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[Our Fiji Trip, May 2011]

DAY ONE : MONDAY

We were originally planning to take a taxi to the airport, as our flight was a very early one and we didn't think it fair to ask any of our family to provide transport in the middle of the night. But, Ted practically insisted so we took him up on the offer.

I woke up at 0245 so I could call Ted, just in case he'd forgotten or over-slept, and remind him he has to leave home at 0300 to be here by 0330. There was no answer. I would try him again in a few minutes, in the meantime I went to the computer to finish copying some files to the iPad. Next thing there was a knock on the window and it was Ted. Lucky the blinds were down as I wasn't yet dressed. What I really mean is I had no pants on!

The first leg of our flight was from Adelaide to Melbourne, which only took an hour. This was Majandra's first plane ride and we weren't sure whether to expect peace or screaming. Thankfully she was no problem at all. Briony started breast feeding when the plane was taxiing and continued to feed during take-off, which probably helped save Majandra from all the ear-popping. Majandra didn't seem to care about the noise, nor the actual take-off.

The second leg of our flight was Melbourne to Nadi. Both flights were uneventful and Majandra was OK. She was a little fidgety, but we'd expected that. She wanted to play with everything and look at everything, we let her move around freely which kept her occupied. She really enjoyed climbing onto my shoulders and looking over the back seat to see what everyone else was doing. On all our flights the people behind us happily talked to Majandra from over the back seat, which made her really happy.

Apart from entertaining Majandra, Briony and I didn't do much. We played some Train Conductor on the iPad. We attempted to watch Fast and Furious 3 on the laptop but the keyboard was just too exciting and Majandra kept mashing it. We eventually got her to sleep on my lap and got 15 mins of the movie done before she woke.

We got to Nadi on time and disembarked. No issues with customs or quarantine, and then in the next part of the airport there was an ATM so we grabbed some money and then found the little desk for Pacific Destinationz, the company that was to transfer us to our hotel. The lady at the desk gave us a shell necklace each and then showed us where their office was. In the office we showed our documents and verified all was well. They showed us to our driver, and after a half hour wait we were on our way.

The trip from the airport to the hotel should have been only 20 minutes but it actually took over an hour. It was 'peak hour' so the traffic was heavy-ish and the road was under repair which meant slow parts and pot holes everywhere.

When we got to Sofitel (our hotel/resort) we checked in and went to our room. After some unpacking we went to the SALT Restaurant within the resort. We had looked at the Lagoon buffet restaurant first however we figured it was Asian night so the chances of vegetarian food were slim. We looked at SALT and noticed they had vegetarian Indian, vegetarian Pasta and also falafel burgers. We both got the burger, very good indeed. Including a shared entree plus a drink each it came to FJ$94.50 which is around AUD$60. Not cheap, but the food was good.

While we were eating dinner, one of the waitresses took Majandra for a while. Majandra got to meet customers, go behind the bar, then get handed to another waitress. Of course this was good for us too as it gave us the chance to eat our meal - it's a bit hard to eat a big falafel burger with Majandra complaining and fidgeting.

We went to bed pretty much straight away after that, as we were tired after the flight, not to mention that we had been up since the early hours of the morning.



DAY TWO : TUESDAY

Majandra woke a few times during the night. I wouldn't go as far as to say she was crying hysterically, but she sure was quite upset. We can only put this down to her waking up in a strange bed, in a strange place. It took some boobs to calm her down :)

At 9am we went to the Lagoon restaurant for our included buffet breakfast. The food was quite good, the fresh juice was great but I was not impressed with the scrambled eggs ... they just tasted a bit bizarre. There was so much other food there though, that the eggs were the least of our worries.

The Lagoon restaurant is on the ground level of the main building and next to it there is a currency exchange place and an ATM. Next to that is the Sogo convenience store, we stopped in there after breakfast to get some bottled water. It was FJD$17.50 for 3x2L Bula water. That works out to about AUD$12.00. I guess that's about the same as bottled water at home would cost.

The resort is located right on the beach, so we took a a quick walk down to the shore after breakfast. After spending a few minutes looking out towards the other islands, we headed back to our room as it was time for Majandra to have a sleep. We fed her and put her in the cot supplied by the hotel but she would not go to sleep. We got her out of the cot and layed her on the bed. Briony sang for a while and Majandra soon fell asleep on the big bed. We put pillows around her so she could not fall, then we sat on the other bed with the laptop and watched the rest of Fast and Furious.

Part way through the movie Majandra did something she's not yet showed us she can do - she stirred, opened her eyes and sat up in bed by herself. After only a few seconds she lay down and went back to sleep. Until then we'd never seen her sit up all the way on her own.

We have worked out that if we are actually going to do anything on this holiday we will have to get moving the moment Majandra wakes ... we cant hang around here for too long else she will get tired. So once Majandra woke from her sleep we gave her some lunch then headed for the pool. We spent about an hour in the water, Majandra had a good time just splashing around.

The resort has a daily schedule of activities such as water aerobics and various demonstrations. We were going to watch the coconut husking one - we went to the right place at the right time but there was nothing happening. We asked one of the attendants where this would be held and he said that we had missed it. He then proceeded to arrange a private demo for us, where the attendant told us the story about how the eel made coconuts come to Fiji, then he showed us how to open a coconut. I have to admit I never knew the brown furry coconuts we see actually are inside another shell when they are on the tree.

After the pool we came back to the hotel room where Majandra had a sleep while we watched the rest of Fast and Furious. Majandra slept on the big bed again, surrounded by pillows. It's funny seeing her on this bed, as the bed is so big and she's not so big ...

Once Majandra had woken we went to the Sogo convenience store and bought tickets for the Bula Bus. This is a loop bus that goes from Port Denarau shopping centre then to all the resorts and back again. Tickets are $7 per person per day, unlimited travel. So it's handy for visiting the other resorts, perhaps to have dinner at a resort other than your own.

Port Denaurau shopping centre was quite different than I had expected. I guess I was expecting something like the docks we'd seen in South America ... just a marina, dock and a bunch of little shops selling food and local goods. Port Denarau shopping centre is actually fairly spiffy and modern, with heaps of restaurants including Hard Rock Cafe, Mama's Pizza, Indigo Indian, plus a steak place, a seafood place and more. There's a convenience store too, and a few speciality shops. The shopping centre is like that shops in an airport ... with those typical shops selling jewellery and watches, and everything being fairly expensive.

We got called over to a little booth that looked like a tourist information booth. They were apparently giving away a free trip to an island. The catch was we had to go to a hotel with them and listen to their 90 minute promotional presentation. They didn't say what it was about, nor were we really interested.

We got some bread from the hot bread shop, then went to the convenience store where got some baked beans, rice cakes, cheese, cucumber and a few other small items for FJD$45 which is about AUD$30.

We went to look at Hard Rock Cafe, they had some okay stuff on the menu, and while Briony was looking at the menu the staff out the front were playing with Majandra. Just like the staff at SALT restaurant the other day, we have noticed that all the staff everywhere seem to pay her a lot of attention. The Hard Rock staff were really excited over her as were the staff at that dodgy free tour place. I wonder if they are genuinely interested, or if it's just part of their job description to pay attention to babies of western families?

Anyway at Port Denarau we ended up getting dinner at a little cafe / sandwich place. They had burgers and hot dogs etc, with the only vegetarian option being a sandwich, which we had toasted. Briony had a fruit smoothie, I had an iced mocha, plus a muffin each. FJD$34 all up, about AUD$25, I guess not too bad. Certainly cheaper than Hard Rock would have been.

We grabbed the Bula Bus back to our hotel, and went to bed soon after.

I should also mention Majandra's obsession with the bin. This was the first proper day of our holiday, and Majandra had quickly discovered that the bin in the hotel room is fascinating. Every time she was awake she'd go straight for the bin and extract the rubbish onto the floor.



DAY THREE : WEDNESDAY

We got up when Majandra woke at 0730. We got her dressed and went for breakfast at the Lagoon restaurant. Pancakes were available today, plus we had some cereal and fruit. I forgot to bring Majandra's bib so she made a mess all over her clothes.

Also the birds were everywhere today ... they have these birds that look like the miner birds we have back home. As the restaurant is open to the outside world, the birds hang around waiting for someone to vacate their table. The moment the table is abandoned the birds swoop in to clean up any left over food and crumbs. A couple just near us got a plate of food, put it on their table then went back presumably to get a drink. Next thing the birds were helping themselves to a bird feast!

After breakfast we decided we should skip Majandra's snooze and go straight into the pool. We took Majandra into the pool and into the adjoining bubble bath (I would call it a spa except it isn't hot). After a while swimming we sat on the deck chairs under an umbrella. Majandra sat with me, with the usual standing, climbing and investigating everything. We knew she was getting tired but as she was not complaining we decided to stay there. Briony went off a few times to swim and she went to the beach too. I looked after Majandra and just relaxed.

Around 1200 Majandra crawled down my legs towards the end of the deck chair, reached into the pram and grabbed her pouch of baby puree. Obviously this meant hungry, and as I took the pouch from her to remove the lid, the whinging started, which means starving!

I opened the pouch, put the nozzle into Majandra's mouth and squeezed it. There was only a bit left and it was gone in seconds. I grabbed a new pouch from the pram and did the same thing, 2 minutes later and the entire pouch had been devoured.

After the feed, we put Majandra in the pram and headed to Latitude 17 Bar to check out the light food menu then headed back to our room. The entire trip from pool to Latitude 17 and back to room was only four minutes, during which time Majandra fell fast asleep in her pram which is where she stayed.

In the afternoon we went to Port Denaurau Passenger Terminal which is part of the shopping centre complex. This time we walked instead of taking the Bula Bus, it only took 5 minutes. Within the terminal are 8 or so little shops selling cruises, island excursions and water sports etc. We visited one that advertised a trip to Mala Mala, and then we visited a bigger one at the end called Fiji's Finest Tours. This shop seemed a little more professional than the first one, the staff spoke better English and we just felt a bit more comfortable. We got all the info and the brochures and went for a drink while we decided. We went back to the Fiji's Finest Tours desk and confirmed which would be best for us with Majandra and they told us a trip with PJ's SAILING would be best. This boat would only carry 20 passengers maximum and apparently the boat and crew were quite baby friendly.

The trip was FJD$320 for the three of us (Majandra was free), we decided it sounded okay so we booked and then walked back to our hotel.

Tonight was cheese and cucumber sandwiches for dinner ... we eat a large breakfast and often big lunch and we didn't feel the need to be spending big at the restaurants every night.



DAY FOUR : THURSDAY

Majandra woke up at 0700, a little earlier than we had hoped for. Once she was up and dressed we went for the usual buffet breakfast at Lagoon restaurant.

After breakfast we went back to the room, got our stuff for the day and then headed to the lobby to meet our transport to the Port Denaurau Passenger Terminal.

Once at the terminal we waited in the Fiji's Finest Tours office for a short time and then were shown to the PJ Sailing boat. We sat on the boat for actually quite a long time as there was another couple coming from the Coral Coast and apparently they were running a little bit late. They eventually arrived and also anther two ladies joined us right at the last minute. Turns out they were booked into the Mala Mala tour which had been cancelled in what seemed to be questionable circumstances from what the ladies told us... lucky we chose Fiji's Finest Tours, and not the other one!

Once the boat was out of the dock area and into more open waters, we were introduced to the "Crazy Crew" by Captain Charles. Once the introductions were made we just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Majandra got a fantastic amount of attention all the way. All the crew wanted to look at her and play with her and hold her, which was okay with us as she was having a good time. She sat with Captain Charles in front of the steering wheel, she watched all the the passengers and she was just generally quite happy. She did have a little sleep down below ... Briony gave her a feed and then came back up top, and I went down below to keep my eye on her as she was in a bed without high sides, one of those sailor bunk things. She only slept for perhaps half an hour before she woke and absolutely freaked out as she was in a boat, with the engine roaring behind her, I guess this stunned her a little.

We soon arrived at the place where we would stop for some snorkelling. I was going to let Briony snorkel and I would stay on the boat with Majandra, however the crew offered to look after Majandra so I went out snorkelling too. I suppose while the passengers are snorkelling there's no a lot the crew can do except sit there anyway!

In our honeymoon trip to Thailand we had done some snorkelling and I had failed miserably as the water kept coming into my mask. I thought I had it tight enough but I could not figure out why this kept happening. I assumed I have a funny shaped face or something.

Anyway the snorkelling this time went a lot more successfully, I think perhaps part of the reason it failed last time was because I started breathing a little too heavily once my face was in the water. This time I made a more conscious effort to breathe normally and slowly, and it seemed to help.

The snorkelling was really quite good, we were directly above a heap of coral and there were fish absolutely everywhere. Briony says the snorkelling in Thailand was better, but still today's was definitely not disappointing at all.

I was quite conscious of Majandra being on the boat, so I kept popping my head up ever now and then to see if I could hear any crying. Eventually I did, so I headed back to the boat where Majandra was really quite upset with tears all down her face and lots of snot coming out her nose. Once she was in my arms she did calm down quickly though. Plus is was only another 10 minutes or so before the rest of the passengers finished snorkelling and then mummy made an appearance :)

From the snorkelling spot we headed to the Plantation Island Resort for lunch. There was a buffet lunch provided but Briony and I got to choose our own thing from the menu as we wanted the vegetarian option. Briony had wedges, I had a vegetable quiche and of course we both visited the fruit and dessert bar afterwards.

After lunch we had a bit over an hour's free time around Plantation Island Resort. Majandra was getting tired so Briony went for a swim in the ocean while I supervised Majandra. I sat in a hammock with Majandra in her pram, until I noticed a pair of eyeballs looking at me, so I got Majandra into the hammock with me, which she quite enjoyed. Of course she just wanted to climb it, so I had to shift my weight around to balance the hammock so we didn't fall out the side.

After a short while we went further along the beach to give Majandra a swim but decided against it as the sun was fairy strong and actually we only had half an hour until we had to leave so we figured it was not worth getting Majandra dressed and getting the floating ring out. So while Briony had another swim, Majandra and I found a shady spot to sit under a coconut tree. I showed Majandra a pouch of puree smoothie, she came crawling over at full speed and ate the lot.

At 1500 we got back on the boat and began our trip home.

The trip home was really great - still just the same 100 minute boat ride, but Captain Charles and his 'Crazy Crew' got their guitars out and starting singing all sorts of songs. Majandra had a great time watching them with interested eyes, and I think that made them sing even more. They even did Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Old MacDonald Had a Farm.

The crew served up crackers with cheese, coffee, and cream buns for all. It was a strain to fit it all in after lunch however they'd gone to so much effort to prepare it all that we really couldn't say no.

We got back to Port Denarau around 1700, the weather was fine so we decided to walk back to the resort rather than taking the provided transport.

All in all I can definitely say that PJ's Sailing tour organised by Fiji's Finest Tours met and exceeded our expectations.



DAY FIVE : FRIDAY

The morning was a little uneventful - just the usual breakfast, following by some whinging from Majandra, then we went into the pool for an hour or so. We got out of the pool and got dry, and Majandra was obviously exhausted as she fell asleep on the pram journey back our room which is all of about three minutes.

The rest of the day was also uneventful but at the same time quite therapeutic. We just went in the pool several times, watched some 'Secret Life of a Call Girl' on the iPad while Majandra was sleeping, and we stayed in our room for dinner. Briony had a sandwich and I had cold baked beans which I ate out of Majandra's bowl and used Majandra's baby sized spoon.

About the only eventful thing was when we were outside on the grass. Majandra had just had a big feed, she was outside playing and she ate a bit of dirt. We don't know if she'd over-eaten or if it was the dirt that did it, but she proceeded to vomit just as we were taking a photo!



DAY SIX : SATURDAY

Saturday started like any other day, except it started when Majandra woke at 0630. We entertained her for a little while, grabbed breakfast, and then spent some time in the pool.

After Majandra had a sleep, we went for a walk to a few other resorts. As all the resorts are on the beach front, they all end up being in a long row. While there is no formal and continuous path all the way along the beach front itself, if one follows one's nose, the paths do eventually get there.

We walked from our resort (the Sofitel), through the Westin then the Sheraton, I think there were two more and we had reached the end of the kine where there was a fence and then just natural scrub land on the other side. Apart from a pleasant walk, we had taken the wander with the aim of finding a restaurant at one of the resorts that had some decent vegetarian. As it turned out, not surprising really, most of the restaurants were all about meat, then at that very last resort there was a restaurant called Seafront which had a few vegetarian options.

We walked back to our room, killed time for the rest of the afternoon, then did the same walk again at night time. The walk took round half an hour, we got a table easily at the Seafront restaurant, and ordered some drinks and our food. Majandra was, as usual, quite excited by my beer bottle, but then when the waiter came and put a basket of pesto bread on our table for entree, her eyes almost popped out of her face. We gave her a small piece to try and she absolutely devoured it. We gave her more, that went down the hatch too. She ate heaps and heaps of it, and loved every mouthful.

The pizzas arrived shortly afterwards. While they were tasty enough, it's hard to agree that they matched what the menu said. They were supposed to be a pizza with a curry base, with the mint sauce on there and some other Indian type stuff, however really all we got was pizza base, tomato paste and a stack of cheese. I had chilli on mine, which I think is what made I okay. Apart from that the pizza was quite boring. But hey it was only FJD$16.00 and quite large, so I wasn't going to complain about it. We finished off with lemon tart for myself and banana fritter for Briony and then we walked back to our resort.



DAY SEVEN : SUNDAY

After being woken again at 0630 by Majandra standing up in her cot, we killed some time and then went for an early breakfast. When we got back to our room we played with Majandra a bit, then she fell asleep on the big bed. While she slept Briony and I watched some more stuff on the iPad. Once Majandra woke up we quickly cleaned up the room, and checked out of the hotel then just hung around the lobby waiting for our transport to arrive.

The transport arrived on time and took us to the Passenger Terminal at Port Denarau Shopping Centre. We checked in for our boat ride to Treasure Island Resort, and it wasn't long before we boarded.

The boat was quite large and comfortable, and as we started moving I had to go out onto the rear deck and change Majandra's bum as she had filled up her pants again ... This was the fourth poo in less than 20 hours, someone is a poo machine!

Being out on the rear deck was interesting. Our prior experience with these passenger transport boats is they are slow and noisy (and often smelly). This one, however, really moves quickly. From the rear deck I could hear the whine and whistle of a turbo diesel engine, and the water was really churning behind the boat.

After an hour we arrived at Treasure Island Resort, checked in and were shown to our room which was basic and the decor was a bit dated, but was definitely comfortable and quite adequate.

Our first impression of the resort was one of age - it looks fairly old and dated, but that's probably only because we'd just come from a super-modern and flash resort on the mainland. There are some major renovation works happening as the resort is now 36 years old. I guess for something from the 1970's it's still in fairly decent condition. Either way it's more than adequate.

All the rooms are in bures, the bures look like small Pizza Hut buildings and within each building there are 3 or 4 separate accommodations. It's only about 50m walk to the beach, and right outside our bure it's very shady and has several hammocks.

For dinner they do ask that all guests 'check in' in the afternoon and book a table for a particular time. I booked ours and took the opportunity to ask about vegetarian food. The response was one of uncertainty, the same as we get back home when the staff know perfectly well there is no vegetarian option. I was told we could have garlic bread plus for entree they would make us the chef's ham and chicken salad without the ham and chicken, and then mains would be vegetable pasta in a tomato sauce. I was immediately concerned as 'pasta in tomato sauce' is the usual horrible meal we get back home when the kitchen has to make something vegetarian on the fly and it's usually crap.

Before dinner we spent some time in the salt water pool, which was warm and really enjoyable. After an hour or so in the pool we went back to our room and showered ready for dinner.

At 7pm we went for dinner and we were both quite impressed as the pasta sauce was really tasty and the vegetables were really chunky. So my fears were unfounded - our meal was delicious.

There had been a staff band playing on and off during the evening, they came back on after we had finished our meal so I grabbed my beer, grabbed Majandra and we went and sat in front of the stage. Some time later the band disappeared and the local male choir sung what I am guessing are bible songs in the local language. I obviously don't have a clue what they were singing about but it sounded quite good.

During the band and the choir Majandra sat with me and she was quite entertained. She stood up between my legs and waved her arms around the same way she does when splashing in the pool. At one point she crawled across the empty dance floor and stood up at the stage ... entertaining an a 'Majandra in the mosh pit' kind of way.

We hung around a bit more, and Majandra decided she wanted to stand up against one of the chairs. A minute or two later she fell over and hit the side of her face on the chair. She cried loudly with shock but she obviously was not hurt as she stopped crying after only a few screams. Of course the fun police (Briony) turned up and instructed us to pack up and go back to our room :( but we all still had a good night.



DAY EIGHT : MONDAY

After staying out a little later than normal last night, we were both worried when Majandra stood up in her cot and started making noise at 0545. We ignored her and kept the lights off, and we were rewarded with a sleep in until 0830.

We went for breakfast which was buffet style, quite tasty and the pancakes were awesome with the pineapple syrup.

After breakfast we went to the dive shop to ask about the jet ski, snorkel and parasailing activities. I had asked about these things yesterday, and like many situations here in Fiji where we've asked questions, the responses were vague and the answers never seemed to be relevant to the question. Yesterday the lady had told us to come at 0900 today so we could book in, but when we went there this morning a man told us that it was low tide and we should come back and see them at 1400 when the tide was a bit higher. It's all still very vague, but that does make it hard since whatever we do we would need to arrange a babysitter for Majandra and I'm sure we can't just arrange one with five minutes notice...

Lunch was cream of vegetable soup, Mediterranean pizza and an orange juice. We gave Majandra some bread roll while waiting for meals to be served, and then our pizza came out. When we saw the size of it we asked to give the soup a miss. The pizza was awesome ...

So at 1400 we went back to the dive shop as instructed, and asked about the jet ski ride. There had been some trouble with the jet ski and as such they were running a bit late. But this was OK as it gave us time to arrange a babysitter. We'd arranged a babysitter earlier in the day on the assumption that we were heading on the jet ski at 1500. Even if we didn't take the jet ski, the babysitter was cheap so it really didn't matter.

Eventually it was our turn on the jet ski, and as we got onto the machine I offered for Briony to drive first. I remember she made some comment to the effect of I can drive, she doesn't need to drive at all. So on I got, and we headed out to more open water. I quickly got used to the way the jet ski handled, and once I realised we weren't going to die I was eager to go faster and we found ourselves doing jumps over the waves, and I heard screams of delight from Briony behind me. After around 10 minutes I stopped and offered for Briony to drive. This time she was keen, and didn't waste any time taking the controls.

The next thing I know and Briony's taken the jet ski and I think she must have squeezed the throttle as hard as it would go, and we were soon jumping even higher and angrier than when I was driving. Talk about driving angry! Briony continued to drive for the next 10 minutes, and I learned the hard way that it sucks to be on the back when the driver is crazy .... the person on the back gets all the spray right in the eyes and that salt water STINGS!

After we'd swapped back to me driving and then Briony again, we did some more crazy driving and then headed back to shore as our half hour was up. We had an absolute blast and I'd definitely absolutely recommend it!

We got dry and walked back to our room where the babysitter was looking after Majandra. We were almost at our room when we heard lots of crying and screaming ... the babysitter was sitting on the front veranda with a very upset Majandra. She claimed that Majandra had only just started crying, so I guess it's just good timing that we got there when we did. A quick cuddle with mum is all it took for Majandra to be happy again.

Once Majandra had calmed down and had a feed, we went to the beach and took some photos. We sat Majandra in the sand and took some sort of posed shots that actually turned out really well. The only issue was that in one of the positions we didn't notice until after we'd taken all the pictures, but there was a discarded cigarette butt right in front of Majandra. How disgusting.

Toward the end of the photo shoot I sat Majandra in the sand next to a log. It was in the hard, wet sand just before the water. No sooner had I sat her down there was a big wave out deep, and the tide came up the beach a bit further than normal. It was nothing crazy or deep, but it was enough to cover her legs as she was sitting there. All I remember is a sudden look of terror on her face, and then lots of crying. Mum came to the rescue again.

After taking a little walk along the beach it was time to go for dinner. Dinner on this final night was a buffet. There was heaps of food there, and among the vegetarian dishes were various salads, bread, beans and a dish of "various roasted root vegetables". I don't know exactly what the vegetables were ... it wasn't potato, but it had a texture similar to that of sweet potato. It wasn't parsnip but it tasted sort of like parsnip. Either way, the buffet was delicious and we went back for seconds.

The buffet had a big dessert table full of yummy-looking pies and tarts. At Briony's instruction I went straight for the chocolate mousse which was served in a rather large wine glass. It was awesome mousse, and by the end we were both feeling very full.

I have written in my notes that somewhere around dinner time Briony chucked a fruity over nothing. I can't remember the situation surrounding this, but there you have it - she chucked a fruity.


That's actually about it for my Fiji stories. The next morning we got up and had breakfast, then packed our bags and waited for the boat back to the mainland. Back at the Port Denarau Passenger Terminal we got off the boat, collected out bags and found the person that was taking us (and some others) to the airport. After a few hours hanging around at the airport we were off home.

We had a great time away, and we're mighty impressed at how well Majandra handled the holiday, the strange bed, the different people and of course the aeroplane ride.

While we probably didn't see the "real Fiji" from an independent traveller point of view, that wasn't the purpose of this trip. With having Majandra now, time is precious and we most definitely didn't have the time to arrange our own itinerary and trip like the other holidays we've done. This trip was more of a quick getaway - pick a country, pick a resort, pick a few day trips, pay the money and go.


As far as a safe, convenient and family-friendly destination, definitely recommended.

Thanks for reading!






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