Breakfast was surreal.

It wasn't the food served, We had the usual hotel fare of various breads and pastries. A chef on hand to prepare eggs to your liking. . .fresh fruits etc. They even had Vegemite, here I was trying to give Mr. Blue a taste of another culture and they serve our usual breakfast!

There were juices, coffee, tea and even champagne. The only "new" thing for me to try was my first and last Noni Juice. . .Oh that was the most vile stuff I'd ever tasted.

The surreal part was the music. It wasn't the sound of a usual trio with two guitars a ukulele and wonderful harmonies that was odd, If you're ever in Fiji expect to hear a lot of music, especially in the touristy areas. The set list is what really struck me, there was a lot of Elvis, Neil Diamond etc. but my personal favourite was the beautifully mispronounced and incorrect lyrics to Kenny Rogers' Lucille:

"You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, with 400 children and a crop in the fields"

I grew to love this band and realised that they brightened up the start to my day with their wacky songs.

Wanting to get out of the resort, we took the tourist bus to a nearby port but I still felt like I was in the fake Fiji. It was time to get the local bus, see where it took us and hope for the best.

There were no bus stops to speak of so we just flagged one down off the street, it was great! The only seat left were right at the back so we got to appreciate the fantastic Fijian hair of the passengers in front of us. The bus meandered through a couple of small villages (one of the highlights of the whole holiday) before we arrived in Fiji's 3rd biggest City. . .Nadi.

Nadi was awful! We were harassed everywhere we went.

"Bula! Where are you from? Would you like to come with me for a Kava ceremony and look at my handicrafts?"

It got so intimidating after a while and some of the characters who approached us were a little scary. I also had the problem of Mr. Blue talking to each and every one of them.

"I can't resist their smiling faces" he'd say

It is true that Fijians have the most infectious smiles but I had to explain that none of them cared who we were or where we were from, they just wanted to sell us something.

"If this happened in Sydney, I'd just say that I'm in a rush, but here they don't even know what that means" he said. Which is true, if you've ever heard of Fiji time and thought it was a myth. . .  you're wrong.

At one point we were practically pushed into a "shop"  where the proprietor insisted we try some of his Kava out back. . .Not something I was willing to do, go out the back in some strange shop (He had all his mates hanging out the front) to drink his narcotic drink. I did plan to have some Kava while in Fiji (and the next day we did) but not like this, from some creep.

We got the bus back to Hotel heaven and booked a place on a Schooner to go Island hopping the next day. Maybe we'd find the real Fiji there.

The view we woke up to

I loved this little boat at the marina more than any of the Million Dollar yachts in the distant waters. 

The view from the back of the windowless bus

Road Rules

NO PARKING

LB