4/3/09 To save on a taxi fare we walked all the way to the bus station. We had a couple of rests on the way, including one at the bakery where I had hoped to buy some egg top buns and coconut buns to eat for lunch on the bus back to Nadi. They didn't have any out yet, unfortunately, so instead I bought a couple of Chinese sesame pastries. We had half an hour to wait after buying our tickets, and in that time a woman came up and started chatting. Cynically, I imme...

1/3/09 This day was taken up with the four/four and a half hour bus ride from Nadi to Suva, finding a place to stay there and settling in. We were dropped off next to Albert Park; it's lined with palm trees, is on the seafront, and the Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith landed here on one of his two stopovers on his epic flight across the Pacific. We dumped our bags on a bench, and while Dave looked after them, I walked round to the first place on our lis...

21/2/09 We were late leaving for the airport, because our hostel changed its airport shuttle company overnight and their first one didn't leave until 10.45 am. That was OK for us, because our flight wasn't until 13.55 anyway, but the people who had already bought tickets for earlier lifts had to have them refunded and then get taxis in. Now a couple of months ago, around New Year in Cairns, I lost my penknife. I was sure it was somewhere in my bags, but couldn't...