Saturday 14 June, Day 20. Brekkie on the pool deck at 7.30am. A last chance to say goodbye to those who had not already left the ship. We were supposed to arrive at Lautoka around 6.00am, but Alan recons we actually docked between midnight and 1.00am as he was still up. Our transport arrives early so we pile in and head for our hotel which is half an hour's drive, and right next to the airport. We have a nice surprise as we are upgraded to suites when we book ...

Friday 13 June, Day 19. We return to Suva, Fiji's capital. The port is just a stone's throw from the bus station and shopping district. As we tie up we watch all the activity with people arriving for work on this Friday morning. We had a relaxed start at 9.00am for a half hour bus ride west to the Fiji Zip location. We had around 30 people on a large bus and all went well until we turned off on to a dirt road heading for the hills. Although the main power lines...

Thursday 12 June, Day 18. We have arrived in Savu Savu, which is a small town on the south coast of Vanua Levu, Fiji's second largest island. We sailed right past Suva, our next port of call last night, so we will back track once our visit to Savu Savu is complete at 8.00pm tonight. Vanua Levu has a population of 300,000 which is a third of the total for the Fiji Islands. It is very rural with much more of the native forest intact than the main island. The loca...

Saturday 31 May, Day 6. A relaxed morning at the Sheraton Villas as we only have to check-out at 1.00pm. Our taxi to the wharf at Lautoka should take half an hour (Fiji time) and we cannot get on to the Paul Gaugin before 3.00pm. Our big taxi was a grey minibus that had seen better days, but it was comfortable enough and took all the luggage with no problem. A rather bumpy road to Lautoka but we arrived at the wharf after 45 minutes. Check in was simple and hel...

Tuesday 27 May. Day 4. All was not well with our 2 bedroom apartment. Flyscreens needed repair, non of the 3 TV's worked properly, our bedroom was a freezing 17°C and we could not change the AC, and the clock would not work. While the others went for a walk, Tony presented a list of problems at Reception, and then went for a swim. On return to the room he was met by a team of 5 technicians and maintenance guys fixing the problems. Later in the day we were ...