We finally made it to Fiji. We arrived at 5:15am. I think I cried just a little bit when we landed. I was so happy to be here. We had a ridiculously busy and fun day. It started with getting our car. In Fiji we drive on the left which is not a big deal. We are used to that from our St Croix days. The hard part is the driver sits on the right and they issued us a manual transmission. Eric quickly got the hang of shifting with his left hand and we were off to track down Lesley. First we checked the Novatel where she stayed on her first night in Fiji – no luck. Next we went to Sonaisali where we had a reservation for her second night and what should have been our first night. We found her in our beautiful Bure (Fijian for villa) sound asleep. We had a hug filled and teary reunion followed by a couple of breakfast beers. We hung out at the beautiful Sonaisali resort for a few hours and enjoyed breakfast, the pool and the beach.

We left Sonaisali at around noon to drive across the North Shore to our next resort, Wananavu. The customs lady told us Wananavu translates to awesome in English. I am not sure I believe her but it was nice to hear we picked a good place to stay. The drive was about 140K and should have taken us two and a half hours. Unfortunately the island we are on was hit with a huge tropical storm two days ago and experienced some very serious flooding. The water had receded by the time we arrived but the damage to the roads and villages had been done. We had to dodge pot holes, shoulder erosion, construction vehicles and lots of people in the early stages of clean up. The drive took us four and a half hours total. Some of the scenery along the way was breathtaking. Viti Levu (the island we are on) is absolutely amazing. The mountains, the ocean, the vegetation and the especially people are beautiful. Most have close to nothing and what they have was dirtied or ruined by the flood waters but it does not seemed to have affected their spirit.

After just one day here I am in love with the Fijian people. They are very happy, joyful, welcoming and grateful. Their greeting is "Bula" and everyone says it to everyone, all the time. You cannot pass a person anywhere without a smile and a boisterous Bula. As we are driving along through very poor areas that have been devastated by flood, every single person waved and yelled Bula. They do this with a smile. Not just a surface smile, one that lights up their entire face and reaches their eyes. Sometimes they do this while walking their cows on leashes or washing their clothes in a muddy creak or with children waving emphatically. But it is never missed.

We finally reached Wananavu around 4:30pm and were given a tour of the grounds. This place is fantastic. We cannot wait to spend the day hanging out here and relaxing tomorrow. The staff here is so warm and friendly including the owners who stopped by our table at dinner tonight to welcome us and to buy us a bottle of wine. The food was fantastic and we were serenaded by a local band while we ate. There are only 34 rooms at the resort so the staff takes the time to learn our names. They all introduce themselves and greet us with a hug or a handshake.

Our first day in Fiji was a good one. I am looking forward to four more.




I cannot post pictures until we arrive in Australia due to limited internet usage.