After missing the 21st September due to travel and time difference we decided to make the most of the 22nd! We paid $8 together to get from the airport to Skylodge, checked in and showered and had a solid 7am breakfast of fried eggs, bacon on toast. Just what we needed after an uncomfortable 10hour plane journey. The bacon was bacon like at home which was a nice home comfort after a month of applewood smoked streaky bacon in California (not that we didn't enjoy that to). We spoke to the receptionist who suggested we pay a driver to take us around the mainland as we were only there a day before heading off to island hop.

He picked us up at 10am and we drove to the local town and to the second biggest Temple in Fiji. It was very colourful and the imagery was vibrant and exotic with lots of eyes and less morbid than Christian effigy.

We then went to The Garden Of the Sleeping Giant next. The landscape of the mountain looks like a giant asleep, his face and legs are recognisable. The garden was created 1977 by Burr who wanted a place to keep his orchids. The garden has the most beautiful and colourful flowers I've ever seen. I kept thinking mum would love this so I took lots of photos.

After the walk through the garden which went into the rainforest we drove through a local village and to the town for lunch. The town was called Latouka and bustling on a Saturday afternoon. We walked around the shops that were all very similar selling a mixture of everything and had lunch in a an open air fast food place. Neil had chicken and chips which looked average to poor and I had the rice and chilli chicken, which was lovely but slightly too boney. We worked out later my meal cost about £2. After stocking up on toiletries from the supermarket we met out driver were he left us an hour later.

We then drove through the mountains for some nice views of our surroundings and could see some of the islands we would be visiting. The ride was bumpy and it was a hot day so it was good to get back to our hotel. We paid the guy $160 Fijian dollars, which is about £60. A deal in that you couldn't get that price ever at home but I did hope he would use if to clean his van as it was filthy.

We changed into our swimming costumes and went to the pool, the perfect way to cool off. Had a swim and a read and after a few hours we showered and paid for the internet. Spent a small fortune in the shop on suncream, insect repellent and an Underwater camera and went for dinner.

We decided to get a chicken masala burger and Skylodge lamb burger and have half each. The chicken burger was pretty pointless with barely any chicken or masala seasoning but the lamb burger was cooked perfectly. We had an early start the next morning and it had been a long day so we went back to our room for a bit of tv and early night.