by some yummy beers and a few Bounty (local dark rum) and Cokes. Yum!

They had some local entertainment on, some dancers or the like. That was entertaining.

Day Four:

The sales pitch I signed up for was on this morning, so I had breakky and waited for the van to come and get me.

I went to the Wyndham Vacation Resorts for the sales pitch. Nice place in Port Denarau, which is VERY American.

These sales pitch people are GOOOOOOOOD. They’re really good at using your name, relating to you and making you think that what they have, you want. I knew I would never buy anything from them. I can find better deals online. I sat through their talk, the video and tried to relate to the guy who was talking to me. All good. It meant I got a free trip on Wednesday, so it was worth it.

Out at Port Denarau, they have all sorts of American style restaurants. Near the resort, there is a Mexican place so I thought I would check it out. $23 for guacamole and chips??? ARE YOU KIDDING??? I ate there, it was ok, but nothing amazing for the price.

They brought me back to the hotel, which was nice. The driver was trying to crack on to me and offered to drive me around the island for the day if I hired a car from his buddy. He also asked me out for a drink on Thursday night. Oh yeah baby. I’ve still got it. :P

I stayed in the room for a bit, since it was really windy and rainy on  the island that afternoon. I went to Smugglers for dinner since there was a Fijian dance troupe on that night and that sounded interesting.

I had heaps to eat that was yummy and a number of Vonu beers. Love the food there.

When the dancing started, it was very enjoyable to watch. The table of cougars sitting near me thought it was VERY enlightening. The British guys behind me were talking about how it was a “no cougar night” and yet, by the time I left, they were sitting with them and drinking and talking. LOL. Suckers.

Day Five:

I broke down and hired a car so I could get around. I drove out to the Coral Coast and it was pretty but I could have done without it.

I had a passable lunch and a nice swim in the ocean.  I had a nice drive and saw some cool villages. It was nice to be outside and free without worrying too much, but the highway was pretty shit so it made it not so fun.

I tried a pop called “Enjoy Pops Kola” that tasted like a combo between cheap cola and cream soda. I loved it!!!!

Once I got back, I cleaned up and chilled out around the hotel for a bit. I decided to go out to find some Japanese food. There was a place right at the end of the road, so that was helpful. The food was AMAZING. I laughed when the waitress came back after I ordered and said that I had ordered a lot of food and they were worried I would not be able to eat it all. LOL. You people DO NOT KNOW ME!!!!  I had tuna sashimi, some gorgeous dish with raw fish and coconut milk called Kokoda, the special gyoza (which so did not look like gyoza) and veggie tempura. It was really yummy. I highly suggest Diakoku if anyone goes to Nadi.

Day Six:

I decided to go to Lautoka for the day. I was going to drive further to Ba, but when I got to Lautoka, I was starving and needed to pee, so I stopped.

Clearly, Lautoka is Little India in Fiji because every second person I saw was Indian and the shops catered to the Indian population. I went into the shopping centre and had to pay to use the toilet. 20cents, but still?

A guy on the street stopped me and was super friendly, as most people are in Fiji, but this guy was trying to get me to buy a wooden knife he carved. Do they not know how tough it is to get wood into Australia??? NOT FUN PEOPLE!

I went to a cheap place for lunch that more or less did KFC style chicken and had magazines from 2000. Awesome.

After snooping around and checking out the market, I headed back to town. I passed by a beach turnout so I took it. It was down a dirt and very rough road and the beach was clearly a local beach without any fancy sand or pubs. A group of boys playing rugby almost nailed me in the head with a ball and were most apologetic.

I went back to Nadi town and stopped at a pub on the way for their beer and steak night. Was yummy but I needed more beer and steak for the price paid.

Day Seven:

This was the day of my South Sea cruise that I earned by listening to the sales pitch the other day. A guy from my hotel was going on the same boat and we chatted. He’s a teacher from Ireland. Lovely guy. He was heading out to one of the far away islands for 2-3 nights with some buddies.

I got to South Sea Island and discovered that my eReader was dead WTF?!?!? I was GUTTED.  Here I am, on an island, with nothing to read??? WRONG! I went snorkelling, got a bit sunburnt and had a decent lunch. Sadly, my lunch table was encroached upon by some very annoying bogan Aussies. No, I did not offer my table for you to sit at. No, I do not need you shouting at each other. Just fuck off.

We left to do ‘island hopping’ which means we drive past them on the boat but we never got off the boat to explore. SAD.

We got back to the Port and the bus refused to take us to the resort. It dropped us on the road near the Japanese place I went to the other night. WHAT A RORT! I should NOT be paying for a taxi to get me home when the bus was meant to do that!!!! ASSHOLES!!!!

I went to Smugglers for dinner and had their steak and lobster, which was not enough lobster or steak or food, if you ask me for the price. I stuck around for the fire dance as well, since last time, I had a rather poor seat and I wanted to see the action up close. Again, I enjoyed it and the dancers were HOT HOT HOT.

Day Eight:

Last full day in Fiji. I didn’t do much, other than drive around and take pics. I had lunch at a place called Tata’s, which is TOTALLY like Hooters, except served by a half-blind Indian guy. Ok, so not at all like Hooters. Food was good and cheap, which was great.

Went to Sitar for dinner and had AMAZING Indian food. It made up for the ok lunch at Tata’s.

I went back to Smuggler’s or the Kava ceremony, which is ground root that the Fijians drink. It was GOD AWFUL and tastes like dirt. BUT….it’s such an amazing experience to have a kava ceremony with native Fijians. Loved it.

Ended up chatting with a few English kids who were staying at my guest house. Nice kids. Wish I were that young.

Day Nine:

My flight did not leave til 8pm. WHAT THE FUCK??? WHO BOOKED THAT SHIT???? Oh wait….me. Sigh.

I stayed in my room as long as I could. I might have been able to stay there all day, since they seemed relatively clueless as to the date/time of my check out.  Damn.

I finally left at about noon and toured the town, ate, drove about town and then ate and drank more.

Seriously, I did NOT plan this trip well.

Plane came back to BNE more or less on time. THANK GOD. I just wanted to get some since about Tuesday.

I should have done more Fiji research. I didn’t hate it but I did not love it.