I'm now based in the Anchorage Beach Resort in Lautoka, and expect to be here for the next 9 days till I fly on to New Zealand. But I should fill in the journey between Savusavu and here.

Savusavu is, as I said previously, a fairly small place. I visited the local Pearl Farm, including a trip in a glass bottomed boat. In my mind, the farm would use bikini clad, lithe Fijian girls diving in to sparkling clear waters with their knives to collect the oysters, but perhaps I have been watching to many James Bond movies? The reality (as so often with modern farming) is much more clinical and smelly. The oysters are seeded by Japanese technicians and then held in the water in plastic net bags on long submerged lines. The local workers are employed only to clean the oysters of seaweed and barnacles - not a bikini in sight.

I also hired a car in Savusavu, with a view to driving along the Hibiscus Highway. This route would allow me to see some of the old colonial coconut plantations hugging the South coast of Vanua Levu. From the guidebook, I knew that the road becomes rough after 20km or so, but I hired a high-riding 4x4, so was looking forward to the challenge. At first the rough road was a lot of fun, but after about an hour or so, it stopped being fun and became just plain rough. So I turned around and went to the other main centre on the island; Labasa Town. This was a good decision, and the road to Labasa was pretty spectacular. The vegetation on the island changes markedly across it:

• On the West, where I arrived, it is heavily wooded with lots of lumber work going on;

• On the North of the island, the tree are undercut with sugar cane which was being harvested as I drove by;

• Back in Savusavu and the South East of the island, it is more coconut plantations.

Regardless, wherever you go it is full of sharp hills and glorious views. The metropolis of Labasa has maybe 2 or 3 streets with shops, but also has the sugar cane processing facility to which a hundred and more overloaded lorries where shipping their load.

The best place on Savusavu, in my humble opinion, was the bar at the Copra Shed marina. The yachting folk would tend to gather their in the evening, and they are quite a talkative bunch. I got lots of ideas for where to go in New Zealand and Australia. They were also quite passionate about the rugby being shown on the big screen in the bar. A nice crowd.

From Savusavu I travelled to Waiyevo on the island of Taveuni. Taveuni includes a nature and marine reserve and looks like a very nice place to stay, but I could only afford one night. The journey was largely uneventful (bus along the rough Hibiscus Highway and a small boat across the swells of the Somosomo straight). The main claim to fame of Waiyevo is that it marks one of the few place where the 180° meridian crosses land. Well, when I say "marks", there is a small display in the corner of a sports field that is supposed to show the location of the meridian. I was unable to check it with my GPS, because it had decided that I was in India! (I suppose someone might have tried to write "Travel to Fiji to test the GPS" in the iPhone test plan, but I doubt that they would have got it approved. As well as the GPS getting lost, Google Maps also suggested that the world comes to an end and refused to acknowledge the existence of the Western hemisphere.) Standing on the meridian I was stuck by the thought that the shortest way home, in theory, was to go straight North, across the Pacific and the Arctic and North Pole and finish at the telescope at Greenwich Observatory. I think I'll stick with Plan A and fly around.

The next day I took a taxi to Matei for my flight back to Nadi. I had a quick wander around, and was lucky to spot Audrey's. Audrey has a beautiful house with a veranda overlooking the coast, where she serves tea and cakes. She came originally from Boston via California, but has settled here and enjoys entertaining folk who pop-in for a coffee. You do pay for your selection, but it is far more like popping in to see a friend than a shop. It is a wonderful place to spend an hour or so.

Matei airport is tiny, but functional. The small plane bounced a bit on the 1½hour journey to Nadi, but nothing too exciting. One of the nice things about flying was seeing the coral reefs and small islands as we passed at about 8,000ft. Another fun aspect was looking into the cockpit and following the flight on the instruments. When I think about the hours on buses and ferries that I took getting there, the journey back was much more pleasant. On the other hand, it was far more insulated from the local life of Fiji that I had previously experienced. Still, in some ways, it is setting the tone for the last part of my stay in Fiji. I'm now back in "tourist central".

I had initially planned to move out to one of the islands off the west coast, but again, they were very expensive and busy. I looked at one place which offered beach huts with mat floors and cold showers only. However, the advantages of things like air conditioning won out, and I decided that this bit of my journey was going to be more of a "resort" type holiday.

The Anchorage Beach Resort is, true to its name, based on the coast with Kayaks, Flippers and Snorkels, Pools side Bars and Restaurants. I've only just arrived, but I suspect that it is the kind of place where I will spend a lot more time in my swimming shorts than I have to date. (So far, my sun tan has only covered by head, arms and feet.) It seems like a nice place to chill out before I head off to New Zealand in 9 days time.

I think I'll go and see aboutr my complimentary cocktail now...