Fiji has been full of surprises. Even with three scheduled stops (which evolved due to storms), it wasn’t the place that called to me the most on the itinerary. I sorely underestimated this beautiful place!
I joined friends on the deck as we took on the pilot to dock at Lautoka, the third largest city in Fiji, with an estimated population of 52,000-74,000 (the country’s population is about 928,000). Volcanic hills, lots of green, and very scenic.
We docked about 5pm and found a taxi to take a few of us to a geocache. Having just had our itinerary change yet again due to storms (losing our last two stops in Vanuatu, arriving early in Lautoka to increase our visit to 24 hours instead of about 8, 36 hours in Suva, and no change to our third stop), we were gun shy and wanted to make sure we could find the nearest cache to the port. Long story short, we negotiated with Lily (whose name I may be misspelling) a taxi for 15 people for $200US, alerted everyone in our group, and our initial group of 8 gained 4 more. Lily sent Grace with us.
Fiji is another drive-on-the-left country. And not a wealthy one, though not as poor as Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands or Vanuatu. Bus stops were concrete. Lots of fruits and vegetables sold along the road.
We quickly learned the most important words: Bula and Vinaka. Bula means welcome, Bula Bula means good health. Vinaka is thank you. Tourists are expected to know, understand, and use these words. So should you ever visit this part of Fiji, consider yourself prepared.
The cache was at a fancy resort. We followed instructions to check in at reception and soon had the cache in hand and were signing the log. Mission accomplished. But we still had more time with the taxi. Time for birding, sunset-watching, grabbing a bite (I did the first two but not the last). So serene and peaceful. Water was lapping at the rock shore like a like. Crisp horizon. Various colors of the water from jade to azure depending on the angle and the light. Palm trees. And clearly both Sasquatch and a gecko (on the ceiling) have been here.
We learned that Grace attends University of South Pacific which is located in Suva, the capitol of Fiji. She’s 23, has a child, and is studying for a bachelor’s degree in law (yes, bachelor’s degree and no, not pre-law). Working in tourism is her summer job — schools return for the new academic year next week. Her parents will watch the child while she is in Suva, returning home for weekends.
As we returned to the ship we wondered how many people would go find the cache the next day. Meanwhile, Grace wanted us to talk with Lily to arrange something for tomorrow.
Something was indeed arranged. A total of 28 from our group (of about 35-40 total) chose to join. Those of us who had been with Grace yesterday got to be with her again, and got to skip the “extra” stop of the cache that the other two vans did.
We first visited Sleeping Giant garden. It was lovely and lush. The origin of the garden is that the actor Raymond Burr grew orchids there. The garden had a fernery (alas, the light was poor so I couldn’t get good pictures of my favorite plants), orchids, trees, lots of other flora — as well as fauna, especially birds. We took a lovely walk around the grounds in ridiculously humid heat. The pictures show an interesting orchid, some ferns, ginger plant (no, not ginger!), and a “flamboyant tree” (apparently that’s a real thing).
When we thought it was time to return to our vans we discovered that the gardens provided a deliciously refreshing tropical fruit punch. It felt so decadent to drink the punch while sitting in wicker furniture on a covered porch.
Then a drive to see the “sleeping giant” mountains (there’s some controversy about exactly which formation is the sleeping giant), a chance to complete an adventure lab near the international airport, a visit to a Hindu temple, and a stop at a souvenir shop before what I’d hoped would be the best part — a stop at a different resort for lunch and a swim.
Fiji time. Island time. We ordered lunch. Then we had to order it again for unknown reasons. There were 6 people at my table: 4 women and 2 men. During the ridiculously long wait for our food we hopped into the pool that was a few feet away (warm but not hot) and eventually into the ocean (bathtub temperature). We were the last table to be served, well over an hour after ordering. My shrimp dish was delivered, and I had just enough time to remove the mayonnaise dish from the plate when the server whisked it away and tried to serve it to a different table. WTF? A friend got up to track it down and assured the server that it was my dish and it needed to be returned. (He later said that if it had been placed at the other table he would have said that I’d already touched it with my tongue.) The server brought it back near us and I practically had to grab it out of her hand to retrieve it. It tasted good, but not as good as the wait and the story.
All in all, an unexpectedly delightful day! I think it was also the day we won trivia for the 4th time.
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