This morning we got to experience things the Fiji way... It goes like this:
Example 1
Q (Sun night). What time should we be in the lobby on the morning to get to the ferry on time?
A. The ferry goes at 10.30 and the bus will pick you up from the lobby, around, ooh, ah 9.
Q (Mon morning before breakfast). So about 9 is good for the pick up?
A. Yep 9 is good.
Incoming Q, 9.20am. You guys have been waiting here a while, can I help?
A. Oh we're just waiting for the bus to the ferry.
A. Oh that comes about 10. I'll put your bags over here.
Example 2.
Sealegs ("pharmacy only medicine") are freely available at the gift shop at the hotel. Thankfully as it turns out!
Example 3.
Fast forward to the ferry terminal, no luggage allowed in the checkin line, so some likely lads come around and offer bag tags and take your bags over to the official luggage corner then you line up. We're feeling pretty confident because we have a booking, it's just a formality to check in. The person before Peter, with a big group of 2 families, has no booking but manages to negotiate their spot, ferry is now full. At the front of the queue, Peter is told, "Ferry is full, next one is around 2pm. Pop your name on this piece of paper and we'll contact you when the next ferry bookings open."
Peter pushes hard (unwilling to delivery that particular piece of news to his flagging family) and calls his contact at the resort who rings the counter, and they magically find 5 more boarding passes. The ferry departs, happily with us on board, around 11.30.
Because of our back-of-the-queue position, there were few seats left on the boat and Alyssa and I found ourselves next to and in front of a group of young(ish) women obviously travelling with "Hedonistic Holidays R Us", regaling us and each other with tales of their hilarious drunken antics of the previous night and at other times. Their stoic "Alcohol makes me a better traveller" initial statements were, sadly, ultimately proved wrong as the ferry crossing was longer and rather bouncier than most people's capacity for bearing. Our Sealegs, however, kept us all at slightly-spaced-out-but-not-sick-but-we'll-definitely-need-a-sleep-later on the official travel wellness scale.
And now we find ourselves in the little piece of tropical paradise called Musket Cove. Having checked out the cafe and sampled pizza for lunch, we all headed to our home for the next week for a quick round of Sleeping Lions, or Sleeping-off-the-Sealegs-Kiwis at least. We haven't done too much exploring at this point, but we did confirm a "9am" start for the diving tomorrow (yeah 9am schmine-ay-em), requested a fifth set of crockery and cutlery and bought some cereal and fruit for breakfast. And snoozed.
The scenery and setting here are spectacular. There is some evidence of the storm in terms of broken trees, palm fronds etc, but it is not especially windy and the sun has come out. Our room is a little villa with a bedroom downstairs, kitchen/living including some cooking facilities ("for the ladies") and another bedroom on a mezzanine level upstairs. There are biscuits in a jar (refilled daily), bottled water in the fridge (replaced daily), a little cold water plunge pool on the deck and a hammock in the garden. The resort has an organic garden which supplies the restaurant and shop) and a nursery (of the plant variety) for their landscaping requirements. We are all feeling, well, tired just now, but very happy to be here and excited about the week ahead.
Example 1
Q (Sun night). What time should we be in the lobby on the morning to get to the ferry on time?
A. The ferry goes at 10.30 and the bus will pick you up from the lobby, around, ooh, ah 9.
Q (Mon morning before breakfast). So about 9 is good for the pick up?
A. Yep 9 is good.
Incoming Q, 9.20am. You guys have been waiting here a while, can I help?
A. Oh we're just waiting for the bus to the ferry.
A. Oh that comes about 10. I'll put your bags over here.
Example 2.
Sealegs ("pharmacy only medicine") are freely available at the gift shop at the hotel. Thankfully as it turns out!
Example 3.
Fast forward to the ferry terminal, no luggage allowed in the checkin line, so some likely lads come around and offer bag tags and take your bags over to the official luggage corner then you line up. We're feeling pretty confident because we have a booking, it's just a formality to check in. The person before Peter, with a big group of 2 families, has no booking but manages to negotiate their spot, ferry is now full. At the front of the queue, Peter is told, "Ferry is full, next one is around 2pm. Pop your name on this piece of paper and we'll contact you when the next ferry bookings open."
Peter pushes hard (unwilling to delivery that particular piece of news to his flagging family) and calls his contact at the resort who rings the counter, and they magically find 5 more boarding passes. The ferry departs, happily with us on board, around 11.30.
Because of our back-of-the-queue position, there were few seats left on the boat and Alyssa and I found ourselves next to and in front of a group of young(ish) women obviously travelling with "Hedonistic Holidays R Us", regaling us and each other with tales of their hilarious drunken antics of the previous night and at other times. Their stoic "Alcohol makes me a better traveller" initial statements were, sadly, ultimately proved wrong as the ferry crossing was longer and rather bouncier than most people's capacity for bearing. Our Sealegs, however, kept us all at slightly-spaced-out-but-not-sick-but-we'll-definitely-need-a-sleep-later on the official travel wellness scale.
And now we find ourselves in the little piece of tropical paradise called Musket Cove. Having checked out the cafe and sampled pizza for lunch, we all headed to our home for the next week for a quick round of Sleeping Lions, or Sleeping-off-the-Sealegs-Kiwis at least. We haven't done too much exploring at this point, but we did confirm a "9am" start for the diving tomorrow (yeah 9am schmine-ay-em), requested a fifth set of crockery and cutlery and bought some cereal and fruit for breakfast. And snoozed.
The scenery and setting here are spectacular. There is some evidence of the storm in terms of broken trees, palm fronds etc, but it is not especially windy and the sun has come out. Our room is a little villa with a bedroom downstairs, kitchen/living including some cooking facilities ("for the ladies") and another bedroom on a mezzanine level upstairs. There are biscuits in a jar (refilled daily), bottled water in the fridge (replaced daily), a little cold water plunge pool on the deck and a hammock in the garden. The resort has an organic garden which supplies the restaurant and shop) and a nursery (of the plant variety) for their landscaping requirements. We are all feeling, well, tired just now, but very happy to be here and excited about the week ahead.
Yay, well done dad for getting you all aboard the ferry! Yay, well done Sealegs for keeping breakfast down! Your accommodation and the setting look fabulous and the Fiji weather is obviously on the improve. We are apparently going to get a tropical 30 degrees on New Years Day.
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